Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 21

Dusinsss biiciing: Dow-Jones Industrials 1892.72, 7.46 Prevailing prime rate 8.5 Fixed-rate mortgage (30 20 dn.) 10.75 Six-month Treasury Bill rate 5.96 Donoghue Money Fund Avg. 7-Day Yld. 6.17 Tuesday, July 1, IOCS Inflation rate (national) Inflation rate (Detroit) Michigan unemployment rate National unemployment rate Tax-exempt bond index 2.0 1.0 9.8 7.3 7.59 NYSE NASDAQ 5- 60 6- 7B 7B MUTUAL FUNDS Call with bulnt news: 222 8765 DFTROIT FRET PRfSS 3B r7 AMCto build Chryslers in Wis. ticEie? assembly plant at Fenton, Mo. At one time, the big cars were scheduled to die after thr 1984 model year, but they survived a global fuel crunch as well as Chrysler's brush with bankruptcy to sell in record numbers in 1985.

U.S. sales of the big cars peaked at 161,556 in the 1985 calendar year, up 25 percent from 1984, Guiniven said. "People are out there still wanting these big cars with the V8 engines," he said. In the first fie months of 1986, sales slipped 14 percent to 57,569. AMC's Cappy said his company would receive a fixed payment from Chrysler for the 2 -year contract, plus a variable monthly payment based on the number of cars produced.

He declined to give dollar figures. The contract could be renewed at the end of the 2'2 years, he said. Cappy said he can offer foreign car companies capacity to build 60,000 tars a year in North America at an initial cost of about $25 million for such things as tooling. That compares with $200 million for a new-plant, he said. By JOHN SAUNDERS Fret Press Labor Writer Chrysler Corp.

has tentatively agreed to a 2 -year deal in which American Motors Corp. would build Chrysler's three largest models in an underused AMC plant in Kenosha, the two companies said Monday. "This is a first for domestic manufacturers," said a jubilant Joseph Cappy, president of AMC, which lost $18.9 million in the first three months of 1986 amid slumping sales of its own cars. Cappy estimated that 200,000 cars would be produced under the proposed "contract assembly agreement," using AMC's buildings and employes and Chrysler's parts and tools. The arrangement would extend the life of Chrysler's only remaining rear-drive cars Chrysler Fifth Avenue, Dodge Diplomat and Plymouth Gran Fury, now built in a Missouri plant scheduled for conversion to mini-van production.

It would provide work for about 3,500 laid-off AMC workers in Wisconsin, including about 300 salaried employes, said Lloyd Northard, an AMC spokesman. Chrysler had about 2,700 hourly workers on indefinite layoff across the country last month, said pany still is bargaining with smaller groups of Machinists and Teamsters and UAW members. WISCONSIN GOV. Anthony Earl will call a special session of the state legislature this month to approve $3 million in aid to help train AMC workers to build the Chrysler models, said Ronald McCrea, Earl's press secretary. Cappy said AMC hopes to get retraining money from the federal government, above and beyond the $3-million state aid package.

He declined to say how much. From Chrysler's point of view, approval of Wisconsin's $3 million contribution is "the last big piece that has to fall into place" before the deal is signed, Guiniven said. The biggest Chryslers, known as M-bodies, were first built in the company's Windsor assembly plant in 1977. The original nameplate was Chrysler New Yorker, since handed down to a smaller, front-drive car. The M-bodies were squeezed out of Windsor in 1983 by Chrysler's successful mini-van, the same vehicle now squeezing it out of its second home, the St.

Louis II John Guiniven, a Chrysler spokesman. The Kenosha jobs will go to laid-off AMC workers, not Chrysler workers. THE IDEA is unusual but not unprecedented, said Daniel Kirchner, a historian employed by the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association. For example, Kaiser-Fraser Corp. built a compact called the Allstate for sale through Sears Roebuck and Co.

stores in 1951 and 1952, Kirchner said. Cappy said in a telephone interview he hopes to make other contract-production deals to use up excess capacity at Kenosha and at AMC's Brampton, plant. He said AMC already has received an inquiry from "an Asian company," which he declined to name. The deal with Chrysler will not be "locked tight" until AMC gets government aid to retrain its workers plus work-rule concessions from union locals representing about 700 AMC employes in Wisconsin, Cappy said. The largest union group involved, United Auto Workers Local 72, representing 2,500 Kenosha plant workers, last week approved contract changes sought by AMC.

