Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries is locating its first American manufacturing plant in Alabama, creating about 500 jobs. Company executives joined state and local officials Friday to announce the $90 million project will be located in Montgomery. The plant will make large power transformers, weighing over 500 tons each. Chief Executive J.S. Lee said groundbreaking will be in about a month with production beginning in early 2012. He estimated the plant will turn out more than 200 transformers annually. The official plans for the plant say it will create 480 jobs, but Lee said the total will exceed 500. He predicted the factory will become the center of the company’s operations in North America.
Schwab reports flat earnings
Retail brokerage Charles Schwab Corp. on Friday reported flat second-quarter net income as waivers of clients’ money market fees amid low interest rates continued to crimp revenue growth. Results ticked higher from the first quarter, however, and the company forecast continuing improvement in the second half of the year. Revenue slipped $500,000 to $1.08 billion as the discount broker trimmed asset management fees on its exchange-traded and money-market funds. Low interest rates have depressed client returns on bonds and other investments. But short-term interest rates rose a bit further from the first to second quarters, allowing the company to reduce fee waivers on its money market funds to $113 million and helping lift asset management fees sequentially for the first time in eight quarters.
Trump casinos emerge debt free
Hoping the third time would be the charm, the three Trump casinos in Atlantic City emerged from bankruptcy court on Friday with much less debt and more optimism about competing in the cutthroat East Coast casino market. The Chapter 11 filing was the third for Trump Entertainment Resorts or its corporate predecessors. The bankruptcy eliminated $1.3 billion worth of debt that had been choking the company. Bondholders led by New York-based Avenue Capital Group will be the largest owners, with a 21.7 percent stake. Donald Trump, who lost control in a previous bankruptcy, will own 10 percent of the company.
Fed sets rules for Bank of Whitman
A Colfax based bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco have agreed on a plan that imposes new requirements on the Bank of Whitman. The Federal Reserve disclosed the agreement this week. The plan addresses lending practices, capital needs and management, including what the Federal Reserve calls “a realistic and comprehensive budget for calendar year 2010.” The Federal Reserve also wants the bank to immediately charge off or collect assets that were classified as a loss during a September 2009 examination.
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