Boston Business Journal articles from May 1991

Boston Business Journal archives from May 1991

A chance to make a date with an angel. (Venture Capital Network; computerized introduction of small entrepreneurs to private investors) (company profile)
May 6, 1991... A CHANCE TO MAKE A DATE WITH AN ANGEL MIT network matches investors with entrepreneurs It isn't near the corner of Broad and Wall streets, but it is a market of sorts. Above the MIT maintenance department's workshops, the Venture...

BayBanks trims sails over Fleet's arrival. (Fleet/Norstar Financial Group) (company profile)
May 6, 1991... Bay Banks trims sails over Fleet's arrival William M. Crozier Jr. was pleased with BayBanks' slim first-quarter earnings of $1 million, the bank's first profit since 1989. But BayBanks' chairman and president didn't want to leave anyone with...

Doctors demanding reforms at Bay State. (Bay State Health Care) (company profile)
May 6, 1991... DOCTORS DEMANDING REFORMS AT BAY STATE A coalition of doctors and dentists angry over Bay State Health Care's payment and management practices will present a list of reform measures to the plan's board of directors tonight, the Boston...

New issues suffer as wary investors cool to biotech. (biotechnology stock offerings)
May 6, 1991... New issues suffer as wary investors cool to biotech Entrepreneur Chuck Kristensen--a supplier of spiders for the movie "Arachnophobia"--milks the venom from up to 3,000 spiders at his Arizona-based Spider Pharm Corp. to fill the average...

Digital Equipment Corp.
May 6, 1991... Digital Equiptment Corp. cut prices on its minicomputers by 18 percent to 37 percent to combat the recession, and analysts said the company had little choice. Sales of Digital's VAX 6000 machines, which account for 30 percent of total sales,...

Fleet/Norstar Financial Group.
May 6, 1991... Fleet/Norstar Financial Group took the management reins of Bank of New England, assuring customers of no disruptions in their banking business. The federal government has promised to pay the difference between the CD rates paid by Fleet and the...

Northwest Airlines.
May 6, 1991... Northwest Airlines has agreed to buy the Trump Shuttle from fallen real estate tycoon Donald Trump. Analysts are predicting there will be discounts to shuttle passengers to kick off the sale. The deal was made to offset Trump's massive debt.

Trans World Airlines.
May 6, 1991... Trans World Airlines was ordered by a federal judge to return 10 airplanes and 96 jet engines to Connecticut National Bank after failing to pay the bank $56 million in principal and interest. TWA has not met the payments since Jan. 31.

No conflict.
May 6, 1991... No conflict Harvard Management Co., the firm that manages Harvard University's $5 billion endowment, said that partner Michael Eisenson and a former employee are not guilty of a conflict of interest, as accused by the Harvard Crimson....

Gamma International.
May 6, 1991... Gamma International expects to report a first-quarter loss of $250,000, or 9 cents a share, on revenues of $3.7 million, a 6 percent increase from the fourth quarter. The Billerica-based company specializes in a high-stakes bingo game that is...

NCR Corp.
May 6, 1991... NCR Corp.'s board of directors voted to reappoint CEO Charles Exley Jr. and Gilbert Williamson, president, to the board. The two were scheduled to leave after NCR shareholders elected four people nominated by would-be hostile raider AT&T.

Fireman's Fund Insurance Cos.
May 6, 1991... Fireman's Fund Insurance Cos. may be ready to re-enter the Massachusetts auto insurance market, after quitting it in November 1987. At the time, the California-based insurer agreed to pay the state $45 million for permission from the Division of...

More toys.
May 6, 1991... More toys A two-story clock will adorn the new FAO Schwarz Boston store, which will open in September on Boylston and Berkeley streets and will rival the company's Fifth Avenue, New York, store. The toy store chain is trying to change its...

