Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 20

Minneapolis Star and Tribune 1 0B June 14, 1 983 I People in business FTCf jcts most of proposed curbs on debt collection Grant Paul Norenberg Ryder Continued from page SB delivered their own goods. For this, they required trucks and the expertise to operate them efficiently. Enter Ryder, which now has 5,300 such customers across the country. It provides trucks, trailers, maintenance and even drivers, if that's what the customer wants. Taylor said the key to consistent revenue from these customers is that Ryder doesn't have too many trucks placed with any one of them.

Seventy-five percent of Ryder's customers have seven or fewer vehicles. Consequently, its fleet is employed by an extraordinarily diverse set of businesses, from Kmart Corp. to Pizza Hut, from Burger King to Economics Laboratory, Inc. "It insulates you from large credit exposures' Taylor said. (Ryder has about 500 vehicles based in Minnesota, with four truck-leasing bases and 37 one-way rental dealers.) The company's strong balance sheet has allowed it to embark on an aggressive series of mergers and acquisitions.

Ryder bought seven vehicle leasing and rental operations in 1982 worth $30 million plus an aircraft parts and leasing business for another $6 million. '2 Ryder's net earnings for 1982 were $82.6 million; in the last 10 years earnings have grown at a compound growth rate of more than 17 percent. Thomas Robeson Lawrence Thomas Robeson has been named president of Griffin Securities an affiliate of Bloomington-based Griffin Companies, Inc. He will remain a senior vice president in the partnership division of Griffin Companies, a real-estate investment firm. Lawrence Grant has been promoted to vice president and manager of corporate research and information services in the corporate marketing group of Norwest Corp.

(formerly Northwest Bancorporation). He had been assistant vice president andproduct-development manager. Norwest Audit Services (formerly Banco, the internal-auditing subsidiary of Norwest made the following promotions as part of a reorganization: Kevin McCarthy, Minneapolis, senior vice president; Mary Lu DeMet, Minneapolis, vice president; Dan Thorberg, Minneapolis, vice president; Arlyn Schaible, Moorhead, vice president; Michael Tognetti, Fargo, N.D., vice president; Keith Schmidt, Omaha, vice president, and Kevin Parks, Omaha, vice president. Three officers of the Federal Los Angeles Times Washington, D.C. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) refused Monday to accept most of a controversial rule proposed eight years ago that would curtail certain debt-collection practices used by the consumer-credit industry.

The five-member commission rejected staff proposals to limit attorney fees assigned to debtors, to restrict the ability of creditors to sue debtors and to increase written protection for cosigners of loans. The commission sent four other staff recommendations back for further study. The commission did act to ban creditors from contracting with consumers to waive a debtor's right to a court hearing. Supporters of the rule said after the vote that the commission's action doomed the outlook for any strong consumer-oriented rule. "It means that if consumers want or need relief from onerous, abusive, unnecessary and unjustified credit practices, they need not look to the Federal Trade Commission," said Commissioner Patricia Bailey, a supporter of the proposed rule.

The rule, proposed in 1975, evolved from an investigation begun 11 years ago that produced more than 14,000 pages of testimony and 250,000 pages of documents. The commission, headed by James Miller III, had been bitterly split on the merits of the proposed rule. Miller said the rule would have applied to approximately 70,000 credit establishments accounting for about $300 billion in credit outstanding to about 115 million consumers. He said the proposed rule, while well-intended, might hurt consumers by limiting their access to credit. "I iisipliliiii mmmmmmmMmimmm mmmm Marshall Taylor The company also is the nation's largest highway carrier of new automobiles and light trucks for General Motors, Chrysler and Volkswagen 'of America.

Ryder trucks hauled more than 2.6 million cars from the factory to dealers across the country in 1982. Would Ryder consider getting into car-fleet leasing, a major part of Gel-co's operations? Probably not. "We provide a Taylor said. An Important part of that value is technical expertise. "It takes a lot of maintenance to keep a diesel tractor on the road.

