Home Depot denies talks
The Home Depot Inc. said Friday in a regulatory filing that it hasn’t had any discussions about a buyout of the nation’s largest home improvement store chain.
The Atlanta-based company also said its board of directors “unanimously supports” Home Depot’s management team and its plan to continue “enhancing value for all shareholders through the execution of its current strategy.”
Shares of the company rose $1, or 2.6 percent, to close at $38.97 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday after a published report by the New York Post said wealthy buyout firms including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Texas Pacific Group have been exploring the possibility of a $100 billion leveraged buyout of Home Depot. The report also cited another news report that said investment bankers had contacted Home Depot’s board to gauge its interest.
Seattle
Boeing accused of unfairness
The union representing Boeing Co. engineers and technical employees has filed an unfair labor practice charge against the company, accusing it of failing to bargain in good faith over a replacement plan for early retiree medical benefits for new hires.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, which represents 19,300 employees in the Seattle area, said that as contract negotiations wrapped up in the fall of 2005, Boeing promised to work with the union to come up with a new benefits package for employees who retire at age 55.
After agreeing to extend the original deadline beyond June 1, the union said it told the company it deemed four of five proposed plans acceptable.
But in August, the union said, Boeing proposed a health savings account with what the union characterized as a high deductible as its only firm offer, which SPEEA considered unacceptable.
Paris
Launch of new Airbus approved
The board of Airbus parent EADS approved the launch of the Airbus A350 XWB, the midsize jet designed to rival Boeing’s 787, the company said Friday.
In a statement, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. said funding for the new plane would come “predominantly from the company cash flows,” but gave no details. Its success would depend on the successful implementation of cost-cutting plans at Airbus, EADS said. It gave no timetable for when it would go into service.
The decision by the EADS board, meeting in Amsterdam, comes a week after shareholders called off an earlier board meeting amid a dispute over how the plane would be funded.
Friday’s statement did not say whether the program would draw on government funding. The European Union and United States are already embroiled in World Trade Organization litigation over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing Co. A decision to fund the A350 XWB with state-guaranteed loans or launch aid – repayable only if the program turns a profit – could exacerbate the dispute.
Shares of EADS rose Friday on the reports.