Boston Business Journal articles from December 1991

Boston Business Journal archives from December 1991

Firms sound Tocsin over Baby Bells. (Massachusetts information service companies alarmed by the ruling allowing telephone companies to compete) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... The recent court decision to allow the Baby Bells to compete in the information services business has left some Massachusetts firms concerned for their prospects in the fledgling industry. "We need structural safeguards in place so they don't...

Condo values dip 14 percent. (Industry Overview)
December 2, 1991... Of all residential property types, condominiums appear headed for the greatest dip in values as part of Boston's tri-annual revaluation process, the city's assessing chief said last week. On average, Boston's condo stock will decline in value by...

Second biotech firm threatens to leave state. (ImmunoLogic Pharmaceutical Corp.)
December 2, 1991... ImmuLogic points to lack of support as a reason to move Amid the courting of Genzyme and its much-ballyhooed manufacturing plant by the cities of Boston, Cambridge and Worcester, one of Genzyme's smaller neighbors at Cambridge's 1 Kendall...

Hub developers: have work, will travel. (Boston developers and contractors seek out contracts in Eastern Europe)
December 2, 1991... With the local real estate market nearly silent following the frenzied construction activity of the 1980s, Boston developers, architects and contractors are heading out of town in search of new building prospects. In fact, a growing number are...

Lottery-By-Phone. (investigated by the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... The state Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight said it will investigate the new Lottery-By-Phone game. The committee will look into the legality of using telephone lines for betting and the Department of Public Utilities' decision to give...

General Cinema Corp. (takes over the publishing firm of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Newton-based General Cinema Corp. has finally taken over the Florida publishing firm of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich after winning stockholder approval for a $1.5 billion offer. Preferred stockholders opposed the takeover at the last minute, but...

News Corp. Ltd. (extends payment on its debt for three years) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Boston Herald parent company News Corp. Ltd. won approval from its creditors to extend payment on its debt for three years. It plans to issue new debt of $300 million and new stock worth $450 million to help manage the current debt. News Corp....

Securities and Exchange Commission. (bill by Edward Markey to expand the regulatory power) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... A bill proposed by U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) would increase the Securities and Exchange Commission's responsibility in regulating the government securities market, allowing the SEC to introduce new methods of auditing market activity. At...

National Association of Realtors. (reports on increase in single-family home sales) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Single-family home sales in the United States rose by 1.0 percent in October, according to the National Association of Realtors; analysts said the jump may be attributable to lower interest rates. It was the first gain in four months, but it...

Weld win in Senate. (Governor William Weld wins approval for proposed workers' compensation bill) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... The latest workers' compensation bill proposed by Gov. William Weld won approval from the state Senate, in a 16-15 vote, and is now awaiting action in the House. The Senate removed from the legislation a surcharge on self-insured organizations...

Genzyme Corp. (to build $75 million plant in Massachusetts) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Genzyme Corp. of Cambridge announced that it will build its $75 million plant in Massachusetts after Gov. William Weld promised that he would work to keep corporate taxes down and expand tax credits for investment. The plant is expected to be...

Reebok International Ltd. (Pentland Group PLC to sell 13% stake in the company) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Pentland Group PLC said it will sell its remaining 13 percent stake in Stoughton-based Reebok International Ltd. In April, Pentland reduced its ownership stake in Reebok from 32 percent to 13 percent. Pentland invested $377,500 in Reebok in 1981...

Industries brace for storm-water regulations.
December 2, 1991... Some Massachusetts industries are anxious about the potential costs of complying with a new federal water pollution regulation, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's implementation of new amendments to the 1972 Clean Water Act will...

Kontron: new contract. (Kontron Instruments Inc. to manufacture and distribute intra-aortic balloon pump developed by Dr. Jean Christian Farcot) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Kontron Instruments announced it will exclusively manufacture and distribute a new intra-aortic balloon pump developed by a noted French cardiologist. The Everett-based manufacturer's announcement reconfirms its recovery from three years ago,...

Sanborn: on buying binge. (purchases Environmental Compliance Corp. and Lubrx) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Sanborn Inc. has purchased Environmental Compliance Corp. of Winston-Salem, N.C., which recycles and treats only wastewater, and North Attleboro-based Lubrx, a maker of new and recycled lubricants and petroleum products. The tiny Wrentham...

Olmsted Plaza: Bonds OK'd. (Boston Industrial Development Financing Authority approves the use of tax revenue bonds to finance development of the Olmstead Plaza biotech research facility) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... The Boston Industrial Development Financing Authority has given the go-ahead for as much as $125 million in taxable revenue bonds to fund development of the Olmsted Plaza biotech research facility. A private placement of the bonds is anticipated...

