In Brief: Incyte Diagnostics acquires Yakima’s Medical Center Laboratory

Incyte Diagnostics, of Spokane, has acquired Medical Center Laboratory in Yakima. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gary Gemar, chief operating officer of Incyte Diagnostics, said the acquisition helps the Spokane laboratory expand its regional services.

“By utilizing Incyte Diagnostics’ technical and computerized infrastructure, we can provide even better service to clinicians in the greater Yakima area,” Gemar said in a news release.

The Yakima lab has been in operation for more than 40 years.

Incyte will continue to operate the lab at its Yakima location.

Hillshire Brands to buy Pinnacle Foods

NEW YORK – Hillshire Brands is pushing further outside the deli case with a deal to buy the maker of Birds Eye frozen vegetables, Duncan Hines cake mixes and Hungry-Man frozen dinners.

The Chicago-based company, which makes Hillshire Farm lunch meats, Jimmy Dean sausages and Ball Park franks, said Monday that it would buy Pinnacle Foods in a deal valued at $4.23 billion.

Among Pinnacle’s other brands are Wish-Bone salad dressing, Celeste frozen pizzas and Vlasic pickles.

Hillshire, which has been struggling with weak sales, also said last month that it was buying Van’s Natural Foods, which makes gluten-free products including cereal, chips and snack bars.

Given its reduced reliance on meat, the new Hillshire is expected to have significantly higher profit margins. Rising prices for meat have hurt Hillshire’s profit margins and led the company to increase prices in stores.

Merger charges make dent in Chrysler results

DETROIT – Chrysler Group saw big sales gains in the first quarter thanks to the new Jeep Cherokee and Ram pickup, but its results were overshadowed by charges related to its merger with Italian automaker Fiat SpA.

Chrysler lost $690 million in the January-March period. Without one-time charges related to the merger, the company’s net income more than doubled to $486 million.

In January, Fiat paid $3.65 billion to a union-run health care trust to acquire Chrysler’s remaining shares. As part of the deal, Chrysler agreed to pay $700 million to upgrade its factories.

Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler took a $672 million charge in the first quarter to meet those commitments. It also booked a $540 million non-cash loss on extinguishment of debt related to the merger.

Revenue rose 23 percent to $19 billion.

Worldwide vehicle sales jumped 10 percent to 621,000.

Bankrupt Stockton: Creditor won’t budge

FRESNO, Calif. – An attorney for the largest city in California to seek bankruptcy protection told a judge it has tried to reach a deal with its last major creditor, but the company is not budging.

Marc Levinson, an attorney for the city of Stockton, made the comments during opening statements Monday in a trial over Stockton’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy. The city is asking a judge to approve the plan that would reorganize more than $900 million in long-term debt.

The city has reached deals with all of its major creditors, except for Franklin Templeton Investments, which has taken Stockton to trial.

Franklin’s attorney, James Johnston, says the investment firm is being offered 1 cent on the dollar for a $35 million loan.