San Francisco Business Times articles from May 1995

San Francisco Business Times archives from May 1995

$2.8B Bechtel power project under fire. (Bechtel Enterprises' power plant construction project in Dabhol, India)
May 5, 1995... Politicians in India threaten to review method used to award contract A newly elected state government is threatening to delay construction of Bechtel Enterprises' $2.8 billion power plant in Dabhol, India, the first major foreign investment...

Foote Cone, Gannett make big moves. (Foote, Cone and Belding Communications Inc.; Gannett Outdoor Div.)
May 5, 1995... Will offer full-motion billboards to advertisers Foote Cone & Belding Communications Inc. has teamed with Gannett Outdoor to begin offering advertisers a new medium that will allow them to project full-motion advertising on billboards and...

Il Fornaio retools for new growth. (Il Fornaio America Corp.)
May 5, 1995... Ex-Chevy's exec to manage expansion The man who engineered the meteoric growth of Chevy's Mexican Restaurants has joined Il Fornaio Corp. to manage a similar but more gradual plan of expansion for the popular chain of upscale Italian dining...

Doctors act to take back their future. (San Francisco Bay Area doctors)
May 5, 1995... Seeking to regain control of their professional destinies from HMOs and hospitals, hundreds of Bay Area doctors are forming new, doctor-led medical groups to rival established organizations, and hundreds more are considering doing so. A...

The verdict is in: O.J. helps ratings. (broadcasting of the O.J. Simpson trial; KPIX-FM and KOFY-TV)
May 5, 1995... The decision to broadcast gavel-to-gavel coverage of the sensational O.J. Simpson trial has produced a ratings bonanza for KPIX radio and KOFY-TV. KPIX-FM radio has roared into the 13th position in the latest Arbitron ratings with a 2.6...

Odwalla seeking more juice: $15M. (Odwalla Inc.)
May 5, 1995... With its stock at an all-time high following a string of record-breaking quarters, fresh juice maker Odwalla Inc. is planning to squeeze the market for an additional $15 million to finance its rapid expansion. The Davenport and South San...

East Palo Alto goes shopping for developer. (California; Gateway 101 commercial development project)
May 5, 1995... The city of East Palo Alto, looking to shed its ugly-sister reputation with development of the Gateway 101 mixed-use project, will pick a developer for phase two of the plan May 16. The East Palo Alto City Council is expected to choose between...

Suit by S.F. securities chief who refused to wield the ax. (Lehman Brothers ex-branch manager Paul Yenofsky)
May 5, 1995... Paul Yenofsky, the former branch manager of the Lehman Brothers office in San Francisco, has filed a lawsuit against his one-time employer charging he was wrongfully terminated for refusing to wrongfully terminate other Lehman employees. In...

Sale lets Ampex wash some red ink off its balance sheet. (Ampex Inc.; sale of Ampex Recording Media Corp.)
May 5, 1995... After trying for two years to dispose of its magnetic tape subsidiary, Ampex Corp. said it is turning over the unit to a group of international financial institutions in exchange for some of the debt they hold against the subsidiary. But...

Suit settlement could turn up volume for hearing-aid firm. (ReSound Corp.)
May 5, 1995... ReSound Corp., the Redwood City-based high-tech hearing aid developer, has settled one of the three patent infringement lawsuits that were pending against the company. In exchange for a dismissal of the suit and a license to continue using the...

Realty company closes deal for BofA portfolio. (AMB Institutional Realty Advisors Inc.; Bank of America Investment Real Estate Div.)
May 5, 1995... After a prolonged negotiation, AMB Institutional Realty Advisors has acquired Bank of America's Investment Real Estate Division. The portfolio consists of commercial properties in Texas and along the West Coast. Terms of the deal were not...

Noted financier shines light on Hayward firm's power play. (investor George Soros; California; Exergy Inc.)
May 5, 1995... George Soros, the headline-grabbing global investor, has bought a 20 percent stake in Exergy Inc., a Hayward engineering company that has developed a more efficient method of generating power. Soros and his company, Quantum Industrial Holdings...

