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Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis on Sunday publicly confirmed for the first time its previously reported bid for Genzyme Corp. (Nasdaq: GENZ) and moved to prod Genzyme shareholders into embracing a deal that management of the Cambridge, Mass., company has so-far spurned.

The offer, outlined in a news release issued by Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis, is $18.5 billion in cash, or $69 a share. Genzyme shares were trading below $55 a share immediately before news of the July 29 offer leaked.

Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) said the offer was reiterated in a letter sent Sunday to Genzyme Chief Executive Henri Termeer, a copy of which the suitor made public.

A Genzyme spokesman did not immediately return a telephone call early Monday morning.

Sanofi-Aventis said it sent the letter only "after several unsuccessful attempts to engage Genzyme's management in discussions."

The news release goes on to state: "Sanofi-aventis is disclosing the contents of its letter in order to inform Genzyme's shareholders of the significant shareholder value and compelling strategic fit inherent in a combination of the two companies."

"A combination with Genzyme represents a compelling opportunity for both companies and our respective shareholders and is consistent with our sustainable growth strategy," Sanofi-Aventis Chief Executive Christopher A. Viehbacher said in the public statement.

"Now is the right time for Genzyme to consider a transaction that maximizes value for its shareholders," he adds later. "Sanofi-aventis believes strongly in this acquisition and its strategic and financial benefits business card design. We remain focused on entering into constructive discussions with Genzyme in order to complete this transaction."

In contrast to the upbeat news release, the letter fromViehbacher is strongly worded and even critical.

"We are disappointed that you rejected our proposal on August 11 without discussing its substance with us," Viehbacher wrote. "After our repeated requests, you agreed only to let our respective financial advisors hold a meeting of limited scope. Our financial advisors finally met briefly on August 24, but the meeting simply served as further confirmation that as throughout you remain unwilling to have constructive discussions. As I have mentioned to you, we are committed to a transaction with Genzyme, and, therefore, we feel we are left with no choice but to take our compelling proposal directly to your shareholders by making its terms public."

He later adds: "It is our preference to work together with you and the Genzyme Board to reach a mutually agreeable transaction. As we have consistently stated, we place value on the ability to engage in a constructive dialogue and to conclude a successful outcome that would ensure a timely and smooth integration."

Large pharmaceutical companies increasingly have been courting biotechs to bolster the bigger companies' patent holdings and new-drug pipelines.

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Three finalists have been selected for the Colorado Supreme Court vacancy to be left by the Nov. 30 retirement of Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey.

The finalists are:

• Monica Marquez, deputy Colorado attorney general.

• David Prince, an El Paso County district judge.

• Robert Russel, a Colorado Court of Appeals judge.

They were chosen by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission, which reviewed candidates for the vacancy on Monday and Tuesday poor credit personal loans.

The names have been forwarded to Gov. Bill Ritter, who has 15 days from Tuesday to select one of the finalists.

Citizen comments regarding the finalists can be emailed to: judicial.appointments@state.co.us

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American Express is the credit card issuer of choice for the fourth year in a row, a report released Thursday showed.

Based on a 1,000-point scale, AmEx received a customer satisfaction rating of 769, which was 55 points higher than the industry average, according to a survey conducted in March and April by information services provider J.D. Power and Associates.

"They have a strong awareness among customers of the benefits and rewards of having that card," said Michael Beird, director of banking services at J.D. Power. While other issuers might offer similar rewards, AmEx uses aggressive marketing and communication to get the message across, he said.

Discover Card was the second highest rated issuer, with a score of 757. Customers were especially happy with its customer service and the ease of navigation on its site. U.S. Bank followed as the third highest ranked company with 727 points, as customers reported fewer changes to terms and smaller interest rate increases.

The lowest ranked issuer this year was HSBC, with 686 points, followed by Citi Cards and Capital One, with scores of 692 and 699 respectively.

"The folks who typically rank at the bottom have more of the riskier customers," said Beird. "Many of the customers who have lower credit scores end up paying higher fees, which means they might be complaining more."

The least-satisfying issuers were also given lower ratings because of poor communication — failing to help many customers understand their credit card terms, he said.

But overall, the survey showed that customers are happier with their credit card issuers this year, and customer satisfaction rose 9 points, to 714 from a 3-year low of 705 in 2009.