Genzyme.
May 6, 1991... Genzyme predicted its first-quarter revenues will almost double to $20 million, compared to $10.1 million in the same quarter last year. Henri Termeer, chairman of the Cambridge-based biotech company, also predicted that year-end sales will top...

Sears Roebuck & Co.
May 6, 1991... Former Sears Roebuck & Co. chief executive Michael Bozic was hired as president and CEO of Canton-based Hills Department Stores. The bankrupt retail chain is closing 60 of its 214 stores around the country.

New products.
May 6, 1991... New products Microcom has introduced two portable modems that fit any computer platform. The seven-ounce modems can fit into a briefcase, the company said.

Lotus Development Corp.
May 6, 1991... Lotus Development Corp. has made a deal with Eastman Kodak to bring advanced imaging capabilities to Lotus Notes, a network communications software product.

At law firms, spring cuts also thin upper ranks. (culling of nonperforming attorneys)
May 6, 1991... At law firms, spring cuts also thin upper ranks The region's economic slowdown has forced law firms to be much tougher in their traditional spring performance reviews. Associates who in better times may have made the grade are now being...

Navy's contract keeps shipyard afloat. (Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding to build a new research vessel for the Navy)
May 6, 1991... Navy's contract keeps shipyard afloat SOMERSET--Gladding-Hearn Ship-building was awarded a $475,000 contract last week to build a new research vessel for the Navy's research center in Bethesda, Md. Company officials said the yard's last Navy...

Return of Shane. (Michael Shane of Model American Computer Corp.)
May 6, 1991... Return of Shane Leading Edge founder Michael Shane is seeking about $4 million to expand his 13-month-old company, Model American Computer Corp. The entrepreneur is also looking for respect through his new venture, which he claims has...

Dumping ADRs. (South African American Depository Receipts)
May 6, 1991... Dumping ADRs Bowing to pressure from anti-apartheid activists, J.P. Morgan last week announced that it would no longer process South African American Deposit Receipts, or ADRs (see BBJ, April 22). The ADRs are proxies for stocks in overseas...

Industry knocks Weld's insurance reform plan. (commercial insurance industry; Massachusetts Governor William Weld)
May 6, 1991... Industry knocks Weld's insurance reform plan The commercial insurance industry is gearing up to fight legislation that the Weld administration has filed to dramatically restructure the small-business health insurance market and cut premiums...

Lab space submarket gradually takes shape. (industrial laboratory space)
May 6, 1991... Lab space submarket gradually takes shape In yet another indication of biotech's burgeoning importance to the state's lifeless commercial real estate market, Spaulding & Slye Colliers has launched a regular survey of lab space available in...

Bill would impose limits on intrusive retailers. (limit on the amount of personal information stores can request from customers)
May 6, 1991... Bill would impose limits on intrusive retailers Retailers and consumer advocacy groups have recently agreed on compromise legislation that seeks to limit the amount of personal information stores can request from customers when making a sale....

Area shopping malls are mostly making do. (New England's shopping centers contend with lackluster business)
May 6, 1991... Area shopping malls are mostly making do Katherine K. Fredeking thought her fake jewelry store would do well in the region's lackluster economy. Yet, no one is in the market for a $175 copy of a $1,500 diamond tennis bracelet. "It's very...

Alden stands tall. (Alden Electronics)
May 6, 1991... Alden stands tall With companies in the Northeast continuing to face tough times, one local company can feel proud to have been named as one of the 100 strongest in the country. Alden Electronics, based in Westborough, was selected by...

The cholesterol test that is Crystal clear. (Crystal Medical's new disposable test to measure cholesterol)
May 6, 1991... The cholesterol test that is Crystal clear Rachel Davidson had been a vegetarian for 10 years and exercised regularly for almost as long when the family physician discovered her "bad" cholesterol level had skyrocketed to 340--more than 100...