Circulation tally bad news for S.F. newspapers. (San Francisco, California daily newspapers)
May 5, 1995... Circulation at the San Francisco Chronicle has fallen below 500,000 for the first time in over a decade and the San Francisco Examiner's Saturday circulation has plunged well below 100,000, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of...

$2 million upgrade anchors port's call to cruise ships. (Port of San Francisco)
May 5, 1995... The Port of San Francisco will spend more than $2 million to spruce up and tighten security at its dilapidated cruise ship terminal, in time to receive a new generation of ships that will bring into the city nearly 2,000 passengers per trip....

Hotels and restaurants put S.F. among service leaders. (San Francisco, California; service-sector employment)
May 5, 1995... Service sector work force Service sector Service percentage of work force workers 1. Las Vegas 46.89% 234,200...

S.F. labor law firm employs national expansion strategy. (San Francisco, California; Littler, Mendelson, Fastiff and Tichy)
May 5, 1995... Littler, Mendelson, Fastiff, Tichy & Mathiason, the 18th-largest law firm in the Bay Area, is making an aggressive push into some of the biggest and most competitive legal markets in the country. The firm, a specialist in labor and employment...

Sybase Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
May 5, 1995... NASDAQ: SYBS 6475 Christie Ave. Emeryville, CA 94608 (510) 922-3500 UPDATE Sybase Inc. is a vendor of client/server software and services. Revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1994 increased 56 percent over the comparable quarter of...

Black HMO is proposed. (health maintenance organization)
May 19, 1995... Willie Brown reportedly involved in effort Black business and political leaders, reportedly including Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, are attempting to cobble together a "black HMO" that would use a network of churches in the African-American...

Genentech is big and little on human growth.
May 19, 1995... Genentech, under attack for allegedly improperly marketing a growth-enhancing drug, has teamed up with a small San Bruno biotechnology firm to produce a growth-inhibiting drug. Sensus Corp. has developed its so-called growth hormone antagonist...

$800M Chiron expansion halted. (Chiron Corp.)
May 19, 1995... Union objection scotches July's groundbreaking Stalled labor negotiations have forced Chiron Corp. to put on ice a $800 million expansion of its Emeryville headquarters after the plumbers and steamfitters union filed an 11th-hour objection to...

PLM execs are back in the frying pan. (PLM International Inc.)
May 19, 1995... Shareholder on warpath over executive compensation Despite having rid itself of a gadfly shareholder just last year, relations between PLM International officers and shareholders have again reached full boil. New York investment company HPB...

Home Depot bolts from Mission Bay project. (Home Depot Inc.)
May 19, 1995... Catellus forced to pursue new game plan Home Depot, believed to be the catalyst that would jump start Catellus Development's languishing Mission Bay project, has decided to scrap plans to build there. The retailer decided May 11 to look...

Cabbies seek to curb companies' control. (San Francisco cab drivers)
May 19, 1995... A group of cab drivers are petitioning for sweeping changes to San Francisco's taxicab legislation which would limit the amount cab companies can charge drivers, create a centralized dispatch system and issue a new class of part-time permits....

Wells Fargo Nikko narrows search for suitor to three. (Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors)
May 19, 1995... Merrill Lynch seems to be bullish on Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors. The securities industry giant is one of three firms said to be contending for the $170 million San Francisco investment management firm, according to sources close to...

Utilities could knock wind out of Kenetech.
May 19, 1995... After years of struggling for acceptance among electric utilities, wind-power company Kenetech has found itself in a tussle with two California utilities over how to interpret a federal law set up to give alternative energy suppliers a break....

Software maker believes it has growth firmly in hand. (GeoWorks)
May 19, 1995... Geoworks, the Alameda developer of software that runs hand-held computers and personal organizers, may soon receive the break it has been waiting for: widespread acceptance by prominent technology manufacturers. Geoworks CEO Gordon Mayer said...

