Wang wins Hughes contract
BILLERICA – Wang Global has won a contract to maintain computer satellite networks for Hughes Electronics customers. Wang said the contract is worth more than $100 million. Since 1994, Wang has maintained networks for Hughes Network Systems, a unit of Hughes Electronics, owned by General Motors Inc. The three-year contract calls for Wang to maintain more than 105,000 customer locations. Wang also won a contract earlier last week to install and manage the computer network of First Union Corp., according to the Boston Globe.
Vanson Leathers expands in Fall River
FALL RIVER – Vanson Leathers Inc., reputedly the world’s largest maker of custom leather garments, will expand its operations in this city, the company has announced. Vanson which employs 150 people at its Broadway Mill complex, announced it would add manufacturing space and relocate its retail outlet and corporate headquarters to the Laurel Lake Mill. Founded in Boston in 1975 as an importer of motorcycle parts and jackets, Vanson gradually shifted to the production of finely crafted custom leather products for a specialty market, and began manufacturing in Fall River in 1987. Its products range from men’s and women’s leather jackets and vests to gloves and pants.
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Plans goal is to increase affordable housing
BOSTON — Housing developers and investors would get tax breaks for reserving units for people with low and moderate incomes under a plan the House was preparing to propose, based on one created by Congress. “We think it will at least provide some moderating influences on accelerating rents,” House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran told the Boston Herald. He said it was an attempt to stop the loss of low-income housing in the Boston area. Rent control laws were phased out in Boston and Cambridge. It is expected that the proposed five-year program would produce up to 750 new units of affordable housing every year, and would cost a total of $60 million.
Fleet unveils severance package
BOSTON — Fleet Financial Group has outlined a severance plan — which includes up to 60 weeks of pay — for employees who will be laid off when it acquires BankBoston. Fleet employees earning less than $75,000 a year would be paid for up to 52 weeks and those earning more would be paid for up to 60 weeks, the Boston Herald reported. The plan was distributed to 36,000 Fleet employees. The proposed $16 billion deal is expected to close this fall. Under BankBoston’s package, announced a week earlier, employees who lose their jobs will receive pay for up to 82 or 86.7 weeks, depending on salary level and years of service. Fleet and BankBoston officials, who announced the deal last month, said they expected to cut 5,000 jobs, not including employees of the estimated 270 bank branches expected to be sold.
Aerovox acquires Mexican electronics firm
NEW BEDFORD–Aerovox Inc. has announced that it has acquired the capacitor business of Compania General de Electronico, S.A. of Mexico City. Aerovox issued $4.9 million in cash and notes and 700,000 shares of stock to the seller. A new company has been formed to operate in Mexico City, CGE Aerovox, S.A. de C.V. as a wholly owned subsidiary of Aerovox Inc. Aerovox, a manufacturer of film, paper and aluminum electrolytic capacitors, claims that as a result of the acquisition, it is the largest manufacturer of motor-start capacitors in the world.
Fleet signs on with Major League Baseball
BOSTON – Fleet Financial Group has announced it is becoming an official sponsor of Major League Baseball with a three-year deal that will cost between $4 million and $6 million dollars. Fleet is already a local sponsor of both the Red Sox and Yankees. Fleet’s chairman and chief executive officer Terrence Murray said, “It makes even more sense now having announced our intentions with BankBoston. We are even more of a national bank with national customers.” Fleet is in the process of acquiring BankBoston. Although the
Boston Globe reported that the deal is the first such marketing agreement between a bank and Major League Baseball, John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. is the exclusive sponsor of Major League Baseball in the financial services category.
Boston gets rights to Olympic Congress
BOSTON – Rights to host the United States Olympic Congress in 2002 have been awarded to the city of Boston, officials of the Massachusetts Sports Partnership and the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau reported last week. The congress attracts more than 1,000 of the top sports executives in the country. It is the first time that the gathering is being held in New England. A Convention & Visitors Bureau executive predicted that the four or five day stay in the city by the sports officials would bring in about $1.8 million.
SLI agrees to buy Supreme Lighting
CANTON – SLI Inc., in an effort to expand its sales nationally, has agreed to buy Supreme Lighting, the oldest and largest independent light bulb maker in the country. SLI is already one of the world’s largest lighting company. Neither company would disclose the cost of the purchase. Supreme Lighting is based in Mullins, S.C., and more than 80 percent of its sales are in Latin America, Australia and Europe.
Stone & Webster wins two area cleanups
BOSTON – Stone & Webster Inc. has received orders from the Army Corps of Engineers to clean up two superfund sites in New England. The sites are the Nyanza Chemical in Ashland and the Pownal Tannery in Pownal, Vt. The cleanups will be financed under the existing $50 million New England remedial action contract.
