San Francisco Business Times articles from November 1995

San Francisco Business Times archives from November 1995

A landmark pyramid, anyone? (bidding for Transamerica Corp. property management contracts)
November 17, 1995... Transamerica Corp. is shopping its famed property management portfolio Bowing to cost-cutting pressures, Transamerica Corp. is putting its 3 million-square-foot property management portfolio on the market, a package that includes the firm's...

Brits put half of One Post St. on the block. (Grosvenor International Holdings' stake in the One Post St. office tower in San Francisco, California)
November 17, 1995... The international real estate company controlled by Great Britain's Duke Of Westminster is selling its 50 percent stake in the One Post St. office tower. Grosvenor International Holdings has reportedly been interviewing several local...

Biotech gives its blood for a good dog story. (human trials for BioTime Inc.'s blood substitute)
November 17, 1995... Having successfully used its revolutionary blood substitute to chill dogs and baboons to death and then revive them, Bio-Time Inc. is ready for the human trials that could restore life to its fading fortunes. The Berkeley biotechnology...

New bill would bridge the gulf for Chevron Corp. (reduction of exploration and drilling costs in the Gulf of Mexico)
November 17, 1995... Chevron Corp. expects to benefit from a congressional bill that would reduce its exploration and drilling costs in the Gulf of Mexico. Smaller oil and gas producers in Northern California, meanwhile, praised the bill's main provision: lifting...

No. 2 HMO launches statewide medical group. (health maintenance organization; Health Net)
November 17, 1995... Meanwhile, odds drop on parent's mega-merger going through Health Net, the state's second-largest HMO with more than 1.36 million California members, has quietly launched its own statewide medical group, a move that is antagonizing many of...

Lasalle to acquire leading property management firm. (Lasalle Partners' purchase of Northwest Asset Management Co.)
November 17, 1995... Northwest Asset Management Co., property managers for 13.2 million square feet of commercial real estate in the Bay Area, is in negotiations to be acquired by Chicago-based Lasalle Partners. Sources report the deal, expected to close in a few...

Unbottling growth. (Rosewood Capital)
November 17, 1995... Venture capital firm adds $7M to gourmet recipe San Francisco-based Rosewood Capital is staking Napa Valley Kitchens with a $7 million venture investment, the first the 3-year-old company has raised in its rapid ascent in the gourmet-food...

Hungry health giant tries to gobble Central Valley group. (Catholic Healthcare West plans to acquire St. Joseph's Regional Health Systems)
November 17, 1995... After pausing briefly to digest its acquisition this spring of a rival Bay Area hospital group, San Francisco's Catholic Healthcare West is attempting to acquire one of the Central Valley's largest hospital systems. Merger talks with St....

Cream-puff economy has auto dealers purring like kitten. (San Francisco economy)
November 17, 1995... It would appear that a healthy economic engine revs all motors, as the improving Bay Area economy and rising consumer confidence produced gains for all but four of the largest auto dealers in 1994. The dealerships that make up this year's...

Russian rub for DHL. (DHL Airways Inc.)
November 3, 1995... DHL Worldwide Express has upped its ante in the former Soviet Union by $10 million in a gamble that the region will eventually prove enormously profitable. The Redwood City and Luxembourg based international air express company has opened a...

Chevron bets $1B on clean burning gas. (Chevron Corp.)
November 3, 1995... Chevron Corp. is gambling more than $1 billion that shutting its Richmond refinery for six weeks will allow it to grab extra market share as oil companies race to meet a June deadline for producing cleaner-burning gasoline. Chevron is...

Crown Sterling checks out of hotel biz with $450M deal. (Crown Sterling Suites)
November 3, 1995... San Francisco's Crown Sterling Suites is selling its chain of 18 suite hotels around the country and liquidating the limited partnerships that own them for about $450 million. The hotel management company has agreed to sell an its properties...

