Mergers

Just look at the names: Houston Industries, NorAm Energy, Delmarva Power & Light, Atlantic Energy. It's hard to think of utilities as sexy, particularly compared with marquee names such as Disney, Microsoft, General Electric and IBM. But power companies are merging at a stunning pace, as fast as those in any industry. Two deals announced Monday punctuate that trend and show that utilities are thinking hard about deregulation and their future. Electricity provider Houston Industries Inc.

When I was small, a kid once accosted me on the school bus: Did I like the Dodgers or the Yankees? Having never considered the question before, I opted for the Dodgers because I liked the sound of their name. The kid promptly bashed me on the head with his metal lunch box. This rather painful early experience with fervent partisanship certainly hasn't deterred me from taking sides in heated disputes.

As Wells Fargo Bank digests its massive takeover of First Interstate Bank, the hiccups that normally accompany such a process are causing heartburn for some customers. Some disgruntled individual customers are becoming increasingly vocal about the conversion of their accounts, the closure of neighborhood branches or the way the bank is notifying them of changes. Some business customers, meanwhile, complain of errors in statements, delays in wire transfers and changes in loan terms.

Several years ago, when PacifiCare Health Systems surpassed arch-rival FHP International as the nation's biggest HMO for Medicare recipients, it marked a milestone for the company--and positioned PacifiCare to exploit the nation's emerging plans for Medicare. FHP had pioneered the Medicare managed-care business in the early 1980s, only to stumble a decade later amid government allegations of widespread sales abuses in its senior program.

The proposed merger of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. and FHP International Corp. would have numerous effects on their 2.3 million clients in Southern California. Here are some answers to questions that might be asked by their members or other HMO consumers: * Q. What does the proposed merger mean for my coverage through PacifiCare and FHP? A.

When Aetna Life and Casualty recently agreed to acquire competing U.S. Healthcare for $8.6 billion, analysts predicted that competitive pressures would prompt a wave of similar deals as industry leaders scrambled to build plans with a national reach. And, on Monday, PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. proposed a $2.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.'s planned acquisition of FHP International Corp. for $2 billion in stock would give the Cypress-based health-care giant a larger foothold in the lucrative Medicare market. If approved by regulators, the deal would create the nation's fifth-largest managed-care company with about 4 million patients--almost 1 million of whom receive Medicare.

Boeing Co.'s proposal Thursday to acquire Rockwell International Corp.'s space and defense businesses for $3.2 billion would turn the aircraft manufacturer into the nation's third-largest military supplier and put it in the rapidly growing field of satellite production, according to analysts and company executives.