Boston Business Journal articles from January 1991

Boston Business Journal archives from January 1991

Powerphobia generates profits for Chomerics. (concern over radiation from power lines; manufacturer of high energy electromagnetic interference insulation for industrial machinery)
January 7, 1991... POWERPHOBIA GENERATES PROFITS FOR CHOMERICS While public hysteria mounts over reports suggesting radiation from power lines and appliances may cause cancer, Chomerics Inc. is out to protect machinery, not humans, in the $1.4 billion total...

Financial gumshoes hang out shingle. (Intertect)
January 7, 1991... Financial Gumshoes hang out shingle A Houston-based company that earned a reputation for rooting out con artists intent on defrauding banks and the government during the savings-and-loan scandal is opening a Boston office later this month....

Monarch Capital: restructuring. (Follow on the News)
January 7, 1991... Monarch Capital Restructuring Monarch Capital, the Springfield-based holding company for Monarch Life Insurance Co., announced a major financial restructuring last week that will include a month-long respite from banks taking actions on the...

Capitol Bank: doors are closed. (Follow on the News)
January 7, 1991... Capitol Bank Doors are closed Capitol Bank & Trust Co., after months of struggling to recover, was closed by the state commissioner of banks at the end of last month. Unable to find an institution to assume Capitol's $438.1 million in...

Bank of New England: tentative deal. (Follow on the News)
January 7, 1991... Bank of New England Tentative deal After months of negotiations, Bank of New England reached a tentative agreement with its bondholders late last month that could infuse the troubled institution with much-needed capital (see BBJ, Nov. 5,...

Sanborn's Czech links are only the first step. (Zavody Vitezneho Unora; Kovofinis) (Follow on the News)
January 7, 1991... Sanborn's Czech links are only the first step Tiny Sanborn Inc. has signed one deal and is wrapping up another with two Czechoslovak manufacturers to supply food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and waste-reducing processing equipment to that...

Putting the pop back into an old favorite. (Boston Popcorn Co.)
January 7, 1991... Putting the pop back into an old favorite Popcorn is one of the country's oldest and also easiest snacks to make. The Indians gave it to the Pilgrims, and today people can pop it on stoves, in microwave ovens, over campfires and in hot-air...

Richard Driscoll: life after the BNE. (Bank of New England) (Personnel File)
January 7, 1991... RICHARD DRISCOLL Life after the BNE "Where is this?" asks Richard Driscoll, the new president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, surveying the high-ceilinged room of Doyle's, a 19-century pub that has World War I posters and...

New England Critical Care. (proxy report excerpts) (company profile)
January 7, 1991... New England Critical Care New England Critical Care is a provider of specialized infusion therapies to patients at home. Infusion therapies involve providing nutrients, antibiotics and other drugs and fluids intravenously or through a feeding...

BancBoston Leasing. (Fast Track)
January 7, 1991... BancBoston Leasing BancBoston Leasing's new president is Patrick Kelly. He's been with the parent company, Bank of Boston, since 1978. Kelly is responsible for the leasing department's three business units: BancBoston Leasing, Randolph...

Sheldon Dinkes. (Fast Track)
January 7, 1991... Sean Lynch Sean Lynch was named loan officer for The Boston Five's Danvers Loan Center. Lynch will be responsible for residential mortgage origination in the Cape Ann and Newburyport areas. Established in 1825, Boston Five is the largest...

Heywood Wilansky. (Fast Track)
January 7, 1991... Harold Fischer Harold Fischer will head major international accounts at Wang Laboratories as vice president. He will be responsible for remarketing and alternate-channel strategies. Fischer began his career as a Remington Rand Univac sales...

Marketing Strategies Inc. (Corporate Notes)
January 7, 1991... Marketing Strategies Inc. Marketing Strategies Inc. of Rockland has been chosen as the agency of record for the nation's largest environmental engineering company, CH2M Hill, located in Colorado. MSI will initiate a full-scale public...