HMO's faulty numbers reveal oversight problems. (health maintenance organization)
December 2, 1991... As Bay State Health Care's new management team works to beef up the Cambridge-based health maintenance organization (HMO) after learning its net worth had been overestimated by $67 million, industry observers continue to debate whether the...

G. Edward Noonan. (founder of Contravisory Research Corp.) (Company Profile)
December 2, 1991... Trend spotter Position: Founder, Contravisory Research Corp. Education: B.A., Harvard College, 1960; M.A., Georgetown University, 1963 Age: 52 For nearly 20 years now Ed Noonan has been doing technical analysis on stocks for his...

Groundwater Technology. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
December 2, 1991... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Norwood Stock Symbol: GWTI Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: ...

Bitstream. (appoints james Sole as president and chief executive officer) (High Technology) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Bitstream appointed James Sole as president and CEO. He previously served as vice president and general manager of the CAPS division of Agfa Corp. Bitstream, based in Cambridge, licenses digital type and related software to hardware developers...

Sharon Merrill Associates. (Advertising/Communications) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Boston-based corporate communications agency Sharon Merrill Associates added The Handel & Haydn Society to its client roster. The agency helps clients interface with the investment community and business and financial media.

Haggman Krimsky. (Advertising/Communications) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Haggman Krimsky was chosen as the promotional agency for the consumer products division of GTE's Sylvania Lighting Division. The agency will be responsible for creating and implementing a new promotional campaign for 1992. Haggman Krimsky was...

Baybanks. (Banking/Finance) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... BayBanks announced that five of its banking subsidiaries, BayBank First Easthampton NA, BayBank Harvard Trust Co., BayBank Middlesex, BayBank South, and BayBank Valley Trust Co., have merged into one entity named BayBank. The bank will have...

Houghton Mifflin Co. (Dividends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Houghton Mifflin Co. announced an increase of 5.4 percent on its quarterly dividend. The 1 cent increase raises the dividend from 18.5 cents to 19.5 cents and was payable on Nov. 27 to shareholders of record as of Nov. 13.

Instron Corp. (Dividends) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... The board of directors at Canton's Instron Corp. declared a regular quarterly dividend of 3 cents per share on its common stock, payable on Jan. 3 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 13, 1991.

Cambridge Biotech Corp. (Health/Science) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Cambridge Biotech Corp. in Worcester announced a public offering of 3.3 million shares of common stock at a price of $7.75 per share. Proceeds from the offering will be used to fund possible acquisitions and the expansion of its manufacturing...

Genzyme Corp. (Health/Science) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Genzyme Corp. in Cambridge recently acquired Genencor International, a diagnostic enzyme products firm based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The sale includes worldwide diagnostic sales, manufacturing, inventory and related patent and distribution rights....

Altid Enterprises. (Relocations.) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... Altid Enterprises, a Cambridge-based real estate development and property management company, has changed its name to Altid Properties. The family-owned and operated firm was founded in 1959 as Alpha Construction Co., specializing in design/build...

The Quadrant Group. (Services/Education) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... The Quadrant Group of Scituate recently expanded its operations and opened a London office. The company produces training and promotional audio, video and print communications targeted to the high-tech and leisure industries. Its clients include...

The Home Insurance Co. (Services/Education) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... The Home Insurance Co. and Continental Insurance Co., both headquartered in New York, transferred all their Massachusetts private-passenger auto insurance policies to The Commerce Insurance Co. of Webster. The agreements are awaiting the formal...

The Boston Company Real Estate Counsel. (promotes Mark Albertson to president and chief operating officer) (Banking/Finance) (Brief Article)
December 2, 1991... The Boston Company Real Estate Counsel promoted Mark Albertson to president and chief operating officer. The Boston Company subsidiary locates, restructures and monitors real estate investments for institutional clients nationwide. He joined the...

Banks to spend $14.1 billion on computers in '92. (Industry Overview)
December 9, 1991... Trend will have windfall effect on local tech firms Banks may be suffering from the worst banking crisis since the 1930s, but they are spending more than ever on computer systems, according to two recent surveys. Seventy-four percent of the...

Market leaves Standish IPO out in the cold. (Standish Care Co.'s initial public offering fails to attract investors)
December 9, 1991... The Standish Care Co. looked to tap the stock market late last month for $2 million to help build housing facilities for "frail but functional" senior citizens. But it was the stock, not the seniors, that needed assistance on Nov. 21. Unable...

