Greenwood Village, Colo. – First Data Corp. said Tuesday that it had received all the domestic and international regulatory approvals needed to complete its pending acquisition by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
KKR offered $29 billion in April for the Greenwood Village processor of electronic transactions. The firm said it has secured the short-term financing it needs to complete the purchase by the end of next month. But the lingering concern is whether it can find long-term financing to replace the short-term debt.
Additional business news briefs:
WASHINGTON
Airline employment up 2.3 percent in June
As the airline industry continues to recover, U.S. carriers’ employment grew 2.3 percent in June compared with a year earlier, according to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Denver-based Frontier Airlines’ count of full-time-equivalent employees grew 10.2 percent in the period to about 4,900. United, the largest airline in Denver, saw its count decline 2.6 percent to 51,800.
WASHINGTON
Appeals court to hear TiVo’s EchoStar suit
A federal appeals court will hear oral arguments in TiVo’s lawsuit against Douglas County- based EchoStar Communications Corp. on Oct. 4.
TiVo won a lawsuit in 2006 alleging that EchoStar infringed on TiVo’s patented technology for pausing live TV programs and for recording one show while watching another.
A judge ordered EchoStar to pay $89.6 million in damages and to disable about 4 million television boxes that use the technology. EchoStar filed an appeal with a federal court in Washington, D.C., where the oral arguments will be heard, TiVo said Tuesday.
BOSTON
Arrest may lead to TJX card hackers
A Ukrainian man recently arrested in Turkey is suspected of selling some of the credit- and debit-card numbers stolen in a data hack of at least 45 million cards of TJX Cos. customers, a U.S. investigator said Tuesday.
Authorities hope the arrest of Maksym Yastremskiy, suspected of being a major global trafficker in stolen data, will eventually lead to information uncovering the TJX intruders’ identities.
TJX is the owner of 2500 discount retail stores worldwide, including TJ Maxx and Marshalls.
TJX disclosed the breach Jan. 17, and said March 28 that one or more intruders unearthed data from at least 45.7 million credit- and debit-cards transactions, some as long ago as early 2003.
NEW YORK
Apple iPhone sales likely to top estimates
Apple Inc. may sell more than 800,000 iPhones this quarter, beating the company’s goal of 730,000 as consumer demand for the device stays strong, UBS AG analyst Benjamin Reitzes said.
Retail outlets of Apple and AT&T Inc., which offer the phone exclusively in the U.S., have reported “solid demand,” Reitzes said Tuesday in a research note.
His estimate for sales of the device, which combines an iPod music player with a mobile handset, is “conservative,” he said.
RICHMOND, Va.
Philip Morris to test Marlboro chew
Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest cigarette company, said Tuesday that it will introduce a moist, smokeless-tobacco product this fall under the Marlboro brand, selling it first in the Atlanta area.
The company will sell the loose, spitting tobacco in original and wintergreen flavors, and in long and fine cut, for about $3 a can.
It is part of a wider effort to sell more smokeless products in the U.S. as cigarette consumption declines due to concerns about health, smoking bans and price increases.
WINDSOR, Ontario
Chrysler rolls out retooled minivan
The first of Chrysler’s next- generation minivans rolled off an assembly line Tuesday, a critical launch for the automaker as it tries to remain the dominant player in the minivan segment and strives to return to profitability.
The debut of the 2008 Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country comes the same month as Chrysler’s sale to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LLC, which vowed to leave the automaker’s turnaround plan in place.
ATLANTA
Ex-Northwest chief tapped as Delta CEO
Delta Air Lines Inc. named former Northwest Airlines Corp. chief executive Richard Anderson as its new leader Tuesday, a move that could revive speculation about a possible merger between the carriers.
Anderson, currently a board member at Delta and an executive at UnitedHealth Group Inc., will replace Gerald Grinstein as Delta’s CEO.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden
Nasdaq seeks to drum up support for linkup
Key shareholders in Nordic stock-exchange operator OMX AB recognize the long-term benefits of a linkup with the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., chief executive Bob Greifeld said Tuesday after meeting with Swedish investors.
Greifeld visited Stockholm in an effort to convince major OMX shareholders to support Nasdaq’s $3.6 billion cash-and- share takeover offer.
TUCSON
First Magnus files for bankruptcy
First Magnus Financial Corp. filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, less than a week after the national mortgage lender suspended its operations. The Tucson- based lender’s total assets were estimated at more than $942 million and its total liabilities at nearly $813 million in the company’s bankruptcy petition.
