Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510060052
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
WASHINGTON - The Federal Trade Commission finalized an agreement Thursday permitting the multimillion-dollar merger of the nation's two largest hospital chains, the biggest hospital merger in U.S. history.
The commission said it had approved an agreement with Columbia-HCA Healthcare Corp. to ensure its $3 billion merger with Healthtrust Inc. Columbia operates five hospitals in Southwest Virginia, including Lewis-Gale Hospital and Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center in Salem.
The merger will create a corporation with 320 hospitals and more than 100 outpatient surgery centers in 36 states, England and Switzerland.
As a condition for approval, the commission said Columbia-HCA agreed to sell seven hospitals and end a joint venture at another hospital.
- Associated Press
Postal union's membership up
Membership has risen 25 percent in the past two months in a union of Roanoke Valley postal workers who sort mail, maintain equipment and handle special deliveries.
The new members of American Postal Workers Union Local 482 work at the remote bar coding center on Apperson Drive in Salem. The center was taken over Aug. 5 by the U.S. Postal Service from Orkand Corp., a private company that had done the same work under contract with the postal service.
Since the switch, more than 100 of the employees joined the union local, which is designated for postal employees other than letter carriers. They have boosted the union's membership to more than 500, said Dan Dixon, Local 482's general president.
The Salem postal service center has hired 260 of the 375 former Orkand employees , said spokeswoman Debbie Yackley.
- Staff report
Briefly ...
Bond markets and some other U.S. financial markets will be closed Monday for the Columbus Day holiday. Stock and commodities markets will be open as usual, but the Treasury Department's auction of three- and six-month bills will be postponed until Tuesday. The Roanoke Times will publish regular financial tables Tuesday and results of the Treasury auction Wednesday.
A & N Stores, a Richmond-based sportswear and athletic-shoe chain, will open a second store in Roanoke Monday. The 10,000-square-foot store at Towne Square Shopping Center will be the Virginia retailer's 51st, said Ron Britt, operational manager. The new store will employ six to 10 people, he said. A & N operates a 6,500-square-foot store on Electric Road in Roanoke County.
by CNB