Business Journal-Portland articles from July 1996

Business Journal-Portland archives from July 1996

Chip plant tax breaks not harming region, study says. (Oregon)
July 5, 1996... The new chip plants helped the state diversify, so that no sector now accounts for more than 5 percent of the state's economy, says Bill Scott, director of the Oregon Economic Development Department. Don't blame Portland's sizzling population...

New Fred Meyer president puts emphasis on service. (Fred Meyer Inc. Pres. and COO Curt Lerew)
July 5, 1996... Curt Lerew focuses on beefing up non-food offerings Fred Meyer Inc.'s new chief executive is pushing the basics to help the Northwest retailer ring up sales. Curt Lerew, recently named president and chief operating officer of Fred Meyer,...

PGE gas sale signals utility industry upheaval. (Portland General Electric Co. agrees to sell gas to Consolidated Metco Inc.)
July 5, 1996... Portland General Electric is now cooking with gas. Anxious to expand into natural gas sales to position itself for looming deregulation of the electricity industry, PGE has snared its first customer away from local rival Northwest Natural Gas...

Thrifty PayLess putting drugstores in Wells Fargo branches. (Thrifty Payless Inc.; Wells Fargo and Co.)
July 5, 1996... In a new variation on combining banks with stores, Wells Fargo & Co. and Thrifty PayLess Inc. plan to convert five California bank branches to drugstores with banks. The two companies announced July 2 they will launch a pilot program by...

Newflo purchase continues Precision Castparts' diversification. (Precision Castparts Corp. acquires pump manufacturer)
July 5, 1996... 1,070-employee company makes pumps, valves Continuing its efforts to diversify, Precision Castparts Corp. is buying a Texas pump manufacturer. Precision has signed a deal valued at $300 million to acquire Newflo, an Austin, Texas, company...

David Evans and Associates opens engineering office in Salem. (David Evans and Associates Inc.; Oregon)
July 5, 1996... Portland-based engineering firm David Evans and Associates Inc. (DEA) has opened a 4,000-square-foot office space in the Equitable Building at 530 Center St. N.E. in Salem. With a field staff of 12, the Salem office will soon be filled to...

Riding shotgun for Wells Fargo. (Linda Tubbs, Wells Fargo and Co. commercial lending head for the Northwest)
July 5, 1996... The former First Interstate exec will be a key player in Wells' Northwest strategy Looking for her first job after moving to Portland in 1972, Linda Tubbs wavered between clerical positions offered by First Interstate Bank and by Dun &...

Bioject Medical Technologies Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 5, 1996... 7620 S.W. Bridgeport Road, Portland, Ore. 97224 Bioject Medical Technologies Inc. manufactures a needleless injection system to replace traditional needle-syringes. The company finalized its product design, began production and launched its...

Silicon Forest draws metal fabricator. (Shinei USA Inc.'s plan to establish subsidiary in Hillsboro, Oregon)
July 12, 1996... Singapore Shinei building a facility that will employ 150 A Singapore-based maker of precision sheet metal products will open a $13-million, 150-worker manufacturing facility in Hillsboro as yet another new supplier enters the market to support...

Prudential Steel ties up Rivergate land.
July 12, 1996... Company joins Welded Tube in cozying up to Oregon Steel A Canadian pipe and tube maker drawn to the area by the promise of Oregon Steel Mill's coiled steel is planning a manufacturing plant that could bring 100 new jobs to Portland....

McCaw raises $350 million for Nextlink telephone venture. (Nextline Communications LLC founder Craig McCaw)
July 12, 1996... Portland's Kingery is second-largest shareholder SEATTLE - Craig McCaw has quietly raised $350 million for his Bellevue, Wash.-based Nextlink Communications LLC, which is throwing down the competitive gauntlet to local phone companies in 10...

Paul Allen ties up land in Renton for headquarters site. (businessman)
July 12, 1996... SEATTLE - In his latest bid to create a corporate campus for his myriad technology companies, software billionaire Paul Allen has tied up 43 acres of industrial property along Lake Washington in north Renton. Allen has secured options on two...

