LOCAL BUSINESS
Meeting for contractors
The Akron Urban League, Minority Business Development Center and the Northeast Ohio Regional Minority Business Assistance Center announced a meeting to discuss contract opportunities available through the League’s Minor Home Repair Program.
The meeting will be at 9 a.m. Aug. 19 at the Urban League, Hall, 440 Vernon Odom Blvd. in Akron.
The Minor Home Repair program is funded by Summit County’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
For information, call 234-542-4149, 234-542-4150, or 330-434-3101 or e-mail tmanley@akronurbanleague.org. Reservation deadline is Aug. 16.
More Flying J suits
Two New Jersey trucking companies are suing Jimmy Haslam’s Pilot Flying J Travel Centers alleging mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy. WEWS-TV (Channel 5) in Cleveland said National Retail Transportation and Keystone Freight Corp. allege Pilot cheated the companies out of promised fuel rebates. The allegations are similar to 23 other lawsuits. Separate from Pilot Flying J, Haslam is the owner of the Cleveland Browns football team.
Haslam has not been charged and has said he was unaware of any wrongdoing. Pilot Flying J has reached a proposed settlement that would offer trucking companies 100 percent of any rebates that were refunded, plus interest. Some trucking companies have indicated they will refuse the proposed settlement.
Didado Electric sold
Family owned and Akron-based electrical contractor J.W. Didado Electric Inc. has been bought by Houston-based Quanta Services.
The purchase price was not disclosed. However, Quanta said in a public filing it bought Didado in early July and another company, Nacap Australia Pty Ltd. in late July for an “aggregate” amount of $118 million cash and 783,272 shares of Quanta stock. Quanta, a specialized energy industry contracting company, reported $5.9 billion in sales for 2012 and has about 17,800 employees.
Didado was founded in 1958. The company’s website says its service area extends from the Midwest east to the Atlantic Ocean, south to the Gulf of Mexico and west to the Rocky Mountains. Didado provides commercial, industrial, residential and high voltage services and more.
TAKEOVERS
Steinway plans change
Private-equity firm Kohlberg & Co. said it waived the right to negotiate with Steinway Musical Instruments Inc.’s board after the 160-year-old piano maker received a superior offer from Paulson & Co. Kohlberg has withdrawn “with respect to the new proposal,” according to a company filing. The new offer of $38 a share in cash would value the company at $475 million and is higher than Kohlberg’s $35-a-share bid.
RETAIL
Board member quits
William Ackman has resigned from J.C. Penney Co.’s board as part of a deal to resolve an unusually public battle between the activist investor and the struggling department store operator. Ackman’s departure could provide some relief from a battle that became a distraction while Penney has been working to fix its ailing business.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Cancer drug results
Eli Lilly & Co. said its experimental lung cancer medicine increased survival among patients taking the drug compared with those on chemotherapy alone. The drug, called necitumumab, had a trial involving 1,093 patients with non-small cell lung cancer whose disease had spread, the Indianapolis drugmaker said.
Necitumumab was tested in patients with a type of tumor known as squamous cell carcinoma. Next year, Lilly plans to release full results from the study. Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for about 85 percent of lung cancer and patients with squamous cell carcinoma make up about 30 percent of those patients. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.
WALL STREET
Dow gains 31 points
The S&P 500 index rose 4.69 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,694.16 in Tuesday trading. Although its advance has slowed this month, the index is still up 18.8 percent this year. The Nasdaq composite rose 14.49 points, or 0.4 percent, to 3,684.44. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 31.33 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,451.01. The gain in technology stocks was driven by Apple. Shares rose 4.7 percent, or $22.21, to $489.57 after billionaire investor Carl Icahn said on Twitter that he held a large position in Apple and that its stock was undervalued.
Compiled from staff and wire reports