American Brands

Chesebrough-Pond's Inc. announced Tuesday that it had received an unsolicited offer from American Brands to buy the consumer products manufacturer for $66 a share, or a total of about $2.82 billion. In a two-sentence statement, Chesebrough-Pond's said it had retained legal advisers to evaluate American Brands' offer and "other alternatives to maximize shareholder values." Daniel A. Conforti, a spokesman for American Brands, confirmed that American Brands had made the proposal.

Unilever on Monday rescued Chesebrough-Pond's from a hostile takeover attempt by American Brands and agreed to buy the consumer products company for $3.1 billion. The definitive merger agreement calls for Unilever United States Inc. to pay $72.50 per share in cash for Chesebrough, well above the $66-per-share hostile tender offer launched Monday by American Brands, which amounted to about $2.8 billion.

Pinkerton's Inc. reported a second-quarter profit of $2.76 million compared with a loss of $574,000 a year earlier, when a one-time charge of $2.8 million put the Van Nuys-based security services company in the red. Excluding that charge, Pinkerton's income jumped 24% from $2.22 million a year earlier, and its revenue in the quarter ended June 14 rose 6%, to $142.3 million from $134.1 million. For the first half of 1991, Pinkerton's earned $4.

In announcing steps to complete divestment of the business, the company said that Monet Jewelers and the Izod, Lacoste and Ship 'n Shore apparel operations will be spun off into a free-standing company and that Foot-Joy will be sold to American Brands for $53 million cash. The new company is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and will be headed by Richard F. Kral. Its assets will be about $250 million, with current annual sales exceeding $475 million.

Northern Ireland is joining South Africa as a prime target of U.S. stockholders who use their proxies to press ethical and social justice issues, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility reported today. As the spring round of company stockholder meetings moves into full swing, a survey by the Interfaith Center, an agency related to the National Council of Churches, said a record 21 resolutions relating to Northern Ireland are on the agendas of American companies. That is an increase of four resolutions from the 1988 figure and it more than doubles the 10 presented in 1987, when concerns about Northern Ireland took a firm hold on church groups and pension funds, the major social responsibility investors.

Philip Morris and McDonald's on Tuesday took the places of General Foods and American Brands on the list of 30 industrial stocks that make up the most closely watched gauge of stock market activity, the Dow Jones industrial average. Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the index, said it was adding Philip Morris to the list because of its acquisition of General Foods, which was announced last Sept. 27.

Thomas W. Wathen has been guarding something most of his life. As a security expert, he has spent his 36-year career protecting people, offices and government facilities. Now comes his biggest assignment: Protecting the reputation of the most famous company in his business--Pinkerton's--and the money he's spending to buy it. Wathen, 58, is the sole owner of CPP Security Service, a Van Nuys-based provider of security guards and a Pinkerton's rival.

Harvard University is considering selling its $5-million investment in Philip Morris Inc. because of concerns that product-liability suits against cigarette companies could lower the stock's value, a school official said. The university already has sold the stock that it owned in other tobacco companies, including American Brands, Brown & Williamson and R. J. Reynolds.

The manicured green pastures and white fence posts stretch over the gentle hills of Kentucky's horse country all the way to Donny Ethington's tidy car dealership with its fleet of new Aleros, Auroras and Intrigues. It's not exactly bustling these days on the showroom floor alongside U.S. Highway 60. Ethington manages to sell only one new car about every two weeks. The problem is largely the brand.