Bsquare sued in New York over IPO disclosures
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SEATTLE — A lawsuit was filed yesterday against Bellevue software company Bsquare and several of its officers in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs are seeking class certification and allege that the company and its officers violated federal securities laws in connection with disclosures in the company's prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering of stock.
The officers named include Chairman, Chief Executive and founder Bill Baxter; President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Turner; founders Albert Dosser and Peter Gregory; Directors Jeffrey Chambers, Scott Land and William Larson; and Credit Suisse First Boston.
"We believe that the claims against Bsquare and its current and former executives are unfounded and without merit," Baxter said in a statement.
Profits fall 21 percent at Willamette Industries
PORTLAND — Willamette Industries, the target of a hostile bid by rival paper-and-lumber maker Weyerhaeuser, said second-quarter profit fell 21 percent because of lower pulp-and-paper prices.
Pricing will make the second half challenging, Willamette said.
Second-quarter profit from operations was $73.9 million, or 67 cents a share, compared with $93.5 million, or 85 cents a share, a year ago. Sales fell 4.4 percent to $1.14 billion from $1.19 billion. Still, profit beat the 62-cent average estimate of nine analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call.
Willamette Chief Executive Duane McDougall, who lost his board seat to a candidate backed by Federal Way-based Weyerhaeuser last week, is trying to prove that investors will profit more if the Portland maker of grocery bags, boxes and particle board remains independent.
"Performance on the paper side of their business is holding up better than I expected," said Mark Wilde, an analyst for Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.
State pension fund eyes investing in distressed debts
OLYMPIA — The private-markets committee of the Washington State Investment Board voted to recommend a $100 million investment in a new fund that will invest in debt of financially strapped companies. The full board of the Olympia-based system, which oversees the investment of pension funds for state workers and teachers, meets next week.
Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles-based firm, aims to raise $2 billion for the fund, called the OCM Opportunities Fund IV.
The market for distressed debt, which includes bank loans and bonds of companies that are unable to make interest payments, has grown as an economic slowdown and over-expansion take their toll on industries such as telecommunications, utilities and entertainment.
Oaktree, which manages more than $18 billion, invests mainly in senior and secured debt of operationally sound companies that have too much debt, according to its Web site. It buys debt claims for less than the value of the underlying assets, taking an active role in reorganizing companies in some cases and trading the debt in others.
AT&T Wireless taps Ogilvy & Mather for ads
REDMOND — AT&T Wireless Services, the third- biggest U.S. mobile-phone company, picked Ogilvy & Mather to be its advertising agency, as it begins life apart from former parent AT&T.
Ogilvy & Mather, a unit of London-based WPP Group, beat incumbent Foote Cone Belding for the account, Redmond-based AT&T Wireless said.
New York-based Ogilvy & Mather will create and produce mass-market advertising for AT&T Wireless, one of six mobile-phone companies with a nationwide U.S. network.
Nation/World
Retirement at last: Sept. 7 for Jack Welch
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — General Electric chairman Jack Welch said yesterday he will officially retire at the company's Sept. 7 board meeting.
Welch, 65, had planned to retire in April but deferred his departure to shepherd the $41 billion merger of GE and Honeywell International. That deal was derailed earlier this month by objections from European Union antitrust regulators.
His successor, president and chairman-elect Jeffrey Immelt, was announced last November.
United Airlines to pursue buyout of US Airways
CHICAGO — United Airlines said yesterday it would obey the terms of its recently revoked offer to buy US Airways and pursue the buyout until federal regulators make a final ruling.
The move complies with a request by US Airways, but several industry experts said it is most certainly a legal maneuver rather than one reflecting a change of heart by United.
United moved earlier this month to call off the $4.3 billion acquisition amid daunting economic and regulatory challenges, but US Airways is balking at the proposed separation.
Nevertheless, UAL said yesterday it will comply with US Airways' request to formally seek a decision by the DOJ on the 14-month-old proposal.
Compiled from Seattle Times business staff, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News.