Sanwa courts customers put off by rival banks' marriage. (Sanwa Bank Ltd.)
May 19, 1995... Sanwa Bank has begun targeting Bay Area corporate banking clients of Union Bank and the Bank of California, anticipating customer defections in the face of those banks' expected merger. Union Bank's parent company, Bank of Tokyo, and Bank of...

Chemical firm formulates growth plans. (Genencor International Inc.)
May 19, 1995... Genencor International, a manufacturer of industrial enzymes and specialty chemicals, will break ground May 25 on a 124,000-square-foot research facility in Palo Alto. The $66 million project will allow the company to expand the science of...

South Bay chip firm jumps into tough market. (Zycad Corp.)
May 19, 1995... Struggling Zycad Corp. is plunging into the semiconductor market. The Fremont-based company entered the chip fray May 8 with the launch of GateField, its new chip division. Zycad, which has never manufactured chips before, makes software and...

Housewares retailer puts expansion plans on the boil. (Home Express Inc.)
May 19, 1995... Despite postponement of a $50 million initial public offering, Dublin-based Home Express Inc. has launched an aggressive 1995 expansion program that will boost the number of stores in the housewares and home-furnishings chain by 50 percent before...

Bay Area health coalition catching on in L.A., Northwest.
May 19, 1995... The Pacific Business Group on Health has quietly added eight new corporate members, including some of the biggest names in California business. And PBGH, arguably the most powerful employer coalition in the country, expects others to sign up...

Posting good results: mail order sales help revive Gump's. (Gump's Inc.)
May 19, 1995... Gump's parent company has put its stamp on the San Francisco retailer's mail-order business. When New Jersey-based direct mail giant Hanover Direct bought the struggling Gump's for $13.2 million in July 1993, it revived the moribund retailer....

'From headline to breadline' and back. (Waite Group Press Inc.)
May 19, 1995... Computer-book publisher keeps adding chapters to cover a fickle industry Mitchell Waite eased into business ownership, starting as an author and ultimately landing a big contract that prompted the official birth of the Waite Group, now Waite...

Property management firms shrink to fit tight market.
May 19, 1995... Intense competition and consolidation had a significant impact on the firms making The List of the 25 largest Bay Area property management firms (see page 21). Lincoln Property remained far ahead of the pack, and Northwest Asset Management...

State board rules that it has been too taxing on tech. (Board of Equalization; California technology firms)
May 19, 1995... Technology companies scored a $100 million victory when the state Board of Equalization ruled this month against taxing prototype electronics parts. In what industry exports are calling a landmark case, the board on May 4 voted 3-1 against...

Windsor Capital buys Marriott in Walnut Creek. (Windsor Capital Group; Walnut Creek Marriott Hotel)
May 19, 1995... Windsor Capital Group, which has managed the Walnut Creek Marriott Hotel for the last year, has purchased the hotel for $20 million from the Kemper Real Estate Group. The Dallas-based developer and property manager was recruited by Kemper in...

Potlatch Corp. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 19, 1995... NYSE/PSE: PCH One Maritime Plaza San Francisco, CA 9411 9 (415) 576-8800 UPDATE Potlatch Corp. is a forest products company engaged principally in growing and harvesting timber and manufacturing and selling wood products, printing papers...

Sumitomo cleaning up balance sheet. (Sumitomo Bank of California)
May 26, 1995... Sumitomo Bank of California has agreed to sell a pool of more than $500 million of problem assets to CS First Boston, the largest in a series of planned sales the bank hopes to complete in the current quarter. As a result of the sales and...

PeopleSoft starts from scratch. (PeopleSoft Manufacturing)
May 26, 1995... Borrowing a financing technique used by the biotechnology industry, PeopleSoft Inc. has teamed up with a venture capital firm to start an off-balance-sheet company. By joining forces with Minneapolis-based Norwest Venture Capital, which has an...

