Business Journal-Portland articles from December 1997

Business Journal-Portland archives from December 1997

All things considered, 1997 was a year of prosperity. (Oregon)(Year in Review)
December 26, 1997... There were some glitches, but Oregon's economy continues to grow as we approach a new year To the shareholders: The Business Journal coverage area had a very good year in 1997 in many critical arenas. The economy's continued strength...

Nike had an awful year, but the turnaround will be fun.(Year in Review)
December 26, 1997... Retail giant has been portrayed as the ugliest American because of its labor practices overseas To the average person, any company that sells $9 billion worth of anything, producing a profit of $795 million, must be having a good year....

The year in stocks. (Oregon)(Year in Review)
December 26, 1997... The Business Journal examined the stocks of 83 publicly held Oregon companies to see how they performed during 1997. We used Dec. 15 as our cutoff date. The article was researched and written by staff writer Evan Winter, and designed by...

Corporate colossals swallow smaller fry during 1997. (Oregon merger and acquisition activity)(Year in Review)
December 26, 1997... The M&A steamroller pounded through Oregon's corporate soil in 1997, flattening some of the state's most venerable companies and dominating its corporate finance scene. Oregon's largest bank, U.S. Bancorp, and its largest mutual fund...

Merger mania leaves fewer players in health care game. (Oregon)(Year in Review)
December 26, 1997... 1997 marked by rising costs, Kaiser disputes It's a good thing there are no health care businesses on the Portland-based board game that patterns itself after Monopoly. The game would be obsolete in 1997 because of mergers and alliances...

Tek's move toward software headlines high-tech's year. (Tektronix Inc.; Oregon)(Year in Review)
December 26, 1997... Sequent Computer Systems continues to rebound from tailspin, but tough times dog Mentor Graphics The year in technology? It doesn't seem that 1997 was a year for blockbuster events, but it wasn't a bust, either. Here are some of the...

Boom! sums up real estate. (Oregon) (Year in Review)
December 26, 1997... It's been a good year to be a building owner, generally speaking. Throughout 1997, office, industrial, retail and residential vacancies were low and supply was, as usual, limited, which translates into higher rents. Here's a glimpse at each...

After months of talks, Nippon flights to Portland solidified. (Nippon Cargo Airlines Co. Ltd.)
December 26, 1997... Nippon Cargo Airlines Co. will begin an all-cargo air service between Portland International Airport and Japan in March, bringing a long-sought- after carrier to Portland. The Tokyo-based company will initiate Portland's only all-cargo...

Southern Pacific Funding Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 26, 1997... NYSE: SFC One Centerpointe Drive, Suite 500, Lake Oswego, Ore. 97035 Southern Pacific Funding Corp. is a home equity lender that originates, purchases and sells nonconforming mortgage loans. The company began operations in 1993 as a...

Steak houses drool over local market. (Portland, Oregon)
December 19, 1997... Recent restaurant openings have put Portland on the fine-dining map and porterhouse steaks on local menus. Mortons, a premiere restaurant chain, is expected to sign a lease by the end of the year for space at the KOIN Center. It joins...

VC search zeros in on $160 million. (venture capital in Portland, Oregon)
December 19, 1997... Local venture capitalists separately trying to create new VC funds have launched one fund, closed in on another and are taking a run at a third. Between them, the three efforts have the potential to generate $160 million of capital. Such a...

Barging into the marketplace. (barge builders Gunderson Inc. and Zidell Marine Corp.)
December 19, 1997... Resting on greased skids at Gunderson Inc., the Inland Conveyor is moments away from becoming the largest barge afloat on any Northwest river. "When this thing hits the water, it's going to make a wave that will rock the Columbia River...

Projector maker In Focus is determined to stay ahead. (In Focus Systems Inc.)
December 19, 1997... Technology companies never really have safe leads. The best they can hope for is to get ahead and work hard to stay there, which is exactly what In Focus Systems Inc. has been doing this year. The Wilsonville-based maker of projection devices...

