Boston Business Journal articles from February 1991

Boston Business Journal archives from February 1991

Olmsted Plaza bags $207m from TIAF. (financing from the Teachers Insurance & Annuity Fund)
February 4, 1991... After some rather tense months, it appears that the Olmsted Plaza project in Boston's Fenway neighborhood is finally moving ahead. The first phase of the project could begin as early as April, a spokesman for the developers told the Boston...

MWRA seeks to end run state's sub-bid law. (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority request for exemption requiring contractors to work with lowest-bidding subcontractors)
February 4, 1991... The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) last week requested an exemption from a long-standing state law requiring contractors to work with the lowest-bidding subcontractors on public building projects, saying it would save the harbor...

Cash on the hoof. (economic aspects of horse shoeing)
February 4, 1991... Horses haven't escaped the designer footwear craze. In fact, a local hoofpad maker is expanding its brand-name line in the hope of kicking up extra business. Sudbury-based Equine Technologies introduced two new horseshoe products in...

The loss of a leader. (chief executive officer of Gillette Co. Colman M. Mockler Jr.)
February 4, 1991... Colman M. Mockler Jr., CEO of Gillette Co., died on Jan. 26 after a regular Friday meeting with senior officers in the Prudential Tower. Mockler, 61, had recently announced his retirement from Gillette, effective at the end of this year....

FDIC fears. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s bank fund deficit)
February 4, 1991... The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. bank fund will have a $4 billion deficit by Sept. 30, 1992, unless banks replenish it, according to the Bush administration. By the end of 1995, that fund's debt could reach $22.5 billion. Those losses...

BOB cuts 1,000. (personnel cutback at Bank of Boston layoff of employees)
February 4, 1991... The Bank of Boston announced plans to let go 1,000 employees, blaming a $187 million loss in the fourth quarter of 1990 and a loss for the year of $395 million. New England's largest bank, BOB had already cut 1,100 jobs from its payroll in the...

General Cinema Corp.
February 4, 1991... General Cinema Corp. announced plans to buy Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, a troubled Orlando, Fla.-based book publishing firm. The merger, if approved, would release Harcourt from a debt load of $1.9 billion. That merger, which raised the...

Boston Edison.
February 4, 1991... Boston Edison reported a per-share earning rise of 14 cents, compared to a loss of $2.40 a share for the fourth quarter of 1989. The utility company's 1990 earnings also rose to $2.01 a share, compared to a loss of 88 cents for 1989.

War stimulus. (effects of Persian Gulf War, 1991- on Masachussetts companies)
February 4, 1991... The Middle Eastern war has boosted orders for all manner of goods--from toothbrushes to aviator glasses to coatings for missile nose cones--and Massachusetts companies are profiting, however reluctant they are to admit it. Pro-Fessional...

Microsoft Corp.
February 4, 1991... Microsoft Corp. announced record-breaking sales for its Windows 3.0 software, which beat Lotus Development Corp.'s 1-2-3 spreadsheet software. Microsoft has sold six million copies of Windows 3.0 in less than a year, while Lotus has sold five...

Teamsters. (Teamster president Wiliiam J. McCarthy)
February 4, 1991... Teamsters president William J. McCarthy is being asked by federal officials to seek new bids on a multi-million-dollar contract to print the union's International Teamster monthly magazine, which he awarded to Windsor Graphics, his son-in-law's...

Gov. Bill Weld. (Massachusetts governor)
February 4, 1991... Gov. Bill Weld and Sen. John Kerry met with the state's top business and political leaders last Monday for a day-long summit on the state's fiscal crisis. Weld revealed plans to trim 5,000 from the state's payroll and cut $110 million in aid...

Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.
February 4, 1991... The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is proposing to build a $368 million water filtration plant while scrapping plans to seek a waiver of federal requirements for that plan. Recent tests showed unusually high levels of coliform...

Cambridge. (Cambridge, Massachusetts)
February 4, 1991... The City of Cambridge is considering a tax on high-income residents of low-rent apartments in order to pay for repairs on low-income housing units. . . . New England employers spend more on employee medical plans than employers in any other...

