Western Gas investor urges sale of assets to lift shares
Third Point LLC, a New York-based fund manager, said it acquired a 5.9 percent stake in Western Gas Resources Inc. and urged the gas producer to sell assets to boost its share value.
Denver-based Western Gas should sell or spin off its processing plants and other so-called midstream assets, Third Point chief executive Daniel Loeb said in letter to Western Gas chief executive Peter Dea that was attached to a public filing Monday. In the filing, Third Point said it had acquired 4.4 million shares of Western Gas between Feb. 24 and April 22.
Western Gas also should abandon its expansion plans in western Canada, cut spending on exploration and development and use the money it saves to repurchase shares, Loeb said.
“We’re taking a look at what they have to say, and we’ll evaluate it,” Western Gas spokesman Ron Wirth said. He said the company has considered creating a limited partnership for the midstream assets. The assets had been in a limited partnership before they were brought into the company, he said.
Broadmoor owner confirms hotel buy
The Oklahoma Publishing Co., owner of The Broadmoor Hotel and Resort, has purchased the historic Hotel Jerome in Aspen, the company announced Monday.
The purchase price was not released, but the Vail Daily, citing unnamed sources, put the price close to $40 million.
Built in 1889, the Hotel Jerome has been owned for the past 20 years by Jim McManus. The privately owned Oklahoma Publishing Co. bought the Broadmoor in 1988.
Iowa, not Colo., gets wind-turbine plant
Clipper Windpower of Carpinteria will build a $22 million wind-turbine assembly plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Clipper earlier this year had said Colorado was a front-runner for an assembly plant.
Clipper officials said Monday that Colorado may still be considered for another assembly plant, if the company’s proposal for a 200-megawatt wind farm in Elbert County is accepted by Xcel Energy.
Advance Colorado Center expanding
The Advance Colorado Center, which opened in December, is expanding to include the Colorado Nanotech Initiative and the Colorado Association of Manufacturing and Technology and other future tenants.
ACC is partnership between the Colorado Economic Development Commission, Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center to provide a common headquarters in the World Trade Center for nonprofit industry associations.
Forest Oil picks new savings-plan auditor
Denver-based Forest Oil Corp. has dismissed KPMG LLP as the auditor for Forest’s retirement savings plan.
Forest has selected Ehrhardt Keefe Steiner & Hottman PC as the new independent auditor for the retirement plan.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Forest said KPMG’s dismissal was not caused by an adverse opinion or a dispute over accounting principles or practices.
Qwest tells FCC it opposes AT&T sale
Qwest said Monday it will file comments at the Federal Communications Commission opposing the $16 billion acquisition of AT&T Corp. by SBC Communications Inc.
Qwest said the SBC-AT&T merger “would constitute a significant setback to federal and state policymakers’ efforts to bring about competition in the telecommunications industry.”
In a statement, the company said the “mega-merger” would harm both retail and wholesale customers through higher prices, reduced service quality and less choice and innovation.
Enron Net executive testifies about lies
The former head of Enron Corp.’s failed Internet unit said Monday that he and others deliberately lied to analysts about the network’s abilities in hopes of winning Wall Street’s support.
“We chose to lie about the capabilities of the network so that would take away the credibility issue,” former Enron Broadband Services chief executive Kenneth Rice told jurors in the second week of the fraud and conspiracy trial of five former Broadband Services executives.
EX-NYSE director says merger no good
Seat holders of the New York Stock Exchange were told by former NYSE director Kenneth Langone on Monday that the Big Board’s deal to merge with Archipelago Holdings Inc. would shortchange them and the exchange, sources told The Associated Press.
Langone outlined his plans to buy the exchange and scuttle the NYSE’s deal with electronic trader Archipelago.
Trade commission rethinks shrimp tariff
The U.S. International Trade Commission, concerned about the devastation inflicted on India and Thailand by December’s tsunami, voted Monday to review a January decision that allowed penalty tariffs to be imposed on shrimp imports from those nations.
The action, approved on a 5-1 vote, will begin an investigation to determine if “changed circumstances” now warrant a different decision.
Treasury auctions 3- and 6-month bills
The Treasury Department auctioned $16 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 2.88 percent and an additional $14 billion in six-month bills at a rate of 3.09 percent.
The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors – 2.941 percent for three-month bills, with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,927.20, and 3.183 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,843.78.
Coleman, Viacom, LandAmerica
Morgan Stanley and Ronald Perelman requested a mistrial of his $2.7 billion lawsuit over the sale of Coleman Co. to Sunbeam Inc. after jurors disclosed improper contacts by an outsider. … Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures Monday named Brad Weston as co-president, production. … LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., a provider of real estate transaction services, named Scott Smith vice president of LandAmerica 1031 exchange services for Colorado.