ThrustMaster parries failed offering blow.
December 19, 1997... ThrustMaster Inc. may have slammed the brakes on a 1.5 million share secondary offering Dec. 12, but it appears the red-hot Hillsboro maker of personal computer peripherals wasn't sideswiped by Wall Street as a result. Generally, a canceled...

Portland investor purchases SW 10th Avenue building. (Barry Menashe; Portland Medical Center)
December 19, 1997... The 14-story Portland Medical Center at 511 SW 10th and the adjacent two-story parking garage have been sold to Portland real estate investor Barry Menashe for $3.7 million, according to county assessor records and sources close to the deal....

Companies working hard to protect intellectual property.
December 19, 1997... Start-up companies are finding that guarding their intellectual property is almost as difficult as developing a compelling product in the first place. That's why a group of Portland-area entrepreneurs huddled earlier this month to hear about...

Pressure's increasing for corporations to give more. (community contributions)
December 19, 1997... It was his kindhearted family that got John Emrick into giving, and gut-wrenching thank-you notes from needy children he found most gratifying. But it is Norm Thompson, the $150 million Hillsboro-based catalog and retail company, which helps...

PDX light rail may lead to south-north line. (Portland International Airport's light-rail project)
December 19, 1997... If the proposal to bring light-rail trains to the Portland International Airport moves forward, Tri-Met officials say it could lead to federal funding for a separate south-north rail line. Bechtel Enterprises Inc., along with the Port of...

Buyer found for two small area hospitals. (New American Healthcare Corp)
December 19, 1997... Portland lacks a Grand Ol' Opry, but it's getting an amazing amount of attention around Nashville these days. New American Healthcare Corp., based in a suburb near the Tennessee city, is considering buying Eastmoreland Hospital and Woodland...

Ford Family Foundation rewards hard workers.
December 19, 1997... Endowment pumps financial assistance into select community projects, education initiatives Kenneth Ford didn't believe in giving handouts. Call him old school, but the founder of Roseburg Forest Products believed that sweat, hard work and...

Light rail, heavy talk. (extension of light rail lines to the Portland International Airport)
December 12, 1997... Increasing gridlock may influence the outcome The city airport and private enterprise have hopped aboard a plan to extend light rail lines to the Portland International Airport. But what are the odds that the talk will actually lead to MAX...

Columbia to grow Rivergate facility. (Columbia Sportswear Co.; Port of Portland)
December 12, 1997... In a strategic acquisition designed to double its warehouse facilities at the Port of Portland, Columbia Sportswear Co. intends to buy about 20 acres of property at the port's Rivergate Industrial District. Port of Portland commissioners...

Klamath First's branching out reaps dividends. (Klamath First Federal Savings and Loan)
December 12, 1997... Five months after ballooning its branch network statewide, Southern Oregon's Klamath First Federal Savings and Loan is starting to reap benefits. By all accounts, Klamath First has readily digested the 25 small-town branches it acquired for...

Tek's new video boss orders redirection. (Tektronix Inc. executive Timothy Thorsteinson)
December 12, 1997... Tektronix Inc.'s video and networking division is reinventing, not just restructuring, itself. In three to five years, the division will be primarily a software operation, said its new president. "This is a big paradigm shift for the...

GST's rainbow is still multicolored. (GST Telecommunications)
December 12, 1997... Telecom firm's losses continue, but that's OK Is GST Telecommunications nuts? Questions about the Vancouver-Wash.-based telecommunications company's fiscal sanity are understandable. Consider the following points: * This is a...

Creative solutions to water woes found in Wilsonville. (Oregon)
December 12, 1997... Wilsonville's imminent moratorium on development is generating some creative proposals by companies and organizations wanting to expand or relocate to the water-strapped city, according to Blaise Edmonds, second-in-command at the city's...

Offering dollars, strategic connection aid tech firm Naiad. (Naiad Technologies Inc.)
December 12, 1997... Naiad Technologies Inc. has finished a $3.1 million second financing round and signed an exclusive deal for Fisher Scientific to sell its environmental remedies throughout the United States. Portland-based Naiad, which makes environmental...

