Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 37

i 'v i-m i V. "i I mm Star Tribune Dow Jones Industrials 2,711.84 Friday April 201990 Down 20.84 Marketplace pulso SpotlightRetailing Minnesota average weekly earnings Manufacturing In dollars ayton long had eye on Field's 550 III 7 ill North Dakota i I I Minnesota TXL 500 450 400 350 300 Sale of Chicago retail chain will help B.A.T. fight takeover '4 '44 '4 1A( I South Dakota gV iLansIng I Milwaukee 1 njF '4 '4 Michigan a. AMJ JASONDJ FMAMJ JASONDJ FM 1988 1989 190 per week Up .09 from February Up 1.5 from March 1988 IQdayton 0 rthicagoO I Ohio Data Minnesota Department of Jobs and Training Star Tribune graphic h. "linois Indiana 0 SciMed stock drops following news Dots show stores; numbers indicate more than one 1 LS of Bard's patent infringement claim The stock price of SciMed Life dilatation catheter infringes on a Jr i Dayton Hudson goes shopping in Chicago With its long-sought acquisition of Marshall Field's, Dayton Hudson finally adds Chicago to its retail empire anchored in the Twin Cities and Detroit.

This map shows the sites of Dayton's, Hudson's and Marshall Field's stores. x- Texas 0 1 Houston By Susan Feyder Staff Writer Over the years, Dayton Hudson Corp. repeatedly has declined to comment publicly on reports that it wanted to acquire Marshall Field Co. But in fact Dayton Hudson's interest in the Chicago retailer goes back more than a dozen years. On Thursday that interest culminated in a deal to buy Field's for $1.04 billion.

Field's was put up for sale last fall because its British parent company, B.A.T. Industries Group, has had to restructure to fend off a takeover bid by financier Sir James Goldsmith. But back in 1976, Field's had no interest in being sold when Dayton Hudson approached it through investment bankers. The overture was disclosed in court papers filed a decade ago in connection with a shareholders' lawsuit against the Chicago retailer. By 1978, Dayton Hudson had shifted its attention to acquiring Mer-vyn's, a California chain it eventually bought for about $325 million in stock.

Field's, meanwhile, was busy fighting an unfriendly bid from Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc. of Los Angeles. It repelled Carter, but found itself fending off another corporate raider, Carl Icahn, in 1982. It sought a friendly merger partner, and that year accepted a takeover bid from B.A.T. B.A.T.'s acquisition of Field's came about partly because of a general consolidation that saw several mergers in the U.S.

retailing industry. But the Chicago retailer also found itself vulnerable to a takeover because of lackluster earnings, which oara patent issued April 17. Bill Bopt, Bard's treasurer, told New York analysts yesterday that the Bard patent covers a fixed wire that guides a catheter through arteries. It was the latest news from Bard to affect SciMed's financial fortunes. Last week SciMed reported a 329 percent increase in annual earnings, a gain that analysts said was a direct result of Bard's product problems, which have left much of Bard's market share up for grabs.

Bard had been No. 2 in market share, ahead of SciMed and behind Eli Lilly of Indianapolis. Steve Gross Systems declined in heavy trading Thursday, apparently in reaction to a patent infringement allegation made public at a New York analyst meeting by competitor C.R. Bard. The stock of Maple Grove-based SciMed closed at on the national over-the-counter market yesterday, down Yesterday's volume of 1,450,400 shares was more than five times the average daily volume.

The firm makes catheters that reopen partly clogged heart arteries in lieu of open-heart surgery. SciMed declined to comment after it confirmed that it had received a letter from New Jersey-based Bard alleging that SciMed's ACE PtCA Dayton Hudson Dept. Stores Marshall Field's I1S89 revenues 7.1 billion JJ $1.1 billion; Operating profit $179 million $91 million tStores ZJST 12 24 .1 Retail sq. ft. 7.7 million 7.2 million Star Tribune graphicDavid Silk Grand Met to close office in N.

J. contributed to a depressed stock price. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Field's had a reputation as a somewhat stodgy retailer that catered to the carriage trade, or more conservative shoppers. That image and Field's financial results appear to have changed under the leadership of Phillip Miller, a former Neiman-Marcus executive who became chief executive officer of Field's in 1983. financial results, retail analysts believe that it has done well in recent years.

Like Dayton Hudson's department stores, Field's has become an aggressive merchandiser serving the fashion needs of middle- to upper-middle-income customers. "Both companies focus on trend merchandising, with an emphasis on value and service, not just price," said Marcia Raley, an analyst with Dain Bosworth Inc. their geographic markets. Women's Wear Daily reported in February that Field's commanded almost 15 percent of the Chicago department store market. Last year, sales at its store in the Water Tower shopping complex on N.

Michigan Av. grew even though a new Bloomingdale's opened across the street. The information was contained in a confidential prospectus distributed to potential buyers and obtained by the trade publication. Grand Metropolitan PLC will close its corporate office in Mont-vale, N.J.,and move about 20 jobs to Minneapolis, the company announced Thursday. The tax and accounting functions will be moved to Grand Met's food-sector headquarters in the Pillsbury Center in Minneapolis.

Some of the jobs will be filled by Grand Met employees, and others will be new hires made in Minneapolis, the company said. The move follows London-based Grand Met's acquisition of Pills-bury in early 1989. Grand Met's treasury department and six jobs will be moved to a small office in New York, which also will handle investor relations. About 10 jobs will be eliminated as part of the reorganization, which is designed to improve efficiency and reduce costs, the company said. Josephine Marco tty Although Field's does not disclose Both companies also dominate Field's continued on page 2D SEC eases rules on private trading Washington, D.C.

sures about ownership, financing Eastern Machinists seek talks, expect tough road and other issues to protect investors. But the SEC eased restrictions on trading of privately offered securities, which aren't required to register and aren't bound by U.S. disclosure rules. Only large institutional investors such as banks, pension funds and insurance companies that already hold 100 million in securities can qualify for the new private placement restrictions, with certain exceptions. The rule, Rule 144a, set a high threshold for participating in the private placement market to screen out unsophisticated investors who are more in need of such disclosures provided by SEC regulation of public offerings.

