Page 25 - Aruba Today
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BUSINESS A25
Saturday 19 March 2016
Starwood takes improved bid from China’s Anbang
NEW YORK (AP) — Star- Starwood, which owns the eral Electric Co.’s appli- ott for control of Starwood, previous offer of $81.50 per
wood called off a $12.2 bil- Sheraton and Westin hotel ance business for $5.4 bil- it agreed to a $6.5 billion share. Starwood sharehold-
lion buyout agreement with brands, has to pay Marri- lion. deal to buy Strategic Hotels ers would get $78 in cash
Marriott in favor of an offer ott $400 million to end the None have moved more & Resorts Inc., which owns for each share they own
from a group of investors deal. rapidly than Anbang, how- several high-end properties plus $5.67 in stock for a spi-
led by the Chinese insur- Chinese companies have ever. including the JW Marriott noff of a vacation business.
ance company Anbang. parked a lot of money in The company made a Essex House in New York Marriott has until March 28
The decision came after U.S. assets in recent years, dramatic entry into the and Hotel Del Coronado in to make another offer. The
Anbang upped its offer for seeing it as a safe bet. U.S. two years ago when it San Diego. Bethesda, Maryland, com-
Starwood by nearly $370 Last year, China’s Haier bought the famed Waldorf The latest offer from An- pany said Friday that it still
million Friday, bringing the Group, the world’s biggest Astoria in New York for al- bang and its partners is believes its agreement with
total to more than $14 bil- home appliance maker, most $2 billion in 2014. Days worth $83.67 for each share Starwood is superior and is
lion. said it would acquire Gen- before it contested Marri- of Starwood, up from its contemplating its next step.
General Mills to label products with GMOs ahead of Vt. law
CANDICE CHOI A box of General Mills’ Cheerios is seen on a shelf at a Shaw’s Supermarket in Gloucester, Mass. dard wasn’t established in
MARY JALONICK General Mills says it will start labeling products across the country that contain genetically modi- a “reasonable amount of
Associated Press fied ingredients to comply with a law that is set to go into effect in Vermont. time.” The disclosures by
NEW YORK (AP) — General Campbell and General
Mills said Friday it will start (AP Photo/Lisa Poole) Mills may be easy to miss,
labeling products across unless people are looking
the country that contain prohibit states from enact- sion by General Mills under- In January, Campbell Soup for them.
genetically modified in- ing a patchwork of laws scored the need for a na- Co. broke rank with the in- An image provided by
gredients to comply with around the country. tional law. dustry and said it support- Campbell to illustrate com-
a law set to go into effect The Grocery Manufactur- “One small state’s law is ed federal legislation for pliance with the Vermont
in Vermont. The maker of ers Association, which rep- setting labeling standards mandatory labeling, and law showed a can of Spa-
Cheerios and Yoplait said resents the nation’s largest for consumers across the that it would start disclosing ghetti-Os with the words
it is impractical to label its food companies, said in a country,” the association the presence of GMOs in its “Partially produced with
products for just one state. statement that the deci- said. products if a national stan- genetic engineering” in
And with no deal yet for tiny print at the bottom of
national legislation on the back of the can.
GMO labeling, the compa- General Mills did not say
ny said it decided to add that it supported mandato-
the disclosures required by ry labeling. But in addition
Vermont starting in July to to the coming disclosures,
products throughout the the Minneapolis-based
U.S. A spokesman for Gen- company said people
eral Mills, Mike Siemienas, could search its website
said the labeling will ap- at ask.generalmills.com to
pear on products over the see which products have
next several weeks.The GMOs. Examples of Gen-
move comes as federal eral Mills products that use
legislation regarding the la- genetically engineered in-
beling of genetically modi- gredients include varieties
fied organisms, or GMOs, of Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs,
has stalled in Congress. The Franken Berry, Hamburger
food industry has pushed Helper, Kix, Nature Valley
to make labeling for GMOs bars and Pillsbury pancake
voluntary, and sought to batter.
L.L. Bean reports flat sales in tough year for retailers
DAVID SHARP five consecutive years of of Merchant Forecast, a ments in 2016 on busi- Ohio; Richmond, Virginia;
Associated Press sales growth. New York-based indepen- and Leawood, Kansas.
FREEPORT, Maine (AP) — The 104-year-old company dent research firm. nesstransformation efforts, Store openings will accel-
Outdoors specialty retailer in Freeport “performed well “Flat is good in this environ- erate starting in 2016, she
L.L. Bean on Friday report- given a challenging retail ment.” including added.
ed flat sales in 2015, which environment,” Smith said Despite missing sales tar- The past year was a time of
was a tough year for the Friday in a statement. gets, the board approved retail expansion and web big change at Bean. Smith,
retail industry, especially Warm weather in the criti- a modest bonus for its 5,900 whose hiring was an-
clothing retailers, officials cal fourth quarter was par- year-round workers. The development. The compa- nounced in November, is
said Friday. ticularly tough on apparel bonus amounts to 3 per- the first person from outside
Revenue hit $1.6 billion for retailers, and many of them cent of wages, ny is in the midst of a $150 the company to be hired
the family-owned compa- resorted to steep discounts or about $1,000 for the typi- as CEO.
ny’s fiscal year that ended on winter clothing. cal full-time, hourly worker, million, multiyear invest- The year also marked the
Feb. 28, CEO Steve Smith “The fact that L.L. Bean is said company spokeswom- passing of Leon Leonwood
told workers in a memo. even with where they were an Carolyn Beem. ment, Beem said. Bean’s grandson, former
The disappointing news last year is a strong result Smith told workers that the president, CEO and chair-
that the company missed compared to many of their company has no plans to Last year, man emeritus Leon Gor-
its growth goals came after peers,” said Dan Hess, CEO back away from invest- man.
the company announced
plans to more than triple
the number of retail stores,
with a goal of reaching 100
stores within five years, and
that effort remains on track,
Beem said.
Stores opened in 2015 in
Cleveland; Columbus,
