Mailers union approves 5-year pact with Globe

July 4, 2007

The members of Boston Mailers Union Number 1, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, approved a five-year labor agreement with The Boston Globe on Sunday that helps the newspaper control labor expenses while giving the union improved healthcare options and some future hiring opportunities, the company said. The agreement, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006, was approved 112 to 69. No wage increases are provided for. However, the company agreed to make bonus payments to eligible union members of up to $450 annually, provided the Globe's revenue exceeds prior-year revenue levels. No bonus payments will be made for 2006 or 2007. The contract reduces current wages for some employees and lowers all wage rates for new employees, to make the overall wage structure more competitive. The Globe estimates total cost savings at $9.6 million over the remainder of the agreement, or about $3 million per year.

BladeLogic Inc. set the terms of the company's pending initial public offering at 5 million shares with an estimated price range of $12 to $14 a share. Lexington-based BladeLogic, a provider of data center automation software, filed an IPO in April to sell up to $75 million of shares. BladeLogic said it's offering 3.94 million shares, while 1.06 million shares will be sold by selling stockholders. The company said it plans to use $5.9 million of the proceeds to redeem and cancel all its Series A redeemable preferred shares to be outstanding after the closing of the offering, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Dow Jones)

Abiomed Inc. said an arbitrator has ruled that the medical-device company breached its agreement with some of its warrant holders by temporarily canceling a program at Pennsylvania State University. The Boston office of the American Arbitration Association found last week that the holders are eligible to exercise their warrants to buy 143,496.50 shares of Abiomed common stock for a penny a share, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The arbitrator also ruled that Danvers-based Abiomed should pay $504,604 to reimburse the claimants for legal and arbitration fees and other disbursements. (Dow Jones)

Cambridge-based Altus Pharmaceuticals Inc. said the Office of Orphan Products Development of the Food and Drug Administration revoked the orphan drug designation granted in 2002 to ALTU-135 for the treatment of pancreatic insufficiency. The FDA based its decision on a finding that if all patients with HIV/AIDS who suffer from fat malabsorbtion were included in this study, the patient population in the United States appears to exceed 200,000 persons and is ineligible for orphan drug designation. (Dow Jones)

Elan Corp. said the United Kingdom recommended funding the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri for patients with a recurring form of the disease, the first time reimbursement of a drug for the neurological disorder was recommended. The medicine will be approved for patients with highly active relapsing remitting MS, Dublin-based Elan and its partner, Cambridge-based Biogen Idec Inc., said. (Bloomberg)

Military contractor Raytheon Co. said it will begin supplying thermal weapon sights to the US Army beginning in December under a contract worth up to $2.6 billion. The five-year agreement will initially require Raytheon to deliver 5,000 sights worth more than $60 million. The contract does not specify the number of units for delivery, and Raytheon could be required to produce another 150,000 thermal sights. (AP)

THE WORLD

Private equity firms raised a record $260 billion for new investment funds worldwide in the first half of 2007, putting them on course to raise an unprecedented $500 billion in the full year. The pace of fund-raising topped the previous $237 billion record set in the second half of last year, according to the survey by London-based research firm Private Equity Intelligence Ltd. About 67 leveraged buyout funds gathered $116 billion between them in the first six months of 2007, the firm said. (Bloomberg)