Cars are much more of a commodity and don't require extensive maintenance," Taylor said, so the extra value and the profit margin usually isn't there. auctions as a condition for the construction of a specific plant. The pact came after a month of hearings in March between the company and the MPCA over whether NSP should be issued air and water pollution-control permits for Sherco 3. The permit hearings were the latest stage in NSP's efforts to build the plant; those efforts began in 1975. Work was begun briefly on the plant in 1977, but abandoned after NSP issued a forecast showing a lower demand for electricity.

It subsequently rescheduled its construction plans several times, and in 1980 the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency and the United Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, two groups of municipal utilities, joined NSP's application for a certificate of need. The state energy department issued a certificate last December. As part of its agreement with the state and MPIRG, NSP agreed to delay the in-service date of the plant to 1988 from a proposed date of 1986. Nissan offers 8.8 financing Nissan Motor Corp. in U.S.A.

will offer 8.8 percent financing on all 1983-modeI trucks, a company spokeswoman said Monday. Nissan had offered 9.9 percent financing on 1983 models but lowered its rate after reductions by General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. to 8.8 percent, spokeswoman Liz Finnigan said. The new rate takes effect today.

mm '83 CUTLASS SUPREME Special Purchase Air cond, cruto, itHo, ftUpH Stock wtxMrt, till whttitl and nrart. 36-4nootft term wMh 34,000 mitt alkWanct, ntw ctoitai-fftd, wafc-owoy Imm with lirtt monH) bow payment pta laWt tax, nhmdetto tfepofit of $200, lie, MW fttt (or current portod ptut rontwol burnt WE LEASE Ml MAKES AM) MODELS LA Business calendar Reserve Bank of Minneapolis will retire July 1 They are Howard Knous, vice president and general auditor; Robert Worcester, vice president in the discount department, and Richard Heiber, assistant vice president in the building and protection departments. Paul Norenberg has been promoted to divisional vice president of vehicle sales and purchasing for Lend Lease, a Minneapolis-based subsidiary of Household International. He had been director of vehicle sales. Bradley Johnson, a sales representative for WCCO-AM Radio, has been elected president of the Advertising Federation of Minnesota.

Herbert Weyrauch, president of Herbert E. Weyrauch Management Consultants, Minneapolis, has been elected president of the Engineers' Club of Minneapolis. JoAnne Boche, group marketing coordinator for AAA World Travel Agency, has been named "Woman of the Year" for the Land O'Lakes chapter of the American Business Women's Association. present a panel discussion on "Working Alternatives for Professional Parents in the '80s" from 9:30 to 1 1 :30 a.m. in Room 201 William Mitchell College of Law, St.

Paul. Cost is $5. For reservations and information call Vivian Baumann at 338-3205. Monday June 20 The University of Minnesota's Department of Continuing Management Education will hold a conference on office productivity improvement June 20 and 2 1 at the Earle Brown Continuing Education Center, St. Paul campus.

Call 373-3680 for information. 5B In announcing' his plans, Dayton said, "I've been minding the store for 37 years that's long enough. I have been a director of the corporation for 35 years and lna position of major responsibility for over 30 years and that's long enough. So from purely personal considerations, it's time for me to step aside." Company earnings Medicon, Inc. Ycv end 431 183 1M Revenue $2,471234 Percent Change 41,14 J.I Net(Uss) $2234 NetShr(Loss) tit M2) Medfcon, Plymouth, changed Hi name, effective Jura 1.

to Aaqutron Medical, bacauM (X a conflict with a German firm that had a prior U.S. registration of the aama name. Robert Berg, praai-dant, aaid tha eompany'a liacal 1983 raauita wera due to the aucceaa of Ha first product, tha Model 8200 Apnea Monitor. Tha device ia uaad to combat sudden infant death syndrome (SOS). Commercial banks urged to expand loans to Third World Saturday June 18 The Continuing Education for Women program of the University of Minnesota will offer a seminar on "Finding and Creating Part-Time Work" from 8:30 a.m.

to 1 2:30 p.m. at the Nolte Center Library on the Minneapolis campus. Fee is $24. Call 373-9743 for information. A seminar on "Computer Literacy, a Perspective for the Future" will be presented by Bit By Bit Computer Resource Center and Hamline University from 9 a.m.

to 4 p.m. at the Hamline Law Building. Fee is $50. For information call 646-4833! Minnesota Women Lawyers will do not believe that it is our role to decide for cbnsumers, but rather to make certain consumers can fairly decide for themselves," he said. The proposal was opposed by the directors of the commission's bureaus of consumer protection and competition as well as commission economists.

