Company news
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
The Travelers Nike Free 3.0 Companies Inc., St. Paul, said its wholly owned subsidiary, St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co., has agreed to sell Unionamerica Holdings to Royston Run Off , a subsidiary of Enstar Group. Closing is expected in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Midwest Coca Cola Bottling Co., Eagan, and Coca Cola Recycling have formed a partnership with Holiday Stationstores for beverage container recycling in the Twin Cities area. Midwest Coca Cola Bottling and Coca Cola Recycling will work with the Recycling Association of Minnesota to manage the program. Recycling bins will be placed on Holiday Stationstores fuel islands.
NEW PRODUCTS
Biothera, Eagan, said it has completed enrollment in the first arm of its metastatic colorectal cancer trial. Inc., Brooklyn Center, said comparable store sales decreased 4.7 percent in the third quarter and 2.9 percent in the first nine months, ended Sept. 28. Franchised stores are not included in the calculations.
DEBT AND EQUITIES
Norwest Mezzanine Partners, Minneapolis, has invested $40.6 million in subordinated debt and equity to support Olympus Partners' acquisition of Norwesco Inc., a manufacturer and plastics rotational molder. Investing in support of transactions initiated by private equity firms has been the focus of Norwest Mezzanine's investment strategy since it began eight years ago.
Lakes Entertainment Inc., Minnetonka, declared a stock dividend of all of the company's shares in WPT Enterprises Inc., playable Nov. 21 to shareholders of record on Oct. 24. The record date establishes the Nike Free Run shareholders of record entitled to the dividend and will be used to determine the ratio of Nike Free Dame shares to be distributed per Lakes share. Lakes owns about 12.5 million shares, or about 61 percent, of the outstanding common stock of WPT Enterprises.