Profitable Morse Shoe collapses under LBO debt. (Leveraged buyouts)
February 4, 1991... Canton-based Morse Shoe walked into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month after it was unable to shoulder the heavy debt burden it incurred in a management-led buyout. The shoe company is the state's latest casualty of the high-flying...

Buys Oncogenetic buys Oncogenetic Partners. (Applied bioTechnology)
February 4, 1991... Applied bioTechnology has purchased Oncogenetic Partners, a research partnership with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. that started in 1986 to work with tumor suppressor genes to find a cure for cancer. It's the latest coup for Cambridge-based...

For small defense firms, the gulf war is a dud. (contracts for small defense firms not as much as expected)
February 4, 1991... Despite the war in the Middle East--and the success of weaponry like Raytheon's Patriot missile--smaller defense contractors are still facing shrinking defense expenditures and are getting less attention than ever from Wall Street, say industry...

In Marlborough, more revenue and parking. (Privatized parking enforcement operations)
February 4, 1991... Parking scofflaws beware: Municipal Management Associates (MMA) is hoping to turn a profit at your expense. Municipal Management Associates (MMA), which since 1981 has been doing data processing and computer billing for Bay State cities and...

Serono Labs mulls the pharmaceutical big time. (Serono Laboratories Inc.) (company profile)
February 4, 1991... Since Jules Musing took the helm of Serono Laboratories Inc. in January, his mission has been simple: to transform it into an aggressive contender in the pharmaceutical big leagues. But bringing about that transformation will not be so...

Papering over differences between new and old. (Focus: Printing)
February 4, 1991... A growing demand for recycled paper products--everything from computer paper to calendars, brochures to business cards--is creating new players in the printing and paper industry. They include collectors and haulers of high-quality waste...

Color heats up. (growth of color thermal transfer printer market growth)
February 4, 1991... The color thermal transfer printer market is expected to experience high growth over the next five years, according to a recent report by International Data Corp. (IDC) in Framingham. Shipments are projected to increase at an annual rate of...

Cognos. (proxy report excerpts) (company profile)
February 4, 1991... Cognos Inc. makes information-management software tools for a wide array of standard operating systems, including MS/DOS, AViiON, OS/2 and HPUX. The company's principal product, PowerHouse, is a software development language that the company...

Tom McGrath. (Services/Education)
February 4, 1991... Tom McGrath, founder of Dorchester architecture firm Thomas McGrath Architect, has announced a new "design/build" service for homeowners and condominium associations. Provided by a newly formed TMA division, The Architects Renovation Co., the...

Steven M. Niemi (Health/Science)
February 4, 1991... Steven M. Niemi D.V.M., was named president of TSI Mason Research Institute, Transgenic Science Inc.'s pharmaceutical preclinical testing subsidiary. Niemi joined Mason Research in 1985 as director of veterinary services. He previously served...

Ionics. (High Technology)
February 4, 1991... Ionics was chosen by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to desalt and purify water for use at its Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Ionics will design, construct, own, and operate a seawater desalination facility, slated to emit 400 gallons per minute, as...

Teradyne Inc. (Manufacturing/Retail)
February 4, 1991... Manufacturer of automatic test equipment Teradyne Inc. has secured an authorized deal with Japan's Government of Kumamoto Prefecture. The pact allows the manufacturer to purchase a factory site in Ohzu Township on the island of Kyushu. The...

First National Bank of Boston. (Banking/Finance)
February 4, 1991... First National Bank of Boston's letter-of-credit rating, supporting the commercial paper program of Niantic Fuel Trust, was dropped from F-2 to F-3 by New York-based investment firm Fitch. Its principal subsidiary, Bank of Boston Corp., and...

Sterling Bank. (Banking/Finance)
February 4, 1991... Sterling Bank, a subsidiary of The Waltham Corp., received a satisfactory Community Reinvestment Act compliance rating from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Publicly held Sterling Bank has assets of $570 million and trades under the NASDAQ...