Game maker plots winning strategy. (Raphael Ophir markets his Backgammon Junior game) (Company Profile)
December 9, 1991... A part-time Boston cab driver is taking on the $124 million board game market with the Backgammon Junior game he invented for his 9-year-old daughter. Raphael Ophir has no sales force, advertising campaign or financial backing. His assembly...

Welcome mat is out for Bay State biz in Hungary. (Hungary attracts Massachusetts companies)
December 9, 1991... After a fruitless search for factory space and a tannery in Massachusetts, Susan Csikos is moving her tiny leather goods company to--of all places--Hungary. The Norwood entrepreneur would rather hire Hungarian factory workers to craft the...

CML Group. (reports rise in sales) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Acton-based CML Group reported an 18 percent rise in sales this quarter in its NordicTrack division, for a total 40 percent increase this year. The jump is credited to the opening of six stores and the introduction of a $300 ski-exercise machine....

Digital Equipment Corp. (stock value) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Digital Equipment Corp. stock fell 87.5 cents to $60.375 last week, on the day the computer giant introduced 19 new products. The new products include a $4,000 work station that will make Maynard-based Digital a competitor of Sun Microsystems and...

Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Co. (to merge with UNITIL Corp.) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... A merger between Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Co. and New Hampshire's UNITIL is awaiting approval from Fitchburg stockholders. UNITIL stockholders approved the merger last week.

Stop & Shop Cos. (reports net loss) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Stop & Shop Cos. posted a net loss for the third quarter despite a 30 percent increase in operating profits from the same period last year. Much of the revenue was eaten up by interest from a leveraged buyout in 1988 and taxes. Stop & Shop said...

Pollution reduction effort aids small companies. (Massachusetts Office of Technical Assistance)
December 9, 1991... When John Healy, the president of a small metalworking shop in Worcester, first heard a few years ago about a nonregulatory state agency that offers free pollution prevention assistance to small companies like his own, he was skeptical. "It...

Seeks proposals. (New England Power Co. seeks proposals for alternative energy sources)
December 9, 1991... New England Power said last week it believes it is the first utility in the nation to set aside some of its generating capacity specifically for projects that use such renewable energy sources as wind, solar and biomass. NEP's announcement...

EGIS aids talks. (Thermedics Inc. supplies portable bomb detection devices for Middle East peace talks) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Thermedics Inc. supplied portable bomb-sniffer devices for the Middle East peace talks held in Madrid last month and also for preliminary talks in Jerusalem between U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet and Israeli officials. The...

Weld releases wish list for regulatory reform. (Massachusetts governor William Weld)
December 9, 1991... The recent unveiling by Gov. William Weld of 140 proposals to streamline state business regulations got a thumb's up by industry and trade groups. In fact, representatives from more than 20 of the state's business associations, including...

Gautam Gupta: head of the family. (president and chief executive officer of IDEAssociates) (Company Profile)
December 9, 1991... Position: President and CEO, IDEAssociates Education: B.S., Indian Institute of Technology, 1969; M.S., University of Nebraska, 1971; M.B.A., Harvard Business School, 1981 Age: 44 Gautam Gupta gathered his 200 employees together for some...

Workers' ownership pays off for more companies. (Focus: Banking and Financial Planning)
December 9, 1991... Three years ago, the owners of Setra Systems, an Acton-based manufacturer of pressure transducers and electronic scales, were nearing retirement age. They were unwilling to hand over control by selling the company or going public with its stock,...

Private lenders step in when banks can't deliver. (private merchant banking)
December 9, 1991... Businesses whose loan applications are rejected by banks are increasingly turning to private lenders for high-interest loans, report officials with turnaround companies. So-called private merchant banking is a growing viable financing...

Fee-only advisors increase their ranks. (financial planners)(Focus: Banking and Financial Planning)
December 9, 1991... The financial planning business is changing. Originally most financial planners worked in the insurance or brokerage industries and earned their living from commissions. But one trade association in the Boston area has spotted a recent increase...

Wyman-Gordon Co. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
December 9, 1991... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Worcester Stock Symbol: WYMN Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: $405,381,000 Net Income: $8,696,000...

BayBanks. (Banking/Finance) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... BayBanks named Michael Vasily as chief financial officer. He joined BayBanks in 1978 as vice president of finance and was elected executive vice president in 1987. Vasily most recently served as chief operating officer at BayBank Middle-sex and...

Talbots. (Manufacturing/Retail) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... Talbots in Hingham appointed Edward Larsen as senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer. Prior to joining Talbots, he held a similar position at Lillian Vernon Corp. in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Larsen also spent 10 years with...

