Mergers

Officials of the carpenters union headquarters in Washington took over several locals in Orange and Riverside counties Wednesday, surprising local union leaders. As the national union changed locks on doors and took control of records at the locals, union officials in this area were told that some locals will be merged and that all seven locals will be managed from Los Angeles.

After sitting out a recent series of airline mergers, Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways Group Inc. wants to hook up with American Airlines. But American's parent company, AMR Corp., which is mired in Bankruptcy Court, said it's not interested - at least for now. American, ranked as the nation's fourth-largest airline, operates 617 planes, with an additional 281 jets operated by its regional carrier, American Eagle. US Airways ranks as the country's fifth-largest airline and operates about 340 jets.

What a difference a year makes. With the virtual collapse of credit markets and the drying up of money from private equity firms, 2008 turned out to be a very slow year for mergers and acquisitions. Globally, there were 37,445 deals, totaling $3.3 trillion, down 29% from record volume in 2007, according to Dealogic, a data research firm in New York. In the United States the value of deals dropped 29% to $1.1 trillion.

US Airways Group Inc., with new backing by three unions representing nearly 55,000 American Airlines employees, is angling for a merger between the two airline companies, according to statements made Friday. Combining with bankrupt American Airlines “represents a unique opportunity that we should not ignore,” said US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker in a letter to employees . The deal would “create a preeminent airline” that could “compete successfully with United, Delta and other carriers.” Though AA's parent company, AMR Corp., would have to first agree to a merger, US Airways has already signed agreements with three major AA unions laying out how collective bargaining pacts would look should a deal go through.

Furthering the consolidation of California's agriculture sector, Foster Farms, the state's largest chicken producer, has agreed to purchase the chicken business of its largest rival, El Monte-based Zacky Farms. The deal would give Livingston-based Foster a dominant position in the poultry aisles of California supermarkets, and analysts expect it to be subject to intense antitrust scrutiny. Terms of the deal between the two privately held companies were not disclosed.

Pennzoil Co. said it will split off its motor oil business and Jiffy Lube chain of oil change centers into a new company that will merge with Quaker State Corp. The merger would create a company with annual sales of $3 billion and bring together two of the most popular brands of motor oil. It also would combine Jiffy Lube, the world's largest franchiser of fast oil change centers, with one of its biggest competitors in Quaker State's Q-Lube.

Rainbow Technologies Inc. said Friday that it is acquiring a Torrance maker of products to protect software against piracy. Rainbow, based in Irvine, traded 1.8 million shares of its stock for all the shares of Mykotronx, a privately held company. Though the companies did not disclose the terms of the deal, it would be valued at $29.5 million based on Friday's closing price of $16.38 a share.

American Home Products Corp. and Warner-Lambert Co. announced a merger Wednesday that would create the world's largest drug company, with a combined market value of $145 billion and annual sales of well more than $20 billion. The new company, which would be called AmericanWarner Inc., would have well-known consumer health brands such as Advil, Listerine, Halls, Robitussin, Rolaids, Chapstik and Preparation H. Under the terms of the transaction, Warner-Lambert shareholders would receive 1.

The planned merger between investment banking giants Credit Suisse First Boston and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. has triggered a major upheaval in CSFB's Los Angeles office. Mark S. Maron, head of CSFB's investment banking operations for the West Coast, is jumping to rival Lehman Bros., taking a crew of about two dozen CSFB staffers with him. The defection appears to cement the power base of Ken Moelis, who is head of DLJ's large group of bankers in Los Angeles.

Shareholders of San Francisco-based AirTouch Communications Inc. are expected today to approve the company's proposed $62-billion merger with Britain's Vodafone Group. Under terms of the deal announced in January, AirTouch shareholders will receive 0.5 of a Vodafone American depositary receipt and $9 cash for each AirTouch share--a value of $97 per share when the deal was announced. The merger of the wireless phone service companies is expected to close in late June or early July.

