Business briefs for January 31, 2002

Thursday, Jan. 31, 2002 | 11 a.m.

Beazer Homes buying big builder

ATLANTA -- Beazer Homes USA Inc. agreed to acquire home builder Crossmann Communities Inc. in a cash-and-stock transaction the companies valued at about $603 million, including the assumption of debt.

The combination of Atlanta's Beazer and Indianapolis' Crossmann will create the nation's sixth-largest home-building company, according to the companies. Beazer said Crossmann will become a wholly owned unit of Beazer.

The deal will provide Beazer, one of the country's 10 largest single-family home builders, with access to the Midwest. Crossmann is a regional builder in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Beazer has operations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Based upon an anticipated closing date in the third quarter, Beazer expects the deal to be neutral to its fiscal 2002 earnings and to add approximately $1 a share to earnings in fiscal 2003.

B of A fires three over huge Enron loss

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bank of America Corp. fired three employees who managed the firm's business with Enron Corp. after the third-biggest bank lost $231 million when the energy trader filed for bankruptcy.

Bank of America is the first bank to fire executives because of Enron's collapse. Other financial firms from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. to Citigroup Inc., which wrote off more than $2.7 billion in the fourth quarter because of Enron and Argentina's debt default, may take similar steps, investors say.

Extra LV-Dallas flight set

American Airlines will add a ninth daily nonstop round-trip flight between Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Las Vegas in March.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline is starting the flight March 2 as part of the company's plan to add 41 flights to 37 destinations within about a month.

American has 26 daily flights and one running six days a week to and from Las Vegas.

Theater giant out of bankruptcy

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Regal Cinemas Inc., the nation's largest movie theater chain, emerged from voluntary bankruptcy protection Wednesday with its chairman poised to head an even larger consolidated group.

The Knoxville-based chain, taking a route similar to several of its competitors weighed down by debt from aggressive theater expansion, filed for Chapter 11 protection in October.

With the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Nashville, Regal resurfaced Wednesday with 3,655 screens at 302 theaters still in operation, creditors repaid and under new ownership.

As part of the plan, ownership of Regal was transferred from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. of New York and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. of Dallas, which paid $1 billion for Regal in 1998, to a consortium led by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz.

Anschutz already owns the United Artists and Edwards theater chains, both of which previously completed Chapter 11 restructuring, and will now merge operations with Regal.

Firm posts first profit

BELLEVUE, WASH. -- Expedia Inc. reported its first profit and surpassed rival Travelocity.com Inc. to become the largest Internet travel seller as it increased its number of more-profitable hotel bookings.

The company's fiscal second-quarter profit was $5.22 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with a loss of $25.3 million, or 53 cents, a year earlier, Expedia said.