Business: Business digest

Business digest

Compiled from Times wires

ALLSTATE TO BUY REPAIR CHAIN: Allstate Corp. said it is buying auto repair company Sterling Collision Centers Inc. to make car repairs and insurance claim processing more efficient. Allstate didn't disclose terms of the purchase. Allstate said it won't change Sterling's name or its management. The insurer added that customers still will be able to choose who repairs their cars.

WORLDCOM BOND SALE: WorldCom Inc. is raising as much as $12.2-billion in the biggest bond sale by a U.S. company. The long-distance phone company, which increased the transaction from $8-billion, may use the proceeds to refinance short-term debt as commercial-paper investors shy away from all but top-rated companies. WorldCom declined to comment.

PROPOSAL COULD CUT PHONE RATES: Telephone users could see a drop in their monthly long-distance bills under a Federal Communications Commission proposal to stop phone companies from passing on to customers more than the government charges them to underwrite services for the poor. Most carriers collect from consumers by assessing them a percentage of their total long-distance charges. But this percentage can be significantly higher than what the government asks of the phone companies.

RIVAL BID FOR SHIPYARD: Northrop Grumman Corp. launched an unsolicited bid to acquire Newport News Shipbuilding Inc. in a cash and stock deal that matches General Dynamics Corp.'s planned acquisition of the Virginia shipbuilder. In a statement, General Dynamics said it was "disappointed" with the move. General Dynamics announced two weeks ago it would acquire Newport News Shipbuilding for $2.1-billion in cash and assumed debt. Northrop Grumman got regulatory clearance in March to buy defense electronics and shipbuilder Litton Industries Inc. HOLLAND & KNIGHT ADDS ATTORNEYS: The Los Angeles office of Tampa-based Holland & Knight hired away seven attorneys from Ross, Sacks & Glazier, a firm specializing in trusts and estates. The hires boosted Holland's lawyer count to 49 at its L.A. office, which opened last year. Bruce Ross will co-chair Holland's national trust and estates litigation practice.

PENNEY HIRES EX-ZALE EXEC: J.C. Penney Co. Inc. named former Zale Corp. chairman and CEO Beryl Raff to run the department store company's jewelry business. Raff, 50, will be senior vice president and general merchandise manager of fine jewelry effective May 21. Raff left in February after Zale missed quarterly profit estimates.

PURINA MILLS RECEIVES OFFER: Trading in Purina Mills Inc. stock was halted Tuesday afternoon when the company announced it had received a takeover proposal from an unidentified third party. The announcement followed a phenomenal week during which shares of Purina Mills, a St. Louis animal feed producer spun off from Ralston Purina, more than doubled in heavy trading. The stock was trading at $17.90, up 55 cents, when trading was halted. Shares ended the day at $17.65. Possible suitors include Archer Daniels Midland Co., Cargill Inc. or ConAgra Foods, said food analyst Jeffrey Kanter of Prudential Securities Inc.

EX-UNION CARBIDE CHAIRMAN HIRED: Hercules Inc. named former Union Carbide Corp. chairman William Joyce as chief executive. Joyce, who headed Carbide when it was sold to Dow Chemical Co. this year, becomes CEO immediately and will become chairman July 1, succeeding Thomas Gossage, who'd been interim chief executive and chairman since October. Gossage announced in November that Hercules was for sale.

TREASURY AUCTION: Yields on five-year Treasury notes fell in Tuesday's auction. The yield was 4.660 percent, down from 4.904 percent at the last auction Feb. 6. The notes will carry a coupon interest rate of 45/8 percent. A total of $13-billion in notes were sold out of bids totaling $26.4-billion.

WHITE HOUSE LEANS TOWARD SEC PICK: President Bush intends to nominate securities lawyer Harvey L. Pitt as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to news reports. The Associated Press said there was no immediate indication of when the White House would announce the nomination. Pitt, who served as a general counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the 1970s, represented inside trader Ivan Boesky during the Wall Street scandals of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Pitt, 56, is a partner in Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson in Washington. His name had been circulating for weeks as a leading candidate for the SEC position after several Wall Street and corporate executives turned down the White House's offer of the job.

WHOLESALE INVENTORIES RISE: Stockpiles at U.S. wholesalers rose in March, the Commerce Department said, as sales declined more than any month since January 1996. Wholesale inventories rose 0.1 percent to $327.2-billion, mainly reflecting increases of drugs and apparel, after a revised 0.2 percent decrease in February. Sales at wholesalers plunged 1.3 percent to $248.5-billion in March after falling 0.6 percent during February. CARTER-WALLACE PARCELED OUT: Carter-Wallace Inc. has agreed to sell itself in pieces to several buyers, including rival Church & Dwight Co. Church & Dwight is joining with private equity group Kelso & Co. to buy Carter-Wallace's consumer products business. The Church & Dwight-Kelso joint venture, dubbed Armkel LLC, will pay $739-million in cash and debt for Carter-Wallace brands such as Nair hair remover, First Response pregnancy tests and Trojan condoms. Separately, Church & Dwight is buying Carter-Wallace's Arrid antiperspirant and Lambert Kay pet care businesses for $128-million. And a group of equity firms including MedPointe Capital Partners LLC, Carlyle Group and Cypress Group agreed to buy Carter-Wallace's remaining healthcare businesses for $408-million.

TECHHEALTH LANDS FUNDING: TechHealth Inc., which helps worker's compensation companies manage patients more efficiently, said it has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Kiernan Ventures LLC, a new venture capital company founded by Peter D. Kiernan III of New York City. Kiernan, former managing partner of Goldman Sachs, was a small investor in TechHealth's initial funding of $5-million in December 1999. He also serves on the Tampa company's board. As part of the funding, Kiernan becomes chairman of TechHealth's board, and Tom Sweet, one of the company's founders and its chief executive, has been named president. TechHealth's two other founders, Steven MacDonald and Chuck O'Neill, left the company earlier this year. Sweet said TechHealth expects revenues of about $5-million this year and should be cash-flow positive by the first quarter of 2002.