Several Oregon groups seek more trade with Germany.
December 12, 1997... If a trade delegation's talks with Oregon business leaders lead to action, trade between Pacific Northwest and German vendors in the software, telecommunications and biotechnology industries may increase substantially. German government and...

Cash-heavy British firm buys 75 percent of castings maker. (Triplex Lloyd; PED Manufacturing Ltd.)
December 12, 1997... An English company has acquired majority ownership in PED Manufacturing Ltd. in Oregon City. Triplex Lloyd, a group of specialty casting companies headquartered in West Midlands, England, paid $7.2 million in cash and assumed $8.5 million in...

Russian cavities contribute to Newberg firm's success. (A-dec Inc.)
December 12, 1997... Russia's pent-up demand for modern dental equipment is giving the people at Newberg's A-dec Inc. something to flash a toothy smile about these days. More than nine years ago, dental chair manufacturer A-dec started selling its chairs, lights...

Year 2000 software retoolers face first (of many?) legal tests.
December 12, 1997... WASHINGTON - A small New York computer equipment seller has filed the first class-action lawsuit that involves the reprogramming of computers for Year 2000. Atlaz International is suing San Rafael, Calif.-based Software Business Technologies...

Aerospace firms marketing internationally via alliance. (Washington Aerospace Alliance)
December 12, 1997... The Boeing Co.'s surging growth may be bringing Washington aerospace suppliers all the business they can handle right now, but they're still cultivating international markets for the future. Under the umbrella of the 145-member Washington...

OrCAD betting company with California acquisition.
December 12, 1997... OrCAD is putting itself on the line with its latest acquisition. The MicroSim acquisition was announced in October and greeted with sup, port from the analysts who follow OrCAD. After all, the deal could almost instantly transform...

Port says $14M bridge will solve problems at Rivergate. (Port of Portland)
December 12, 1997... The Port of Portland wants to build a $14 million bridge in the Rivergate Industrial District that would take vehicles over a pair of railroad crossings on North Lombard Street. Rivergate has thrived because of easy access to road and rail...

Chipmakers need more research dollars to maintain growth.
December 12, 1997... WASHINGTON - The country's largest chipmakers are staring at billions of dollars in additional investment in research to sustain the level of unprecedented growth in the semiconductor industry. After jumping through scores of technological...

Seeking stability in a turbulent world. (interview with American Medical Response-Northwest Pres. Trace Skeen)(Interview)
December 12, 1997... High penetration of managed care makes local market less susceptible to national change Like most health care businesses, the ambulance industry has undergone consolidation and regulatory change while there's increasing pressures to lower...

When shareholders sue, companies cry, 'Foul!'
December 12, 1997... Plaintiffs aren't hard to find with millions at stake There are, according to Darren Robbins, attorneys who will both sue and defend crooks. But the associate with the San Diego firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP said: "I...

Potential litigation leads to cautious disclosures.
December 12, 1997... Consequences cause public companies to be tight-lipped Just weeks after Protocol Systems Inc. went public in 1992, it was slapped with a lawsuit alleging company officials fraudulently misled investors. Jim Moon, Protocol's president and...

CD gamble paying off for Logic. (Logic General Inc.)
December 12, 1997... Logic General Inc. is pressing some of the hottest compact disc titles around, such as "OrCAD Capture for Windows." OK, so maybe the titles Logic General presses don't sell the same volumes as the latest release from a major pop star, but...

Microfield Graphics Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 12, 1997... NASDAQ: MICG 7216 S.W. Durham Road, Portland, Ore. 97224 Microfield Graphics Inc. develops, manufactures and markets electronic whiteboards under the brand name SoftBoard. The company, founded in 1984, shipped its first SoftBoard in December...

Spieker excels in real estate, stock markets. (Spieker Properties Inc.)
December 5, 1997... Wall Street just loves these guys. Their experience. Their strategy. Their results. The Street can't get enough of the brain trust of Spieker Properties Inc., a publicly traded West Coast real estate investment trust with its headquarters in...

Stock plunge, insider sales lead to lawsuit. (joint class action shareholder lawsuit filed against PacifiCare Health Systems Inc)
December 5, 1997... Financial troubles at PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. that led to top management turnover at the local operation last summer and a recent precipitous drop in its stock price continue to plague the for-profit health management company. Four...

