Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992 TAG: 9202280173
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IN BUSINESS
HCA offers shares, gets plenty of takersHCA-Hospital Corporation of America, the nation's largest hospital management company and Nashville-based owner of Lewis-Gale Hospital and Psychiatric Center in Salem, began selling shares to the public Thursday at $21.50 apiece - a price that increases more than eightfold the value of the holdings of the team that took the company private.
The company went private three years ago in a $5.1 billion management-led buyout that created a rich payday for the founders, other shareholders and the investment firms that handled the transaction.
Now the company is asking the public to buy a minority interest in a streamlined firm that is not expected to pay dividends or attract takeover attention.
The company expects to raise about $694.5 million selling 34 million shares of common stock. Nearly 8 million shares traded Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, with a closing price of $23.12 1/2. The proceeds will be used to retire some of the debt piled on when the company went private. - Washington Post
\ Signet to offer stock held by Spanish bank
Signet Banking Corp., Richmond-based operator of Signet Bank in Roanoke, said Thursday it has registered a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission contemplating the secondary offering of 4,175,819 shares of common stock owned by Corporacion Financiera Alba.
Signet will receive none of the proceeds from the sale, but has given the underwriters an option for 30 days to buy up to 626,372 shares of newly issued stock at the public price.
The shares are about 15.5 percent of Signet shares outstanding. They were acquired beginning in 1979 by Banca March, S.A., a Spanish bank controlled by the March family, and later transferred to Alba, an investment company 62 percent owned by the March family.
Signet said it had been told Alba is refocusing its investment strategy outside the United States, influenced by ownership limitations imposed by U.S. regulators, and the sale does not reflect any lack of confidence in Signet. - Staff report
\ Food Lion targeted in labor complaint
The United Food & Commercial Workers Union said Thursday a supplemental complaint has been filed with the U.S. Labor Department against Food Lion Inc..
The filing adds 55 claims for unpaid overtime work to the 150 filed last September. The Labor Department is probing allegations the grocery chain has forced employees to work off the clock in violation of federal law.
Food Lion said such occurrences were isolated and the claims are small compared with the company's 150,000 current and former employees.
"The UFCW, not Food Lion, is guilty of abuse," the company said in a statement. - Staff report
\ Briefly . . .
Home Shopping Network Inc., St. Petersburg, Fla. electronic retailer with fulfillment operations in Salem, said Thursday it and QVC Network Inc. of West Chester, Pa., have begun exploratory talks about a possible business combination. No agreement has been reached, the companies said.
\ OW Office Warehouse Inc., a Virginia Beach-based retailer with a store in Roanoke, said Thursday it has received preliminary indications of interest from several third parties regarding the possible acquisition of the company. OW said no proposals have been received.