The First Years. (Corporate Notes)
January 7, 1991... The First Years The First Years, a subsidiary of Kiddie Products, has chosen Wenham-based Mullen for its public relations needs. The First Years manufactures infant and toddler accessories in Avon. Mullen will develop a brand-building...

Hill and Knowlton/New England. (Corporate Notes)
January 7, 1991... Hill and Knowlton/New England Hill and Knowlton/New England recently picked up three new clients. The company now manages public relations for Sergen, a producer of therapeutic fusion toxins; Cellular Transplants, a life sciences company;...

BankWorcester Corp. (Corporate Notes)
January 7, 1991... BankWorcester Corp. BankWorcester Corp.'s Worcester County Institution for Savings (WCIS) is now the owner of the former New England Allbank for Savings's $147 million dollars in deposits. The right to receive the transferred deposits cost...

Perini Corp. (Dividends)
January 7, 1991... Perini Corp. Perini Corp. of Framingham will be paying a quarterly dividend of approximately $5.31 per share to shareholders of record on Feb. 22, despite an anticipated loss for the final quarter of 1990 and for the full fiscal year. The...

Courier Corp. (Dividends)
January 7, 1991... Courier Corp. Courier Corp.'s current quarterly dividend will not vary from the previous quarter's $0.10 per share. The dividend will be payable to shareholders of record as of Jan. 2.

The TJX Cos. (Dividends)
January 7, 1991... Transgenic Sciences Inc. Transgenic Sciences Inc. has acquired a 57,000-sq.-ft. preclinical testing facility in Redfield, Ark. The facility will be used to expand TSI testing activities in agricultural, chemical and veterinary drugs. The...

Boston Technology. (Corporate Notes)
January 7, 1991... Boston Technology Boston Technology has entered into an agreement with Bay Area Cellular Telephone to provide a voice messaging service for BACT's customers. This is the Cambridge-based company's first contract with a major West Coast...

Xylogics. (Corporate Notes)
January 7, 1991... Xylogics Burlington-based Xylogics will furnish Sequent Computer Systems with an estimated $3 million in communications controllers over the next three years. The purchase was recently announced by Xylogics, which supplies computer I/O and...

Acknowledge. (Corporate Notes)
January 7, 1991... Acknowledge Natick's Acknowledge is in the process of bringing suit against one domestic and two foreign competitors for copyright infringement. California-based GigaTrend, GIGATAPE GmbH of Germany and Digital Interfaces Ltd. of England are...

High Street Associates. (Corporate Notes)
January 7, 1991... High Street Associates Boston investment firm High Street Associates and Ampersand Ventures recently acquired Huntington Laboratories, a cleaning and maintenance chemical producer in Indiana. The company was purchased through Huntington...

Quattro Footwear. (Corporate Notes)
January 7, 1991... Quattro Footwear Quattro Footwear has signed a licensing agreement with racket maker Estusa to manufacture men's and women's tennis shoes. The arrangement with Estusa, which also produces squash and badminton rackets as well as racket...

Bank of New England: the aftermath; the shape of things to come; big banks fear NBNE's clean slate. (New Bank of New England)
January 14, 1991... Bank of New England: The Aftermath The shape of things to come Big Banks fear NBNE's clean state For the past year, Bank of New England hibernated while it struggled to overcome its huge mountain of bad real...

Boston Edison Co. (Boston on the Record - Dividends)
January 14, 1991... Boston Edison Co. voted a four-percent dividend increase on the company's common stock, pumping the annual rate up six cents to $1.58 per share. Other dividends declared by Edison include a quarterly dividend of approximately $0.39 per share on...

Bolt Beranek and Newman. (Boston on the Record - Dividends)
January 14, 1991... Bolt Beranek and Newman declared a semiannual dividend of $0.03 per share, payable Feb. 22 to shareholders of record at the close of business Feb. 7.

