Allegis Corp

Allegis Corp. hopes to raise $259 million (about $350 million Canadian) by selling limited partnerships in certain of its hotels in Canada, the company announced Tuesday. Allegis, formerly UAL Inc., controls six hotels in Canada through its Westin and Hilton International chains. The company, which also is the parent of United Airlines and Hertz Corp.

UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, announced Friday that it will be purchased by its employees for $4.38 billion in a deal that will create the nation's largest worker-owned company. If the transaction is completed, shareholders will get cash and company IOUs valued at $201 a share. But employees, who must still ratify the agreement, will make some sacrifices; unions have promised $2 billion in wage and other concessions over the next five years.

Allegis Corp.'s largest stockholder says the company's new management wants to renege on a promised $3-billion payout to shareholders, but some experts said Wednesday that they believe that Allegis will fulfill its pledge. Coniston Partners, a New York investment firm with a 14% stake in the Chicago-based parent of United Airlines, threatened in a letter to Allegis' board to renew a proxy battle for control of the company if the directors reduce the size of the previously announced payout.

Allegis Corp., moving to thwart an unwelcome takeover attempt, Thursday unveiled a $3-billion corporate restructuring that will include a special payment of $60 per common share. Shareholders would retain their Allegis stock under the plan, and the company said its existing businesses, United Airlines, Hertz Corp. and Westin and Hilton International Hotels, would be retained. Chicago-based Allegis changed its name from UAL last month. The company's plan would more than double its indebtedness.

UAL Inc., the holding company that owns United Airlines, Hertz rental car business and Westin Hotels & Resorts, said Wednesday that it will change its name to Allegis Corp. so the public will not think of it as simply an airline firm. "UAL was thought by many to simply mean United Airlines," Richard J. Ferris, the company's chairman and chief executive, said at a news conference in Chicago. "We are a travel company, not just a transportation company."

United Airlines said Thursday that it has ordered 30 Boeing 757-200 airliners and taken options on 30 more in a deal that is worth more than $2 billion and is notable for the fact that United will lease, not own, the planes. It was the third recent large order for Boeing aircraft: Ten days ago, International Lease Finance of Beverly Hills ordered 100 planes of various types and took options on another 24. The aircraft-leasing firm reportedly will pay about $4.6 billion for the 124 planes.

United Airlines' pilots union offered Wednesday to buy the airline and its parent company for $110 a share cash in a deal that would be worth $4.06 billion. The offer, which is contingent on the union's success in winning a lawsuit it filed against the company last week, was contained in a letter from William R. Howard, chairman of Airline Acquisition Corp., to Stephen M. Wolf, chairman, president and chief executive of Chicago-based Allegis. Airline Acquisition Corp.

United Airlines is likely to toughen smoking restrictions on its airliners soon, its chairman said Tuesday, extending the current federally mandated smoking ban during domestic flights of two hours or less to some longer flights. Stephen M. Wolf, head of both United and its parent company, Allegis Corp., said in a speech to members of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers here that the two-hour ban is too short and "awkward."

Allegis Corp., the parent company of United Airlines, said Monday that it will sell 49.9% of its computerized reservation system to USAir and four European airlines for just under $500 million. Allegis, which will change its name back to UAL Inc. later this month, will retain control of the system through its Covia Corp. subsidiary, which will hold 50.1%. (The company's name was UAL for many years but was changed to Allegis in 1987.

Allegis Corp., parent of United Airlines, Thursday reported earnings of $27.9 million from continuing operations in the first quarter of 1988, contrasted with a loss of $54.5 million in the same period a year ago. Largely because of Allegis' sale of its Westin Hotels & Resorts subsidiary, the corporation's overall net earnings rose to $576.9 million in the first quarter from a loss of $30.5 million in the 1987 quarter. The net earnings included a gain of $548.9 million on the sale.

An investor group attempting to gain control of Allegis Corp. said Monday that it would seek shareholder consent to oust the travel conglomerate's entire board of directors and elect a new slate. The announcement by Coniston Partners amended a strategy that the New York investment firm announced two weeks ago under which it asked shareholders to remove 13 members of the 16-seat Allegis board and replace them with directors "committed to maximizing value for all stockholders."

Allegis Corp., which had insisted earlier that its United Airlines subsidiary was not for sale, indicated Friday that it would consider any offer that, among other conditions, "was for all cash and left the company adequately financed." The corporation made its statement in response to heightened efforts by United's pilots union to buy the airline.