Cherry & Webb chain sold
ATTLEBORO – Cherry & Webb, the women’s clothing and cosmetics chain in New England, has been sold to a New York-based store owner. With 44 stores throughout New England, Cherry & Webb had been privately owned by the Tisch family. The purchase for an undisclosed price was made by Irwin Gindi and his family, former operators of the Century 21 department store chain. A spokesperson for the company said none of its 44 stores would be closed, nor were any layoffs of its 1,300 employees anticipated. Locally, C&W has stores in Barrington, East Providence, Lincoln, Warwick, Woonsocket, and Attleboro, where its headquarters are located, North Dartmouth and Swansea.
Portland bank eyes Fleet, BankBoston
BOSTON – With the Fleet, BankBoston linkage expected to result in the divestiture of about 200 branches in Massachusetts, Peoples Heritage Financial Group of Portland, Maine, has indicated an interest in acquiring all of them. A Peoples spokesman said the company was interested in bidding for all of the branches as a package. If the bid is successful, he added, Peoples would then decide whether to keep or resell them. Fleet/BankBoston have estimated that a total of 270 branches in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island would be sold off if the two banks are joined.
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Boston Edison settles tax issue with Plymouth
PLYMOUTH – Boston Edison Co. has agreed to pay the town of Plymouth $141 million over a 15 year period for property taxes to meet the requirements of industry-deregulation legislation. A unit of BEC Energy, Boston Edison owns the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth. Completion of a proposed sale by BEC of Plymouth Nuclear to Entergy Corp. of New Orleans, La. For $80 million is expected this year. The state Department of Telecommunication and Energy approved the sale last week.
On-line grocery firm gets financing
WESTWOOD – ShopLink Inc., a company that provides on-line grocery shopping and delivery to some suburbs around Boston, announced that it had obtained $12 million in equity financing from a group of investors led by Soros Private Equity Partners LLC. In addition to providing funds, Soros will have a representative on ShopLink’s board of directors as both the company and investors are searching for a way to make the on-line shipping business profitable.
Boston bank seeks to acquire New York bank
BOSTON – Boston Bank of Commerce, with two years of 33 percent annual growth on its loans accumulating, is seeking to expand, starting with the Carver Bancorp of New York City. However, Carver, so far, is resisting the takeover. Boston Bank of Commerce has already acquired 7 percent of Carver Bank stock over the last two months and has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission of its desire to merge with the New York bank. Oddly enough, Carver is a much bigger bank, with assets of $400 million, compared with Boston Bank’s $108 million but the merger proposal calls for Boston Bank of Commerce to manage the combined banks. Bank of Commerce was founded in 1966 as Unity Bank & Trust Co., and was one of the first banks in the city to offer home loans for minority neighborhoods.
Block selloff by banks opposed
BOSTON – Led by Congressman Barney Frank, eight congressmen representing various parts of Massachusetts have notified federal regulators and the Department of Justice that they are opposed to any sale to a single entity of all or most of the branches of Fleet Financial Group or BankBoston that would be divested if a proposed joining of the two organizations is approved. Fleet proposes to buy BankBoston for $16 billion, creating the eighth largest bank in the country, but the largest -by far–in the region. Some interest has been expressed in buying all of the estimated 270 banks that would be divested to satisfy regulators. The congressmen urge an opposite approach, asserting that communities would be better served by distribution of sale among various community-based banks.
Massachusetts jobless rate drops
BOSTON – The job situation in Massachusetts continued to brighten last month as the jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted rate of 2.9 percent, compared with 3.2 percent in January. In Rhode Island the seasonally adjusted rate was 3.9 percent. Nationally the rate last month was 4.4 percent. The Massachusetts rate is a 29-year low. While jobs increased in almost every sector of the economy in Massachusetts, manufacturing continued to lag, with a loss of 1,900 jobs in that area in February. The loss was attributed to weak exports, especially to Asia which is still struggling economically.
Mass General announces job reductions
BOSTON – Citing a budget shortfall of about $5 million, Massachusetts General Hospital informed its employees of its plans to eliminate 130 jobs and increase its retail prices by 10 percent. Some of the shortfall is attributed to the continuing pressure of Medicare cuts spread over a five-year period.
