Chelmsford company sued over stock option grants

A shareholder derivative lawsuit was filed against Brooks Automation and some of its current and former board members on May 23, the company said. The Chelmsford semiconductor equipment maker said it was named as a nominal defendant in the suit, which alleges breaches of fiduciary duties and unjust enrichment in connection with its stock option granting practices. A nominal party is generally included in a lawsuit because of a technical connection to the matter at hand. (AP)

The Massachusetts Nurses Association has won the right to represent nearly 50 nurses who will work in the Boston Medical Center's new $96 million Moakley outpatient cancer facility , according to a decision by the National Labor Relations Board. The decision is a defeat for 1,199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which had presented a competing claim to represent the nurses. NLRB regional director Rosemary Pye , in a written opinion issued last week, said the MNA traditionally had represented nurses who were going to be shifted into the new facility from other areas of the hospital. SEIU and MNA have both represented nurses at the Boston Medical Center since it was formed through the merger of Boston City Hospital and Boston University Medical Center in 1996. (Christopher Rowland)

Biogen Idec Inc., the fourth-largest US biotechnology company, said it is acquiring Swiss drug maker Fumapharm AG, gaining ownership of an experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis and psoriasis. Financial terms were not revealed. The purchase is part of Biogen's strategy to increase drugs in development and reduce reliance on its biggest product, the Avonex MS treatment. Fumapharm's products are Fumaderm, a psoriasis pill sold in Germany, and a new formulation called BG-12, which both companies have been developing for MS and psoriasis. (Bloomberg)

Novell Inc., which sells networking software and computer consulting services, reported a second-quarter profit as sales declined. Net income was $3.34 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with a loss of $15.6 million, or 4 cents, a year earlier, the Waltham company said. Sales fell 6.3 percent to $278.3 million in the period ended April 30. Excluding some costs, profit of 3 cents met the average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. They predicted sales to fall to $278.4 million from $297.1 million a year earlier. (Bloomberg)

Northampton's Daily Hampshire Gazette, a newspaper covering Hampshire County since 1786, will switch publication from afternoon to mornings in September. The Gazette, which has a weekday circulation of 18,243 and 19,778 on weekends, was first published on Sept. 6, 1786. The paper was sold in January to the Concord, N.H.-based Newspapers of New England. (AP)

Luggage maker Samsonite Corp. said it will shut down its Denver headquarters by the end of next year, a move that will affect 265 employees and end the company's nearly century-long presence in Colorado. The company said closing its headquarters was part of an ongoing consolidation that will move activities to its office in Mansfield and to an unidentified distribution facility in the Southeast. (AP)

State Street Corp., the world's largest provider of services to institutional investors, said second-quarter earnings would be reduced by $50 million because of a change in US tax law affecting lease income. A tax bill with a provision repealing rules sheltering from taxes a portion of income generated by so-called leveraged leases became law May 17. The change will lower earnings by about 15 cents a share in the quarter, Boston-based State Street said. The change affects commercial aircraft leases that State Street arranges with non-US governments and corporations, said a company spokeswoman. (Bloomberg)

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