"There has been higher satisfaction with credit card terms, a reduction in complaints about payment or billing problems, and issuers seem to be doing a better job interacting with customers," said Beird payday loans no teletrack.

Another driver of satisfaction has been the CARD Act rule rolled out this year requiring issuers to warn customers in advance of any changes to their accounts, said Beird.

But aside from knowing when issuers are going to raise interest rates or make account changes, customers are still foggy about how many of the other new rules will affect them.

"The communication aspect of the CARD Act — requiring issuers to inform customers in advance of changes — is really the only part that has been seen immediately," said Beird. "It’s too early to tell what the impact of some of the other rules will be."

This uncertainty came across in the survey, with 16% of customers saying they hadn’t even received CARD Act disclosures and of those who did, only two-thirds said the information helped them understand what all the changes would mean for them.

Customers also said they are more optimistic about the economy and their own financial situations this year, according to the survey. This increase in confidence has made customers increasingly likely to shop around for a new bank, said Beird.

As a result, customers are more likely to dump their banks. The number of cardholders who say they "definitely will not switch" primary cards in the next 12 months fell to 22% from 25% last year and 30% in 2008.

"Even though overall satisfaction has improved, customers are feeling more empowered to explore other providers, since their outlook on the economy and their own personal finance has gone up," said Beird. 

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AMC Entertainment Inc. has priced its coming sale of shares in Colorado in-theater marketing company National CineMedia Inc. (NCM), saying it expects net proceeds of $99.6 million.

In a securities filing Friday, the Kansas City-based theater operator said that subsidiary AMC ShowPlace Theatres Inc. will offer 6.5 million shares at a gross public price of $16 each. Shares in Centennial-based NCM (NASDAQ: NCMI) closed at $16.01 Friday.

Privately held AMC said underwriters will have the option to buy as many as 812,500 additional shares of NCM.

AMC said it plans to use its proceeds to pay down debt and for future acquisitions.

As of July 1, AMC had 382 theaters with 5,342 screens, mostly in the United States and Canada. Last month, AMC filed paperwork to take the company public and raise $450 million. It’s the third attempt to go public since a group of investors took the theater chain private in December 2004.

AMC and another theater chain, Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC), the latter controlled by Denver investor Philip Anschutz, said earlier this month that they plan a registered underwritten public offering of a combined 10.7 million shares of their NCM stock. The two chains are co-founders of NCM.

NCM owns just over a third and is the managing member of National CineMedia LLC, which provides in-theater advertising and promotional products, such as the "FirstLook" pre-feature programs, and services corporate meetings and training sessions in theaters.

"These shares of common stock will be issued to AMC and Regal upon redemption of a like number of NCM LLC common membership units that were issued to AMC and Regal," NCM Inc. said in a statement.

"Such redemption of NCM LLC common membership units will take place immediately prior to the closing of the underwritten public offering. The company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of common stock by AMC or Regal," the NCM statement said.

After the offering, NCM Inc.’s interest in NCM LLC will increase from the current 38.3 percent to a range of 48 percent and 49 percent, depending on overallotment sales.

Knoxville, Tenn.-based Regal will be selling 4.2 million of its shares.

A third theater chain — Plano, Texas-based Cinemark Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CNK) — owns 16.9 million membership units in NCM, or about 15.4 percent of the total, Cinemark said in its latest quarterly securities filing.

Aon Aug. 12, NCM announced that another theater chain — R/C Theatres, based in Reisterstown, Md. — will begin showing NCM’s "FirstLook" programming and the NCM Fathom entertainment and business events packages in September. R/C Theatres has 12 theaters with 90 screens in Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

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Editor’s note: Each day, we will share several items from the People on the Move section we publish each Friday in our print edition. The full list is available only to Triangle Business Journal subscribers. If you are not a subscriber but would like earlier access to the People on the Move section, you can subscribe here.

Architecture, Engineering & Design

• BBH Design hired Katherine Truncellito as a designer.

Banking/Finance

• Fifth Third Bank named John Schiappa, Russ Fallis, Rob Weaver and Jason Douglas commercial relationship managers on the bank’s middle market banking team in Raleigh guaranteed payday loan.