Multibank Financial Corp. (Banking/Finance)
February 4, 1991... The registered bank holding company Multibank Financial Corp. sold most of its credit card portfolio to BancOhio National Bank, a nationwide supplier of credit card services. The sale price contained a premium of nearly $8.9 million of pre-tax...

Cellular One. (Advertising/Communications)
February 4, 1991... Cellular One in Boston, a unit of Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems, will activate its cellular system foro the Cape Cod area this month. The company will operate two transmitting towers and expand its cellular system to encompass the entire...

Chip king bites into croutons. (Stephen Bernard of Cape Cod Potato Chip Co.'s new business venture, Chatham Village Croutons)
February 11, 1991... CHIP KING BITES INTO CROUTONS At his Wareham factory, Stephen Bernard, co-founder of Cape Cod Potato Chip Co., loads down a man in a dark gray suit with a six-month supply of freshly made garlic-and-butter croutons and shows him the door....

Bankers bridle at call to ease credit . (Massachusetts bankers reminded by government to refrain from making risky loans)
February 11, 1991... Bankers bridle at call to ease credit Massachusetts bankers scoff at the federal government's position that the recession would be short lived if banks would step up to the plate and make more loans to ease the credit crunch and rekindle the...

Ground war may sound further retreat of TV ad sales. (declining advertising revenues from Persian Gulf War, 1991)
February 11, 1991... Ground war may sound further retreat of TV ad sales The conventional wisdom that newscasts are advertising cash cows for local television stations is being stood on its head by the war in the Persian Gulf as paid sponsors pull millions of...

Dirt cheap: land prices plunge dramatically. (depreciation of land affects demand for real estate)
February 11, 1991... DIRT CHEAP: LAND PRICES PLUNGE DRAMATICALLY Depreciation is estimated at 50 to 60 percent As New England continues to struggle through the recession, it's no secret that the terms "real estate" and "value" have parted company....

Pan Am-putation. (layoffs at Pan Am Corp.)
February 11, 1991... Pan Am-putation Pan Am Corp. announced last week it would cut about 4,000 jobs, blaming huge debts, high fuel costs and lower passenger traffic since the Gulf war. . . . Delphax Systems in Randolph bought the Imaging Systems division of...

Delphax Systems. (acquires Imaging Systems Div. of Avery Dennison)
February 11, 1991... Pan Am-putation Pan Am Corp. announced last week it would cut about 4,000 jobs, blaming huge debts, high fuel costs and lower passenger traffic since the Gulf war. . . . Delphax Systems in Randolph bought the Imaging Systems division of...

Toy merger. (Hasbro Inc.'s possible acquisition of Tonka Corp.)
February 11, 1991... Toy merger Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, the largest toy maker in the world, announced it will buy Tonka Corp. of Minnetonka, Minn., in a $516 million deal. Rival Mattel has also expressed interest in the ailing toy company, which owns...

Mattel. (may acquire Parker Brothers)
February 11, 1991... Toy merger Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, the largest toy maker in the world, announced it will buy Tonka Corp. of Minnetonka, Minn., in a $516 million deal. Rival Mattel has also expressed interest in the ailing toy company, which owns...

Child World. (negotiates with potential buyers)
February 11, 1991... Toy merger Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, the largest toy maker in the world, announced it will buy Tonka Corp. of Minnetonka, Minn., in a $516 million deal. Rival Mattel has also expressed interest in the ailing toy company, which owns...

Reebok International Ltd. (earnings)
February 11, 1991... Toy merger Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, the largest toy maker in the world, announced it will buy Tonka Corp. of Minnetonka, Minn., in a $516 million deal. Rival Mattel has also expressed interest in the ailing toy company, which owns...

Another consultant. (Peter Berlandi's new business, Custom House Street Associates)
February 11, 1991... Another consultant The chief accountant for Francis X. Bellotti and for Gov. Bill Weld has started his own business consulting venture, Custom House Street Associates. Peter Berlandi said his new firm will serve insurance and financial...

