Weyerhaeuser Co. has sent Willamette Industries Inc. a letter warning its timber industry rival against buying another company while Weyerhaeuser keeps its hostile takeover bid on the table. Weyerhaeuser, based in Federal Way, marked the first anniversary of its takeover bid with the letter and the eighth extension of its
$5.5 billion offer, which Portland-based Willamette has consistently rejected. The letter to the Willamette board of directors from Weyerhaeuser chairman Steve Rogel warned that, if Willamette tried to buy another company to prevent the takeover, Weyerhaeuser was ready to “pursue all remedies available to prevent you from disregarding or otherwise disenfranchising your shareholders, the owners of Willamette.”
A federal trade panel recommended a range of tariffs and quotas on imported steel Friday to boost the battered domestic industry. Foreign producers and U.S. companies that use imported steel condemned the move as protectionism that will drive up prices for American consumers. The International Trade Commission recommended the tariffs, ranging from 5 percent to 40 percent, for 16 steel product lines. The proposed measures are meant to offset steel imports that the panel earlier this fall ruled were unfairly subsidized by foreign governments. The Bush administration must decide by mid-February whether to accept, reject or modify them.
A federal judge heard but did not rule on a request made Friday by a New York bank that she freeze more than $1 billion allegedly gained by top Enron Corp. officials who sold millions of shares before the former energy giant collapsed. U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal gave lawyers for the defendants a week to respond. No date was set for any follow-up court action. Amalgamated Bank has sued 29 current and former Enron executives and board members, including Chairman Ken Lay and Texas Sen. Phil Gramm’s wife, Wendy Gramm, an Enron board member. She is also the former chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency that oversees commodity and options trading to protect markets from fraud and manipulation.
Japan’s troubled space program unveiled its biggest rocket Friday, a towering eight-engine craft seen as rejuvenating the country’s bruised ambition to become a world leader in the aerospace business. The newest H-2A rocket stands 188 feet, slightly taller than a simplified version launched for the first time in August. The agency hopes that its Jan. 31 test launch will end any notion that the flawless liftoff of its sister model was a fluke. The H-2A would be used commercially to launch satellites.
From Herald news services
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