Philadelphia Business Journal articles from April 1996

Philadelphia Business Journal archives from April 1996

U.S. Healthcare, BCI go to court. (U.S. Healthcare Inc.; Brokerage Concepts Inc.)
April 26, 1996... In a case that could resound through the consolidating health-care industry, a federal jury in Philadelphia is scheduled to hear arguments Monday in a civil antitrust lawsuit that accuses U.S. Healthcare Inc. of using its market clout to coerce...

Competitors see short-term edge in Bell Atlantic deal. (Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex Corp. merger)
April 26, 1996... Though competitors - and potential competitors - of Bell Atlantic Corp. and Nynex Corp. are complaining that their merger, announced this week, is anti-competitive, analysts, and even some of the complaining companies, say the long process of...

For the Olympics, Aramark is ready to feed the world. (Aramark)
April 26, 1996... More than 700 miles north of Atlanta, a team of chefs from Aramark Corp. are fine-tuning recipes for green tomato pie, ahi tuna and sauteed plantains in a gleaming new test kitchen on Independence Mall. Over the past year the kitchen's...

Partnership tries to bolster state industries. (Prosperity New Jersey Inc.)
April 26, 1996... South Jersey's boat-building industry, near death in recent years, may be poised for a return with the birth of a new state-sponsored public-private economic development partnership. The venture, called Prosperity New Jersey, was created last...

Beebe returns as K-Tron chief, puts company back on course. (ex-K-Tron International Inc. CEO Leo C. Beebe)
April 26, 1996... PITMAN - A veteran chief executive officer returned to the front lines of K-Tron International Inc. and has begun to steer the manufacturer of industrial feeding machines back onto a solid financial course. Leo C. Beebe, who served as the...

Freeholders resurrect plans for food center. (South Jersey Food Distribution Center)
April 26, 1996... More than 18 years after it was first proposed, the South Jersey Food Distribution Center is once again in the works, recharged by fresh efforts from Burlington County officials, if from no one else. The county freeholders recently hired a...

Substantial chunk of Jackson-Cross stock bought. (Jackson-Cross Co.)
April 26, 1996... The Jackson-Cross Co. ended months of speculation about its future when it announced that King of Prussia businessman Mitchell L. Morgan had purchased substantial stock in the company Wednesday morning. The largest Philadelphia-based real...

Meridian exec walks away from CoreStates. (Meridian Bancorp Inc. R. William Holland; CoreStates Financial Corp.)
April 26, 1996... As human resources director, R. William Holland helped Meridian Bancorp Inc. navigate through its recent restructuring, insisting that the Reading-based banking company resist the easy-way-out layoff option of seeking volunteers. "What...

Metrologic marketing unique holographic scanner. (Metrologic Instruments Inc.)
April 26, 1996... GLOUCESTER TWP., N.J. - Already the nation's third-largest maker of bar-code scanners, Metrologic Instruments Inc. has just released a first-of-its-kind holographic scanner that is expected to push the company onto a steep growth path. The...

Epoxy resin manufacturer flourishes in new specialty niche. (CVC Specialty Chemicals)
April 26, 1996... MAPLE SHADE - Computer-controlled state-of-the art equipment characterizes the production area of CVC Specialty Chemicals' new corporate headquarters. No bubbling cauldrons steaming with the industrial equivalent of witches' brew, this...

For Welch, supermarkets hold the key to consumer banking. (Mellon PSFS (NJ) NA Regional Pres. George R. Welch)
April 26, 1996... Despite being a longtime South Jersey banker, George R. Welch sees the future in supermarkets. It's not that he has had a change of heart or is looking for a new line of work. Welch, who was recently named regional president of Mellon PSFS...

Madison Bank directors battle chairman for control. (Alan T. Schiffman)
April 26, 1996... BLUE BELL - Directors of The Madison Bank have stripped the chairman of his responsibilities and are seeking a court order to stop him from waging a proxy fight at the annual shareholders meeting next month. The defrocked chairman, Alan T....

Meridian's Tech Bank survives: leader joins Progress Financial. (Meridian Bancorp Inc.; Progress Federal Savings Bank; Steve Hobman)
April 26, 1996... What started as a banker's school thesis and evolved into a unique commitment by Meridian Bancorp Inc. to serve the region's burgeoning yet financially tricky high-technology industry will not become a casualty of Meridian's merger with...

Jack Frost land buyer, creditors close to bankruptcy settlement. (LHTW Corp.)
April 26, 1996... A reluctant land buyer that originally planned to develop a riverboat casino at the old Jack Frost Sugarhouse refinery in Philadelphia may finally close on the property next week and resolve a 4-year-old bankruptcy case. Back in 1994 LHTW...

