SEC lawyer’s parting shots sting Qwest case attorney
Denver Post business columnist Al Lewis’ column published Tuesday is the subject of a motion in federal court in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s accounting-fraud lawsuit against former top Qwest executives.
An attorney for former Qwest accountant James Kozlowski demanded a retraction from the SEC, calling SEC attorney Bob Fusfeld’s statements in the column “coarse, highly inappropriate and unprofessional, having the possibility of prejudicing the defendants.”
The column noted that Fusfeld, 55, is retiring and withdrawing from the case. Fusfeld said he regretted losing his chance to potentially cross-examine former Qwest chief executive Joe Nacchio. Fusfeld also discussed other cases from his 31-year career and his frustrations about the legal profession. A lot of lawyers, he said, “weren’t breast-fed and are pathologically aggressive.”
Kozlowski’s attorney, Kevin Evans, argued in his motion that this comment was directed at defense attorneys in the Qwest case, and he demanded a retraction.
In an e-mail to Evans, SEC deputy director of enforcement Walter Ricciardi declined Evans’ request. “Neither you, nor your client are mentioned in the article,” Ricciardi wrote.
Evans and Fusfeld declined to comment.
BOULDER
Array BioPharma’s land deal pays off
Array BioPharma Inc. is raising $32 million in additional capital as a result of real estate deals with BioMed Realty Trust Inc. The company is assigning options to buy its buildings to BioMed, a San Diego real estate investment trust. BioMed will purchase the Boulder and Longmont facilities and then lease those facilities to Array through 2016.
Array will keep its headquarters in Boulder and will continue operating its 228,000-square- foot research facilities in Boulder and Longmont.
DENVER
MediaNews taps Web classifieds provider
ap Interactive said Thursday that it has selected Denver-based Kaango Inc. to provide MediaNews-affiliated newspapers with their new online classified software platform. MNGI is part of Denver-based ap, which owns The Denver Post.
Ads from MediaNews papers will become part of a syndicated network of classified ads that individuals can search by varying geographic parameters. Newspapers also have the option of excluding ads from competitors within a 100-mile radius.
The system will also support transactions between buyers and sellers and will include integration with PayPal.
AVON
Resort underway near Beaver Creek
East West Partners announced that it has broken ground on the $180 million Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa in Avon. The project will include 122 residences, which range in price from $400,000 to $2.5 million.
The resort will be connected to the base of nearby Beaver Creek Mountain by an $8 million gondola, which is expected to be operational by the 2007-08 ski season.
LAKEWOOD
Gambro to go private after recent takeover
Stockholm-based Gambro, a medical technology company with U.S. headquarters in Colorado, will apply for delisting on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
A holding company called Investor – owned by the powerful Wallenberg family, Sweden’s leading financial dynasty – and EQT, its private equity firm, completed a $5.4 billion takeover of the company recently and is taking Gambro private.
The deal will have no effect on the company’s American operations, said Kevin Smith, president of Gambro in America.
DENVER
TransMontaigne’s board approves sale
TransMontaigne Inc., a Denver-based fuel distributor, said its board of directors approved the company’s sale to Morgan Stanley for about $568 million, or $11.35 per share. Morgan Stanley had been in a bidding war with SemGroup LP, which on Wednesday said it wouldn’t raise its last bid of $11.25.
TransMontaigne, which had said June 19 that it was prepared to accept Morgan Stanley’s offer, has 43 fuel-storage terminals. Morgan Stanley already owns about 10 percent of the company and supplies fuel to TransMontaigne at 29 terminals.
DENVER
Fitzsimons authority makes appointment
Jill Sikora Farnham has been named executive director of the Fitzsimons Redevelopment Authority.
Farnham, who has served as acting executive director since February 2004, will oversee the organization’s operations as it moves forward with a proposed partnership with Forest City Enterprises to act as master developers for the bioscience park.
She also will oversee the negotiations with Veterans Affairs for a new hospital at Fitzsimons and with The Pauls Corp. for a residential mixed-use complex.
AVON
Vail Resorts names 2 to board of directors
Vail Resorts Inc. announced Thursday that Thomas D. Hyde and Richard D. Kincaid have been appointed to the company’s board of directors.
Hyde, who is executive vice president and corporate secretary of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., will serve on the audit committee. Kincaid, who is president, chief executive officer and a trustee of Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust, will serve on the compensation committee.
Both appointments are effective immediately.
DENVER
Seattle outdoor firm to open Colo. outlet
Seattle-based outdoor outfitter C.C. Filson Co. will host a grand opening for its first Denver outlet on Aug. 24 from 5 to 9 p.m. The 2,600-square-foot store, at 200 Fillmore St. in Cherry Creek North, is the company’s first retail location beyond its flagship store in Seattle.
LOS ANGELES
Univision feels effect of bidders’ pullout
Univision Communications Inc.’s shares declined 3.1 percent Thursday after three investors dropped out of a planned bid for the biggest U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster.
The shares of the company closed down $1.04 to $32.80 on the New York Stock Exchange. They have fallen 7.3 percent since Wednesday trading.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Blackstone Group LP left a buyout group that includes Grupo Televisa SA amid disagreements over how much to offer, said people familiar with the talks who declined to be identified.
Univision chief executive Jerrold Perenchio, 75, may be reluctant to accept less than the $13 billion some analysts had estimated the company would fetch.