Health care alliance nears launch date. (Alameda Alliance for Health)
May 26, 1995... A group of East Bay health-care providers and Alameda County's public health system are in the final stages of creating a public-private Medi-Cal managed-care network that could move hundreds of thousands of the county's welfare recipients into a...

Insurance maverick, Hambrecht & Quist ink deal. (USI Insurance Services Corp. acquires Hambrecht & Quist Insurance Brokers)
May 26, 1995... USI Insurance Services Corp. has acquired a San Francisco specialty brokerage from the Hambrecht & Quist Group in return for giving H&Q an equity stake in what appears to be the nation's fastest-growing brokerage network. USI, the insurance...

Sugar firm decides its future will be finer in Carolina. (Spreckels Industries Inc.)
May 26, 1995... Century-old sugar pioneer Spreckels Industries Inc. has soured on the Bay Area and has decided to move its corporate headquarters from Pleasanton to Charlotte, N.C., before the end of the summer. One of the Bay Area's oldest continuously...

Chain reaction. (proposed restriction of chain stores in San Francisco, CA)
May 26, 1995... S.F. supervisor wants to halt the advance of retail giants With opposition growing to new chain stores in several San Francisco neighborhoods, Supervisor Kevin Shelley is working on a proposal to restrict the proliferation of chain outlets in...

2 deals mean life's a joy for Joie de Vivre. (Joie de Vivre Hotels Inc.)
May 26, 1995... San Francisco's Joie de Vivre Hotels Inc. has added two new hotels to its stable of downtown properties, raising to eight the number of hotels it operates or provides with sales or management services. Recently, the company signed a 35-year...

Budget ax hangs over Bay Area small business resource centers. (San Francisco Bay Area)
May 26, 1995... Seven federally run small business resource centers in the Bay Area are in danger of losing their federal funds, the latest in a series of potential setbacks to fledgling companies seeking government assistance. A congressional proposal to cut...

BofA making a mark, yen and franc in foreign exchange. (Bank of America)(Banking & Finance Quarterly)
May 26, 1995... Michael Bernal didn't get much sleep. The monitors in his home gave him an early indication a busy day stood ahead - as did the overseas phone calls in the middle of the night. By 3 a.m. on May 11, when most San Franciscans were still hours...

Estrogen patch promises change of life for Cygnus. (Cygnus Therapeutic Systems)
May 26, 1995... Cygnus Therapeutic Systems, a maker of the nicotine patch that helps smokers kick their habit, is holding its breath while waiting for clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to market an estrogen patch that will benefit women in...

Small-business software firm thinks big with $20M IPO. (My Software Co.)
May 26, 1995... MySoftware Co., a Palo Alto developer of software programs for small business, plans to go public with a $20 million stock offering. Two million shares will be offered at an estimated $10 per share, according to a preliminary prospectus for the...

Buy marks breakthrough for small business lending. (EXXE Data Corp.)
May 26, 1995... EXXE Data Corp. has completed the purchase of a $50 million warehouse credit facility that the company said will establish the first facility in the nation for securitized small business loans. The Palo Alto company said it purchased the...

S.F. port inks deal so terminal won't go down with the ships. (Port of San Francisco)
May 26, 1995... Determined to keep open its last remaining container terminal, the Port of San Francisco has signed a new contract with terminal operator Stevedoring Services of America that assures SSA that it won't lose money as business disappears. Closure...

Dearth of funds squeezes small nonprofits hardest.
May 26, 1995... Nonprofit organizations in Northern California are struggling for survival as the competition for increasingly scant funds heats up, raising the specter of a long-term shakeout. The pressures are being most keenly felt by smaller nonprofits. A...

Newspaper magnate feels pull of new media technology. (William Randolph Hearst III)(Banking & Finance Quarterly)
May 26, 1995... For more than a decade William Randolph Hearst III published the news. Late last year, he made some. Hearst, who had headed the San Francisco Examiner since 1984, left the flagship of the media empire built by his grandfather to become a...