Business news in brief

In the Region

Cephalon to buy Gemin X

Cephalon Inc., the Frazer maker of the narcolepsy treatment Provigil, said it would buy Gemin X Pharmaceuticals Inc. for as much as $525 million to gain cancer treatments. Cephalon will acquire the biotechnology company for $225 million in cash and as much as $300 million if Cephalon meets certain regulatory and sales milestones, Cephalon said Monday in a statement. Gemin X is developing its lead drug, obatoclax, for a variety of cancer types. The drug is in the second of three phases of federal regulatory trials for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer, Cephalon said in the statement. - Bloomberg News

TH Properties site is set for auction

About 300 acres in Lower and Upper Salford Townships that TH Properties had proposed as a golf course community six years ago are scheduled for a Montgomery County Sheriff's sale March 30, court records show. First Niagara Bank, which obtained a judgment against TH Properties on April 27, 2010, is owed $10.7 million by the Harleysville-based residential developer, which has yet to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filed in April 2009. First Niagara acquired Harleysville National Bank, which had financed TH Properties' purchase of the land in April 2010. In all, First Niagara is the only lender or the lead lender on eight TH properties, mostly development projects that include the golf course community. The bank is owed a total of more than $25 million on the projects, U.S. Bankruptcy Court records show. - Alan J. Heavens

New CEO named at NCO Group

NCO Group Inc., Horsham, said it had appointed Ronald A. Rittenmeyer as president and chief executive officer, effective immediately. He replaced Michael J. Barrist, who will remain chairman of the debt-collection company. Barrist had been president and chief executive since 1986. Rittenmeyer has been consulting with NCO for the last four months on plans for corporate growth and cost savings, the company said. He was chairman, president, and chief executive of Electronic Data Systems until its sale to Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2008. - Paul Schweizer

Robinson is permanent CEO

Phillip D. Robinson on March 31 will officially become president of Lankenau Medical Center, which puts him in charge of Lankenau Hospital, Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, and the Annenberg Center for Medical Education, the center announced. Robinson, 54, replaces Elaine Thompson, who resigned in June. He joined the center in July as interim president. He previously had been a managing director with the consulting firm Hunter Partners and as chief executive officer of hospitals in Texas and Florida. - Stacey Burling

Teleflex makes early repayment

Teleflex Inc., Limerick, said it made early repayment on $64 million in high-interest notes. The redemption consisted of notes paying 6.66 percent interest that were due later this year, notes paying 7.14 percent interest due in 2014, and notes paying 7.46 percent due in 2016. All of the Teleflex notes were issued in 2004, when U.S. Treasury notes, a benchmark for corporate borrowing, were trading in a range of about 4.3 percent to 4.9 percent. Their current rate is about 3.3 percent. Teleflex makes medical devices for surgery and critical care. - Paul Schweizer

SL is in danger of market delisting

Shares of SL Industries, Mount Laurel, closed down 49 cents, or 2.6 percent, at $18.50 after it said it had been notified it was not in compliance with listing requirements of the NYSE Amex stock exchange. The company made the announcement Friday, noting that the noncompliance involves its failure to hold an annual shareholders meeting in 2010. SL said that it would submit a compliance plan by the exchange's deadline of April 13 and that it intends to hold a shareholder meeting Sept. 14. If the plan is accepted, SL said, it may be able to continue its NYSE Amex listing. SL's chief executive and chief financial officers left their positions abruptly last June with no explanation from the company, and a board member then resigned, citing the "treatment" the CEO and CFO had received. SL has not released financial results for the 2010 fourth quarter. SL manufactures power and data-protection equipment for the medical, aerospace, computer, transportation, and utility industries. - Paul Schweizer

PUC is sponsoring a power bazaar

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is sponsoring a one-day session in Center City on Tuesday for Peco Energy Co. customers who have not switched electric suppliers. Officials from the PUC, Office of Consumer Advocate, and Peco will be on hand from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Rotunda at The Shops at Liberty Place to explain electric deregulation, which allows consumers to choose suppliers other than Peco. The PUC will install a bank of computers so consumers can review their options at www.papowerswitch.com. Representatives of competitive suppliers also will attend to sign up customers. To make the switch easier, customers are asked to bring a recent electric bill. - Andrew Maykuth

Elsewhere

Treasury to sell mortgage securities

The Treasury Department said it would begin selling its remaining $142 billion in holdings of mortgage-backed securities bought during the financial crisis. Treasury officials said the first sales of up to $10 billion in the securities, primarily issued by mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, would start this month. Treasury estimated it could make a profit of $15 billion to $20 billion on its holdings. - AP

Rates rise on Treasury bills

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction. The Treasury Department auctioned $32 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.095 percent, up from 0.090 percent last week. The government auctioned an additional $30 billion in six-month bills at a discount rate of 0.150 percent, up from 0.135 percent last week. The discount rate reflects that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,997.60 while a six-month bill sold for $9,992.42. - AP

Yields drop for one-years

The Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills fell to 0.23 percent last week from 0.25 percent the previous week. - AP