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the minimum-wage bill worked out by congress and bush won easy approval in the house
the compromise plan which boosts the minimum wage for the first time since N is expected to clear the senate soon
steinberg sought clearance to buy more than N N of united air 's parent saying he may seek control
takeover experts said they <unk> the financier would make a bid by himself
an airline buy-out bill was approved by the house
the measure would make it easier for the transportation department to block leveraged buy-outs in the industry
usx was cited by osha for several health and safety violations at two pennsylvania plants and may face a record fine of $ N million
random house chairman robert bernstein said he is resigning from the publishing house he has run for N years
a successor was n't named
cray research indicated that the survival of a spinoff company which is developing a new supercomputer depends heavily on its chairman and chief designer seymour cray
light trucks and vans will face the same safety requirements as automobiles under new proposals by the transportation department
the treasury plans to sell $ N billion in notes and bonds next week but will delay the auction unless congress quickly raises the debt ceiling
u.s. farmers ' net income rose to a record $ N billion last year despite one of the worst <unk> ever
two antitrust agencies may face further cutbacks because of a complicated new funding device some democrats in congress are warning
markets
stocks volume N shares
dow jones industrials N up N transportation N up N utilities N up N
bonds shearson lehman hutton treasury index N up
commodities dow jones futures index N up N spot index N up N
dollar N yen up N N marks up N
junk-bond <unk> an ongoing securities and exchange commission investigation a drexel burnham lambert connection a <unk> buy-out rumor
all this has cast a pall over columbia savings & loan association and its <unk> <unk> chairman thomas spiegel who built the $ N billion beverly hills calif. thrift with high-yield junk bonds
bears have targeted columbia 's stock because of the thrift 's exposure to the shaky junk market
and some investors fault mr. spiegel 's life style he earns millions of dollars a year and flies around in columbia 's jet planes
columbia stock recently hit N N after reaching N N earlier this year on rumors that mr. spiegel would take the thrift private
moreover junk professionals think columbia 's huge third-quarter <unk> of its junk portfolio to $ N billion was n't enough meaning another <unk> could be coming
but in recent days columbia has edged up closing at N N up N yesterday on revived speculation that the thrift might restructure
mr. spiegel 's fans say columbia 's southern california branches are highly <unk> and the thrift has $ N million of shareholders equity underlying its assets
that 's almost $ N of equity for each columbia share including convertible preferred shares though more junk <unk> would reduce the cushion
columbia has only about N million common shares in public hands
the spiegel family has N N of the common and N N of the votes
other big common holders are carl <unk> 's american financial investor <unk> jacobs and pacific financial research though the latter cut its stake this summer
while many problems would attend a restructuring of columbia investors say mr. spiegel is <unk> such a plan to <unk> columbia 's junk problems
indeed columbia executives recently told reporters they were interested in creating a separate unit to hold columbia 's junk bonds and perhaps do merchant banking
columbia wo n't comment on all the speculation
but like other thrifts it 's expected to seek regulators ' consent to create a distinct junk-bond entity
plans to do this are due to be filed in a week or so
new rules force thrifts to write down their junk to market value then sell the bonds over five years
that 's why columbia just wrote off $ N million of its junk and reserved $ N million for future junk losses
but if columbia could keep its junk bonds separate from the thrift till they mature at full value unless the issuer goes <unk> or <unk> the junk portfolio might do all right
columbia a longtime drexel client wo n't provide current data on its junk
but its N big junk holdings at year end showed only a few bonds that have been really battered
these were allied stores western union telegraph gillett holdings sci television and texas air though many other bonds in columbia 's portfolio also have lost value
possibly offsetting that columbia recently estimated it has <unk> gains on publicly traded equity investments of more than $ N million
it also hopes for ultimate gains of as much as $ N million on equity investments in buy-outs and restructurings
one trial balloon mr. spiegel is said to have <unk> to investors columbia might be broken up as mellon bank was split into a good bank and a bad bank
but columbia 's good bank would be a regulated thrift while the bad bank would be a private investment company holding some of columbia 's junk bonds real estate and equity investments
some think columbia 's thrift which now is seeking a new chief operating officer might be capitalized at say $ N million and <unk> to a commercial bank that wants a california presence
the thrift surely could be sold for more than the value of its equity financial industry executives say
meanwhile the bad bank with the junk bonds and some capital might be spun off to columbia shareholders including mr. spiegel who might then have a new career investors say
it is n't clear how much a restructuring would help columbia stockholders