The SEC also approved rule changes that would make the National Association of Securities Dealers' PORTAL trading system the market place for such unregistered securities and would clarify regulations governing foreign transactions of unregistered The Securities and Exchange Commission made it easier Thursday for big institutional investors to trade privately in unregistered stocks and bonds, a move expected to help lower the cost of raising money for U.S. companies. The new rule helps cut costs part-' ly by easing disclosure require- ments for companies making so-' called private placements. It also is seen as making the mar-ket for such securities more liquid by clearly defining who may buy and sell them. That eliminates an uncertainty that made them unattractive to investors and forced issuers to sell the securities at a discount.

The rule change also is an attempt to woo foreign corporations previously put off by onerous U.S. i disclosure requirements to raise capital in the United States. The SEC requires companies offering stock to the public to register and make extensive disclo- Oil futures rise after OPEC sets meeting on price slide Associated Press Brussels, Belgium Crude oil futures rose sharply Thursday after OPEC ministers agreed to hold an emergency meeting May 2 to try to brake the price slide that has pushed crude to its lowest levels in 16 months. Prices rallied after word spread that the organization would call a special session of its eight-member monitoring panel. Sadek Boussena of Algeria, the cartel's acting president said an urgent meeting was necessary "given the persistence of the deterioration registered on the international oil market." "This meeting will examine the measures needed to halt the constant degradation of the market and to raise prices so as to re-establish them at the level set by OPEC," Boussena said in a statement released by Algerian officials in London.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the contract for May delivery of West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark grade of U.S. crude oil, jumped $1.10 per 42-gallon barrel to Oil prices continued on page 2D Associated Press Miami, Fla. Eastern Airlines' striking Machinists, victorious in their quest to outlast company boss Frank Lorenzo, looked ahead Thursday to negotiating a back-to-work pact that could include deep concessions. "There obviously is going to be tremendous sacrifices over the next year, maybe two years or more, to bring us back to normalcy but it's not going to be done in the interest of Frank Lorenzo," Eastern Machinist president Charles Bryan told about 100 strikers at union headquarters near Miami International Airport. Lorenzo, chairman of Eastern's parent Texas Air was ousted from control of Eastern late Wednesday in New York by U.S.

Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland, who named former airline executive Martin Shugrue as special trustee of the Miami-based carrier. The appointment of a trustee had been an important goal for striking workers, who contend Lorenzo has tunneled valuable Eastern assets to nonunion sister carrier Continental Airlines. Lifland made the appointment after Eastern continued on page 2D i 5 I xi it (fll TwinWest Chamber honors four The TwinWest Chamber of Com-i merce honored four women Thursday for community involve-i ment, support of other women and achievements in their fields of 1 endeavor. They are Constance Bakken, own-' er and chairwoman of Citizens i State Bank; Kay Rakow, a sales advisory board member for Cold-well Banker in Edina; Idelle Schranck, a Realtor and founder products for outdoor enthusiasts, and Teresa Tembreull, senior vice president of First National Bank ofWayzata. The Women of Achievement celebration, held in the Scanticon Conference Center in Plymouth, is named for Karen Gibbs, a former Midwestern tennis champion at Gustavus Adolphus College in St Peter, who died of cancer at age 21.

Jim Jones Associated Press Texas Air Corp. Chairman Frank Lorenzo left bankruptcy court in New York this week after proposing a reorganization plan involving Eastern. Inside of Wild World a Golden Valley designer and manufacturer of Schmidt brewery employees' group criticizes Heileman effort to sell plant Money market funds fall $1 .25 billion Money Fund Report The 30-day New York, N.Y. Best Buy Co. reported improved results for its most recent fiscal year because of such factors as improved profit margins.

Page 2D. The gap between the federal taxes Americans owe and what they pay will swell to $127 billion a year by 1992, with the Internal Revenue Service able to collect only about one-fourth of it with existing enforcement efforts. Page 3D. average yield was unchanged at 7.68 percent The effective annual yield available on money market accounts fell to 6.24 percent as of Wednesday, from 6.25 percent a week earlier, according to Bank Rate Monitor's survey of 100 banking institutions. The yield on Super NOW accounts was unchanged at 5.05 percent Assets of the nation's money market mutual funds fell $1.25 billion, $388.60 billion, in the week ended Wednesday, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.

The seven-day average yield on the funds was unchanged in the week ended Tuesday at 7.69 percent, according to Donoghue's An employee group representing the Jacob Schmidt brewery criticized the G. Heileman Brewing Co. Thursday over Heileman's efforts to sell the 90-year-old St Paul plant Workers sent a memo to Heileman Chairman Murray Cutbush yesterday to express their concerns about negotiations to sell the plant after learning that four local investors competing to buy it had failed to meet Heileman's asking Heileman reportedly is asking for more than $10 million for the brewery and the regional rights to brew eight local brands. Several of the local bidders offered several million dollars less than that Jeff Bates, chairman of the employee group, said workers fear that Heileman does not intend to sell the brewery, but rather to close it and continue to brew the eight local brands at Heileman's ptejt in La Crosse, Wis. From 150 to 200 workers are employed at Schmidt in the West End neighborhood.

"What we're concerned with is that this whole thing was baloney from the word go, that they never meant to sell this, that they were going through the motions for public relations purposes," Bates said. "It seems to us their expectations are unreal." Brewery continued on page 2D.