Investors' faith shaken in CFI: company insists the worst is over, but the Street isn't convinced. (CFI ProServices Inc; Wall Street)
December 5, 1997... After an 18-month spell in rough waters, management at CFI ProServices Inc. is striving for smoother sailing in 1998. But investors are skeptical. "They've had product slippages, they've missed numbers, that's why they're a $12 stock,"...

Director's letter slams Phoenix's chief executive. (Phoenix Gold International Inc's Dir Matt Chapman and CEO Keith Peterson)
December 5, 1997... A fiery missive from an outgoing director seems to have singed some feathers at Phoenix Gold International Inc. The maker of high-end audio products for the automotive and home theater markets announced Tuesday that outside director Matt...

Heathman Inc.: boldly going forth. (Heathman Management Group Inc)
December 5, 1997... Operating in a tricky business, HMG's restaurant/hotel management style is rare Heathman Management Group Inc., owner of The Heathman Hotel, The Greenwood Inn and Clarion Hotel Airport in Portland, had a tumultuous 1997. Eliminating the...

Projector reseller company puts focus on going national. (Comp View Inc.)
December 5, 1997... Comp View Inc., a locally based reseller of data and video projectors, already is a major regional power. But it sees itself on a larger stage and hopes to consummate a series of transactions that will give it a nationwide presence. Paul...

ESI's semiconductor business is up, but stock goes down. (Electro Scientific Industries)
December 5, 1997... Electro Scientific Industries' spate of good news during recent months has impressed analysts who follow the company, but that hasn't stopped Wall Street from hammering its stock. The Portland-based semiconductor capital equipment maker's...

Kaiser/Group Health embraces consumer rights.
December 5, 1997... Kaiser/Group Health is among the first insurance companies to implement a newly created Consumer Bill of Rights recommended by a national presidential commission. It's not surprising since Phil Nudelman, Kaiser/Group Health's chairman and...

Oregon's dominant bank thinks bigger; merger, downsizing lay foundation for an even stronger franchise, execs insist. (interview with US Bank for Oregon Pres John Rickman and retail banking head Pete Sinclair)(Interview)
December 5, 1997... Astring of recent upheavals for U.S. Bancorp continues unabated, as the parent of Oregon's largest commercial bank copes with its acquisition four months ago by First Bank System Corp. The turbulence began early in 1994 with changes at the...

Portland offers room for growth: small market brimming with potential. (real estate investment trusts prospects in Portland, Oregon)(Focus on Real Estate)
December 5, 1997... The Portland-Vancouver area won't show up on any of the top 10 lists regarding real estate investment trusts (REITs). Gradually, though, Portland's most attractive privately held real estate is being pulled into the public sector as more...

Flexibility in real estate investment makes billions.(Focus on Real Estate)
December 5, 1997... The stock market has opened up to REITs as a viable market REITs serve much like mutual funds for real estate: instead of owning one apartment building, an investor can buy shares in a REIT that owns a pool of apartment, industrial, office,...

Oversupply threatens profits in apartment rentals.(Focus on Real Estate)
December 5, 1997... Despite a still-booming economy, apartment developers and owners in some of the Portland area's primary districts are bound to feel the pinch o the dreaded "O" word - oversupply - during the year ahead. That's the ominous conclusion of some...

Variation on theme grows in popularity; mortgage REITs weigh interest rates, not holdings. (real estate investment trusts)(Focus on Real Estate)
December 5, 1997... When Portland-based Wilshire Financial Services Group spins off a real estate investment trust in coming weeks, the new entity will join the ranks of a growing cadre of specialized mortgage REITs. Unlike the majority of REITs, which invest...

Software firm reaches for success. (Webco International)(Small Business Savvy)
December 5, 1997... A little over a year ago, Adrian Russell-Falla's business plan consisted of a two-page spreadsheet and a few guesses as to the size of the market for internet browser add-ons. Today the 35-year-old entrepreneur shows venture capitalists a...