BCI alleges witness was influenced by hiring, fast firing. (Brokerage Concepts Inc.)
April 26, 1996... Did U.S. Healthcare Inc. attempt to improperly influence a key witness in preparing to defend itself against an antitrust suit flied by Brokerage Concepts Inc.? Brokerage Concepts made the allegation in a motion and District Court Judge...

Group Cortex tracks visitors to Web sites. (Group Cortex Inc.)
April 26, 1996... Dressed in a suit and tie, but unshaven, Brent Halliburton successfully combines the split personalities of company president and twentysomething computer programmer. In its third year, Halliburton's firm, Group Cortex Inc., is predicting...

Brash small banker not cowed by competition from big guys. (Kenneth L. Tepper of USABancShares Inc.)
April 19, 1996... Given his recent controversies, the bandage on Kenneth L. Tepper's jaw could only mean one thing, it seemed. Someone had finally had enough of the brash banker from the Main Line whose dogged pursuit of capital and other banks to buy has...

Blue Cross moving into assisted living. (Independence Blue Cross forms joint venture between NewSeasons Assisted Living Communities Inc. and Pitcairn Properties Health Care Group)
April 19, 1996... In its first foray into being a health-care provider Independence Blue Cross has formed a joint venture to construct and operate assisted living retirement communities throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The new company, NewSeasons...

QVC to display city's top chefs on program. (QVC Inc. broadcasts from Striped Bass)
April 19, 1996... WEST CHESTER - As most regulars of the tony Striped Bass already know, the Walnut Street restaurant isn't normally associated with costume jewelry. Nor would gourmets normally pair Susanna Foo's Chinese cuisine with NASCAR racing...

CoreStates' chief Larsen talks about the direction of his bank. (CoreStates Financial Corp.)
April 19, 1996... CoreStates Financial Corp Chairman Terrence A. Larsen and his top management advisers will be on a retreat next week to chart the $45 billion banking company's future now that its acquisition of Meridian Bancorp Inc. is complete. Samuel A....

P&C insurers were whomped by the nasty winter. (property and casualty insurers)
April 19, 1996... Record-breaking snowfall during last winter produced one of the costliest first quarters for property and casualty insurers, particularly those writing business in Pennsylvania. An insurance industry association reported that the first...

Acquisition of GIS software firm giving boost to Scangraphics. (Global Information System; Scangraphics Inc. acquires Sedona GeoServices Inc.)
April 19, 1996... BROOMALL - For a company that has lost money seven of the last eight years, Scangraphics Inc. was surprisingly active in 1995. A quiet maker of document scanners since the mid-1970s, Scangraphics was propelled to the forefront of the...

Compass points to marketing for treatment monitor. (Compass Information Services Inc.)
April 19, 1996... KING OF PRUSSIA - Compass Information Services Inc. has hired a president who is ultimately expected to take the reins from the growing company's founder and chief executive officer, Dr. Peter Brill. David S. Karlin, a 39-year-old who has...

AmeriSource's acquisitions build nationwide wholesale drug firm. (AmeriSource Health Corp. acquires Gulf Distribution Inc.)(includes related article on a class-action pharmacy lawsuit)
April 19, 1996... MALVERN - One of the nation's six biggest drug wholesalers, AmeriSource Health Corp., recently acquired another company in its quest to span the United States. The acquisition of Gulf Distribution Inc., a Miami-based wholesale drug...

Ex-retailer leads NovaCare's fastest-growing division. (Ronald G. Hiscock heads Outpatient Division of NovaCare Inc.)
April 19, 1996... KING OF PRUSSIA - It's slim at best, but there is a connection between the very real Ronald G. Hiscock and the fictional but better-known Forrest Gump. A former retail industry executive, Hiscock, 45, now heads the nation's largest network...

Real estate pros split on impact of Clover deal. (Kimco Realty Corp.'s purchase of Clover stores)
April 12, 1996... The pending shutdown and sale of 26 Clover stores will dump more than 45 acres of retail space onto the region's market, but many disagree as to how it will affect real estate values. If all goes as planned the stores or their leases will be...

Fraser-Volpe bouncing back from cutbacks in military orders. (Fraser-Volpe Corp.)
April 12, 1996... WARMINSTER - When the Cold War ended, military orders went into a tailspin, and defense-dependent companies like Fraser-Volpe Corp. took a hit. "The defense business is just decimated," said Rick White, chief executive officer at...

How will telecom industry fight Internet invasion?
April 12, 1996... When the Federal Telecommunications Act passed this February, telephone companies of all stripes lauded the deregulation of their industry. But while telecommunications companies have been salivating over the prospect of increased revenues...

Muslim credit union will open on Second St. (Muslim Community Credit Union)
April 12, 1996... After maneuvering through a regulatory maze and landlord negotiations that proved more exhausting than their research travels to Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Malaysia and the United Kingdom, the organizers of...

