Business news in brief

In the Region

$100M in NIH grants to area

Eleven universities and medical research institutions in Pennsylvania,

New Jersey, and Delaware were awarded more than $100 million in federal stimulus grants to build or renovate laboratories, the National Institutes of Health said. The University of Pennsylvania was awarded nearly $13 million to build its Center for Chronobiology. Temple University will get nearly $12 million to build a facility for research into brain trauma and neurodegenerative diseases. Other local institutions getting awards included Fox Chase Cancer Center ($8 million), Thomas Jefferson University ($6.7 million), Children's Hospital of Philadelphia ($2 million), and Drexel University ($500,000). Grants worth more than $1 billion were awarded nationwide for construction or renovations of scientific facilities. - Josh Goldstein

Allegiance moves to raise money

Allegiance Bank of North America, Bala Cynwyd, said it would sell two million to five million newly issued shares of common stock for $10 each. The goal is to raise up to $50 million to restore the bank's depleted balance sheet. Its older shares, already traded on the over-the-counter bulletin board, closed Friday at 16 cents each. Because the price of the older shares is so far below the $10 sale price, the bank also announced a reverse stock split, which will raise the price for each existing share but reduce the number outstanding. After the split, the existing shares will total no more than 125,000. At the end of 2008, the most recent data available, there were 4.8 million shares. - Harold Brubaker

Arkema sues Dow over supply

A unit of France's Arkema SA accused Dow Chemical Co. of violating a contract for supplying methyl methacrylate, used to make Plexiglas and automobile taillights. Arkem's U.S. base is in Philadelphia. Arkema Inc. contends Dow promised to supply specific quantities of the chemical but reneged on the deal and refuses to step up deliveries because of production problems. Dow's methyl methacrylate plant in Deer Park, Texas, is having production problems and running at low levels, Rebecca Bentley, a Dow spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. Dow has owned the plant since acquiring Rohm & Haas Co., Philadelphia, in April 2009. - Bloomberg News

Dole renews Wilmington lease