The com NBD wraps up two corporate mergers NBD Bancorp. Inc. said Monday it has completed its acquisitions of Union Bancorp, of Grand Rapids and Midwest Commerce Corp. of Elkhart. Ind.

The agreement with Union, valued at $104 million, was announced in December. It was approved by Union shareholders and the Federal Reserve Board in May. The merger agreement with Midwest, valued at $61 million, was announced in May 1985. It was approved by shareholders in October and by the Federal Reserve Board in May. The acquisition of Midwest is NBD's first interstate expansion since a Michigan law went into effect this year allowing the state's banks to acquire or merge with banks in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and Illinois.

NBD representative Renee Ahee said NBD is looking for strong merger partners outside Michigan, but would not comment on a published report that there are merger talks between NBD and Northern Trust the fourth largest bank company in Chicago. NBD the largest bank holding company in Michigan with assets of $15.9 billion as of March 31, owns 25 banks and 21 non-bank subsidiaries. I in Michigan A Current finance incentives in dealer showroom Ford Motor Co. Here are current customer incentives in dealer showrooms. General Motors started its new program today.

The other automakers had no immediate comment about plans to continue or expand their programs. General Motors Corp. ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICES INC. of Troy and its subsidiary, Ovonic Imaging Systems said they will offer to the public up to 4.96 million units, consisting of one share of Ovonic common stock and one ECD new warrant. The proceeds will be used to develop, market and produce contact image sensors and flat panel displays employing ECD's amorphous and related materials technology.

J.P. INDUSTRIES INC. of Ann Arbor said it has agreed to buy the McCord Gasket Corp. subsidiary of Ex-Cell-0 Corp. of Troy for an undisclosed amount.

COLE'S QUALITY FOODS, maker of frozen garlic bread and pizza products, will add 50 new jobs by doubling the company's production facilities and building a new headquarters in Muskegon. The $4 million project, with $2.25 million financed through industrial revenue bonds, should be completed in August. CHERRY HILL PROCESSING of Bailey plans to resume apple and cherry processing by renovating its plant, part of which was destroyed by fire in October 1 984. The 1 .3 million project should be finished in time for the next harvest in September, when about 150 workers will return to work. AMOCO PRODUCTION CO.

officials said a deep well drilled in Arenac County has led to a significant natural gas discovery. About 2.5 million cubic feet of gas flow daily from one of the well's zones up to 10,686 feet below ground, and about 2.3 million cubic feet from a zone below that. Large amounts of natural gas in liquid form also were found. Financing program Models Expires 6.9, 36-mos. Subcompacts, such as Escort; July 5 or 99, 48-mos.

some mid-size cars, such as or 10.9, 60-mos. Cougar 7.9, 36-mos. Some mid-size cars, such as July 5 or 9.9, 48-mos. Tempo; sporty Mustang or 10.9, 60-mos. Chrysler Corp.

Financing program Models Expires $1,000 rebate Some small cars, such as July 10 or 8.8, 48-mos. Lebaron GTS or 9.8, 60-mos. $500 rebate All other cars July 10 or 8.8, 48-mos. or 9.8, 60-mos. Financing program Models Expires 5.9, Subcompacts such as Nova; some Sept.

24 30-mos. mid-size cars, such as Century and larger models, such as LeSabre 6.9, Subcompacts, some mid-size cars Sept. 24 36-mos. and some larger cars, such as Riviera 8.9, 48-mos. Most models Sept.

24 or 9.9, 60-mos. American Motors Corp. Financing program Models Expires EPA favoring auto cannisters to halt gas fumes By JOSEPH MENN Free Press Business Wrller The Environmental Protection Agency is leaning toward making auto manufacturers instead of gas stations lead the fight to capture gas fumes that escape during refueling Agency administrator Lee Thomas "is leaning toward onboard control mechanisms," such as charcoal cannisters on all cars, said EPA spokesman David Cohen. An official proposal is not expected before August. Most cars already have versions of the cannisters, but they are too small to do the job, Cohen said.

