CH2M Hill wins right to bid on global Air Force project
Douglas County-based engineering firm CH2M Hill said Wednesday it was among 20 companies awarded the right to bid on pieces of a five-year, $15 billion Air Force contract.
The Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence will bid out the work on an as-needed basis. The center, with its headquarters at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, contracts out technical and professional services and design and construction work for military housing and other projects.
“The work could be in design, procurement or construction,” said Gene Lupia, president of the engineering giant’s environmental-services business group.
The construction projects will be in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the United States.
How much the contract ultimately is worth to CH2M Hill will depend on the amount of work it wins. Fluor Enterprises Inc., Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure, and Parsons Infrastructure and Technology also are among the firms qualified to bid for the work.
CH2M Hill has more than 18,000 employees worldwide.
HELENA, Mont.
Court rejects lawsuit challenging mine law
The federal court system has delivered another setback to a Colorado company challenging Montana’s blockage of a proposed gold mine.
A U.S. District Court judge rejected a lawsuit by Golden- based Canyon Resources Corp., less than two months after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the company.
In Helena, U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell recently dismissed a lawsuit that Canyon Resources filed in 2000, challenging Montana’s voter-passed 1998 law prohibiting cyanide heap- leach technology in new gold mining. The company planned to use that method at its proposed mine near Lincoln.
DENVER
Two Icon Advisers funds win awards
Icon Advisers Inc. announced Wednesday that two of its mutual funds have been awarded 2005 Lipper Performance Achievement Certificates.
The Icon Asia-Pacific Region Fund was the best-performing fund in 2005 out of 26 funds in the Pacific Region category, and the International Equity Fund was the best-performing fund in the International Small/Mid- Cap Core category.
BALTIMORE
Anschutz paper dents rival’s home delivery
A sizable defection of Baltimore Sun home-delivery couriers to the new free Baltimore Examiner, owned by Denver financier Philip Anschutz, has wreaked havoc on the older daily’s distribution network in recent weeks, affecting about 100 of the Sun’s 700 delivery routes and as many as 35,000 paying subscribers, according a report in the Baltimore City Paper.
Irate Sun subscribers jammed customer-service phone lines, called reporters with complaints and contacted public editor Paul Moore with more than 100 calls and e-mails during the height of the disturbance, which began the last week of March.
DENVER
OfficeSource acquires furniture wholesaler
OfficeSource Inc., a Denver- based wholesaler of office furniture, announced Wednesday it has acquired Uniontown, Pa.- based COE Distributing Inc., one of the largest regional office-furniture wholesalers in the country.
COE Distributing is a 20-year- old company that services more than 1,600 dealers in a 15-state region. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.
ENGLEWOOD
Sports Authority gets lower rate on loans
The Sports Authority Inc., an Englewood-based sporting- goods retailer, has received a lower rate on part of the $1.02 billion of loans to fund its buyout by a group led by Leonard Green & Partners, said a person involved in the deal.
The Sports Authority will get a $275 million, seven-year term loan with interest at 2.25 percentage points over the London interbank offered rate, said the person, who declined to be named.
The retailer on March 30 proposed borrowing $225 million at Libor plus 2.5 percentage points.
BROOMFIELD
Level 3 signs deal with EarthLink for Net calls
Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications said Wednesday it signed an agreement with national Internet service provider EarthLink to be the network carrier of the company’s new Internet call service.
Atlanta-based EarthLink, which has 5 million subscribers, will also offer broadband Internet in a new package of services supported by Level 3. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
HOUSTON
Apache to buy BP oil, gas fields in gulf
Apache Corp., a U.S. oil and gas company that specializes in tapping older fields, has agreed to buy BP Plc’s wells in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico for $1.3 billion in cash.
Apache, the third-biggest among U.S. oil and gas producers that don’t also own refineries, will acquire 18 oil and gas fields with proven reserves equal to about 57.8 million barrels of oil, Bill Mintz, a spokesman for Houston-based Apache, said Wednesday.
SPRINGDALE, Ark.
Tyson says fears of bird flu hurt demand
Poultry producer and meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. on Wednesday forecast a wider- than-expected loss in the second quarter and cut its full-year guidance, saying bird-flu fears have hurt chicken demand.
The company said the fears have reduced international demand for its products and led to a glut in its inventory, which has pressured prices.
Meanwhile, the company also noted that cattle supplies are on the rise, and prices are declining and pressuring margins.
DETROIT
Ford: Closing plants may cost $2.4 billion
Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it expects to take a charge of $2.4 billion this year to shut plants as part of its North American restructuring.
In a filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the No. 2 U.S. automaker estimated the plant closings will cost $2.4 billion this year, including $1.7 billion to cover buyout packages and benefits for laid-off workers.
TOKYO
Nissan to idle plants during slow U.S. sales
Nissan Motor Co., confronting a U.S. sales slowdown, is briefly idling vehicle and engine production at its three U.S. plants for the first time in eight years to reduce inventory.
Nissan’s U.S. production goal for the current quarter will fall by 18,000 vehicles.