A growing concern for the urban landscape. (Focus: Designing the Corporate Image)
May 6, 1991... A growing concern for the urban landscape From Upton Sinclair's book, "The Jungle," to the movies and television of today, cities have been portrayed as crowded, gloomy wastelands, ugliness personified in smog and steel. In the Boston...

Clifford Selbert puts a little twist into each project. (Clifford Selbert Design)(Focus: Designing the Corporate Image)
May 6, 1991... Clifford Selbert puts a little twist into each project How interesting can you make a shoe box? After all it's merely a cardboard container. Why not just slap the corporate logo on it, leave space for the price and shoe size, and leave it at...

New England Investment Cos. (Banking/Finance)
May 6, 1991... New England Investment Cos. has promoted Henry Schmelzer to president of its broker-dealer subsidiary, New England Securities. A graduate of George Washington University Law School, Schmelzer joined the company as legal counsel in 1972. He most...

Dean Goodermote. (High Technology)
May 6, 1991... Dean Goodermote has been promoted to chief operating officer of Cambridge-based Project Software & Development. Goodermote previously served as executive vice president of sales and marketing for the $30 million software firm. Project Software...

Richard Gertz Productions.
May 6, 1991... Richard Gertz Productions of Boston has completed negotiations with New York-based directors Robert Goldblatt and Robert Mrozowski. The free-lance commercial directors will be exclusively represented in New England by Gertz.

First Manchester Group. (Advertising/Communications)
May 6, 1991... On May 12 "Auction Live," the country's first bank-owned real estate show, will premiere on WCVB-TV, Channel 5. The program is sponsored by First Manchester Group, a marketing firm that specializes in the sale of bank-owned property. "Auction...

Duval & Partners. (Advertising/Commuications)
May 6, 1991... Duval & Partners, a 30-year-old advertising and public relations agency that specializes in marketing sophisticated products, was recently chosen by GE Supply as its agency of record. Duval & Partners will handle the strategic positioning,...

Massachusetts Community Development Finance Corp. (Banking/Finance)
May 6, 1991... The Massachusetts Community Development Finance Corp. (CDFC) has approved an investment in a small business in Fitchburg. The agency approved a $17,500 loan guarantee on a $35,000 loan from the Merchants National Bank to Kids Avenue Inc. a...

United Industrial Federal Credit Union. (Banking/Finance)
May 6, 1991... Boston-based United Industrial Federal Credit Union has been awarded a five-star rating by Bauer Financial Reports of Coral Gables, Fla.

Chase Access Services. (Banking/Finance)
May 6, 1991... Chase Access Services in Lexington announced that Chase Bank of Maryland has purchased several cash management products from the Chase Access Treasurers' XCHANGE INSIGHT product portfolio.

Bird Corp. (Dividends)
May 6, 1991... The board of directors of Bird Corp. in Dedham have declared a quarterly dividend of $1.25 per share on Bird's 5 percent cumulative preferred stock, payable on June 1 to stockholders of record on May 10.

Reebok International. (Dividends)
May 6, 1991... Reebok International in Stoughton declared its regular quarterly dividend of $.075 per share of common stock, payable on July 3 to stockholders of record as of June 12. Sales for Reebok in 1990 totalled approximately $2.16 billion.

TJX Cos. (Dividends)
May 6, 1991... Framingham-based TJX Cos. declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.115 per share, payable May 30 to shareholders of record on May 9. TJX is a major off-price specialty apparel retailer with 396 T.J. Maxx stores, 575 Hit or Miss stores, the...

SpecTran Corp. (High Technology)
May 6, 1991... SpecTran Corp. has completed separate agreements with two customers to supply a combined total of about $9 million worth of optical fibers for the next two years. Due to new patent licenses from Corning and expanded production capacity,...

Perini Corp. (Manufacturing/Retail)
May 6, 1991... Framingham-based Perini Corp. recently took on a $53 million contract for the renovation of the University of California/Berkeley's Life Science Building. The interior space of the 450,000-square-foot structure will be torn out to make room for...