AUTO MANUFACTURERS argue that installing fume-proof nozzles to gas pumps would be cheaper and faster. GM engineer Stuart Martens said it would cost $420 million for auto manufacturers to install cannisters or $62 million for gas suppliers to get the special nozzles. General Motors Corp. estimated the cost per vehicle of installing cannisters at $30; Ford Motor Corp. estimated $53; and Chrysler Corp.

estimated $85, said Richard Wilson, EPA head of auto and truck pollution. The oil industry's American Petroleum Institute estimated the cost at $15 per vehicle. "As we dug under the figures, one thing we've found is that they depended on what they were allowing for profit margins and body styling," Wilson said in explaining the discrepancy. THE CANNISTER METHOD is more efficient in the long run and is less of an inconvenience than the modified nozzles, he said. But it would take several years for the old fleet of cars and trucks to turn over.

Installing devices to capture the vapors as they leave the pump could be done more quickly and would allow the EPA to target the most polluted areas, which include most cities. California and the District of Columbia already require vapor-capturing nozzles. The experience has shown that the enforcement of those laws is difficult more so than enforcing the installment of devices in cars would be, Wilson said. July 6 Subcompact Alliance and Escort Incentives at dealer discretion Source OM, Ford, Chrysler end AMC Lobby faults Chrysler-Mitsubishi pact etcetera NEW HOME SALES fell 1 1 .6 percent in May to an annual rate of 764,000 units, the biggest decline in more than two years, the government reported. The average price of a new home climbed to $116,100 in May, 3.8 percent higher than in April and 18.3 percent higher than a year ago.

MICHIGAN AGRICULTURE officials announced the official opening of an Asian Trade Office designed to boost sales of the state's food products and technology throughout the Asia-Pacific region. DESPITE FALLING GASOLINE prices and a boom in domestic tourism, the recreational vehicle industry expects sales for 1986 to drop by nearly four percent, said Michael Keech, publisher of the trade newsletter EXTRA! THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT sold $7.4 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 5.99 percent, down from 6.09 percent last week. Another $7.4 billion was sold in six-month bills at an average discount rate of 5.96 percent, down from 6.13 percent last week. Compiled by SUSAN IHNE Fruehaul' quiet on Edelman offer to raise his bid By HELEN FOGEL Free Press Labor Writer A Virginia-based lobby filed unfair labor practice charges Monday against the Chrysler Motors Corp. joint venture in Illinois and the UAW.

The National Right-to-Work Legal Defense Foundation is the group that unsuccessfully challenged the Saturn labor agreement for giving priority hiring rights to General Motors Corp. workers. The lobby charged the Chrysler-Mitsubishi joint venture, which is to begin producing cars in Bloomington-Normal, 111., by 1988, has a secret, Saturn-like agreement that recognizes the UAW as exclusive bargaining representative for workers at the plant. However, the union and joint venture company known as Diamond-Star Motors Corp. said there is no labor agreement for the venture.

"It is essentially the same case as our Saturn agreement charges," foundation spokesman Marty Kaufman said In a telephone interview. "We are going to keep pressing these cases until someone higher up" finds them illegal. THE FOUNDATION'S charges KAUFMAN SAID his group is basing the charges on a June 8 Detroit Free Press report on a convention speech by UAW President Owen Bieber in which he told members that the union will represent workers at the Diamond-Star plant. However, the story did not quote Bieber speaking about a specific labor agreement. Michael Ryan, regional attorney for the board in Peoria, said an investigation is under way and a determination is expected in 30 days.

Kaufman said the foundation also expects to appeal the Saturn dismissal to the full NLRB. Since Collyer in her job as general counsel determines what cases the full board will hear, the foundation expects the Saturn case may be dismissed again. However, Kaufman said, if Collyer does not refer the case to the full board, the foundation will file suit against her asking the court to void the Saturn decision. The Springfield, foundation is the legal arm of the National Right-to-Work Committee. against the UAW and GM's new Saturn Corp.

subsidiary in Tennessee alleging that the union was illegally recognized as the bargaining agent for workers were dismissed three weeks ago by Rosemary Collyer, counsel to the National Labor Relations Board. A tentative UAW-Saturn labor accord, reached last year, provides for a majority of the jobs to go to GM hourly workers, all whom are represented by the UAW. The foundation, which is opposed to what it calls "compulsory unionism," said Saturn recognized the UAW as a bargaining representative at the plant illegally without a vote of the still-to-be-hired workers. Saturn is to begin producing cars in Spring Hill by the end of the decade. The charges against Chrysler and the UAW, filed with the NLRB in Peoria, 111., claim the UAW and company have a secret, similar agreement.