Affiliated Publications. (Boston on the Records - Dividends)
January 14, 1991... The board of directors at Affiliated Publications has declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.06 per share of Series A and Series B common stock payable on March 1 to shareholders of record on Feb. 14.

Peoples Bancorp of Worcester. (Boston on the Record - Dividends)
January 14, 1991... The board of directors at Peoples Bancorp of Worcester, the holding company for Peoples Savings Bank, voted its regular quarterly dividend of $0.31 per share of common stock payable on or about Jan. 18 to shareholders of record on Jan. 2.

Excel Bancorp. (Boston on the Record - Dividends)
January 14, 1991... Excel Bancorp affirmed a cash dividend of $0.05 per share on the company's common stock, payable Feb. 15, to stockholders of record on Feb. 1.

The Bank of Boston Corp. (Boston on the Record - Dividends)
January 14, 1991... The Bank of Boston Corp. declared a quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share on the corporation's common stock, payable Jan. 25, to stockholder of record on Dec. 31.

The superstore goes west; Staples absorbs Los Angeles chain. (acquisition of HQ Office Supplies Warehouse stores) (Stock Watch)
January 14, 1991... The superstore goes west Staples (NASDAQ: SPLS), those red and white office-supply stores that seem to be springing up on every other street corner, is planning even more expansion, this time on the West Coast. Staples executives announced...

Small banks wary large deposits will walk. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s rule on insurance deposit)
January 14, 1991... Small banks wary large deposits will walk The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s handling of the Capitol Bancorp and Bank of New England failures reveals the inequities of the agency's "too big to fail" policy - inequities that could...

Worcester winning race with Boston for biotech. (constructing biotechnology parks, Worcester County, Massachusetts)
January 14, 1991... Worcester winning race with Boston for biotech Bike paths, cross-country skiing and an Ivy League elegance - that's what Thoru Pederson sees when he looks out his Shrewsbury office window to a sprawling 120-acre campus. He also envisions...

MBTC tries to woo back carpenters. (Massachusetts Building Trades Council)
January 14, 1991... MBTC tries to woo back carpenters Squeezed by a cash crunch and hoping to gain added revenue and lobbying clout on Beacon Hill, the Massachusetts Building Trades Council (MBTC) is making overtures to the state's largest building trades...

Another setback. (Boston Lafayette Place Mall to be auction)
January 14, 1991... Another setback Revitalization of downtown Boston was further setback last week when the troubled Lafayette Place Mall moved closer to the auction block. Manufacturers Hanover Trust of New York, which holds two mortgages on the property...

FDA OKs laser. (Food and Drug Administration approves Laser Corp.'s Vascular Lesion Laser for marketing)
January 14, 1991... FDA OKs laser Candela Laser Corp., which had the second-fastest growing stock in Massachusetts last year, was federally approved to market its Vascular Lesion Laser for gynecological applications. The Food and Drug Administration...

Traffic-bound, Boston looks to study for help. (controlling traffic flow)
January 14, 1991... Traffic-bound, Boston looks to study for help Hoping to keep terminal gridlock at bay - especially during the upcoming Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel project - the City of Boston is launching its most detailed traffic study ever of the...

IG joins fracas triggered by DPW's cellular veto. (Inspector General Joseph Barresi, Massachusetts Department of Public Works motorist call box system contract)
January 14, 1991... IG joins fracas triggered by DPW's cellular veto A decision by the state Department of Public Works not to consider cellular technology during its upgrade of the state's motorist call box system has sparked a protest from MassBay Electrical...

Octocom grows rapidly from the outside in. (Octocom Systems)
January 14, 1991... Octocom grows rapidly from the outside in Ian Davison can stand proudly these days as creator of Octocom Systems, a Wilmington telecommunications firm. Though still relatively small compared to the competition, Octocom has recently been...

