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Business Digest
Albertsons buys Sainsbury's U.S. business

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The deal announced yesterday would give Albertsons 202 Shaw's and Star Market stores and would raise its total holdings to more than 2,500 stores in 37 states.

Larry Johnston, Albertsons president, said Shaw's employees would retain their jobs in the purchase, which the companies hope to complete this spring.

Boise-based Albertsons also is assuming about $368 million in leases as part of the deal. Sainsbury's U.S. subsidiary is based in West Bridgewater, Mass., and its stores are mostly in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Johnston said the deal was part of making Albertsons a No. 1 or No. 2 player in all its markets, but concerns about whether the chain can wring costs savings from the deal pushed its stock down 78 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $21.88 yesterday.

Peter Pan Seafoods to shut Seattle plant

SEATTLE — Peter Pan Seafoods will close its SeaBlends processing plant at Terminal 25 in May, laying off 63 employees.

The 54-year-old Seattle company did not disclose the reasons for the shutdown. The plant processes imitation crabmeat, known as surimi, as well as other frozen seafood products under the SeaBlends label.

The company, owned by Japan-based Nichiro, employs about 700 people in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

SEATTLE — Boeing yesterday disclosed plans to switch to simple majority shareholder voting on merger proposals and other issues instead of requiring 75 percent approval.
 
Boeing asked its shareholders to approve the proposed change at its annual meeting May 3, disclosing the proposal in an update to its annual proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.

The measure stops short of a complete elimination of the 75 percent rule, which is the subject of another proposal submitted by shareholders. The company opposes that plan, saying it could cede control to a minority of shareholders under certain circumstances.

Nation / World

Ex-CEO's attorneys accused of misconduct

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The government accused attorneys for fired HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy of waging an unethical media campaign to sway potential jurors in his upcoming fraud trial.

Prosecutors filed a motion claiming Scrushy lawyers Donald Watkins and Tom Sjoblom repeatedly violated state codes that bar attorneys from making public comments that could taint the jury pool. The defense has improperly released small bits of evidence to make it appear Scrushy is innocent, misrepresented evidence and publicly undermined the character of witnesses and prosecutors, prosecutors claimed.

Watkins did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

A spokesman for Sjoblom said yesterday the defense had not fully reviewed the document, filed late Thursday.

SEC steps up probe into El Paso's reserves

HOUSTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up the intensity of its investigation into El Paso Corp.'s 41 percent reduction in proven oil and gas reserves, the company said yesterday.

The nation's largest natural-gas pipeline company last month announced the 1.8 trillion cubic feet reduction, which would require a $1 billion write-down of those reserves' value.

The SEC's informal investigation, launched upon El Paso's original announcement, has been stepped up to a formal one, the company said.

Compiled from Seattle Times business staff and The Associated Press

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company