BJ’s Wholesale sued by investor over $2.8 billion takeover
Jun 30

NEW YORK – BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc., the third-largest U.S. warehouse-club chain, was sued by an investor claiming its proposed $2.8 billion takeover price is “grossly inadequate”.

Leonard Green & Partners LP is acquiring the company at a “substantial” discount to its true value and BJ’s directors locked up the deal by agreeing to “impermissible” deal-protection devices, lawyers for shareholder Maxine Phillips said in the complaint filed on June 29 in Delaware Chancery Court. Phillips is seeking to represent all BJ’s shareholders in her bid to bar the deal.

Directors “have effectively placed a cap on BJ’s corporate value at a time when the company’s stock price was recovering from the recent economic decline,” lawyers for Phillips said in the complaint.

Under the agreement, Leonard Green and CVC Capital Partners will pay BJ’s investors $51.25 in cash for each share they hold. The takeover gives the firm

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Why Check Acceptance Makes Sense for Your Retail Business
Jun 30

While most consumers have embraced paperless methods of payment, including credit card, debit and wireless, paper check transactions are still extremely common. That’s why your business owes it to the customer to provide secure, convenient check processing services. With the generous variety of check acceptance solutions available on the merchant services market today, taking care of customers whose preferred method of payment is paper checks has never been easier. Plus, with sophisticated encryption technology, you’ll be able to offer your customers a never before seen level of security, so they’ll know that their money is in good hands. And you’ll know where your payments are. That’s just good accounting.

With you merchant service provider’s simple processing solutions, you can cut down deposit time for maximum convenience. Plus, with

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Mortgage default levels could rise
Jun 29

According to a recent report the number of homeowners that are defaulting on their mortgage repayments in the UK is set to rise over the coming three months. The data comes from a survey that was carried out by the Bank of England amongst lenders and formed part of the central bank’s quarterly survey on credit conditions.

Over the past three months default levels amongst UK homeowners is said to have remained relatively flat. However, the figures showed that the balance of lenders who were expecting the rate of defaults on mortgage loans to increase rose to its highest level since the end of 2009.

The survey also showed that banks were not expecting to see any sharp increases in lending over the coming months, with the outlook for bad debts being cited as one of the reasons why banks may remain reluctant to lend in the immediate future. O

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RI Court affirms Deepwater-Grid agreement
Jun 28

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Supreme Court unanimously turned away the effort by two manufacturers to invalidate the power purchase agreement between National Grid and alternative energy developer Deepwater Wind that had been approved by the R.I. Public Utilities Commission, in a decision released late Friday.

The agreement had been approved by the PUC last August by a 2-to-1 vote, and it followed by five months a rejection of an earlier version of the power purchase agreement, largely done on a determination that the price of the electricity to be generated by a demonstration wind power project off the coast of Block Island was too high.

In the interim, the General Assembly and then-Gov. Donald L. C

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Consumer spending in U.S. stagnated in May as prices rose
Jun 28

WASHINGTON – Consumer spending unexpectedly stagnated in May as employment prospects dimmed and rising inflation caused Americans to cut back.

Purchases were little changed, the weakest outcome since June 2010, after a revised 0.3 percent gain the prior month that was smaller than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 0.1 percent gain. Prices excluding food and energy rose more than forecast.

Walgreen Co. is among retailers that indicated 9.1 percent unemployment and higher gas and grocery bills have prompted shoppers to pare back purchases of less essential goods. Federal Reserve policy makers said the restraint on purchasing power may prove temporary as commodities prices start to decline, allowing the economy to pick up later this year.

“The quarter is going to be very slow,” said Christopher Low, the chief economist at FTN Financial in New York who correctly forecast household spending. “Th

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Instead of Paying Mortgages, Americans Paying Down Credit Cards
Jun 28

The Washington Post featured an article in mid-May that explained how Americans are applying their money to pay off their credit card debt faster, even if doing so means that they are becoming delinquent on mortgage payments. The newspapers cited data from the big credit reporting company TransUnion which shows that the number of homeowners who are defaulting on their mortgages while continuing to make timely payments on their credit cards has remained relatively high – despite overall improvements in the U.S. economy. That demographic has grown nearly from 37% of consumers prior to the recession to more 50% at the end of 2010.

Some analysts believe that is an indication that the way consumers look at their debts has begun to evolve and change. Americans have traditionally viewed their home mortgage as the top priority, in other words, and they would sacrifice anywhere else to preserve the integrity of their mortgage payments. B

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