As it did in the Saturn case, the foundation asked the NLRB to declare the agreement illegal. The foundation also believes that the agreement contains a union-shop clause that would require workers to join the UAW, said foundation staff attorney Rossie Alston. getting It straight By LUTHER JACKSON Free Press Business Writer Fruehauf Corp. directors, in the midst of a leveraged buyout to fend off corporate raider Asher Edelman, did not respond Monday to Edelman's offer to raise his bid for the company to $49.50 a share. Edelman had given the board until 10 a.m.

Monday to respond to his offer. "We have not heard anything," Edelman aide Corey Horowitz said Monday afternoon. "We're waiting and we are considering our alternatives." Last week, Fruehauf management and Merrill Lynch Greater Detroit Alliance of Business' ex-president should have been identified as E. Daniel Grady in Friday's Michigan corporate report. Publisher group to buy Sun-Times '4 9 Associated Press CHICAGO Chicago Sun-Times publisher Robert Page and a group of investors Monday announced an agreement to buy the nation's llth-largest newspaper for $145 million.

The Page group agreed to buy the Pulitzer Prize-winning daily from the Rupert Murdoch-controlled News America peisonal finance Penny stock brokers What brokerages deal in penny stocks? Do you know the address of the Penny Stock newsletter? Co. started a tender offer as part of a leveraged buy-out to take the truck-trailer and auto parts manufacturer private through a newly formed company, LMC Holdings Inc. Under the buy-out, the company will borrow at least $850 million to buy 78 percent of Fruehauf's more than 22 million shares and convertible bonds. Detroit-based Fruehauf would not comment Monday. THE COMPANY stock closed Monday on the New York Stock Exchange slightly under Edelman's offer at $49.38, off 13 cents on volume of 285,800 shares.

Fruehauf's moves last week were designed to fight a $41-a-share hostile tender offer made by Edelman and associates last month. That offer is scheduled to expire at midnight July 11. Edelman has said his investment bankers, E.F. Mutton Co. Inc.

and its bankers, Banque Paribas, are "highly confident" of their ability to be able to finance his latest proposal. Meanwhile, Halcyon Investments, a New York-based arbitrage firm, has raised its stake in Fruehauf to 8.8 percent or 1.9 million shares of the outstanding common stock. Halcyon bought 535,000 shares June 25 and June 26 at prices ranging between $47,925 and $48,387 a share, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It previously owned 6.4 percent of the company or 1.375 million shares. Publishing Co.

in a deal scheduled to close Wednesday. The possibility that Page and the investors' group would buy the newspaper was disclosed last week. It is the second time in less than three years that the paper has changed hands. ITiaM Vntarnricae Tn cnlH tha nAUcntt. Sun-Times building in downtown Chicago.

Other partners in the Page group included Adler Shaykin, a New York investment house, and the Equitable Capital Management Corp. and Peers a New York merchant bank. Citicorp Leveraged Capital Group is to provide the bank portion of the financing. Leonard Shaykin, a managing director of Adler Shaykin, will serve as chairman of the new company and Page will serve as president, publisher and chief executive officer. Donald Piazza, executive vice-president and general manager of the paper, also will participate in the buying group.

Page joined the newspaper in 1984 after Murdoch acquired it from Field Enterprises, which Marshall Field and his half-brother Frederick dissolved when they sold the newspaper. Then, as now, the Sun-Times' rival is the larger Chicago Tribune, and some interpreted Murdoch's purchase of the Sun-Times as a chance to continue his competition with the Tribune Co. Murdoch's Post continues to compete against the Tribune Daily News in New York. 5 fW V-J per to Murdoch Jan. 9, 1984.

Nowadays penny stocks more often cost dollars anything under $10 is lumped with penny stocks. So it is not a question of finding a broker, but a broker with a commission schedule costing less than the price of the stocks. Call around to find a brokerage that has a special fee schedule for roundlot trades of stocks priced under $1. The Penny Stock Journal is published monthly in New York City and is available at many newsstands for $2.50 an issue, or for an annual subscription of $25 from: P.O. Box 2009, Mahopac, N.Y.

10541. Beatson Wallace, Boston Globe But Murdoch company had to divest itself of the Sun-Times after it acquired Chicago's WFLD-TV in Page March, because of federal rules prohibiting ownership of a television station and newspaper in the same city. THE PAGE GROUP has agreed to buy the newspaper and its assets, along with real estate including the seven-story.