Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 29, 1995 TAG: 9506290068
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WASHINGTON - In a surprise move, the House Banking Committee backed an amendment to a bank deregulation bill Wednesday that would let banks buy insurance companies.
By a 36-12 vote, the panel agreed to let bank holding companies affiliate with insurance firms, subject to state law.
The development, if it survives subsequent House and Senate action, could lead to a radical overhaul of the nation's financial services industry. Banks could grow dramatically by buying insurance companies, a practice currently forbidden as too risky. Through a separate House bill, banks may also win powers to enter the securities business.
- Associated Press
Dickstein Partners win control of Hills
Dickstein Partners Inc. has won its bid for control of Hills Store Co. by a wide margin, according to preliminary results of a shareholder vote released Wednesday by an independent inspector of shareholder elections.
The directors on Dickstein's slate have pledged to put Hills, a regional discount store chain, for sale, a strategy the company and its board had resisted.
But 5,844,403 shares, about 76 percent of the total number voted, were cast in favor of the Dickstein nominees; the incumbent directors received votes of 1,790,894 shares, or 24 percent.
``We plan to move rapidly to auction Hills to the highest bidder,'' Mark Dickstein, president of Dickstein Partners, said Wednesday.
Dickstein, which has already offered to buy out Hills shareholders for $27 per share in cash and new debt, has had discussions about selling Hills with representatives of Venture Stores Inc., a Midwestern discounter.
- The New York Times
Briefly ...
Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., Nashville, Tenn., parent of Lewis-Gale Hospital in Salem, said Wednesday it has signed a joint venture to consolidate Doctors Hospital and Columbia's Springfield Community Hospital in Springfield, Mo. Terms of the transaction and consolidation plans were not disclosed. Doctors Hospital is a 120-bed, acute-care facility. Columbia is the nation's largest provider of health care services.
Blue Ridge Bears & Gifts, a teddy bear and collectible toy shop, has opened at 121 Jefferson Ave., Vinton. Carol Cundiff is president and David Cundiff is vice president.
First Virginia Banks Inc. of Falls Church said Wednesday that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Barry J. Fitzpatrick will assume the additional duties of president on July 1. He will succeed Paul H. Geithner Jr., who is retiring.
First Colony Corp., Richmond insurance holding company, said Wednesday it will not proceed with the acquisition of a minority interest in BT Variable Inc., a subsidiary of Bankers Trust New York Corp. First Colony announced the proposed acquisition in October 1994.
by CNB