Battered printers pin hopes on trade show. (New England Graphic Arts Show)
January 14, 1991... Battered printers pin hopes on trade show At a time when the region's printing companies are suffering through a brutal economic downturn - forcing layoffs and plant closings - a printing trade show being held in Boston this week could help...

Foundation, once bitten, now patent - wise. (Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology)
January 14, 1991... Foundation, once bitten, now patent-wise The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, famous for its discovery of the birth control pill, is acting more like a biotech company than an academic institution these days. The...

Deja vu and Boston's fragile housing stock.
January 14, 1991... Deja vu and Boston's fragile housing stock With the recent failures of the Bank of New England and the Capitol Bank and Trust Company, in the latter instance without any bidders for its assets, and also the near bankruptcy of real estate...

A bad case of recessionitis NEEP forecast: better get used to it. (New England Economic Project)
January 14, 1991... A bad case of recessionitis Bank of New England's downfall sets a somber tone for this year's economic climate, which is expected to be even gloomier than last year's. "I think the problem is quite severe," said Peter Kozel, an...

Daniel Yergin telling the tale of oil. (author of the book "The Prize")
January 14, 1991... DANIEL YERGIN Telling the tale of oil It's become hard not to notice "The Prize," Dan Yergin's new chronicle of the history of big oil and big business. This book - his third - is also perhaps the one with the broadest appeal. It's a work he...

Fitness-oriented books try to keep in shape. (magazine advertising and the weak economy)
January 14, 1991... Fitness-oriented books try to keep in shape The exercise craze of the '80s and the ensuing proliferation of health clubs gave rise to a swarm of specialty magazines, including several in the Boston area, that now must vie for advertising...

The Ares-Serono Group. (Boston on the Record - Fast Track)
January 14, 1991... The Ares-Serono Group appointed Jules Musing as president of Serono Laboratories in Norwell. Musing, who will head the company's second-largest subsidiary; joined Ares-Serono in May as vice president of acquisitions.

The health industry ponders the gray zone. (health clubs and senior citizens)
January 14, 1991... The health industry ponders the gray zone As health club owners fight to stay in business during the economic downturn, one market they should be looking at is senior citizens, industry experts say. Although seniors, the fastest growing...

Companies awaken to the logic of wellness. (keeping employees physically fit)
January 14, 1991... Companies awaken to the logic of wellness All too often these days the soaring cost of health care has led to businesses responding by either limiting coverage or demanding that the employee contribute more. But for a growing number of...

MedChem wins battle, loses patent. (MedChem Products pays Pharmacia AB of Sweden $4 million in damages)
January 21, 1991... MedChem wins battle, loses patent MedChem Products has paid Pharmacia AB of Sweden $4 million in damages and sold the hyaluronic acid business on which it was founded 20 years ago to meet the demands of a patent-infringement suit settled two...

Nursing talks at standstill. (labor negotiations at two hospitals)
January 21, 1991... Nursing talks at standstill Although no job action seems likely at this point, more than 1,000 nurses at two local hospitals continue to work without a contract due to stalled labor negotiations. Despite informational pickets last month...

Shareholders hit by management's xtra costs. (XTRA Corp.)
January 21, 1991... SHAREHOLDERS HIT BY MANAGEMENT'S XTRA COSTS XTRA Corp. shareholders will gather in Boston next month for the first annual meeting since last year's bitter proxy contest dethroned chief executive Charles F. Kaye and his board of directors. At...

Veribanc: banking on rankings.
January 21, 1991... VERIBANC: BANKING ON RANKINGS In his dark blue suit and his thick-rimmed brown glasses, Warren G. Heller is an unlikely crusader. But these days, with banks falling everywhere, the co-founder of Veribanc, a bank rating service, is fast...

BC crosses the street and neighbors cry foul. (Boston College)
January 21, 1991... BC crosses the street and neighbors cry foul Residents living near Boston College charged last week that school administrators acted with "incredible arrogance" by ignoring an unofficial boundary and renting office space on the expansive...