Tasty Baking denies unfair labor charges. (Tasty Baking Co.)
April 12, 1996... The National Labor Relations Board is trying to resolve a series of unfair labor practice allegations against Tasty Baking Co. before it schedules another union organizing vote at the Hunting Park Avenue plant in Philadelphia. One year after...

Former Meridian CFO rejects role at post-merger CoreStates. (Meridian Bancorp Inc. Chief Financial Officer David Sparks; CoreStates Financial Corp.)
April 12, 1996... That Meridian Bancorp Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer Samuel A. McCullough and its chief financial officer, David E. Sparks, have no permanent employment intentions with CoreStates Financial Corp came as a one-two post-merger punch this week....

Tired shopping mall? Tear off the roof.
April 12, 1996... It took more than a name change to turn the Outlet at Oxford Valley around. Three years ago, the enclosed mall was turned inside out in a multimillion dollar renovation and converted into a strip shopping center now known as Lincoln Plaza....

Pennsylvania insurers can now convert from mutual ownership.
April 5, 1996... Originally the domain of rural farmers, Pennsylvania's mutual insurers may be coming to Wall Street, thanks to legislation passed last year that clears the way for the industry to convert to stock ownership and access capital markets. The...

Local credit unions remain a potent nonbank force.(Industry Overview)
April 5, 1996... While the number of credit unions continues to decline nationally for the same reason banks are dwindling - consolidation - Philadelphia is experiencing somewhat of a mini-boom. In January, a credit union to serve the lesbian community opened...

First Union is keeping mum on total local job loss.
April 5, 1996... In an effort to keep the spotlight on what First Union Corp. is bringing to the region rather than what it is taking from it, the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking company said it will not reveal how many jobs the Philadelphia market will lose as a...

SMX's device measures 'big things precisely.'
April 5, 1996... KENNETT SQUARE - Though most people probably haven't heard of industrial metrology, SMX Corp. President D. Scott Ackerson can't emphasize strongly enough the importance of the practice of "measuring big things precisely." "If we didn't have...

Consumers must beware of ATM charges. (automated teller machine surcharges)
April 5, 1996... Americans have found automated teller machines to be wonderfully convenient dispensers of cash. Now they're about to learn that ATMs can also be good at collecting it as well. As of April 1, the operators of the MAC, Plus and...

Auctioneers help heirs convert estate stash into cash.
April 5, 1996... Personal belongings are just that, personal. So, after you're gone from this good earth what happens to them? A will lets you leave things to those near and dear. However, those individuals may ultimately want only some, or perhaps none, of...

Providers offer improved verbal cellular services.
April 5, 1996... Hot on the heels of a widely publicized recent study that found owning a car phone increases one's chances of being involved in an accident, area cellular phone providers are promoting new verbal dialing services. This week, Bell Atlantic...

Tenant service provider names Bell Atlantic, MetLife in 2nd suit. (Shared Communications Services Inc.)
April 5, 1996... For the second time, a Center City shared tenant services provider is suing Bell Atlantic Corp., two Bell Atlantic subsidiaries, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. and two joint ventures managed by the companies for breach of contract and...

Exchange hopes to tap Asia for currency options contracts. (Philadelphia Stock Exchange)
April 5, 1996... The Philadelphia Stock Exchange has developed a link with the Hong Kong Futures Exchange that would allow its currency options to be traded in Hong Kong during Asian business hours. Pending regulatory approvals, the linkage is expected to be...

Water utility lets customers buy stock through an IRA. (Philadelphia Suburban Corp.; Individual Retirement Account)
April 5, 1996... Bryn Mawr - Responding to public interest, Philadelphia Suburban Corp. has added an Individual Retirement Account option for its water customers as part of its increasingly popular direct stock purchase plan. Philadelphia Suburban, which is...

A building boom for big houses with big price tags.
April 5, 1996... VILLANOVA - Nelson "Chip" Vaughn doesn't flinch when he explains that a 1.5-acre lot on Mount Pleasant Road is valued at $399,000 even before he builds the house. When the colonial two-story home is finished, the asking price will begin at...

Banks rev up small business lending departments.
April 5, 1996... Small business owners, take note: Banks really do want your business. Although many would-be entrepreneurs still face obstacles in obtaining capital, a record number of U.S. Small Business Administration loans in the Philadelphia region were...

Small is beautiful and profitable for Fulton Financial. (Fulton Financial Corp.)
April 5, 1996... Fulton Financial Corp. of Lancaster shuns the bright lights of the big cities. Instead, the publicly held bank holding company bets big on smaller, more rural markets. In late February, Fulton Financial completed its acquisition of...