Burnes OK's acquisition of Commerce Insurance

Massachusetts Commissioner of Insurance Nonnie S. Burnes has approved the proposed acquisition of Commerce Insurance Co., of Webster, by the Spanish insurance company Mapfre SA. The approval, which cited Mapfre's commitment to maintaining Commerce jobs in the state, would allow Mapfre to acquire all the outstanding common stock of Commerce for $2.2 billion, Burnes's office said. Commerce Group is the largest writer of property and casualty insurance in Massachusetts, according to the insurance commissioner. (Chris Reidy)

Solar panel producer Evergreen Solar Inc. said it received two long-term sales contracts worth nearly $1 billion. The Marlborough company signed a $750 million deal with Germany-based Ralos Vertriebs GmbH for panel deliveries starting this year through 2013 and another deal with an unspecified US-based installer. Evergreen Solar said it will make the panels at its plant at the former Devens military base. Shares of the company soared $1.82 on the Nasdaq to $10.92. (AP)

Boston's First Marblehead Corp., an arranger of securities backed by student loans, jumped the most in five months in New York trading after an analyst said the company may resume securities sales and upgraded the stock. First Marblehead climbed 93 cents to $3.91. The shares have fallen 90 percent over the past 12 months. Matt Snowling, an analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsay & Co., in Arlington, Va., raised First Marblehead to "market perform" from "underperform." The firm fired 500 employees May 5 after demand for securities backed by loans dried up in the global credit crisis triggered by subprime mortgage defaults. (Bloomberg)

Yahoo Inc. is postponing its shareholder meeting for a second time, now that billionaire investor Carl Icahn has nominated alternate candidates to Yahoo's existing board of directors. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo put off the meeting once to buy time to consider an unsolicited buyout offer from Microsoft Corp. Yahoo said its July 3 meeting would be delayed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing and said it expects to set a date that's closer to the end of July. Also, Yahoo said board member Edward Kozel is resigning. Kozel had planned to step down in February, but stayed on after Microsoft made its offer in January. (AP)

US airlines can use military airspace off the East Coast this holiday weekend to cut delays that are the second-worst on record so far this year. The space will be available from 6 p.m. today to 7 a.m. Tuesday, covering the Memorial Day holiday and kicking off the busy summer travel period. "It gives airlines a fighting chance to beat delays," Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said. Regulators are taking steps to reduce congestion, particularly in New York, where delays can cause ripples nationwide. About 71 percent of US flights arrived on time this year through March, trailing only 1996 for most delays in a first quarter. (Bloomberg)

The owner of the land beneath Bear Stearns Cos.' Manhattan office tower sued for the right to buy the bank's building before the $1.1 billion structure is conveyed to JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPMorgan, which is acquiring Bear Stearns and its 1.2 million-square-foot headquarters, was also named in the lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court by 383 Madison LLC, owner of the property beneath the Madison Avenue building. 383 Madison LLC said in its lawsuit that under the contract with Bear Stearns, the investment bank must first hold good-faith talks with 383 Madison LLC and give it a chance to buy the tower. (Bloomberg)

Sales of Pfizer Inc.'s quit-smoking pill, Chantix, are plummeting in the United States since regulators tied the drug to suicides, a setback that may further depress the shares, which dropped to their lowest level in almost 11 years. US prescriptions for Chantix have dropped by almost 33 percent since Jan. 18, when the suicide link surfaced, according to the research firm Verispan LLC, of Yardley, Pa. The misfire is the latest disappointment for Pfizer chief executive Jeffrey Kindler, who aims to revive the world's largest drug maker. Pfizer has lost about 30 percent of its value since 2006, when it halted testing on an experimental cholesterol pill. Last year, Pfizer stopped marketing the inhaled insulin Exubera because of sluggish sales. (Bloomberg)