City Lights does a two-step with bank, BRA. (Boston Redevelopment Authority)
January 21, 1991... City Lights does a two-step with bank, BRA On the wall of his unfinished South End dance studio, Duggan Hill points out glossies thumbtacked to a bare wall of some of his former students: Jordan Knight and John Knight of The New Kids on the...

Herald tries to pull out of its Sunday dive. (Boston Herald)
January 21, 1991... Herald tries to pull out of its Sunday dive Unhappy with the quality of its Sunday paper and hoping to stem deteriorating Sunday circulation and advertising revenue, the Boston Herald has revamped its big edition. Management at the tabloid...

City urges banks to be fair; viable businesses shouldn't suffer.
January 21, 1991... City urges banks to be fair Viable businesses shouldn't suffer Concerned about a further tightening of credit to local businesses in the wake of the government's seizure of Bank of New England, the city wants banks to be more lenient...

Lisa Chapnick: an administrative bent. (Personnel File; Commissioner, Boston Public Facilities Department)
January 21, 1991... LISA CHAPNICK An administrative bent It didn't take Lisa Chapnick long to realize she wasn't cut out to be a social worker. After graduating from Boston University in 1974, the New York native worked briefly counseling inner-city...

An oversupply of the overpriced; the city scrambles to fill the affordable housing gap. (Monthly Real Estate Supplement)
January 21, 1991... An oversupply of the overpriced The city scrambles to fill the affordable housing gap Overbuilt. If there's one word that most clearly defines what happened to the regional real estate market, overbuilt would be it. The area's market...

Could condo controls have made much difference? (Monthly Real Estate Supplement)
January 21, 1991... Could condo controls have made much difference? In a market where the median sale price of homes has plunged, condominiums in Greater Boston have been particularly hard hit. Some estimates pin a drop in condo values of 35 to 45 percent...

The news wasn't all bad; a few projects to feel good about. (Boston's real estate activity)
January 21, 1991... The news wasn't all bad A few projects to feel good about What a year! The commercial real estate market has all but ground to a halt. The housing industry is comatose. Credit is unavailable and even Japanese financiers are retreating...

Many hands combine to rejuvenate Brattle. (Brattle Theatre in Cambridge area of Boston)
January 21, 1991... Many hands combine to rejuvenate Brattle The awning and shutters are gone. Old red brick has replaced the painted white brick. And, although visitors to the 101-year-old Harvard Square building may be put off by the construction trucks and...

The Grossman's potential: one analyst likes the dazed retailer. (Stock Watch)
January 21, 1991... The Grossman's potential One analyst likes the dazed retailer Analyst H. Lloyd Kanev at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. is bullish on Grossman's stock (NASDAQ: GROS). The much-buffeted Braintree-based hardware and lumber retailer is,...

Withrop Sargent IV. (Fast Track)
January 21, 1991... Winthrop Sargent IV was recently named president of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce. He is the CEO and chairman of The Bank of Braintree. Other newly installed committee members include first vice president Thomas Galvin of Boston Gear and...

Uplink has GBH beaming. (GBH Productions beams images through satellite uplink paths)
January 28, 1991... The global village's demand for live analysis has been a boon to WGBH-TV Channel 2's independent production arm, which has seen its revenue from satellite hookups jump 20 percent since the U.N.'s Jan. 15 deadline passed and the U.S. went on the...

Biz groups close up ranks over budget. (business groups to push budget-deficit cutting measures)
January 28, 1991... Representatives from the state's most influential business groups have been meeting quietly in recent weeks to map out a coordinated strategy to lobby for a core agenda of budget cuts needed to cover the state's swelling budget deficit. The Weld...

Private Eye: nerdy but neat. (Allen Becker's invention)
January 28, 1991... When Allen Becker crashed the mobile data trade show in San Francisco last October, all he had to do was walk around with his invention, the Private Eye, strapped to his head. "At a show like that, people tend to know who we are," Becker...