Carol Crawford, director of the bureau of consumer protection, said that the evidence "indicates that the rule would cost consumers more than consumers believe the rule is worth." But other FTC staff members supporting the proposal said the remedies were necessary because consumers do not expect to default on consumer loans and have little understanding of the provisions in the fine print of consumer-loan contracts that creditors use to extract payment from delinquent debts. Most consumers, they said, default because of illness or loss of a job. Opponents of the rule argued that restrictions on credit would increase costs of credit for all consumers and make credit unavailable to low-income consumers who had little to offer for collateral. One key provision in the rule would have barred creditors from accepting pledges from consumers designating all of their household goods as collateral. (Minnesota law largely prohibits blanket security agreements, automatic wage assignments and other harsh practices of loan companies, according to state experts in consumer protection.

For example, state law provides that the first $3,000 worth of a person's household goods are exempt from being seized by loan companies for repayment of a debt) al Monetary Fund (IMF). Last week Brazil announced new austerity measures after failing to meet economic targets set by the IMF and failing to repay a $400 million bridging loan provided by the BIS. Brazil's moves were intended to limit the growth of its deficit and to slow the inflation rate, now at an annual rate of 1 18 percent But the Union Bank of Switzerland and unnamed West German, Italian and American regional banks reportedly are refusing to provide about $1.5 billion In short-term deposits that the Brazilian banking system needs for the rescheduling operation, according tocentral bankers. "Brazil is a crucial test of our approach to the whole debt problem now," Lamfalussy said. Fritz Leutwiler, BIS president and head of the Swiss National Bank, added that Brazil should be able to work out a new arrangement with the IMF by the end of June.

This should enable the fund to give Brazil the first portion of the promised credits, which in turn would permit Brazil to repay the money it owed the settlements bank. Privately, BIS staff members central bankers said that Brazil was the weakest link in their efforts to resolve the global debt problem and prevent repayment delays and fear of bankruptcies from undermining trade and aborting hopes of an economic recovery. "Mexico, Argentina and Eastern Europe are under control, but if Brazil comes apart, who knows where It would stop," said one central bank governor at the meeting. 5B big gains. International Business Machines was up 3 to 117; United Technologies advanced 2 to 74 Du Pont 2i to 47, and Minnesota Mining, 25i to 87ft.

Advances of a point or more were posted by Union CarbideAmerican Express and Allied Corp. In the technology group, Rolm Corp. soared 13 to 72. Late Friday, IBM announced It had agreed to buy a 15 percent stake in Rolm. Prices on the American Stock Exchange also rose, with the market-value Index up 4.47, to a new closing high of 469.95.

In the over-the-counter market the NASDAQ composite Index moved ahead 2.81 to finish at a record 318.05. NSP Continued from page SB lion. This reduction will be accomplished by the addition of new monitoring equipment costing between $200,000 and $300,000 per plant and by the use of coal with a lower sulfur content. Bechthold said the company would shift shipments of higher sulfur coal to the Sherco plants, which have more effective coal-cleaning equipment Also, he said the expiration of several existing coal contracts would make it possible for the company to buy cleaner coal. "We think it's a very good agreement," said Paul Hoff, a spokesman tor the MPCA.

He added the agency believes the. agreement accomplishes a reduction of pollutants sought by the Minnesota acid rain reduction law, scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 1986. "Assuming the hearing examiner approves the agreement, we'll bring the matter before the board sometime in July," Hoff added. Bruce Richard, NSP executive vice president, said the agreement was a "demonstration of NSP's long-standing commitment to make cost-effective improvements to keep the environment clean." George Crocker, a representative of the Kilowatt Organization, a grassroots group that has opposed construction of Sherco 3 in hearings and most recently in court, applauded the agreement for requiring the utility to make systemwide emissions re- Suit Continued from page SB and Brian Reichet, a partner of Wll-moth's from Stewartville, Minn.

