Pepsico

Sunsweet Growers Inc. has backed out of plans to buy Pepsico's bottling plant in Oxford because the borough does not have adequate sewage treatment capacity, the company said on Tuesday. The Yuba City, Calif., prune juice manufacturer had secured $12 million in tax-exempt, low-interest financing to buy and renovate the plant, which Pepsico abandoned in November, when it acquired the Unibev Corp., an independent bottler. Sunsweet, a cooperative of 650 plum growers, planned to employ about 200 workers at the plant, which would have created about $130,000 per year in taxes for the borough.

U.S. car sales rallied slightly in late July to give automakers a modest 2.4 percent increase for the month over last year, while imports increased their share of the market with a 13.1 percent increase in sales. During the July 21-31 period, U.S. sales were 281,567, a 4.4 percent increase from the 242,781 in the same period last year. For the month, importers sold 299,842 for July, a 13.1 percent increase from the 265,055 sold in July 1985. Imports took 31.6 percent of the market in July, including 23.1 percent for the Japanese, 6.4 percent for the Europeans and 2 percent for Hyundai Motor Co. of South Korea.

Pepsi to Madonna: You're outta here. After signing a reported $5 million sponsorship pact with Madonna Louise Ciccone, and after broadcasting the singer's ballyhooed two-minute "Like a Prayer" Pepsi commercial only twice in this country, the soda pop and the pop star have struck a disharmonious chord. Pepsico Inc. has abandoned plans to run shortened versions of the ad featuring the music superstar and her Top 10 single "Like a Prayer. " The company acceded to pressure from the Rev. Donald Wildmon, a Mississippi Methodist who heads the 380,000-member American Family Association; Bishop Rene Gracida of Corpus Christi, Texas, and other conservative Christian leaders who urged parishioners to boycott the soft drink.

Negotiations are under way between a Texas-based commercial roofing firm, the Borough of Oxford and Pepsico Inc. for the nearly completed building owned by Pepsico in Oxford. "We are keenly interested in the facility," said James B. Poynter on Thursday. Poynter, executive vice president of U.S. Intec, which has headquarters in Port Arthur, Texas, said company officers met last week with state environmental officials as well as Oxford officials. "We are in the initial process of determining if our needs and the community's needs can converge in a happy fashion," he said.

Pizza Hut of America Inc. is seeking special permission from the Haverford Township Zoning Hearing Board to build a restaurant on Township Line Road south of Darby Road. The board focused its attention on traffic that would be generated onto Township Line Road, already a heavily traveled four-lane roadway, when it heard Pizza Hut's application Thursday night. The board noted that the state Department of Transportation (PennDOT) must approve changes affecting Township Line Road, which is a state highway.

They don't call it the Grand Old Party for nothing. In cigar lounges and museums, on yachts and rooftops, in ballrooms and bowling alleys, Republicans are partying hard courtesy of some of the nation's biggest companies. Last night, you could have shot pool with the chairman of Goldman Sachs or been whisked away for a private showing of Cartier diamonds - before moving on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for PepsiCo-sponsored cocktails at the foot of the Egyptian Temple of Dendur, circa 15 B.C. If, that is, you were on the GOP A-list (read big donors, movers and shakers)

Wilson Sporting Goods Co. retains the usual stable of pro athletes to endorse its products. But in the company's new marketing campaign, scheduled to begin in February, there are no grinning baseball stars lauding the feel of a mitt or tanned golfers boasting about the driving range of balls. Wilson's stories are of disappointments. And success. Basic black-and-white ads with absolutely no people show: A stark high school football field in Columbia, Miss., that's empty except for a Wilson football.

Commodore International Ltd. yesterday named a new president, Mehdi Ali, who has been a managing director of Dillon, Read & Co., Commodore's investment bank. Ali, 43, a Commodore director since August, has served as a "special adviser" to the West Chester computer company for three years, during which the firm has staged a dramatic upturn. Ali will be Commodore's first president since 1987, when company chairman Irving Gould assumed the post. Gould will remain chief executive officer.

Even in his own time, Ben Franklin was a master of spin. Biographer Walter Isaacson called him America's "first great publicist. " How would he fare in today's ultra-image-conscious world? We asked three Philadelphia advertising teams to give Ben's outsize personality a modern makeover and bring him into the 21st century. Gyro Worldwide Advertising, which prides itself on attracting young customers, focused on Franklin's bad-boy side. "I really think he would have been having more fun than people are saying," Gyro chief executive officer Steven Grasses said of Franklin.

Corporate bonds are grabbing the spotlight these days as investors grow desperate for yields above rock-bottom U.S. Treasuries, which are returning just 3 percent or so annually. We asked one reader, Karl O. Koch, to allow us to reprint his question: How does one go about buying corporate bonds? We'll show you the ways to buy individual corporate bonds and bond funds, the pros and cons of each, and the fees to watch out for. Retail investors can research company bonds' risk via credit ratings.