• First Citizens Bank named Denton Lee business segment manager. He is responsible for overseeing business and treasury services, leasing, working capital finance, First Citizens Insurance Services and the bank’s international division.

• AXA Advisors LLC hired Will Humphrey and Dan Paradise as financial professionals in its Raleigh office.

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A San Francisco bankruptcy court on Friday approved the sale of disgraced Nashville Predators part-owner William “Boots” Del Biaggio’s stake in the team.

However, the team’s remaining owners have not yet finalized other matters necessary to close the deal — and an important deadline is approaching quickly.

The Predators' ownership group plans to buy Del Biaggio’s 27 percent stake in the team, which is valued at $25 million, for $15.2 million. But the deal is conditioned on a Aug. 12 closing so that the ownership group can make a $412,969 interest payment to CIT Lending Services Corp., the team’s lender, that is due Aug. 13 and otherwise would be owed by Del Biaggio’s estate.

Predators Senior Vice President Gerry Helper said he was pleased with today’s ruling because it “moved the process forward” but that “there’s other steps still to go.” Among those steps is NHL approval of the sale.

Del Biaggio, a venture capitalist and former co-owner of the San Jose Sharks, was sentenced in September to eight years in prison and ordered to pay more than $67.4 million in restitution for misappropriating funds from individual investors he advised.

Del Biaggio was charged with cheating investors out of about $100 million, and investigators said he falsified documents so it would look like he owned securities that belonged to others.

In February Del Biaggio pleaded guilty to charges that he used the money to pay off gambling debts and live lavishly, including buying a stake in the Predators.

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Gallery Furniture is launching a new online shopping site on August 7.

The new GalleryFurniture.com online shopping site will feature the store’s full furniture inventory along with an Internet-only section that provides discounts on products not found in Gallery Furniture’s I-45 and Galleria locations.

Gallery Furniture originally invested $1 million into an e-commerce site in 1999 but got rid of it in 2000 after an incident with a hacker wreaked havoc on the company’s banking system, according to a spokesperson for Gallery Furniture.

“We want our online theme to follow our in-store theme: only the best available products at the best prices, utilizing advanced technology to help customers in their purchasing decisions,” said Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale.

Gallery Furniture initially plans to offer its e-commerce site to those within a 200-mile radius of Houston, with plans to expand in the future.

For those shopping in-store, Gallery Furniture will be placing Microsoft Meta Tags that are similar to barcodes on all furniture, allowing customers with compatible smart phones to scan items and instantly be provided with product information.

Gallery Furniture has also secured the right to sell Tempur-Pedic products to its online customers–a first in the Houston area.

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It’s a pretty good time to be Microsoft — but the company still has a lot to prove.

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and the full roster of Microsoft’s top executives are meeting with financial analysts on Thursday to map out Microsoft’s strategy for maintaining its leadership in the corporate market and catching up to Apple and Google in the consumer space.

Analysts will be especially tuned in for what Microsoft says about its plans for tablets, Windows Phone 7, Bing and Kinect — businesses that all lag behind their rivals.

The company is coming off of one of its strongest quarters ever in terms of revenue and profit, as Windows 7 and Office sales have soared on renewed demand for PCs. Microsoft has sold nearly 200 million Windows 7 licenses, demonstrating an ability to bounce back from the Windows Vista debacle. Many corporate clients, which make up about three-quarters of Microsoft’s customer base, are beginning to refresh their computers and software, and most are expected to migrate to Windows 7 and Office 2010 by the end of next year.

The software giant has also embraced cloud computing in a way that impresses industry analysts. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) responded to Google Apps’ threat to Office by launching a very functional, free online edition of Office 2010 in June. Microsoft’s unique "Azure" cloud platform helps businesses save money by moving existing applications built on Microsoft’s platform — as many corporate applications are — onto remote servers that are supported and serviced by Microsoft, allowing for remote access to data.

For consumers, on the other hand, Microsoft is struggling to keep pace with its competitors.

With search engine Bing, Microsoft has integrated some innovative and compelling ideas to make search more visual, intuitive and predictive of users’ intent — Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) has even copied many of Bing’s most unique features. Bing has grown its share of the search market by about 50% in a little over a year, and the revenue-sharing deal with Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) may help it gain scale.

But Bing still trails Google by a vast margin, and it continues to hemorrhage cash.