Telco Systems. (Earnings) (Brief Article)
December 9, 1991... TABULAR DATA OMITTED

Cambridge hit by tenant exodus.
December 16, 1991... Reeling from the recent defection of Genzyme Corp. to Allston and Lotus Development Corp.'s threats of a similar parting, many Cambridge landlords are beginning to wonder if the city's once-hot real estate market is about to enter a deep freeze....

The Putnam Cos. part ways with Rhumbline. (Rhumbline Advisers)
December 16, 1991... The Putnam Cos. and RhumbLine Advisers, a small but high-powered minority-owned pension fund manager, recently broke off their relationship of 18 months in response to the perception that Putnam, which helped finance the firm, might be using it...

MEFA at the head of the class in loans. (Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority)
December 16, 1991... As federal and state higher-education assistance has failed to keep pace with escalating tuition and fee rates, the demand for low-interest supplemental loans in Massachusetts, home to 115 private and public institutions, has swelled. The...

Genzyme: Allston wins. (Allston Landing chosen as site of new manufacturing facility)
December 16, 1991... Ending months of competition among several states and a number of Massachusetts cities, biotech giant Genzyme Corp. has chosen Boston's Allston Landing as the site of its new $75 million manufacturing facility. The plant--to be located on 9.5...

MWRA: so long, sludge. (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority reports facility designed to convert sewage to fertilizer)
December 16, 1991... Within weeks, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority reports, a Quincy facility designed to convert sewage to fertilizer will become operational, ending the century-old practice of dumping sludge directly into the harbor (see BBJ, July 9,...

222 Berkeley St.: Mifflin moves in. (Houghton Mifflin Co.)
December 16, 1991... Ending months of speculation, the Houghton Mifflin Co. has confirmed that it is moving to the recently constructed 222 Berkeley St. building in Boston's Back Bay. The publishing house has signed a 15-year lease to take 270,000 square feet in the...

Landlords hazy on mandates of disability law. (Americans with Disabilities Act)
December 16, 1991... Less than a month before the sweeping Americans with Disabilities Act goes into effect, property owners remain befuddled by a myriad of enforcement and compliance issues surrounding the new law. Passed by Congress last year, the ADA requires...

Bid to shift college loans threatens private lenders.
December 16, 1991... A federal proposal to alter higher education's Stafford Loan program threatens to eliminate banks and other private lending institutions, as well as the growing secondary market, from the process which last year provided $12 billion in...

Foreign firms cool toward investing in Mass. (Massachusetts)
December 16, 1991... Foreign-owned companies in Massachusetts will see slower growth, less expansion and fewer acquisitions in the near future, according to a survey released last month by the accounting firm KPMG/Peat Marwick. The survey points out that the number...

Cleanup act bogs down in state funding issues.
December 16, 1991... With the controversial packaging-reduction debate dominating center stage on Beacon Hill, state officials, environmental activists and industry representatives are trying to draw attention to another pending measure they argue will have an even...

Biohazard board doing little to monitor industry: Genzyme move raises question of policing big biotech facilities. (Boston Biohazards Committee)
December 16, 1991... Now that Genzyme has committed to building a $75 million plant at Allston Landing, the dormant Boston Biohazards Committee has finally stirred. The mayoral-appointed BBC--required by a 1981 ordinance to meet at least six times a year--will...

M.L. Carr: looking beyond the ball. (former Boston Celtics forward, president of the Carr Corp.)
December 16, 1991... Position: President, M.L. Carr Enterprises, The Carr Corporation and Sports Fantasy Contracts, Inc. Education: B.A., Guilford College, 1973 Age: 40 When M.L. Carr retires--for the second time, that is--he may well be remembered as one of...

Nifty software helps the pen make a comeback. (pen-based computer) (Focus: Computers for Home and Office) (Product Announcement)
December 16, 1991... Now that some delivery people are starting to fill out forms on pen-based computers, the technology is inching its way into the office. Taking notes at a meeting or designing a party invitation is finally as easy--and as unobtrusive--as putting...

Quantum writes the book on texts for techies. (Quantum Books, bookstore specializing in high technology areas) (Focus: Computers for Home and Office)
December 16, 1991... Computers aren't the exclusive preserve of the techie savant anymore, and neither is the bookstore specializing in technology tomes. "It seems to me there is a broader audience than there was before," said Marilyn Pulang, a manager at the...

Document imaging can cause deep paper cuts. (Focus: Computers for Home and Office)
December 16, 1991... To create and store 1 million pieces of paper takes 570 trees, 137 kilowatts of energy, 235,000 gallons of water, 184 four-drawer file cabinets, 2,100 cubic feet of office space, 500 square feet of rentable space, and $8,875 in filing and labor...