That suit accuses Wilmoth and Relchel of failing to pay $3,244 in charges at the Holiday Inn in Willmar. Wilmoth responded that he did indeed owe $378, but that the remainder was Osborn's responsibility. In a third-party complaint, Wilmoth said that Osborn had Instructed Relchel to stay at the Holiday Inn and had promised to pay his expenses there. In that complaint, Wilmoth asks for a judgment against Osborn for the amount owed plus $20,000 compensatory and punitive damages. To that lawsuit, Anderson responded, "My client assures me there's no truth" to Wilmoth's contention that Osborn had agreed to pay Reichel's bill.

Anderson said the bill, like other labor and supply costs, was to be paid by Wilmoth in accordance with the contract he signed with Osborn. Trial of that lawsuit has been scheduled for July 5. Dayton Continued from page New York Times Basel, Switzerland Western, central bankers called on private commercial banks Monday to expand lending to heavily indebted Third World countries "over a period of years" to prevent another round of international debt problems. If these problems persist, the bank-' ers said, they could destroy hopes of economic recovery. The thrust of the warning, according to delegates at the annual conference of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), was that the problems created by the heavy indebtedness of many developing countries cannot be solved by monetary authorities alone, and that continued lending by private creditors and the International Monetary Fund is indispensable.

(BIS is owned by the central banks of major Western nations, such as America's Federal Reserve Bank.) Alexandre Lamfalussy, economic ad- trio ftiA 0AHlAiiAnf0 Konlr eoil private banks must continue to In-crease their lending to the develop-J ing world to keep these countries solvent and enable them to finance imports. Between 1974 and 1983, he noted, private banks lent $132 billion i to the developing world, financing I about 45 percent of the developing nations' aggregate deficits in over-( seas payments. The central bankers have expressed particular concern about Brazil, be-; cause private banks have balked at lending that nation the $1.5 billion it needs as part of a debt rescheduling being supervised by the Internation Stocks Continued from page pear to be still underlnvested in common stocks. He said that this indicates that new highs will almost surely occur "in the next few days as these large pools of money seek to buy more stocks so as to reduce their overly large cash positions." Another analyst, Lewis Smith of Bear, Stearns said that strength in the auto Issues also helped fuel the overall advance. He said that nothing inspired investors better "than a big day for General Motors." GM made the most-active list and climbed 2 to 70.

Ford was ud 2 V. In Oirualar aAAaA 11 4a no vuijiui uuvrcu 74 Aoyg uiu American Motors, to 9. Auto sales were up sharply in May and many analysis expect the trend to continue during this month. Many of the blue-chip stocks made MM As chief executive officer, Dayton was responsible for organizing the management of a number of ing companies developed internally or acquired during the 1960s and 1970s. They included Target discount stores, launched in 1962; B.

Dalton Bookseller, started in 1966; Lech-mere and Diamond's, acquired in 1968; Hudson's, acquired in 1969, and John A. Brown, acquired in 1970. He is generally credited with assimilating the operations and helping make them productive parts of the corporation. Dayton also had a major role in forming the nonfamily management team that runs the company today and in establishing the company's concept of corporate governance through a board dominated by outside directors. William Andres, chairman and chief executive officer, described Dayton's Impact on the course of Dayton Hudson as immeasurable.

"His inspirational leadership, his emphasis on building management excellence, his, concepts of corporate governance, his Insistence on thinking long-term these have been powerful forces in shaping Dayton Hudson," said Andres, who succeeded Dayton as chief executive officer in 1976. "5 4th An. 8a. at 8th Stmt Dawntown Minnaapoiia RESERVATIONS 370-1400 1 Xonmnnovv Vrr IS I We are pleased to announce the recent sale of RKWA BUSINESS PARK a 75,000 sq.ft. officewarehouse From la Table de Nicodemus FEAST OF THE MOUTH A timely repeat of an all-time Normandy FILET MIGNON and office complex in Edina developed by A delicious Tenderloin, wrapped in bacon and charbroiled to your individual taste.

Served with fresh Mushroom Sauce. Accompanied by our popular Village Caesar or tossed salad, baked potato AAP and hot, steam- Jp BJ inq popovers. VJ Is iIUqg OPEN SUNDAYS Fim parking Raairyatiena: 370-1400; Winfield Developments, Inc. Ebsitnirclt" Commercial Real Estate Services 920-9280 1.