Kraft Foods Inc. will close a Washington County warehouse and another facility in Macedonia, Ohio, in conjunction with plans to consolidate distribution for some of its Nabisco Cookie and Crackers unit products at a warehouse to be built in Streetsboro near Cleveland. The local facility is at 198 Meadowlands Blvd. in North Strabane, said Cathy Pernu, a spokeswoman for Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft. The closing, expected to take place by the fall, will result in job losses for seven of the facility's 23 employees, with the remaining 16 -- seven drivers and 19 sales people -- retained but based at other locations.
Plastics firm stays
FNB Capital Corp., Ross, and its sister institution, First National Bank, provided more than $4 million in equity capital and secured loans to Alturnamats Inc., a maker of heavy-gauge plastic sheeting used to protect lawns during construction. The deal enabled Alturnamats to remain in Titusville and preserve its 35 jobs, said FNB president Stephen Gurgovits Jr., as alternate financiers would have moved Alturnamats out of state. FNB and the bank are subsidiaries of FNB Corp., the financial services company based in Hermitage, Mercer County. The financing was the first deal for FNB Capital, which was created last October.
Mine costs $26 million
Duquesne Light Co. estimated it will spend $26 million for final site reclamation, plus ongoing environmental and health care costs related to the closing of its Warwick Mine in Greene County. The Downtown-based utility assembled existing mines in the 1930s to form the Warwick Mine, and operated it until 1988, using its coal to fuel power plants. Independent operators ran it until it closed in February 2000. Duquesne has been cleaning up the site; a refuse pile will be reclaimed over the next year. The company will maintain responsibility for a water treatment system, and for health care for former miners and their spouses.
Butler firm acquired
Stahura Industrial Services Inc., an industrial consulting firm in Butler, has been acquired by Martin Engineering Services Group LLC of Neponset, Ill., Martin said. Terms were not disclosed. Stahura and its six employees will serve as Martin Engineering's eastern region office, Martin said. Stahura retrofits equipment to cut productivity costs in the bulk material handling industry, including improving conveyor belts, crushers, chutes and feeders. Andrew J. Stahura III, formerly general manager of Stahura Industrial Services, will join Martin Engineering as a senior project manager.
Cuban buys stake
Mt. Lebanon native Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, has bought a majority stake in private company FilesAnywhere.com for undisclosed terms, the company said. The Dallas-based company provides automated personal computer backups on the Web, online storage and folder sharing for groups via a Web browser. "I'm excited to be a partner in FilesAnywhere," said Cuban. "The market for corporate and home remote backup is growing very, very quickly."
Green Mountain has buyer
Vermont's second-largest electric utility company said it is being acquired by a Canadian company. Green Mountain Power Corp. said the deal with Gaz Metropolitain LP of Montreal was valued at $187 million in cash, and its stockholders would get $35 per share if it is approved. The acquirer is Gaz Metro subsidiary Northern New England Energy Corp., which owns Vermont Gas Systems, based in South Burlington, and Portland Natural Gas Transmission Systems, based in Portsmouth, N.H.
Other business news
• Comcast customers should notice music, games and photos downloading faster. The cable provider last week launched its PowerBoost speed enhancer to boost broadband performance in the Pittsburgh region, at no additional charge. PowerBoost uses additional capacity already in Comcast's fiber network to give customers extra bursts of download speed -- up to 12 and 16 megabits per second, respectively, on 6- and 8-megabit-per-second services.
• Pittsburgh's Apartment Source, a monthly guide to apartments in the seven-county region, was sold by Fairfax Publishing to Network Communications Inc., a leading publisher of real-estate information, based in Lawrenceville, Ga. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company will merge Apartment Source into its own Apartment Finder, a Network Communications guide published in roughly 100 U.S. markets.
• Western Pennsylvania's dominant health insurer, Highmark Inc., signed a three-year contract renewal with pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions Inc. No contract value was given. Under terms of the deal, Medco will continue to administer the pharmacy benefit program for Highmark's 2.3 million members. In 2005, prescription drug claim costs for Highmark members totalled $2 billion.
• Pittsburgh Brewing Co. reported it ended May with $234,250 in cash, an increase from $88,859 it had on May 1, according to documents filed in Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh. The brewer said it generated $3.2 million in revenue last month, but spent $2.86 million. Joseph R. Piccirilli, chairman, received about $9,000 in payments.
• The board of Parkvale Financial Corp., Monroeville, authorized the savings bank corporation to repurchase up to 283,400 shares of company stock, or 5 percent of outstanding shares, as of July 1. The existing authority to buy back stock expires on June 30 and resulted in the repurchase of 66,535 shares.