Garber Travel.
May 6, 1991... Garber Travel of Brookline has been named the official travel agency of Ashton-Tate and will operate an on-site office at Garber's Torrance, Calif., headquarters. The $4.5 million account will encompass business, sales and convention travel.

Manufacturers not up to EC'92 standards. (compliance to the European Community's developing standards for quality)
May 13, 1991... Manufacturers not up to EC '92 standards With the European Community 1992 initiative just seven months away, the state's manufacturing industries are looking overseas to bolster sales. But the door to EC '92 may slam shut because most do...

The Sunday effect: A savvy stock play? (increase in stock price of companies featured in The Boston Globe's Inside Business)
May 13, 1991... THE SUNDAY EFFECT: A SAVVY STOCK PLAY? They are short, glib and usually, on balance, positive in tone. They can also spark enough interest by investors to push up a company's stock price by as much as 50 percent, but the effect is about as...

Big bad banks. (troubled banks in New England)(Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... Big bad banks New England is home to 11 of the 29 banks that are the biggest threat to the federal deposit insurance fund, according to a study released by Veribanc of Wakefield. First Mutual Bank of Boston tops the list of troubled banks,...

Polaroid. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... Polaroid Polaroid introduced a group of electronic-imaging products at its 54th annual meeting last week. Polaroid is predicting future earnings growth with the products, which include an instant film called Hybrid IV; Helios, a machine that...

Hasbro. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... Hasbro Hasbro, based in Pawtucket, R.I., wrapped up four months of negotiations last week and bought Tonka for $486 million to become the biggest traditional toymaker in the world. The deal gives Hasbro combined sales of more than $2...

R.M. Packer Co. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... R. M. Packer Co. Martha's Vineyard-based R.M. Packer Co. was sued by state Attorney General Scott Harshbarger for allegedly keeping the price of home heating oil artificially high during December and January. Packer, the island's only...

Stratus Computer. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... Stratus Computer Marlborough-based Stratus Computer signed a $1.2 million contract to supply a fault-tolerant computer system to CVS of Woonsocket, R.I. The 1,300-store chain is planning to run a wide range of applications on Stratus'...

Bank of New England. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... Bank of New England The U.S. Senate Banking Committee scolded federal regulators for not picking up on Bank of New England's troubles before the bank was on the verge of collapse. Federal regulators should be allowed to stop problems at...

AT&T. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... AT&T AT&T ended a five-month struggle and agreed to purchase NCR Corp. for about $7.4 billion - the largest-ever takeover in the computer industry. AT&T had sweetened the deal from its original friendly offer of $6 billion, which NCR...

MCI Communications. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... MCI Communications MCI Communications dropped billings for 900 "adult" telephone numbers that "offer sexual stimulation or sexual arousal." The decision, in keeping with policies of long-distance giants AT&T and US Sprint, is expected to...

Barker Steel. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... Barker Steel Waltham-based Barker Steel was charged by federal prosecutors with fraud and conspiracy for allegedly using a front company to win bids through the federal Minority Business Enterprise programs. The construction company is one...

Filene's. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... Filene Susan Weld and the state's Office for Children helped Filene's kick off a Mother's Day fundraiser for the United Way. One dollar from every purchase of a fine fragrance this Thursday will go to support child-care programs in the...

International Business Machines. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... International Business Machines International Business Machines slashed prices on many of its RISC System/6000 family of workstations and introduced new software called AIX XL Fortran Compiler/6000. The price cuts, which apply to seven...

Jaymont. (Debriefing)
May 13, 1991... Jaymont Jaymont, owner of the 99 Summer St. office building, filed for bankruptcy, blaming falling rents that could not cover the building's $62.2 million mortgage - due next year - from Travelers Insurance. The building, with its trademark...