USX Corp. (signs tentative labor contract with United Steelworkers Union)
February 11, 1991... Another consultant The chief accountant for Francis X. Bellotti and for Gov. Bill Weld has started his own business consulting venture, Custom House Street Associates. Peter Berlandi said his new firm will serve insurance and financial...

Hills Department Stores. (files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection)
February 11, 1991... Another consultant The chief accountant for Francis X. Bellotti and for Gov. Bill Weld has started his own business consulting venture, Custom House Street Associates. Peter Berlandi said his new firm will serve insurance and financial...

Harbor grant. (Harbor Cleanup project included in 1991 federal budget for Boston)
February 11, 1991... Harbor grant President George Bush's 1991 budget includes a perk for Boston: a $100,000 grant for the Harbor Cleanup project. The president's banking reform proposals last week met with some approval from New England banks. Banks might find...

Open Software Foundation. (investigation of its UNIX operating software's possible violation of U.S. antitrust laws)
February 11, 1991... Harbor grant President George Bush's 1991 budget includes a perk for Boston: a $100,000 grant for the Harbor Cleanup project. The president's banking reform proposals last week met with some approval from New England banks. Banks might find...

Polaroid. (4th quarter 1990 earnings)
February 11, 1991... Harbor grant President George Bush's 1991 budget includes a perk for Boston: a $100,000 grant for the Harbor Cleanup project. The president's banking reform proposals last week met with some approval from New England banks. Banks might find...

William Genoese. (bid for presidency of International Brotherhood of Teamsters)
February 11, 1991... Pan Am-putation Pan Am Corp. announced last week it would cut about 4,000 jobs, blaming huge debts, high fuel costs and lower passenger traffic since the Gulf war. . . . Delphax Systems in Randolph bought the Imaging Systems division of...

Lapstop. (new laptop computer rental services)
February 11, 1991... Pan Am-putation Pan Am Corp. announced last week it would cut about 4,000 jobs, blaming huge debts, high fuel costs and lower passenger traffic since the Gulf war. . . . Delphax Systems in Randolph bought the Imaging Systems division of...

Reece attempts to sew up a needed merger. (negotiations to sell company)
February 11, 1991... Reece attempts to sew up a needed merger The Reece Corp., the 110-year-old Waltham-based manufacturer of industrial sewing machines, announced a week ago it had been approached by a potential buyer and was discussing selling the company. ...

Suspect nabbed. (arrest of Zolton Phillips for defrauding 1st American Savings Bank)
February 11, 1991... 1st American Suspect nabbed A former Massachusetts businessman was charged last week with defrauding the 1st American Savings Bank out of $8 million in loans he received three years ago. Zolton Phillips, who was arrested at his...

Mall is sold. (sale of Lafayette Place Mall to Manufacturers Hanover Trust)
February 11, 1991... Lafayette Place Mall is sold Beset by poor design and a faltering economy, the Lafayette Place Mall in Boston's Downtown Crossing shopping district was finally turned over to its chief creditor last week at a foreclosure auction. The...

Emission plan. (paln to reduce pollution output at South Boston power plant of Boston Edison)
February 11, 1991... Boston Edison Emission plan After 14 months of negotiation, Boston Edison and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) agreed last week upon terms to reduce pollution output at Edison's 720-megawatt South Boston power plant...

Boston garment industry fights shrinkage. (dwindling garment businesses struggle to survive)
February 11, 1991... Boston garment industry fights shrinkage Concerned that Boston's garment industry could go the way of the leisure suit, a coalition of city officials, union representatives and clothing manufacturers are trying to bolster the troubled sector,...

A TB test from DynaGen's "treasure chest." (tuberculosis test developed from company's research programs)
February 11, 1991... A TB test from DynaGen's "treasure chest" For two-year-old DynaGen Inc., success in the biotech industry is all in the timing. DynaGen's CEO, Dr. Indu Muni, bought the rights to a "treasure chest" of stalled research programs for a...

Soviet film deal required Nerve. (films disribution agreement between Amsov International and Film-Studio Nerve)
February 11, 1991... Soviet film deal required Nerve A small Boston venture group has signed a film distribution deal with Moscow-based Film-Studio Nerve, so named for the politically strident, government-critical documentaries it makes. "There's a part of a...