And then there’s Windows Phone 7, one of Microsoft’s biggest question marks.

With its last software release, Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft did fairly well in terms of global smartphone market share, but the company was is badly in the United States to more feature-rich phones like the iPhone, Research In Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry and Android-based devices.

Windows Phone 7 is a complete redesign of Microsoft’s mobile offering, focusing on a simple and unique user interface. But it’s not slated to debut until this fall — an eon in the fast-moving phone field, where the iPhone and Android continue to gobble up market share.

Tablets are also a glaring question that Microsoft will need to address on Thursday.

With the early success of Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPad, many analysts are predicting that the tablet space will be one of the fastest-growing tech segments this decade, alongside smartphones. But Ballmer has only vaguely articulated a very generalized strategy for tablet computers, namely that Windows 7 will be on tablets "soon." But the CEO famously canned a turmoil-fraught Microsoft tablet project that had been in the works almost a decade before the iPad came to market. Analysts want more concrete answers about how Microsoft plans to compete in tablets.

Xbox is perhaps Microsoft’s greatest source of strength with consumers, outside of Windows.

With the much-hyped, controllerless Kinect accessory set to go on sale this fall, Microsoft hopes to grow its user base even more by adding on the casual gamers who have embraced Nintendo’s Wii. Microsoft loves to sell Xbox’s ability to download media and stream it across a PC, Zune or Windows Phone. The consumer cloud is a high-growth space that many tech companies are quick to embrace, but given its lack of success so far with Zune media players and Windows Phone, Microsoft has to be concerned about what happens if/when Apple allows its users to stream their iTunes libraries across multiple devices over the Internet.

Microsoft’s consumer divisions, which include mobile, have failed to consistently make money for the company. The company let entertainment division chief Robbie Bach head out the door in May.

Here’s a telling sign of how challenging Microsoft is finding that market: Though it has many questions to answer on the consumer front, Don Mattrick, who replaced Bach, is not scheduled to speak on Thursday. 

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The Orlando City Council received an $8.4 million federal grant that will allow it to retain 46 firefighter positions that would have been eliminated as part of budget cuts due to the recession.

The funding is part of the federal government’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program. The grant will cover the firefighters’ salaries and benefits for a two-year period with no matching funds required.

“Securing this grant took a collaborative, bipartisan effort from Central Florida’s elected leaders,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer Faxless payday loans. “I want to specifically thank U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, U.S. Sen. George S. LeMieux, U.S Rep. Corrine Brown, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson and U.S. Rep. Suzanne M. Kosmas for their willingness to partner with us to obtain this critical funding.”

The SAFER grant is expected to be distributed to the city of Orlando later this year.

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Reps. Patricia Todd and Earl Hilliard stood alongside Crestwood community leaders Friday to speak out against Trinity Medical Center’s proposed move to U.S. 280.

Todd called the planned move to HealthSouth’s empty Digital Hospital “despicable,” while Al Rutledge, president of the Killough Springs Neighborhood Association, said Trinity is moving to get closer to a wealthier population of Birmingham, leaving the Crestwood area underserved.

“It’s the money, let’s just face it,” he said. “They want to say they are following their constituents or whatever but that’s not the case.

Trinity Medical, which has been looking to replace its 40-year-old facility for several years, first made plans to build a $316 million hospital on Grants Mill Road off Interstate 459 in Irondale. It later scrapped that plan to relocate in HealthSouth’s hospital that was left unfinished after a massive accounting fraud scandal.

Several area hospitals are opposing Trinity’s move to the HealthSouth facility and a hearing with an administrative law judge is expected in the next 30 days to determine whether Trinity can go forward with receiving state approval installment payday loans.

Keith Granger, CEO of Trinity, said greater opportunities for health care service resides in the new facility.

“When you look at the overall activities of Trinity Medical Center…we serve many communities, and we serve a much larger neighborhood,” he said. “Patients from all over the state – they are looking for accessibility and technology.”

Trinity Medical currently occupies a facility dating back 40 years, which Granger said would be much more difficult to update technologically. He said the present concerns of neighbors have been heard.

“We certainly want to be sensitive to the community, but it’s compelling to look to the future,” he said. “We’ll do everything in our power to be a good neighbor and hopefully help in any way for future options here.”

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