Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Thursday, August 19, 1999
Starr Seigle merges with Las Vegas firm
Starr Seigle Communications, the state's largest marketing firm, has merged with Swamp Rhino Advertising in Las Vegas, it was announced today.The company is to operate as Rhino Advertising and SRPR, a division of Starr Seigle Communications. Offices will continue to operate independently and keep their own employees, according to Starr Seigle.
Star Seigle had $50 million in billings last year. The company was formed in 1983 with the merger of Starr McCombs Koch and Seigle Rolfs & Wood.
Alcoa wins in bid for Reynolds Metals
PITTSBURGH -- Alcoa Inc. won a bidding contest for Reynolds Metals Co. with a sweetened offer of $5.8 billion in stock and assumed debt, retaining its position as the world's biggest aluminum maker.The agreement comes a week after Montreal-based rival Alcan Aluminium Ltd., the second-biggest producer, agreed to buy two European aluminum makers in a move that would have ousted Alcoa from the top spot, Bloomberg News reported.
Pittsburgh-based Alcoa beat out Chicago-based investment group Michigan Avenue Partners in the bidding for Richmond, Va.-based Reynolds, also an aluminum producer. The Reynolds board on Sunday had rejected a $65-a-share cash-and-stock bid from Alcoa. Alcoa then began taking a $65-a share all-cash offer to shareholders while pursuing the talks that led to the merger agreement. That offer was valued at $4.2 billion.
30-year mortgages slip to below 8%
WASHINGTON -- The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages edged down to 7.93 percent from 8.15 percent last week -- the highest rate since early April 1997 -- according to a weekly survey released today by Freddie Mac, the mortgage company.Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 7.53 percent this week, down from the average of 7.70 percent last week.
One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged an initial rate of 6.18 percent, down from 6.24 percent.