Mike Slosberg: the art of persuasion. (advertising executive's technique)(Personnel File)
February 11, 1991... MIKE SLOSBERG The art of persuasion Mike Slosberg is one of the few advertising executives prospering during New England's recession. "The bad economy is highlighting the need for advertising to be measurable," Slosberg says. "You...

Computer publishing's unwanted uneasy feeling. (effects of recession on advertising in computer periodicals)(Focus: Computers & High Tech)
February 11, 1991... Computer publishing's unwanted uneasy feeling The recession is stalking the computer magazine and newspaper publishing business, casting dark clouds over the health and survival of some publications. Those who track and work in the...

Rumors trail PC Computing. (local magazine publisher to relocate to Foster City, California)
February 11, 1991... Rumors trail PC Computing The computer publishing industry is abuzz with coast-to-coast speculation over Ziff Davis Publications' recent decision to relocate PC Computing magazine from its new offices in Medford to Foster City, Calif. ...

Cognex. (earnings)
February 11, 1991... Cognex (NASDAQ: CGNX), which makes machine-vision systems, closed the books on 1990 with net income up 76 percent to $6.5 million, or $1.51 a share, on revenues of $23.5 million. In 1989, by comparison, the company netted $3.7 million on...

Candela Laser. (earnings)
February 11, 1991... Candela Laser (NASDAQ: CLZR), the Wayland-based maker of medical lasers, reporting on its second quarter, announced revenues of nearly $9.8 million, up 29 percent. However, that net income declined 9 percent to just over $1 million, earning...

Reebok International. (earnings)
February 11, 1991... Reebok International (NYSE: RBK), on the other hand, was cheered by investors after posting year-end results of $176.6 million net income on sales of $2.1 billion. That translates into a $1.54 a share, just barely above last year's earnings of...

Bytex Corp. (High Technology)
February 11, 1991... Bytex Corp. announced that Arthur Carr will be acting president and CEO. Carr has more than 20 years experience in the information systems industry. He will fill in as president and CEO until a replacement can be found. Bytex, a supplier of...

The Riverside Publishing Co. (Advertising/Communications)
February 11, 1991... The Riverside Publishing Co., a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin, has acquired the test publishing assets of Special Press. Riverside produces tests such as the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. Special Press...

State Street Boston Corp. (Banking/Finance)
February 11, 1991... State Street Boston Corp. recently announced that its subsidiary, State Street Bank and Trust, has agreed to transfer more than 200,000 individual retirement accounts and Keough plans to First Trust Corp., a subsidiary of Fiserv based in...

Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Co. (Dividends)
February 11, 1991... The board of directors of Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Co. announced a regular quarterly dividend of $0.53 per share on the company's common stock, payable Feb. 15 to shareholders of record on Feb. 1.

New Bedford Institution for Savings. (Dividends)
February 11, 1991... The New Bedford Institution for Savings announced a dividend of $0.16 per share to be paid on Feb. 14 to stockholders of record as of Jan. 30. The New Bedford Institution for Savings is a subsidiary of NBB Bancorp, a holding company with assets...

Eastern Utilities Associates. (Dividends)
February 11, 1991... The trustees of Eastern Utilities Associates have declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.65 per common share, payable Feb. 15 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 1. Eastern Utilities is a holding company that...

Visual Technology. (High Technology)
February 11, 1991... At the recent UniForum Conference, a computer trade show held in Dallas this year, Visual Technology released its new X-19PQD Imaging Display Station. The X-19PQD is used for applications such as geographic information systems, mapping, medical...

IVS. (High Technology)
February 11, 1991... Concord-based IVS just received a $1.6 million order from Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector for submicron optical metrology equipment to be installed in Austin, Texas. The order is for an unspecified number of ACCUVISION ACV-8000...

Leading Edge Products. (High Technology)
February 11, 1991... Leading Edge Products' newly formed Advanced Systems Division has been created to help position the company's high-end products to Fortune 1,000 companies and government sites. Advance Systems will distribute products through NYNEX Business...

