Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 23, 1993 TAG: 9301250243
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IN BUSINESS
Sale of Dominion could come earlyDominion Bankshares Corp. employees have been told that sale of the company to First Union Corp. may come as early as March 1, nearly a month earlier than originally projected.
Dominion Chairman Warner Dalhouse said in an internal memo Friday that the new target is earlier than March 31 because regulatory approvals of the deal are ahead of schedule.
Dalhouse said the earlier date would not affect the termination dates previously given to each employee. They will be paid through the termination date and receive the same severance package as they were offered last month.
First Union plans to lay off 1,288 Dominion employees, about 850 of them in the Roanoke Valley. The terminations will come in phases through October.
The merger agreement signed Sept. 20 provides for Dominion shareholders to receive 0.58 of a First Union share for each Dominion share. Dalhouse recently valued the deal at $1 billion. - Staff report
Westvaco to expand its Low Moor plant
Westvaco Corp. announced Friday a $9 million expansion of its Low Moor converting plant and service facility. The work force will increase by an undetermined number, the company said.
The plant, part of Westvaco's bleached board division at Covington, provides special services for folding cartons, food and liquid packaging, sports cards and book covers.
Additional equipment will be installed and the plant will grow to eight operating units by March, said George M. Talley, plant manager.
The Low Moor plant has 175 employees, more than double the size of the operation when it opened with four units in 1985. At its Covington mill, Westvaco will complete installation of a $400 million paper machine in September. A $75 million equipment expansion to produce recycled paperboard has started. - Staff report
Signet to expand its bank card center
Signet Banking Corp. will expand its bank card operations center in Richmond, adding 600 new jobs by the end of the year.
Signet officials said the expansion was possible because of a change in state law that removed limits on the amount of late fees that can be charged by card issuers. Signet senior vice president David Hunt said the change enables banks to bid aggressively on handling out-of-state portfolios.
Since the law was changed in 1991, he said, Virginia's credit card industry has increased 90 percent from 2,100 to 4,000 employees. - Staff report
Brendle's to close 8 low-profit stores
Brendle's Inc., Elkin, N.C., retailer with discount stores in the Roanoke Valley, said Friday it will close eight of its low-performing stores as part of a restructuring.
Closing are stores in Newport News, Virginia Beach, Colonial Heights, Chesapeake and Charlottesville; Durham, N.C., and Carolina and Columbia, S.C.
The company said 302 employees are affected by the action. Some of them will be relocated to other positions within the company, but most will be laid off. No date was announced for the closing, but the company said clearance sales will clear out the inventories over the next few months.
Briefly . . .
Crestar Financial Corp., parent of Crestar Bank, on Friday increased its quarterly dividend 25 percent to 25 cents a share. The new rate will be paid Feb. 19 to shareholders on Feb. 1.
VF Corp., Wyomissing, Pa., parent of Bassett-Walker Inc. of Martinsville, on Friday announced a public offering of 4 million shares of its common stock at $52.25 per share. The offering is managed by Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan Securities. Net proceeds will be used to refinance short-term debt that the company incurred in its acquisitions of Valero and Vivesa, two European companies, and for general corporate purposes.