Several bids offered for purchase of 30 Winter St.

July 14, 2007

THE REGION

Several bids to purchase 30 Winter St., a 12-floor, 87,000-square-foot office building near Downtown Crossing, were received this week, Lisa M. Campoli, executive vice president of the real estate firm Meredith & Grew, said. Meredith & Grew is representing the joint owners, Great Point Investors LLC and the Cresset Group, both of Boston. "There's been a ton of interest," consistent with the continuing record-high level of activity in the real estate investment market, said Campoli, and a buyer is expected to be selected next week. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)

Sepracor Inc., a Marlborough drug maker, sued a unit of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. alleging infringement of five patents for Xopenex, a medicine used for inhalation therapy by asthma patients. Sepracor contends in the federal complaint filed in Delaware that Barr Laboratories plans to market a generic version of Xopenex in violation of patents awarded since 1994. Barr's application to the Food and Drug Administration to sell a generic form of the medication says that, "in Barr's opinion, Sepracor's patents are invalid, unenforceable and/or not infringed," court papers say. (Bloomberg)

Massachusetts' state pension fund plans to divest some $80 million in holdings of companies that invest in Sudan, becoming the latest investor to protest violence there. "Money managers who invest for us and own stocks like Schlumberger (Ltd.) and PetroChina (Co. Ltd.) will be selling those holdings," said Michael Travaglini, executive director of the $50.3 billion Massachusetts' Pension Reserves Investment Management Board fund. "In total, we expect it will be about $80 million," he said. Exactly when the sales will occur depends on Massachusetts lawmakers who will soon vote on a bill ordering the divestment. (Reuters)

Intel Corp. said it would support a nonprofit foundation's project to put computers in the hands of poor children worldwide, reversing its long standing opposition to the proposal. The world's biggest chip maker will join the board of the One Laptop Per Child Foundation, which developed the XO laptop -- a personal computer that it plans to put into production in September and sell for $176. Intel markets the Classmate PC, a computer that competes with the foundation's XO laptop. The two parties said they would be able to incorporate each other's technologies and would also consider collaborating on developing a laptop. (Reuters)

THE NATION

Corporate governance experts said Whole Foods Market Inc. should launch an internal investigation into chat room postings made by chief executive John Mackey under an alias that boosted his company and were critical of rivals. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission had launched an informal probe of Mackey's postings, in a sign the issue will not go away any time soon. A Whole Foods spokeswoman said the company had not been contacted by the SEC and was unable to comment on the report in the journal's online edition. (Reuters)

Gasoline prices at the pump gained, but gas futures fell on a growing sense that supplies are catching up to demand. The average US price of a gallon of gas rose 2 cents to $3.046 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. In contrast to futures for gas, oil futures jumped $1.43 to settle at $73.93 a barrel, an 11-month high, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. (AP)

Tweeter Home Entertainment Group is now under new ownership after a bankruptcy court judge approved a $38 million bid for the Canton-based electronics retailer's assets by Schultze Asset Management . . . Boston Trust Investment Management Inc. plans to launch the Boston Trust Midcap fund as part of its Coventry Group series . . . Nuance Communications Inc., a Burlington maker of speech and imaging software, received antitrust clearance to buy Tegic Communications Inc., a unit of Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, for $265 million. (Globe wire services)