Friday, July 18, 2003 | 11:39 a.m.
Software merger completed
SAN FRANCISCO -- Business software maker PeopleSoft Inc. said today it has completed its acquisition of J.D. Edwards & Co., a purchase that will pose a new and more expensive obstacle for Oracle Corp. in its hostile takeover bid for PeopleSoft.
The purchase of 110 million J.D. Edwards shares represents 88 percent of the stock, the companies said. PeopleSoft said it expects to acquire the remaining shares before the end of August. The combined purchases are valued at $1.8 billion.
SEC probing options
NEW YORK -- The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun a formal investigation of the American Stock Exchange concerning the way it has regulated its options trading floor, it was disclosed on Thursday.
The disclosure was made by NASD, which owns the American Stock Exchange, in its annual report.
The investigation appears to concern whether the Amex has lived up to promises made by it and other options exchanges in 2000.
Utility debt issuance approved
The state Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved Nevada Power Co.'s request to issue $350 million in long-term debt.
The Las Vegas electric company requested the permission to offer the debt in order to refinance $210 million in debt that will mature Sept. 15 and another $140 million in debt that will mature Oct. 15, filings with the PUC said.
Firm files for $418 million IPO
Citadel Broadcasting Co., a Las Vegas company that owns 144 FM radio stations in the United States, but none in Las Vegas, filed with regulators to raise as much as $418 million in an initial public offering of its stock.
About 22 million shares will be sold for $17 to $19 each, Citadel said in a registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The stock will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CDL."
Citadel has expanded its business by acquiring radio stations in markets ranked No. 30 to No. 150 by market share, since 1999. The company said it gets about 88 percent of its revenue from operating stations in mid-sized markets, which also offer "substantial opportunity" for more acquisitions and revenue growth.
The company's net loss narrowed to $89.2 million last year from $203 million, as broadcasting revenue gained 7.9 percent to $348.9 million from $323.5 million.
Hospital indicted
SAN DIEGO -- A Tenet Healthcare hospital in San Diego was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday on charges that it illegally paid doctors to refer patients to the hospital.
The indictment of the hospital, Alvarado Hospital Medical Center, had been expected since its chief executive, Barry Weinbaum, was indicted on similar charges last month. But the new indictment, which also names Weinbaum and supersedes the previous one, contains many more examples of suspected wrongdoing.
According to the new 17-count indictment, Alvarado paid more than $10 million for more than 100 physician-relocation agreements from 1992 to 2002. Such agreements are supposed to be used to recruit doctors to move to the community served by the hospital.
The indictment says, however, that Tenet arranged for a substantial portion of the money to go not to the doctors being recruited but the medical practices in the Alvarado service area that they were joining. This money was in exchange for patient referrals, the indictment contends. Federal law prohibits payments to induce referral of any patients covered by Medicare or other federal health programs because such decisions are supposed to be based solely on the best interests of the patient.
Tenet Healthcare, based in Santa Barbara, Calif., said it would defend itself vigorously. "We believe this very broad indictment mistakenly attacks a well-established, lawful and common means by which U.S. hospitals attract needed physicians to their communities," Trevor Fetter, the president and acting chief executive, said in a statement. Tenet said it was perfectly logical that some money paid in a relocation agreement should go toward the added overhead a practice incurs when it takes on a new doctor.
DVD-, CD-making business sold
NEW YORK -- In another move to reduce its debt, AOL Time Warner Inc. said today it is selling Warner Music's DVD-and CD-manufacturing businesses to a Canadian company for $1.05 billion.
The cash deal was the latest in a series of moves aimed at cutting AOL's debt from nearly $26 billion at the beginning of this year to $20 billion by the end of 2004.
In recent months, AOL has sold its 50 percent stake in the Comedy Central cable channel to Viacom Inc. for $1.2 billion and shed an $800 million stake in Hughes Electronics Corp. AOL settled a lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. for $750 million.
AOL Time Warner also is negotiating a sale of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team, the Atlanta Thrashers hockey team and the rights to the place they play, Philips Arena, to Dallas car dealer David McDavid. Analysts have said AOL Time Warner could reap $750 million selling those teams and baseball's Atlanta Braves.
The CD and DVD business is going to Scarborough, Ontario-based Cinram International Inc., which will take over manufacturing, packaging and distribution for Warner Music, Warner Home Video and New Line Cinema in North America and Europe.
Profit improves for Nevada bank owner
Salt Lake City-based Zions Bancorporation, parent company of Nevada State Bank, on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $92.4 million, or $1.02 per share. The results are a 12.6 percent increase over the $82.1 million, or 89 cents per share, posted in the same 2002 quarter.
Zions also reported loan growth of 4.6 percent from June 2002 to June 2003. Total loans at the end of the second quarter were $19.4 billion.
The company's stock advanced 3.41 percent this morning, trading at $53.36, up $1.76. Nevada State Bank is the state's fourth-largest bank with $2.2 billion in deposits and market share of 8.2 percent, the most recent statistics from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
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