In the Region
AstraZeneca selling dental business
AstraZeneca P.L.C. is selling its Astra Tech dental business, the world's third-largest maker of dental implants, for $1.8 billion, the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company said Wednesday. AstraZeneca has major operations near Wilmington. The buyer,
Dentsply International Inc., York, Pa., said the acquisition would raise its revenue by about 25 percent and double its share of the high growth market for dental implants. Analysts said the disposal made strategic sense for AstraZeneca, given that the unit was distinct from the company's main business of developing drugs.
- AP PGW resumes dividend to city
For the first time since 2004,
Philadelphia Gas Works on Wednesday resumed paying its annual $18 million dividend to the city's general fund. PGW hailed the resumption of the payments as the latest signal that the municipal utility's finances had improved. The city had suspended the payments because PGW could not afford them.
- Andrew Maykuth AAA: Fewer will travel for July Fourth
Fewer people will travel for the long Fourth of July holiday weekend than they did last year, mainly because gasoline remains about a dollar per gallon higher than a year ago, according to the AAA travel club.
AAA Mid-Atlantic said Wednesday that it forecast 39 million Americans would travel 50 miles or more from home from June 30 through July 4 - a 2.5 percent decline from the 40 million in 2010. The national average price for gasoline Wednesday was $3.63 per gallon. A year ago it was $2.73. The greatest decline in Independence Day travel will be among households with incomes of $50,000 or less, the auto club said. Five out of six travelers will drive to their holiday destinations, but while automobile travel will be down 3 percent, the number of air travelers is expected to increase 9 percent, AAA said.
- Reid Kanaley Phila. groups share in Labor grants
Two Philadelphia workforce-development organizations received $13.5 million in U.S.
Labor Department grants to provide training in green jobs. The grants were part of a $38 million package doled out to six organizations to help workers in 19 states.
Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America Inc., Philadelphia, got nearly $8 million for programs in Arizona, California, Florida, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Minnesota. The
Finishing Trades Institute of the Mid-Atlantic Region - the training school for the
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades - got nearly $5.6 million to train or retrain 2,000 over three years in Winslow, several Pennsylvania cities including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and Delaware. The union's training school, in Northeast Philadelphia, has achieved accreditation as an institution of higher learning, enabling it to award college credits for its work.
Jobs for the Future Inc., Boston, which got $8 million, will also run some programs in Philadelphia.
- Jane M. Von Bergen Centocor renamed Janssen Biotech
Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc., Horsham, said it had changed its name to
Janssen Biotech Inc. The name change for the maker of Remicade, a treatment of Crohn's disease, is part of a global effort to give a common identity to members of the
Janssen Pharmaceutical Co. owned by
Johnson & Johnson, Janssen said in a statement. Janssen Biotech has 1,700 employees in its commercial operations. Beyond a new name and logo, Janssen Biotech will see no changes in legal structure, the company said.
- Reid Kanaley Fibrocell wins first FDA approval
Fibrocell Science Inc. said its application for its lead product, azficel-T, had been approved by the
Food and Drug Administration. It is the Exton company's first product to gain FDA approval. The drug uses cell therapy to improve "smile lines" in adults. The company was called Isolagen Inc. when it ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy in 2009. It emerged from bankruptcy three months later as Fibrocell.
- Paul Schweizer Elsewhere
Firm settles mortgage-fraud charges
Morgan Keegan & Co. is paying $200 million to settle civil fraud charges that it overstated the value of mortgage investments as the housing market was collapsing and lured buyers of its funds with false sales materials. Federal and state regulators said the investment firm had failed to use "reasonable" procedures to calculate the value of the mortgage investments in the funds. Half the money will go toward compensating investors in five Southern states. The
Securities and Exchange Commission, regulators in the five states, and securities industry regulators announced the settlement. Two former employees of the firm also agreed to pay civil penalties.
- AP New oversight for hedge funds
Hedge funds will face more scrutiny under rules approved Wednesday that seek to protect investors from excessive risks and prevent another financial crisis. The rules were mandated under the financial overhaul law passed last year. They require hedge funds and private equity funds to open their books to inspections by the
Securities and Exchange Commission. They also force the funds to disclose information on their operations, finances and investors.
- AP Spanish lawmakers OK labor changes
Spanish lawmakers approved changes to make wage negotiations more flexible, in a narrow victory for a government fighting to lower sky-high unemployment and regain the confidence of investors. The changes are designed to shake up 30-year-old laws on how unions and employers negotiate wages and other working conditions. The government acted after four months of talks between the two sides collapsed.
Parliament will now debate possible amendments.
- AP Money-fund yields unchanged
The average seven-day yield on taxable money-market funds was 0.02 percent this week, unchanged from last week, according to
iMoneyNet Inc. A seven-day yield is an annual yield that is based on the preceding seven days' level of income by the fund. The average yield on tax-free funds was 0.02 percent this week, unchanged from last week.
- Rhonda Dickey Story continues below.