but the concept is <unk>
you sell the good bank as an ongoing operation and use some of the proceeds to capitalize the bad bank says thrift specialist lewis <unk> of <unk> associates in new york
mr. spiegel 's next career move is a subject of speculation on wall street
few people think mr. spiegel wants to run a bread-and-butter thrift which current rules would force columbia to become
they are n't really a thrift says jonathan gray a sanford c. bernstein analyst
of course regulators would have to approve columbia 's reorganization
and some investment bankers say a restructuring is n't <unk> while the sec still is <unk> mr. spiegel 's past junk-bond trades
<unk> <unk> in los angeles contributed to this article
columbia savings & loan nyse symbol <unk>
business savings and loan
year ended dec. N N net income $ N million or $ N a share
third quarter sept. N N net loss $ N a share vs. net income N cents a share
average daily trading volume N shares
common shares outstanding N million
note all per-share figures are fully diluted
genetics institute inc. cambridge mass. said it was awarded u.s. patents for <unk> and bone <unk> protein
the patent for <unk> covers materials and methods used to make the human blood cell growth factor via <unk> dna technology
<unk> ltd. has licensed certain manufacturing and marketing rights for <unk> from genetics institute and is conducting <unk> studies with it
<unk> may help in treating blood cell deficiencies associated with cancer treatment bone <unk> transplants and other <unk> disorders genetics institute said
the second patent describes bone <unk> <unk> a substance that can induce formation of new <unk>
the patent covers <unk> type proteins and pharmaceutical <unk> and methods for treating bone or <unk> defects genetics institute said
the company added that it has filed patent applications on a large number of different <unk> proteins and the patent on <unk> is the first it has received
<unk> products may be useful in <unk> <unk> and in treating bone loss associated with <unk> disease and certain cancers the company said
the bush administration 's nomination of <unk> thomas to a seat on the federal appeals court here received a blow this week when the american bar association gave mr. thomas only a qualified rating rather than well qualified
people familiar with the senate judiciary committee which will vote on the nomination said some liberal members of the panel are likely to question the aba rating in hearings on the matter
mr. thomas currently chairman of the equal employment opportunity commission would add another conservative voice to the closely divided court
groups have accused him of <unk> policies that narrowed rights of older workers and of ignoring discrimination by large companies
<unk> members of the house with jurisdiction over the <unk> have said they oppose mr. thomas 's nomination because of serious questions about his judgment and respect for the law
a senior justice department official however said the administration is n't worried about the aba rating
we 're pleased the aba rated him qualified david runkel the department 's chief spokesman said in an interview
the aba gives a qualified rating to <unk> it believes would perform <unk> on the bench
in contrast the lawyers ' association gives a well qualified rating to those regarded as one of the best available for the vacancy
<unk> ag said it agreed to acquire N N of <unk> ag from the ferdinand <unk> foundation
terms were n't disclosed
<unk> a diversified frankfurt west <unk> metals group said it is buying the stake in the specialized engineering company to expand its production of environmental supplies for power plants
<unk> ' product mix of specialized <unk> and pipes provides a good fit with its own <unk> g.m.b h. plant engineering unit the company said
the move is part of a strategy to focus on its core metals trading processing and plant engineering activities while shedding peripheral units the company said
<unk> had N sales of N million marks $ N million and has a current order backlog of N billion marks
the sale comes in place of a planned initial public offering of <unk> stock
a plan to bring the stock to market before year end apparently was upset by the recent weakness of frankfurt share prices
the u.s. international trade commission issued preliminary rulings under the u.s. <unk> act that imports of <unk> from hong kong taiwan and south korea may be <unk> a domestic industry
because of the rulings the commerce department will continue to investigate complaints by u.s. <unk> makers that the imports are reaching the u.s. at unfairly low prices in violation of the u.s. <unk> act
the law <unk> unfairly low prices as ones below the cost of production or below prices in an exporter 's home market
<unk> officials said final commerce department and <unk> rulings wo n't come until next march or later
if both agencies find violations of the u.s. trade law the u.s. would assess penalty duties on the imports which already are subject to import quotas under <unk> textile and apparel trade agreements
imports of <unk> <unk> in N totaled about $ N million from taiwan $ N million from south korea and $ N million from hong kong according to the <unk>
in another action the <unk> dismissed <unk> act complaints filed by du pont co. of wilmington del. against imports of <unk> a type of synthetic rubber from france and west germany
these imports totaled about $ N million last year
upjohn co. said it will offer an early retirement package to as many as N employees in a cost-cutting move expected to result in a fourth-quarter charge