American Tower completes acquisition
BOSTON – American Tower Corp., the leading owner and manager of wireless telephone towers, announced that it had completed the acquisition of Kline Iron & Steel Co., Inc. Previously American Tower owned one-third of Kline. Terms were not disclosed. Kline’s specialty is designing and erecting taller towers for television and radio. After completion of pending deals, the Boston Globe reported, American Tower will control or manage more than 10,000 wireless telephone towers, and 300 broadcast towers.
Polaroid plans Web sites
CAMBRIDGE – Polaroid Corp. announced that it would launch a business-to-business Web site on June 30 to give users access to imaging applications and other products. The company said it would be assisted in this venture by Viant Corp. Polaroid also said that planned to start a new Web site directed at youth and a supplier transaction upgrade by the end of 2000, according to Dow Jones news service.
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Stone & Webster agrees to sell
BOSTON – Stone & Webster, which has been struggling with liquidity problems for months, has agreed to sell most of its assets to Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., of Pasadena, Calif., for $150 million in cash and stock, plus a $50 million loan. Jacobs is considered the sixth largest construction engineering company in the United States. Stone & Webster, founded 111 years ago in Boston, also announced it would file a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The loan is designed to help S&W continue operating until it completes the transfer of its assets to Jacobs. A spokesman for Jacobs said that company tentatively planned to rehire most of S&W’s employees pending completion of more specific details in the acquisition. S&W employs 1,700 in New England among a worldwide total of 7,000. The company said it planned to continue paying its employees and to complete its existing projects.
Interface Electronics bought
FRANKLIN – Interface Electronics Corp. has been purchased by Jaco Electronics, Inc. for at least $18.9 million in cash and assumed debt. Jaco said it would pay $15.4 million in cash, plus an additional, unspecified amount, depending on Interface’s performance. About $3.5 million of Internet’s debt will also be assumed by Jaco, according to the Boston Globe. Jaco is based in Hauppauge, N.Y. A company spokesperson said the acquisition gave Jaco access to Internet’s suppliers, thus increasing Jaco’s variety of electronics components.
Organogenesis wins FDA panel support
CANTON – A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has agreed with Organogenesis that it should be able to market its Apligraf artificial skin for the treatment of diabetes-caused foot ulcers. The company has been distributing the product for the treatment of venous leg ulcers, but that use has not produced the revenue the company needs to make a profit. The FDA advisory panel agrees that Organogenesis should be able to market its Apligraf product for treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, but only after conventional bandaging treatment has failed. The company needs full FDA approval to market its product.
Houghton Mifflin buys technology company
BOSTON – Houghton Mifflin Co, has acquired Virtual Learning Technologies of Alabama. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but a HM spokesperson said the cost of the acquisition would dilute its earnings for this year and next. Terms of the cash purchase were not disclosed. HM plans to integrate Virtual Learning into its Riverside Publishing academic and clinical assessment unit. Houghton Mifflin is a textbook publisher and educational materials company.
Gillette settles lawsuit with Boston
Boston (Bloomberg) — Gillette Co., the world’s largest maker of razors and blades, said it settled a lawsuit against the city of Boston over the development of property near the company’s South Boston Manufacturing Center. The suit, filed by the Boston-based company last August, challenged a decision by the city’s Board of Appeals that rezoned two warehouses to residential from industrial use. Under the settlement, those considering the purchase of a home at the property will be told that it is located in an industrial area that is active 24 hours a day. Gillette will be able to continue using a nearby street as a truck route and access road.
Wireless phone usage rose 59 percent
Framingham (Bloomberg) — U.S. wireless phone usage rose 59 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier as lower prices fueled a surge in calling, according to a market research study by International Data Corp. The report said U.S. households used wireless phones 247 minutes per month on average last quarter compared with 155 minutes in the same period a year ago. The findings come from phone interviews with 900 wireless phone users. Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC is a unit of computer-research publisher International Data Group. Consumer spending on wireless calls increased 10 percent, the study found. Calling plans that offer a bundle of minutes for a flat fee, without costs for long-distance or out-of-area calls, have gained popularity since AT&T Corp. introduced its Digital One Rate in May 1998. IDC said the survey found more than a third of households had two or more wireless telephones.
.(Compiled from news reports and releases, print and electronic.)
