Itron seeks shelf registration

Spokane-based Itron Inc. this week announced it has filed a shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

When declared effective by the SEC, the move gives Itron the option of selling up to $100 million in various securities, ranging from stock to convertible debt securities or stock purchase units.

Under a shelf registration, a company may sell securities in one or more separate offerings with the size, price and terms to be determined at the time of sale.

Itron spokeswoman Mima Scarpelli said the shelf registration will give the company flexibility to take advantage of financing opportunities when market conditions are favorable.

Scarpelli said the goal is to repay company debt. As of the end of February, Itron had about $130 million in bank debt and $125 million in senior subordinated notes.

Battery company coming to Valley

A Pennsylvania-based battery company plans to open a Spokane Valley location next month.

East Penn Manufacturing Co. Inc. has leased 8,500 square feet of space in the Spokane Business and Industrial Park at 3808 N. Sullivan Rd. The move comes after East Penn bought the automotive battery business of another company which had many Spokane customers, said Sanford Crase, northwest district manager.

Crase said the company would initially have four employees at the Spokane location, which will serve mostly commercial accounts.

“We will be doing business on April 4,” Crase said. “We will have 7,000 to 10,000 batteries in that warehouse.”

East Penn has been around since 1946 and is one of the largest battery manufacturers in the country, with 2 million square feet of buildings on a 490-acre plant site in Pennsylvania. It makes batteries for cars, boats, locomotives, wheelchairs, solar-power and telecommunication systems and other applications.

Stewart’s house arrest subject to change

A federal appeals court has granted a request from Martha Stewart, serving five months of house arrest following a five-month prison term, to give her trial judge the option to change her sentence.

The decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was described by federal prosecutors and by people close to Stewart’s defense as routine in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling on federal sentencing guidelines.

The high court ruling said the guidelines, once mandatory for federal judges, are now merely advisory.

Since the ruling, the 2nd Circuit has granted consideration of a new sentence to any defendant who wants one, Megan Gaffney, a spokeswoman for Manhattan federal prosecutors, said Friday.

Still, legal experts have said since the Supreme Court ruling that most federal judges have followed the guidelines anyway.

The domestic-arts mogul was sentenced last year to five months in prison and five months of house arrest for lying to federal investigators about a 2001 personal stock sale.

That sentence, imposed by Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum, fell at the lowest possible end of the federal guideline range for Stewart’s crimes – conspiracy, obstructing justice and giving false statements.

In a letter to Cedarbaum late Thursday, Stewart’s lead appeals lawyer said he would provide the judge with suggestions for “modifications to the terms of her home confinement” within 10 days.