LOCAL BUSINESS
No tire plant offers
Goodyear can’t find anyone to buy its struggling tire factory in Amiens, France.
The French government wants Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to take “exemplary” measures for the factory’s 1,700 employees if the plant is closed, reported Dow Jones news service.
The French industry ministry reported that 57 companies were contacted to see if they are interested in the factory, but no binding offers were made, the news service reported. Three tire makers sought information on the plant but never followed up.
An offer from Titan International for the agricultural tire business fell through in part because of interference from the plant union, Dow Jones said.
Youth work availability
Summit County is seeking employers in the county to serve as work sites for teenagers and young adults.
Wages would be paid through a state grant that the county has received for its Summer Youth Employment Program from June 1-Aug. 31.
Employers are asked to provide 15 hours of work per week per participant over the duration of the program.
Payroll and worker’s compensation expenses are to be handled by a third-party operator. Additionally, youth participants in the program are not counted toward unemployment reporting requirements.
The county is working with three organizations to operate the program: Akron Urban League, Jobs for Ohio Graduates, and Youth Employment for Success.
Employers interested in providing work opportunities are asked to call the program operator based upon their zip code location. Zip codes 44210, 44302, 44303, 44304, 44307, 44308, 44311, 44313, 44314, 44320, 44321, 44325 and 44333 should call 234-542-4501 to enroll with Akron Urban League.
Zip codes 44224, 44250, 44260, 44262, 44264, 44278, 44301, 44305, 44306, 44310 and 44312 should call 330-374-9445 to enroll with Jobs for Ohio Graduates.
Zip codes 44056, 44067, 44087, 44203, 44216, 44221, 44223, 44232, 44236, 44286, 44319, 44685 and 44720 should call 330-643-7885 to enroll with Youth Employment for Success.
Energy bill reduction
A new financing tool, the Ohio Efficiency Resource Fund, is intended to help Ohio manufacturers, schools, churches and other organization reduce their energy bills, say fund partner Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE).
The fund provides financing to small- and medium-sized business to make energy efficiency improvements with no upfront costs and no risk for small and medium-sized retrofit projects, COSE said. The fund recoups its investment by billing customers for their actual realized efficiency gains.
The first of several workshops for contractors to provide an overview of the fund is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 6 at Corporate College East, 4400 Richmond Road, Warrensville Heights. Cost is $25.
Besides COSE, partners in the fund are Emerald Cities Cleveland and San Francisco-based California Clean Energy Fund, or CalCEF and efficiency-services financier Metrus Energy Inc, also in San Francisco. CalCEF expects to raise $10 million from investors for the fund by the end of the year.
For more information, go online to www.cose.org.
RESTRUCTURING
Change at Sallie Mae
Sallie Mae plans to split into two separate, publicly traded companies. The student loan giant also named John Remondi as its CEO.
Sallie Mae, formally named SLM Corp., said the two separate companies — an education loan management business and a consumer banking business — would help unlock value and boost its long-term growth potential.
The education loan management business would include the company’s portfolios of federally guaranteed and private education loans, as well as most related servicing and collection activities. Remondi will continue as its CEO.
The principal assets of the business are likely to include approximately $118.1 billion in federally guaranteed loans, $31.6 billion in private education loans, $7.9 billion of other interest-earning assets; and a leading education loan servicing platform that services loans for about 10 million federal education loan customers. This includes 4.8 million customer accounts serviced under Sallie Mae’s contract with the U.S. Department of Education.
ACQUISITION
Buffett unit in deal
MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., the power-production unit at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., agreed to buy NV Energy Inc. for about $5.6 billion in cash to expand in Nevada. The unit will pay $23.75 per share compared with Wednesday’s closing price of $19.28, MidAmerican said.
Compiled from staff and wire reports