http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/ CMG BD Wed, 21 Sep 2005 13:45:03 PDT http://www.blogdrive.com Copyright 2005. Business http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/199.html Wed, 21 Sep 2005 21:41:03 GMT Durham Business Buzz: Fuji Sushi, Asian Cuisine Scale Brightleaf Scene: 9/21 Sushi eruption: Another flavor is coming to Brightleaf Square on Thursday when Mt. Fuji brings its sushi and Asian cuisine to the historic center. The new restaurant, located at the rear of the center's courtyard, takes up almost 4,000 square feet and offers both a full-service bar and a sushi bar. Mt. Fuji seats about 120 diners with patio seating to follow soon. The menu includes Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese dishes with some possible picks being Pad Thai ($12.95 dinner/$8.95 lunch) and Mongolian... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=199 http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/198.html Tue, 20 Sep 2005 17:35:18 GMT Banking FNB of Asheboro Might Buy Integrity: News & Observer, 9/20 FNB of Asheboro, the holding company for First National Bank, plans to acquire Hickory-based Integrity Financial in a stock and cash deal worth $123.9 million. FNB said it would pay the cash and stock equivalent of about $23.65 per share of Integrity, an 18 percent premium to the company's Friday closing price of $19.99. Integrity is the parent company for Catawba Valley Bank and First Gaston Bank. The deal will give FNB 41 branches in central and western North... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=198 http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/197.html Mon, 19 Sep 2005 22:18:31 GMT Banking FNB Corp to Acquire Integrity Financial: Carolina Newswire, 9/19 Signing a definitive agreement for the merger of Integrity into FNB to create a new bank holding company to be known as FNB United Corp. (FNB United). The agreement provides that FNB will issue a combination of common stock and cash for the outstanding shares of Integrity common stock. Integrity shareholders will receive 0.8743 shares of FNB common stock and $5.20 in cash for each share of Integrity common stock. Based on a value per share of $23.65, the transaction price represents 188% of Integrity's book value... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=197 http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/196.html Fri, 16 Sep 2005 15:07:10 GMT Telecommunications Mobile Payment Has Growing Pains: Herald Sun, 9/15 The logic is solid behind MobileLime, a new service designed to let you leave your wallet at home -- or at least some of the cards in it -- and instead use your cell phone to buy things. Too bad the service, in my tests around town, didn't seem quite ready for the mobile masses. As a concept, buying stuff with your cell phone -- more on how you do that in a second -- seems like a great idea. For one, who leaves home without their cell these days? And with identity theft a growing concern, who wants to hand their... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=196 http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/195.html Thu, 15 Sep 2005 16:41:40 GMT Banking BPI Agrees to Sell Antonveneta Stake to ABN Amro: WSJ, 9/15 ABN Amro Holding NV's agreement to buy a 30% stake in Banca Antonveneta SpA from scandal-plagued Banca Popolare Italiana Scarl after a bitter battle clears the way for the first-ever takeover of an Italian bank by a foreign lender, a prospect that seemed unlikely just several weeks ago.The sale, agreed late Wednesday, still faces several legal and regulatory hurdles. The deal would give control of Antonveneta to ABN, just two months after ABN's own cash offer for the bank failed. BPI and its allies, meanwhile, had... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=195 http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/194.html Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:09:57 GMT Telecommunications Regulators Move Ahead on 2 Phone Mergers: 9/12 The head of the Federal Communications Commission has asked agency staff to draft orders approving two big phone company mergers -- SBC Communications Inc. with AT&T, and Verizon Communications Inc. with MCI Inc. FCC chairman Kevin Martin wants the commission to take a final vote on the deals next month, two people with firsthand knowledge of the issue said Monday. They were authorized to speak about the drafts only on the condition of anonymity. The sources would not say what conditions might be placed on the... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=194 http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/193.html Mon, 12 Sep 2005 15:13:08 GMT Banking Wachovia to Buy Westcorp, WFS In a $3.91B Transaction: WSJ, 9/12 Wachovia Corp. agreed to buy automobile-financing company Westcorp Inc. for $3.42 billion to expand its auto-finance group. The Charlotte bank also plans to purchase WFS Financial Inc., which is majority-owned by Westcorp. Wachovia will acquire the 16% stake of WFS not currently owned by Westcorp for $490 million. The deal will more than double the size of Wachovia's dealer financial services business, making it the nation's ninth-largest auto-loan originator. Wachovia will add about 8,500 automobile dealer... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=193 http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/192.html Fri, 09 Sep 2005 19:59:30 GMT Telecommunications Wireless Tech to Be Deployed For Katrina: Herald Sun, 9/8 A high-speed wireless networking technology that's still being tested around the world will be deployed at an evacuation shelter and other spots on the U.S. Gulf Coast hit by Hurricane Katrina. The technology called WiMax will bring the Internet to remote areas where the existing infrastructure has been destroyed or never existed. The network will be used for Internet telephone service and information exchange. http://www.herald-sun.com/business/21-644712.html Insurance BCBS Give Money to Clothe... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=192 http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/191.html Thu, 08 Sep 2005 21:20:55 GMT Telecommunications GSM Hits $1.5B Customers: Wireless Week, 9/8 GSM continues to take hold around the world, with the technology attracting 1.46 billion customers by the close of the second quarter, 3G Americas reports. GSM reached 1 billion customers during the first quarter of this year. In the past year, 347.2 million new GSM customers were signed up around the globe, with the Americas posting the biggest gains, with 79.4 million new subscribers.In the high-speed sector, there were close to 100 commercial EDGE networks up and running throughout countries around the world, with... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=191 http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/archive/190.html Tue, 06 Sep 2005 21:40:46 GMT Technology Cree Achieves New Standard in LED Brightness: LTW, 9/6 Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) is achieving new levels of brightness with its light-emitting diodes. The company said Friday that its white XLamp 7090 Power LED line recently achieved up to 86 lumens per watt, a 43 percent increase over current LEDs. "These performance results indicate that the LED industry is at least two years closer to achieving the holy grail of 150 lumens per watt," said Steve Johnson, head of the Lighting Research Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in a statement from Cree. "Cree's... (more) http://cmgpartners.blogdrive.com/comments?id=190