Kaiser delays billion dollar high-tech plan. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. Northern California Region)
November 3, 1995... Kaiser Permanente's Northern California region has retreated temporarily from plans to implement a $1.2 billion high-technology data network over the next five years so it can coordinate with similar Kaiser efforts nationwide. Kaiser...

Primed to tango. (merger talks between California Pacific Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital)
November 3, 1995... California Pacific, St. Luke's Hospital step up their talks On-again, off-again merger talks between medical groups affiliated with California Pacific Medical Center and St. Luke's Hospital are heating up again. The negotiations could be a...

Garden products firm to harvest $30M in offering. (Central Garden and Pet Co.; stock offering)
November 3, 1995... Central Garden & Pet Co. is planning to reseed its coffers by raising about $30 million in a new stock offering. The Lafayette-based distributor of lawn and garden products and pet supplies filed an offering to sell 5 million new shares to...

Prudential's deal to sell 580 California highrise collapses. (Prudential Realty Group)
November 3, 1995... Prudential Realty Group's $54 million deal to sell the 580 California St. tower has fallen apart after the buyer balked at the last minute. Prudential had been in negotiations with real estate consultant John McNulty for the past couple of...

State claims PG&E filed false data on nuke plant. (California; Pacific Gas and Electric Co.; Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant)
November 3, 1995... Pacific Gas & Electric's controversy-plagued Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is under investigation by the state attorney general's office for illegally filing false and incomplete environmental data. The move has triggered a civil lawsuit...

Flower firm's investor makes everything come up roses. (Calyx and Corolla Inc.; Capital Cities/ABC Inc.)
November 3, 1995... A year-old investment by Capital Cities/ABC in San Francisco flower delivery company Calyx & Corolla is finally about to bloom. Calyx & Corolla says it plans to launch a holiday advertising blitz that will run through Valentines Day. The...

North and south united under Lincoln. (Lincoln Property Co.'s residential management divisions)
November 3, 1995... Lincoln Property Co. is consolidating three residential management divisions into a single company to form the largest multifamily property management company in the Western United States. Lincoln Residential Services (LRS), to be based in...

Health software company sets $28.5M IPO. (Mecon Inc.; initial public offering)
November 3, 1995... Mecon Inc., a San Ramon-based software company with a hospital-industry focus and a history of losses, has filed for a $28.5 million initial public offering. In an Oct. 13 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mecon said it...

Kaiser union prescribes a 'no' vote. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. Northern California Region)
November 3, 1995... Leaders of Kaiser Permanente's largest labor union in Northern California, representing nearly half of Kaiser's employees in the region, have recommended that its members reject the giant HMO's final contract offer. Local 250 of the Health...

Book binder a documented success. (Powis Parker Inc.)
November 3, 1995... Kevin Parker took up the craft of hand-bookbinding as a teenager, and when he was a student at UC Berkeley, one of his high school teachers suggested that he apply his skills to a more commercial project - a document-binding system for in-house...

S.F.-based video business recording profits. (San Francisco, California; S.F. Video)
November 3, 1995... When Steven Feinberg graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1987, he planned to go to work for a major accounting firm. But some family friends were launching a video duplication business, and they convinced Feinberg to join the startup team and...

Dreyer's seeks pick-me-up from coffee ice cream deal. (joint venture between Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc. and Starbucks Corp.)
November 3, 1995... Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream has joined Starbucks Coffee in the raging java wars, agreeing to a long-term joint venture to produce a line of premium coffee ice creams bearing the Starbucks name. The products will be distributed to retailers...

If FedEx can't land in San Jose at night, it will take off. (Federal Express Inc.; California)
November 3, 1995... Federal Express is threatening to move its Bay Area operations to San Francisco and Oakland if its current host city of San Jose cannot accommodate the overnight delivery company's expansion plans. FedEx chief executive Fred Smith has...

Electronic Arts Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
November 3, 1995... NASDAQ: ERTS 1450 Fashion Island Blvd. San Mateo, CA 94404 (415) 571-7171 UPDATE Electronic Arts develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software for multiple entertainment systems, including Sony's...