Showdown looms. (Bay State Health Care's stockholders to vote the board of directors out of office)(Follow on the News)
May 13, 1991... Showdown looms Charging that Bay State Health Care's board of directors refuses to act in good faith over a series of proposed reforms, a group of physician stockholders vowed last week to vote the board out of office and replace it with...

Helps Kurds. (Malden Mills Industries gives blankets to Kurdish refugees)(Follow on the News)
May 13, 1991... Helps Kurds Malden Mills Industries distributed 10,000 custom-made blankets to the Kurdish refugees last week through AmeriCares of New Canaan, Conn., and the New York-based American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. More than 50 of...

A reverse split. (NutraMax Products' marketing of stocks)
May 13, 1991... A reverse split NutraMax Products last week announced a one-for-25 reverse split in the company's stock in an effort to make the stock more attractive to investors (see BBJ, March 4). The reverse split means that the company will...

For the right company, IPOs are just the ticket. (initial public offering at Filene's Basement attracts investors)
May 13, 1991... For the right company, IPOs are just the ticket It was like a Filene's Basement dress sale all over again on Wall Street. News of the initial public offering for Filene's Basement - the brand-name discount clothing retailer that has customers...

Towns working closely with banks. (cities and towns seek financial advice from banks)
May 13, 1991... Towns working closely with banks As cities and towns cope with the state's low bond rating and cutbacks in local aid, they are seeking more financial advice from banks that have traditionally underwritten and sold municipal bonds. Banks...

The lead swab that turns pink. (Lead Check Swabs - swabs that detect lead)
May 13, 1991... The lead swab that turns pink If it's pink, it should make you think. That's the logic behind Lead Check Swabs, a new and easy-to-use product from HybriVet Systems in Framingham. As the name implies, these swabs detect lead - as little...

Nursing home plan caught in a war of words. (construction of nursing home in Allston, Massachusetts)
May 13, 1991... Nursing home plan caught in a war of words A plan to build a 123-bed nursing home in Allston continues to cling to life as city and state officials engage in what some call "a war of semantics," but a spokesman for the Massachusetts...

Casting a little light on night shift goblins. (usage of industrial lighting system for night shift workers)
May 13, 1991... Casting a little light on night shift goblins For three years, Boston Edison's night shift workers at the Cable Division have worked on a fixed schedule, on the advice of a Harvard expert on sleep disorders. "The biggest thing is worker...

Expanding CD-ROM's constituency. (usage of compact disc read-only memory) (company profile)
May 13, 1991... Expanding CD-ROM's constituency At the Depository Library Conference in Boston three weeks ago, Sanford Friedman demonstrated 10-second searches on his new compact disc database of pending federal legislation. When one research librarian...

W. Randall Jones: young man in a hurry. (Personnel File)
May 13, 1991... W. Randall Jones Young man in a hurry Randy Jones had been at his new post as CEO of Fidelity's publishing operation for only a week and he already had a stack of resumes on his desk six inches high. "These are people who want to work...

Investors rediscover the humble annuity. (Focus: Insurance) (company profile)
May 13, 1991... Investors rediscover the humble annuity Once considered a stodgy and cumbersome investment, annuities are now the darlings of brokers, financial planners and the financial press. Individual investors seem to agree. Sales of individual...

Nagging issues await new insurance chief. (Focus: Insurance)
May 13, 1991... Nagging issues await new insurance chief After a more than four-month wait, the state's insurance division will likely get a new chief sometime soon. Consumer affairs secretary Gloria Larson, under whose jurisdiction the insurance division...

Beal Cos. (Banking/Finance)
May 13, 1991... Beal Cos. The Boston Industrial Development Financing Authority granted initial approval for a taxable bond issue of up to $75 million to finance a $120 million downtown development that will employ 368 construction workers and create more...

Grove Bank for Savings. (Dividends)
May 13, 1991... Grove Bank for Savings Grove Bank for Savings of Brookline declared a quarterly dividend of $0.9 cents per share on the 1,470,417 shares outstanding. The dividend is payable April 24 to shareholders of record on April 10.