Clarity goes up against the big boys. (Clarity Visual Systems Inc.)
July 12, 1996... 'Dynamic signage' is focus of former InFocus exec Paul Gulick Creating a niche in a field dominated by giants such as Sony, Toshiba and Pioneer is what makes Paul Gulick tick. While the giants have focused on the computer display and...

Insurer bags niche opportunity. (Grocers Insurance Co.)
July 12, 1996... Oregon firm provides counsel, coverage to grocers across the country After flames engulfed an independently owned Portland grocery store in 1969, the store stayed closed for lack of adequate insurance. United Grocers, the Portland-based...

Wells Fargo & Co. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 12, 1996... 420 Montgomery St., San Francisco, Calif. 94163 Wells Fargo & Co. is the holding company for Wells Fargo Bank. On April 1, 1996, the bank merged with First Interstate Bancorp, which has approximately 1,150 offices in 13 Western states. As of...

Helilogging worm lifts Columbia's fortunes. (Columbia Helicopters Inc.'s helilogging service)
July 19, 1996... Columbia Helicopters Inc. had to forestall operations a few hours last month when logging protesters at Enola Hill laid among the downed trees. One protester grabbed onto the hook that hung down from a helicopter in flight. "That was really...

Adaptive Solutions' refocus includes layoffs.
July 19, 1996... Beaverton company to aim parallel processing expertise at automated forms Pulled down by slack sales, Beaverton's Adaptive Solutions Inc. has sliced 20 employees from its 51-person payroll and will narrow its focus to parallel processing...

The race of her life: former Nike exec makes Brooks Sports into a competitor again. (Brooks Sports Inc. president and CEO Helen Rockey)
July 19, 1996... For Helen Rockey, running a business is the business of running. President and chief executive of Bothell, Wash.-based Brooks Sports Inc., Rockey was recruited away from Nike Inc. in 1994 as a turnaround specialist to pull Brooks out of its...

Jayne Bond's mission improbable: she takes over family business in a male-dominated industry. (Permapost CEO)(Small Business Savvy)
July 19, 1996... New customers of Permapost are forgiven if they do a double take when they are introduced to the president of the company - Jayne Bond. Even Bond thinks that her late father, William, who founded the company in 1953, might be surprised and a...

Enron deal: a marriage made in Phoenix. (acquires Portland General Corp.)(includes related article on Enron's acquisition plan)
July 26, 1996... The deal was code-named Project Phoenix. Keeping the potential merger of $12.5 billion in equity hush-hush in the closely knit utility business is a challenge of the highest order, So insiders crafting the Portland General Corp.-Enron Corp....

Wafer supplier Wacker sees clear skies for chip industry. (Wacker Siltronic Corp.)
July 26, 1996... If there's a major slowdown in the chip industry, it's news to the folks at Wacker Siltronic Corp. "In 1995, we were turning business away," said James Ellis, president and CEO of the company. "Today we're running at full capacity, but at...

Portland architectural firm goes global. (Yost Grube Hall Architecture P.C.)
July 26, 1996... Yost Grube Hall sees growth from marketing itself overseas With the local heavyweight architectural firms going toe-to-toe, Yost Grube Hall, a mid-sized company with 15 staff architects, is garnering a sizable chunk of business by reaching out...

Enron power player makes mark all over map. (Rebecca Mark, chief executive officer of Enron Development Corp.)
July 26, 1996... International deal-maker travels the globe to develop giant energy projects Rebecca Mark, a high-ranking executive in the power business, spends most of her time abroad. From China to Colombia, she traverses the globe to set up huge...

Portland General Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 26, 1996... NYSE: PGN One World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St., Portland, Ore. 97204 Portland General Corp. supplies electricity to more than 650,000 customers in northwest Oregon. After a turbulent 1992, PGC decided in January 1993 to permanently...