Sales break out at local Army and Navy stores.
January 28, 1991... Since war erupted against Iraq on Jan. 16, sales have rallied at Billy Vigor's Surplus as customers snatch up gas masks, desert camouflage clothing and Desert Shield patches, cigarette lighters and T-shirts. Two of the best selling T-shirts...

War and the market. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... The breakout of war between U.S.-led allied forces and Iraq on Jan. 16 has sent Wall Street soaring. The stock market reached its second-biggest high following the U.S.'s initial success in air attacks against Iraq. Oil prices dropped more than...

Terry Fagin. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Terry Fagin resigned as president and director of Xyvision after six months. The troubled maker of computer-aided publishing systems said chairman and chief executive Laurence S. Liebson will assume Fagin's duties.

Charles Noe. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Former real estate broker Charles Noe pleaded guilty to bank fraud in connection with ComFed Savings Bank. Noe admitted to withholding information concerning second mortgages--approved in 21 transactions--from ComFed underwriters. The withheld...

Brown wins time. (Harold Brown) (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Megalandlord Harold Brown was granted a two-week reprieve from his creditors in order to negotiate a settlement. Brown, who defaulted on $200 million in loans, is scheduled to face the next litigation-control conference on Wednesday, Jan. 30....

International Business Machines. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... International Business Machines stock soared more than $6.62 to close at $115.75 a share when it announced that its fourth-quarter profits had more than tripled. IBM earned $2.5 billion, or $4.30 a share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31,...

Texas Instruments Inc. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Texas Instruments Inc. has announced layoffs of 725 employees, blaming the weakened defense industry. TI's worldwide work force is more than 70,000.

Housing hits low. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Housing starts hit an eight-year low last year, falling 13.3 percent, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

Hills Department Stores. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Moody's Investor Service downgraded the debt rating of Hills Department Stores from "B3" to "Ca" after the Canton-based discount chain missed an interest payment on $39 million in junk bonds.

Raytheon. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Raytheon enjoyed a massive, spontaneous ad campaign with a worldwide audience when its flagship Patriot missile proved to be unexpectedly effective in destroying Iraq's Soviet-made Scud missiles launched against Saudi Arabia and Israel last week....

PictureTel. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... PictureTel introduced a smaller, cheaper videoconferencing system last week. The Peabody-based company hopes the product will attract small and medium-sized companies that heretofore couldn't afford the technology. The new System 4000 starts at...

Progress Software. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Bedford-based Progress Software picked Pagano Schenck & Kay for its $1.5 million advertising account. The Providence, R.I., advertising firm also recently won the $2 million Shiva contract.

Hannaford Brothers. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Hannaford Brothers of Scarborough, Maine, announced last week it has acquired 11 Alexander's supermarkets, three bakeries and two drugstores for $34.6 million from Robert and Peter Gordon. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing,...

Compaq shuffle. (Compaq Computer Corp.) (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Michael S. Swavely, president of Compaq Computer, is taking a six-month personal sabbatical, prompting a reorganizing of the company's management structure. Compaq announced that Eckhard Pfeiffer will become executive vice president and chief...

Lotus Development Corp. (Debriefing) (Brief Article)
January 28, 1991... Lotus Development Corp. announced it has canceled the Marketplace Household project, a consumer database. The database was controversial because it contained information for mailing lists: names, addresses, estimated income levels and other...

After R.I., credit unions feel insurance jitters. (Rhode Island)
January 28, 1991... To quell depositors' unrest following the Rhode Island "bank holiday" earlier this month, the state banking commissioner is encouraging state-chartered credit unions to join the federal credit union insurance fund. Commissioner Thomas J. Curry...

Bought by Ringer. (Safer Inc.)
January 28, 1991... Safer, the Newton-based marker of natural pesticides and herbicides, was granted its wish last week when it was acquired by a Minnesota company in a cash and stock deal worth between $12 and $14 million (see BBJ, July 16, 1990). Safer had been...