| Ahold scrutinized for added sale
With its sale of Tops Markets LLC just a few weeks away from completion, it is being reported that Royal Ahold is considering other potential acquisitions or, the Dutch company itself may be a likely merger candidate. According to Morning News Beat, a supermarket industry online newsletter, Ahold CEO John Rishton said during a press conference held this weekend that his company "will continue to look for opportunities to acquire businesses in geographical regions we operate in." Last month, Ahold announced plans to sell the Amherst-headquartered Tops, the region's largest supermarket chain, for $310 million to Morgan Stanley Private Equity Group. The sale is expected to be completed within the next few weeks. In the same report, Morning News Beat suggested that Delhaize Group, a Belgium-based international supermarket chain, "continues to be a good merger candidate." Delhaize's U.S.
Allegheny Conference called out for tax stance
The North Side/North Shore Chamber of Commerce is calling out the Allegheny Conference on Community Development for its support of the 10 percent tax on poured alcoholic beverages and the $2 per day rental car fee proposed by Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. "Frankly, we are baffled at the position of the Allegheny Conference," said North Side/North Shore Chamber President John Graf. "This is an organization supposedly devoted to economic development. However, there's no doubt that as we sit here today, if the drink tax passes, there will be small, locally owned restaurants, taverns and banquet halls which will be put out of business. That equals lost jobs, shuttered buildings and diminished business activity" Graf is the owner of the Priory Hotel and The Grand Hall on the North Side.
FDA removes hold on Targeted Genetics arthritis drug trial
Targeted Genetics Corp. said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has removed its hold on the company's development of an inflammatory arthritis drug. In July, after a death was reported in a study of the drug, the Seattle biotech (NASDAQ: TGEN) put on hold the development program for tgAAC94. The company said the FDA's latest action follows a review of the safety data to date on all 127 subjects from the clinical trial. The review, according to Targeted Genetics, "indicates that tgAAC94 did not contribute to the patient's death, which was due to disseminated histoplasmosis." .
PM backs controversial grants program
PRIME Minister John Howard says he stands by all grants issued under the discredited Regional Partnerships Program. The auditor-general has released a scathing report on the program, saying it has fallen short of an acceptable standard of public administration. The report shows ministers have overridden departmental recommendations not (not) to approve projects in 88 per cent of applications from coalition electorates, compared with just 9.3 per cent from those held by Labor. In some instances, ministers approved money for projects without even receiving a funding application. But Mr Howard said he would defend the grants program. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm happy to go to any part of Australia that has been a beneficiary of these grants and defend what the government has done," Mr Howard told journalists in Adelaide.
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