DENVER
KRG Capital sells HMS Healthcare
Denver-based private equity firm KRG Capital Partners announced Tuesday that it has completed the sale of HMS Healthcare Inc. to Aetna in a deal valued at approximately $390 million.
HMS, a preferred provider organization, or PPO, employs about 100 people in Colorado and 400 nationally. The company offers health care to more than 1.6 million people throughout Colorado, Michigan, Ohio and parts of Indiana, Kentucky and Wisconsin.
GREEN BAY, Wis.
ShopKo closing its
3 Front Range stores
ShopKo Stores Inc., a discount merchandiser, is closing its three Colorado stores in Fort Collins, Longmont and Loveland. The stores, which have been purchased by Regency Realty Group Inc., will be liquidated and closed within 90 days, Green Bay-based ShopKo said Tuesday.
The company cited economic reasons for the closings and said they were unrelated to a previously announced acquisition of the company by private equity investment firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison. The three stores employed 320 people, who will be offered severance packages or positions at other ShopKo stores, the company said.
DENVER
Specialty Sports buys Calif.’s Any Mountain
Denver-based Specialty Sports Ventures, operator of Colorado Ski & Golf and Bicycle Village stores, announced Tuesday it has agreed to purchase Any Mountain Ltd., which has six ski and outdoor stores in northern California.
The sale of Any Mountain, which is in bankruptcy, is subject to final bankruptcy court approval next week. The sale price for the deal, which is expected to close Aug. 1cq, was not disclosed.
GOLDEN
Peak Banks to merge with Clear Creek Bank
Peak Banks of Colorado Inc. on Tuesday said it signed a definitive agreement to purchase Clear Creek Bank Corp. CCBC owns First State Bank in Idaho Springs.
The bank will be merged into Peak National Bank, with $190 million in assets and six locations along the Front Range. The acquisition, subject to regulatory approvals, is expected to close during the fourth quarter.
BOSTON
Card companies cut ties with processor
Visa USA Inc. and American Express Co. are cutting ties with the payment-processing company that left 40 million credit-card and debit-card accounts vulnerable to hackers in one of the biggest breaches of consumer data security.
CardSystems Solutions Inc. “has not corrected, and cannot at this point correct, the failure to provide proper data security for Visa accounts,” said Rosetta Jones, a spokeswoman for Foster City, Calif.-based Visa.
MINNEAPOLIS
Northwest talks dead;
union votes to strike
Mechanics at Northwest Airlines Corp. said Tuesday they voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike a day after the airline, which is struggling to slash costs, declined arbitration.
Whether the mechanics will walk off the job depends on the next move by the National Mediation Board, which must first release the two sides from talks. Both the union and the airline have requested the move.
SEATTLE
Microsoft sues Google over exec’s defection
Microsoft Corp. sued Google Inc. on Tuesday, accusing it of poaching a top executive the search-engine company had wooed away to head a new research lab in China.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software power also sued the executive, Kai-Fu Lee, whose appointment Google trumpeted in a news release announcing the lab’s establishment.
WESTMINSTER
Master Tek bought
by Dallas utility firm
Dallas-based Minol USA said it will acquire Master Tek International of Westminster, creating the nation’s third-largest utility billing and metering service.
Master Tek, a subsidiary of Southwest Water Co., will operate under the Minol name after the acquisition.
NEW YORK
News Corp. agrees to buy Intermix Media
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. on Monday agreed to buy Intermix Media Inc., owner of more than 30 marketing and entertainment websites, for $580 million, a week after forming a new unit to capture a share of Internet advertising.
Intermix shareholders will receive $12 a share in cash, New York-based News Corp. said in a statement. Intermix’s sites include Flowgo.com and MySpace.com, which allow people with common interests to communicate using e-mail, blogs and chat rooms.
NEW YORK
Ask Jeeves now in Barry Diller’s hands
Billionaire Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp completed its purchase of Web search service Ask Jeeves Inc. in exchange for shares worth as much as $2.32 billion and won shareholder approval to spin off its Expedia travel unit.
PEOPLE
Xcel Energy official wins inaugural award
Valley Bank & Trust promoted Al Strock to president of its Commerce City branch.
CIO magazine has selected Mike Carlson, Xcel Energy vice president for business transformation & customer value, as a winner of the inaugural “CIO Ones To Watch” award. The award honors rising stars in information technology.
