LOCAL BUSINESS
YRC to change finances
YRC Worldwide Inc., the U.S. trucker trying to reverse annual losses dating to 2007, increased the rate it’s offering on a $700 million term loan as lenders decide whether they will participate in the refinancing.
The five-year debt will pay interest at 7 percentage points more than the London interbank rate, compared with 6.75 percentage points initially proposed. The lending benchmark will have a 1 percent minimum, which is unchanged. Lenders are requiring YRC, which averted bankruptcy in 2011, to pay a spread almost double that of nonbank lenders.
YRC is based in Overland Park, Kan., with Summit County operations. It amassed $1.4 billion in debt from acquisitions including the former Akron-based Roadway.
Timken details steel spinoff
Timken Co. filed its initial paperwork on spinning off its steel divisions as the new TimkenSteel Corp. later this year. The lengthy shelf registration documents, filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, show TimkenSteel will trade as an independent company using the ticker symbol TMST. The spinoff is expected to be tax-free for current holders of Timken stock.
Canton-based bearings and steel maker Timken in September announced it agreed to separate its steel division following significant pressure from its largest shareholder.
The documents did not say when the spinoff will take place. The United Steelworkers, which represents about 1,900 hourly Timken workers in the Canton area, says the split is expected to happen by July 1.
COMPENSATION
GM leader’s pay established
General Motors Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra, who started the job last month, may receive total compensation this year of $14.4 million, $10 million more than the largest U.S. automaker previously disclosed.
Barra, who became the first female CEO of a global carmaker Jan. 15, may receive $10 million in long-term compensation as part of her package, the Detroit-based company said.
That portion is subject to shareholder approval at GM’s annual meeting in June and the final amount depends on the company’s performance, GM said.
RETAIL
Hostess is sold at Big Lots
Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Zingers now are being sold at discount prices at Big Lots, which has become the official Hostess thrift outlet.
Hostess ran its own thrift stores until November 2012, when the company filed for bankruptcy and closed its 11 factories and 600 thrift stores.
When the new owners of Hostess returned the company to operation in July, they reopened four plants but did not resume operation of thrift stores.
TAKEOVERS
Cable board nominated
Charter Communications Inc. made its boldest move yet to buy Time Warner Cable Inc., nominating a full slate of board members as it seeks to usher the second-largest U.S. cable company to the bargaining table.
In addition to nominating 13 candidates to replace Time Warner Cable’s directors, Charter proposed amendments to the company’s bylaws that would limit expansion of the board and repeal bylaws adopted after 2012.
Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Officer Rob Marcus rebuffed Charter’s $132.50-a-share offer in January, saying he was open to a deal at $160 a share.
WALL STREET
Dow Jones rises 193 points
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped nearly 200 points after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she would continue the central bank’s market-friendly, low-interest rate policies. The Dow rose 192.98 points, or 1.2 percent, to 15,994.77, its third triple-digit advance in four days.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 19.91 points, or 1.1 percent, to 1,819.75 and the Nasdaq composite rose 42.87 points, or 1 percent, to 4,191.04. The Nasdaq is now in positive territory for 2014, while the S&P 500 and Dow are down 1.5 percent and 3.5 percent the year, respectively.
Compiled from staff and wire reports