ON THE MAINLAND

Matson cuts stake in Puerto Rican venture

Matson Navigation Co., which has a joint venture with Puerto Rico carrier Sea Star Line, has reduced its stake to 20 percent from 45 percent.

The ocean transportation division of Alexander & Baldwin Inc. ended up with a smaller percentage of Sea Star when it declined to participate in Sea Star's purchase of the assets of bankrupt competitor NPR-Navieras in April.

"The package that was involved in the Navieras bankruptcy included ships, receivables and other business properties," A&B Vice President John Kelley said. "We are partners with two other entities, and we elected not to participate in the same level as they did. The effect of that was the percent of our ownership was reduced."

Majority investor Saltchuk Resources of Federal Way, Wash., increased its stake to 70 percent while Taino, a company owned by Puerto Rico investors, kept its stake at 10 percent.

As a result of the ownership change, Matson gradually will reduce its direct loan guarantees to Sea Star to $12 million from $32 million.

Battered WorldCom nearing bankruptcy

JACKSON, Miss. >>WorldCom Inc., struggling to find billions to keep its telecommunications empire from crumbling, may be only days from a bankruptcy filing that would dwarf those seen in the past.

The Clinton-based long distance, Internet and data services provider revealed last month that it disguised nearly $4 billion in expenses to make it appear more profitable. Since then, analysts have said a bankruptcy filing was inevitable.

A source in the company familiar with WorldCom's financial situation said the telecom could opt for Chapter 11 by Monday. Company officials declined to comment.

With more than $100 billion in assets reported at the end of March, a WorldCom bankruptcy would be twice as large as Enron's record-setting slide into Chapter 11 last fall.

"They have no choice," said Patrick Comack, an analyst with Guzman & Co. in Miami. "It appears they've been burning through their cash. They have no money left."

WorldCom, which has more than $30 billion in debt, has been in talks to secure $3 billion in financing. A company lawyer said earlier this week the company has nowhere near enough money to repay $2.65 billion in loans that a group of banks is demanding.

16-year-old receives Prozac in the mail

NEW YORK >> A 16-year-old boy was among southern Florida residents who received unsolicited samples of the antidepressant drug Prozac in the mail in a much-criticized and highly unorthodox marketing campaign.

"I was livid," said the boy's mother, Sue Grinstead of Palm Beach. "My son knew enough not to take it, but what about the other kids?"

A spokesman for the Walgreen Co. drugstore chain confirmed the family's account that a month's supply of Prozac was sent to 16-year-old Michael Grinstead. The boy's name was among others sent by a local doctors' office to a Walgreen's in Palm Beach with instructions to send them the drug samples.

Eli Lilly, which makes the drug, has apologized for the mailing, which it believes reached less than 150 people. The drug giant said the campaign was not an official promotion and it is trying to determine who is responsible.