Shipyard renovator fires RI contractor
QUINCY – Massachusetts Heavy Industries, its renovation of the Fore River Shipyard here a year behind schedule, has fired the contractor, O. Ahlborg & Sons of Cranston, RI. The contractor left the job last month, asserting that it was owed $3 million in back pay by MHI, which disputes the claim. The dispute with the contractor is the latest of a series of problems MHI has had with shipyard. The company missed paying its June payment of $1.5 million to its principal lender, Fleet Financial, Inc., but later announced it had obtained a six-month reprieve on that payment.
Bosox turn to Fleet for ballpark advice
BOSTON – Fleet Financial will be the Red Sox’ financial adviser in their planned development of a new ballpark to replace 96-year-old Fenway Park. Fleet already has a long-standing relationship with the Red Sox and is a national banking sponsor of Major League Baseball. The cost of the new stadium that the Sox want to build adjacent to the existing stadium has been estimated at $545 million, but the Sox have yet to specify whether or how much money they will seek in public money or subsidies.
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Ellen Frank named president of Serono Labs
NORWELL – Ellen R. Frank, who has been with Serono Laboratories here for seven years has been named president of the company, a subsidiary of the Ares-Serono Group of Geneva, Switzerland, a developer of pharmaceutical products for female reproductive health. Frank will succeed Hisham Samra, who had been president of Serono since 1992. He has been named director of clinical development and regulatory affairs in Geneva for the whole company.
Harvard Vanguard to join Tufts
CAMBRIDGE — Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates will be joining the Tufts Health Plan network beginning January 1. The shift will make Harvard Vanguard doctors available to Tufts Health Plan members, but not to Tufts Secure Horizon plan for seniors. Harvard Vanguard has about 500 doctors in eastern Massachusetts.
HMOs warned to shape up or lose tax status
BOSTON — Secretary of State William Galvin has issued an ultimatum to Bay State HMOs: shape up or lose your nonprofit tax status. Galvin was expected to release findings from a six-month study showing that the state’s biggest health maintenance organizations are operating more like for-profit businesses than nonprofits, even though they are losing money. The HMOs in the study are Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc., Fallon Community Health Plan, and Tufts Associated Health Maintenance Organization. Calling the HMOs “managed costs and diminishing care,” Galvin said the companies must institute sweeping consumer-friendly reforms or he will take away their tax-exempt status.
Manpower survey bullish on Bay State employment
BOSTON — From Cambridge to Springfield, the “help wanted” signs should be plentiful this fall around Massachusetts. According to a recent study, the tight labor market brought on by good economic times is expected to continue in most regions between October and December. “There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to be unemployed in the state of Massachusetts — none,” said Cathy Paige, northeast vice president for Manpower Inc., which recently released its quarterly Employment Outlook Survey. In her 18 years with the temporary placement firm, Paige said she has never seen so many consecutive quarters of employers desperate for workers. Manpower reported that an average of 27 percent of Massachusetts companies queried said they planned to add workers in the October-December quarter. Five percent said they planned to cut jobs, while 56 percent said they anticipated no change and 12 percent said they didn’t know.
John Hancock moves closer to IPO
BOSTON — The John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co.’s board of directors has adopted a plan to distribute the company’s value to policy holders in the form of stock, cash or enhanced policy values, the company announced. It’s the latest step in the company’s move toward an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. John Hancock, which was founded in Boston in 1862, announced last year it was planning to go public, joining two of its top competitors, Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Insurance Co., and New York-based Metropolitan Life Insurance, as they move ahead in the clunky process known as “demutualization.” As a mutual insurance company, John Hancock is currently owned by its policy holders. But it’s looking forward to the days when shareholders call the shots. John Hancock has even settled on a ticker symbol: JHF, short for what will become the company’s new name, John Hancock Financial Services. Demutualization allows John Hancock to more effectively compete in the rapidly consolidating financial services world, where the lines that once divided industries like insurance, banking and mutual funds have begun to blur, Stephen L. Brown, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer said Wednesday after announcing the board’s decision.
Towns buying street lights from utilities
BOSTON — In an attempt to cut electricity bills, many Massachusetts communities are planning to buy their street lights from utility companies. Massachusetts electric deregulation law requires power companies to sell their street lights. Communities that buy the lights expect to save money by buying power and maintenance service from lower-cost suppliers.