Houghton Mifflin. (Dividends)
May 13, 1991... Houghton Mifflin Boston publisher Houghton Mifflin declared a quarterly dividend of $0.185 per share, payable on May 22 to shareholders of record on May 8.

Computervision. (High Technology)
May 13, 1991... Computervision Computervision of Bedford has acquired the Cambridge software firm Premise, the developer of Design View computer-aided design and engineering software. The development team of Design View will form a new group within...

Stephen A. Baker & Co. (Name Changes)
May 13, 1991... Stephen A. Baker & Co. Stephen A. Baker & Co., a Lynnfield CPA firm, has changed its name to Baker & Co., PC. According to the company, the change reflects the contributions of the entire staff rather than simply its founder.

Buddha's Delight Inc. (Incorporations)
May 20, 1991... BUDDHA'S DELIGHT INC., 5 Beach St., Boston 02111. Restaurants. Pres: Cuong Tran, 4 Summit Dr., Unit 307, Reading 01867. Treas: Marvin Schuster, 4 Summit Dr., Unit 307, Reading 01867.

N.H. open bank plan unwinding. (federal governments plan to infuse private capital in New Hampshire banks)
May 27, 1991... The federal government's much-ballyhooed plan to infuse private capital into New Hampshire's troubled banks along with taxpayer money, which was to serve as a prototype for other bank rescues, is unraveling. What was supposed to be a new breed...

Credit unions under fire over tax-exempt status.
May 27, 1991... The state banking industry is launching a strong lobbying effort on Beacon Hill to tax state-chartered credit unions. In a public hearing last week in Pittsfield, which one banker termed a "shoot-out at the O.K. Corral," the Massachusetts...

Yankee peddler hawks East German cos. (LEK Partnership; East German companies)
May 27, 1991... Eighteen months after the Berlin Wall tumbled down, the German government is enticing Bay State entrepreneurs with an old American favorite: a free lunch. The government agency Treuhandanstalt is scrambling to privatize about 9,000 former East...

Workstation war. (Hewlett-Packard's latets workstation rivals that of Sun Microsystems)
May 27, 1991... Hewlett-Packard unveiled its lowest-priced workstations in a move to snap up market share from Sun Microsystems. The new machines, called the HP Apollo 9000 Series 400, were made by HP's Apollo Computer division, which is headquartered in...

Easy Card Corp. (introduces plastic credit cards for use in laundromats)
May 27, 1991... Salem-based Easy Card Corp. has introduced a plastic debit card for use in laundromats. Unlike a credit card, the Easy Card, which substitutes for money in laundry machines, is purchased by customers before it is used. Customers use paper money...

Marketing move. (American Express launches summer marketing plan)
May 27, 1991... After lowering its fees last month in response to protests from Boston restaurateurs, American Express has launched a summer marketing plan in 15 cities to boost the use of its charge card in restaurants. The timing of the campaign is unrelated...

New York Stock Exchange. (reports on rise of stock ownership)
May 27, 1991... The number of U.S. citizens who owned shares in stock or a mutual fund last year jumped 70 percent to more than 51 million compared to a decade ago, according to a survey by the New York Stock Exchange. The rise in stock ownership is credited to...

Wyman-Gordon. (elects chairman and chief executive officer John M. Nelson)
May 27, 1991... Worcester-based Wyman-Gordon has elected as its chairman and CEO John M. Nelson, the former chairman of Norton Co.. Nelson and Norton parted ways last fall after the company was taken over by the French conglomerate Compagnie de Saint-Gobain.

Filene's Basement. (reports net income for the first quarter)
May 27, 1991... After going public earlier this month, Filene's Basement reported net income in the first quarter of $2.8 million, down from $3.3 million in the same period a year ago. The company blamed a $1.2 million extraordinary tax item in 1990. Meanwhile,...