Network puts homes at buyers' fingertips. (HomeView, realty search service) (Focus: Computers for Home and Office)
December 16, 1991... HomeView, a new realty search service company based in Needham, seeks to bring the business of buying a new home into the 21st century through touch-screen technology, multiple gigabytes of information storage and millions of high-resolution...

Grossman's. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
December 16, 1991... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Braintree Stock Symbol: GROS Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: $812,485,000 Net...

Sheldon Fechtor. (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Sheldon Fechtor president and CEO of the Boston securities firm of Fechtor, Detwiler & Co., was appointed to a three-year term on the Market Surveillance Committee of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). The group's purpose is...

Reebok International Ltd. (Dividends) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Reebok International Ltd. of Stoughton declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 75 cents per share on its common stock, payable on Jan. 3, 1992 to stockholders of record as of Dec. 13, 1991. Sales in 1990 totaled approximately $2.16 billion....

Voicetek Corp. (High Technology) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Voicetek Corp. of Cambridge recently announced an agreement with Bell Atlanticom Systems to sell, support and develop Voicetek's voice processing systems. The software will be sold through the Bell Atlanticom sales force with a focus on key...

Dynatech Corp. (High Technology) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... The board of directors of Burlington's Dynatech Corp. announced the repurchase of up to 1 million shares of its common stock. No timetable was given for the commencement or completion of the repurchase program, which will take place in the open...

Chipcom Corp. (High Technology) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Chipcom Corp. of Southborough introduced an Ethernet BNC Module that enables customer to connect their "thin wire" Ethernet Local Area Networks to Chipcom's ONline System Concentrators. As a result, the ONline products now support all major media...

Xyquest. (High Technology) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Xyquest of Billerica reached an agreement with IBM that returns to them the marketing and distribution rights for Signature, a DOS word-processing product co-developed with IBM's Desktop Software Division. Under the agreement, Xyquest will...

Aurora Systems. (High Technology) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Aurora Systems, an Acton-based systems integration company that specializes in telephone call processing and management, was recently founded by former Voicetek Corp. president and CEO Paul M. Gasparro and former vice president of engineering...

Spectracorp. (High Technology) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Lawrence-based Spectracorp and the Japanese company Osaka Gas Company signed an agreement to develop and advance engineering materials and products through shared technology. Spectracorp will utilize the properties of Renoves carbon fiber and...

The Niles Co. (Real Estate) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... The Niles Co. was appointed exclusive leasing agent for 199 State St. by the owner, McNeil Management of Norwood. Niles was also appointed sales, marketing and property management agent for the Fortin Mall in Littleton. The property consists...

Gertje Associates. (Service/Education ) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Framingham's Gertje Associates recently introduced two new services in the Greater Boston area: CompuKleen, for computer cleaning, and CompuDoc, for system diagnostics and documentation. The company promotes the services as a way for businesses...

Sue Roberts. (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Sue Roberts was appointed to head The Student Loan Marketing Association's New England sales office in Boston. The $44 billion financial services corporation is the nation's largest source of funds for educational loans. Roberts is responsible...

Computervision. (High Technology) (Brief Article)
December 16, 1991... Bedford's Computervision announced a new multi-year contract with Sun Microsystems Computer Corp. to purchase more than $200 million worth of SPARC workstations and servers per year. The contract replaces a $100 million per year agreement in...

Commercial values drop dramatically. (1992 commercial property assessments)
December 23, 1991... As city officials scrambled feverishly last week to finalize Boston's fiscal 1992 commercial property assessments before Christmas, a sampling of preliminary figures taken by the Boston Business Journal showed most buildings valued between 25...

Software cops taking aim at corporate copycats. (Software Publishers Association acts on software piracy)
December 23, 1991... PC users beware: The software police are on a raid. The latest victim is IPL Systems, caught with 60 PCs loaded with illegal copies of Lotus, Microsoft and WordPerfect software and slapped with a $90,000 fine in an out-of-court settlement with...

State Mutual mulls fate of Hanover. (State Mutual Life Assurance Company of America; Hanover Insurance Co.)
December 23, 1991... Officials at State Mutual Assurance in Worcester said last week they intend to press ahead with plans to explore selling part or all of their majority stake in the Hanover Insurance Cos., following a brief but bitter battle in which it won...

Green groups see red over DEP cutbacks. (reduced environmental monitoring and enforcement laws of the Department of Environmental Protection)
December 23, 1991... The state Department of Environmental Protection has severely reduced its efforts at monitoring and enforcing environmental laws in the past year, according to a study released by DEP last month, a result of what some environmentalists believe is...