Artel Communications Corp. (High Technology)
February 11, 1991... Artel Communications Corp. has signed a master purchase agreement with Metropolitan Fiber Systems, designers and builders of fiber-optic networks, which covers the entire line of Artel fiber-optic video and computer graphics transmission...

Coral Network Corp. (High Technology)
February 11, 1991... Coral Network Corp., a Marlborough-based developer of integrated network switching products, has unveiled the Broadband Enterprise Switch, which allows corporations to build high-speed networks, spanning both a local and wide area. The product...

Digital Equipment Corp. (High Technology)
February 11, 1991... Last month Digital Equipment Corp. announced two sales totaling over $16 million in systems and services to retailers Toys "R" Us and CVS. Toys "R" Us purchased 1,300 Digital Micro VAX 3100 Systems to be installed in more than 700 stores, as...

IPL Systems. (Manufacturing/Retail)
February 11, 1991... IPL Systems, manufacturer of storage products for mid-range computers, and XL/Datacomp, a provider of mid-range computers, have signed a letter of agreement for distribution of IPL's direct-access storage devices. Both companies serve IBM...

Mercury International Trading Corp. (Manufacturing/Retail)
February 11, 1991... North Attleborough footwear manufacturer Mercury International Trading Corp. has been awarded exclusive rights to develop and market a broad product line from Dunlop Slazenger International Ltd. The U.K.-based sporting goods concern granted the...

Rule Industries. (Manufacturing/Retail)
February 11, 1991... Rule Industries has purchased the Grit-Edge abrasive cutting-tool product line of RemGrit Corp. Grit-Edge specialty cutting tools use a cutting edge of tungsten carbide particles bonded to alloy steel. The saws are used to cut difficult...

Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association. (Real Estate)
February 11, 1991... Greater Boston's ailing real estate sector received a shot in the arm recently when approximately $101 million was invested in two major new projects in Waltham. The Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association, the country's largest pension fund,...

John Hancock Mutual Life. (Real Estate)
February 11, 1991... John Hancock Mutual Life has joined forces with a Dallas-based firm, the Bradford Cos., to buy one million square feet of industrial property in the Dallas area. The joint venture, known as H-B Industrial Properties, plans to buy additional...

Molten Metal Technology. (Services/Education)
February 11, 1991... A major Hartford-based insurance company has invested $5 million in Molten Metal Technology of Boston. The transaction involves nearly 11 percent of authorized shares and will provide the company with funds to commercialize its technology for...

Shawmut Design & Construction. (Services/Education)
February 11, 1991... Boston's Shawmut Design & Construction recently completed three restaurant projects in the area: a new McDonald's Restaurant at Downtown Crossing, The Blue Wave Restaurant on Berkeley Street and The Milk Street Cafe at Post Office Square. The...

Rodney Hunt Co. (Services/Education)
February 11, 1991... As part of a $6 billion project to clean up Boston Harbor, the Rodney Hunt Co. has been given a contract to build 475 sluice gates for the Deer Island Sewage Treatment Plant. The contract, awarded by the Metropolitan Water Resource Authority,...

The New England. (Services/Education)
February 11, 1991... The New England of Boston has renewed its contract with Cambridge-based Thomas Cook Travel for all of its corporate travel and convention services. The three-year travel-service contract recently took effect and was awarded as the continuation...

Patriot points way for Freedom. (Patriot missiles contract steers Freedom Electronics to better economics)
February 18, 1991... Patriot points way for Freedom Archie Williams sat in his windowless, unheated office in Dorchester two weeks ago and dreamed aloud: By this time next year, the former supermarket that's home to Freedom Electronics will be a high-tech plant...

Shoe seller takes a big step into retail. (J. Baker's management of men's shoe stores)
February 18, 1991... SHOE SELLER TAKES A BIG STEP INTO RETAIL Jerry M. Socol, chief executive officer of J. Baker, ventured down to Miami last week to attend the BAT Man Show. But he wasn't there to pick up a caped-crusader outfit. This BAT Man show is...