Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 4, 1993                   TAG: 9309040072
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

LANSING, Mich. - Michigan's Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for General Motors Corp. to close an auto plant that once employed 4,500 workers.

The court refused to hear Ypsilanti Township's appeal to keep the Willow Run assembly plant open. The state Court of Appeals had rejected the township's claim that GM promised to keep the factory open forever when it took $13.5 million in tax abatements in 1984 and 1988.

Willow Run, about 30 miles west of Detroit, is one of the largest and most famous industrial sites in America. Henry Ford built the plant early in World War II to make B-24 Liberator bombers for the Allied war effort. At the time, it was the largest factory in the world.

GM bought the complex in 1954 and used it to make transmissions, trucks, buses and cars including the Corvair, Chevy II, Nova and Pontiac Bonneville.

GM announced Feb. 24, 1992, that it was closing the plant and transferring production of large rear-wheel-drive cars to Arlington, Texas. Ypsilanti Township sued GM two months later. - Associated Press

\ Report upgrades First Union securities

Thomson BankWatch Inc. on Firday upgraded its rating for First Union Corp., parent of First Union National Bank of Virginia, based in Roanoke. The rating change affects First Union's rating as an issuer of securities. The company's rating was raised to B from B/C.

The report cited First Union's March 1 acquisition of Dominion Bankshares Inc., and its June 23 acquisition of First American Metro Corp. as evidence of the company's ability to strengthen its franchise through financially-driven acquisitions.

The acquisitions have "broadened the company's geographic diversity," the report noted. - Wire report

\ Prices of Toyotas will be up in '94

Citing appreciation of the yen against the dollar as well as the addition of dual air bags in many of its vehicles, Toyota Motor Co. said prices of 1994 model Toyota cars and trucks will go up an average of 3.9 percent, or $601.

At the same time, prices of its Lexus luxury division cars will rise 5.9 percent, or $2,209.

Toyota officials said the price increases would have been even larger but it builds 220,000 Camry and 100,000 Corolla cars in the United States, with about 75 percent local content, to avoid the high cost of imports from Japan.

The price pressures caused by a weak dollar are expected to force the Japanese automakers to boost output at their U.S. plants as well as use even higher percentages of U.S.-made parts and components in their vehicles. - Chicago Tribune

\ Medical-supply company purchased

RICHMOND - General Medical Corp. has been purchased for more than $300 million by a group of its top executives and a New York investment firm.

The Richmond-based medical supply and distribution company, operating one of its 44 distribution centers in Roanoke, has been purchased by its 19 top managers, including President and Chief Executive Officer Steven B. Nielsen, with financial backing from Kelso & Co. Inc. of New York.

The managers will own roughly 13 percent of the company; while Kelso, the banks and bondholders will own the remainder. The executives and Kelso bought the company from New York-based RABCO Health Services Inc.

General Medical's approximately 2,000 employees will not be affected by the sale, the company said.

- Associated Press