Question: What in the world is going on with airfares? I'm seeing airfares of more than $1,000 to European destinations and about half that for New York and Boston. Say it isn't so. Or at least say it won't last. Answer: I'm getting this question from leisure travelers who are seeing summer fares that may put their vacations on ice. And - are you sitting down? - it's probably not going to get better any time soon. Airfare experts point to three factors that are driving costs.

Creating Hollywood's largest entertainment union, members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have voted overwhelmingly to form a single bargaining unit. In an resounding show of support, SAG members voted 82% in favor of the merger, while AFTRA members voted 86% in favor. That was well above the 60% threshold needed for the combination to take effect. The historic vote comes nearly two years after union leaders began discussions to merge in a bid to gain more leverage in contract negotiations with studios and to end a long history of jurisdictional disputes and feuding over negotiating strategy.

Sprouts Farmers Market has agreed to merge with the Sunflower Farmers Market chain, creating one of the largest natural-food grocery chains in the West, the companies announced. The combined company will operate 139 stores in eight states under the Sprouts name and will have about 10,000 employees. The transaction, which still requires regulatory approval, was expected to close this summer, with all Sunflower stores branded as Sprouts by the end of the year. By adding Sunflower's 35 stores, Sprouts would expand its reach to Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union of Manhattan Beach and NuVision Federal Credit Union of Huntington Beach have called off a plan to combine in one of the biggest mergers in the history of the industry. With roots deep in Southern California's aerospace industry, Kinecta and NuVision had been working on the merger for a year and a half. They had hoped their deal would close early this year, but said in a recent joint statement that in the tough current economy it would have taken them two more years to integrate their operations.

Another airline merger took a key step forward Thursday when the Federal Aviation Administration approved a certificate to allow Southwest Airlines and its subsidiary AirTran Airways to operate as one. The certificate is a crucial development in Southwest Airlines' $1.4-billion purchase of Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran, which was first announced in 2010. Since then, the two low-fare airlines have operated as separate carriers. Southwest officials say it will still take several years to repaint the exterior and remodel the interior cabins of AirTran's fleet of 138 jets before the two airlines can be completely integrated.

With more cash on hand than ever as well as low interest rates, companies are likely to boost their merger and acquisition activity this year, according to a new report. Of the 825 executives surveyed by audit and tax advisory firm KPMG and the research arm of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Knowledge@Wharton, 34% said they're feeling more optimistic about deal-making this year. About four in 10 feel the same as they did last year; only 2% are significantly less hopeful.

The Supreme Court, on a tie vote, cleared the way Monday for Detroit's two daily newspapers to merge their business operations. But the justices left open the pivotal question of what conditions justify giving newspapers a virtual business monopoly. As a practical matter, the high court action ends a 13-year-old newspaper war in the nation's sixth-largest metropolitan area and permits the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News to share their business, printing and advertising operations.

Gentle Dental Services Corp., a dental management company, said Tuesday that it has made 11 acquisitions in Southern California and Nevada as part of its ongoing plan to expand across the U.S. "Our goal is to continue to build our leadership position in the Western U.S. and . . . to achieve national market leadership in dental management services," said Michael Fiore, chairman, chief executive and president of Gentle Dental.

Ed Asner and Valerie Harper are teaming up on a new project: an attempt to take down the proposed merger of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Asner and Harper, who starred in the 1970s "Mary Tyler Moore" TV series, have joined other high-profile actors including Ed Harris and Martin Sheen in filing a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday seeking an injunction to stop SAG from holding a vote on a proposed merger with AFTRA.

When members of Hollywood's two biggest actors unions gathered at the National Labor College in Maryland last summer, it was hardly a love fest. Representatives of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were meeting to talk about merging their unions. But there was plenty of apprehension on both sides, given the years of turf wars and personality clashes that had caused a bitter fight between the unions in 2008. Needing a mediator to help build trust and facilitate the delicate negotiations to combine two very different unions, SAG and AFTRA turned to Susan Schurman, a onetime bus driver and union leader turned academic who was the founding president of the AFL-CIO-sponsored National Labor College and was adept at training union officials.