The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 19

The Palm Beach Post PAGE 5B Busin P-Hoe frr 01hriir E3DO stock quotes. BfSK PAGE 6B RTC launches final round of thrift sales THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1993 he signed the RTC Completion Act, granting the agency $18.7 billion to finish the job. "We're ready to tee up all these institutions and sell them as soon as possible," said Diane Zyats, an RTC spokeswoman in Washington. Packages soliciting prospective bidders were sent out Monday, Zyats said. Bidding usually is cut off after 30 days and the RTC hopes to have sold the thrifts by midyear.

On the list in South Florida: Hollywood Federal Savings Bank, Hollywood. It has been operating under government control since Feb. 22, 1991. It has 22 branches in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, and $598.9 million in total deposits. Hollywood Federal's sale will be handled by The agency said 10 of the 61 thrifts it is marketing are in Florida.

By MARGUERITE M. PLUNKETT Palm Beach Post Staff Writer The Resolution Trust flush with new money to complete its mission of cleaning up the savings and loan industry, Wednesday said it put its final lot of 61 thrifts 10 in Florida on the market. The institutions are in 23 states and have a total $18.7 billion in assets. The Florida thrifts have $1.34 billion in deposits, or 7.2 percent of the total. The RTC had slowed in selling insolvent thrifts after it ran out of money in April 1992.

But President Clinton broke the logjam Friday when the RTC's Resolutions Department in Washington, along with 19 other large thrifts. The Guardian Bank, Boca Raton. The two-branch savings and loan has been in the government's hands since March 16. It has total deposits of about $46.9 million. Guardian is being sold from the RTC's Atlanta office.

Coral Coast Federal Savings Bank, Boynton Beach. The two-branch operation was taken over Aug. 2, 1992. It has $21.6 million in deposits and is being sold from the RTC's Denver office. Hansen Federal Savings Bank, Palm Beach Gardens, has been operated by the government since Jan.

10, 1992. It has two branches and total deposits of $18.2 million. The sale is being handled by the Denver office. Bay Savings Bank of West Palm Beach has been in the RTC's hands since Sept. 6, 1991.

It has one branch and total deposits of $19.5 million. The thrifts on the list from other parts of Florida include Goldome Federal Savings Bank in St. Petersburg, Life Federal Savings Bank in Clearwater, Security Federal Savings Association in Panama City, Citizens Federal Savings Association in and Jacksonville Federal Savings Association in Jacksonville. 1 Even though the RTC had been operating without money authorized by Congress for more than a year, it (was able to sell some institutions. And two more are in the process of being sold now, according to Zyats.

it via Palm Beach Post Staff and Wire Reports Tourism promoters mixed on outcome of holiday season The holiday season is bringing cheer to some but not all Florida tourism industry officials, who have been scrambling this year to overcome crime fears, increasing competition and worldwide economic woes. State tourism officials are forecasting only a 2 percent increase for the entire year, but that would be enough to break the 1990 record of nearly 41 million visitors by about 300,000. They are predicting a record of 42.6 million next year. The outlook, however, varies from place to place. The Greater Miami Convention Visitors Bureau is predicting a reduction of 3 percent to 5 percent during the holidays compared to 1991, based on a telephone survey of hotels, said President Merrett Stierheim.

While some hotels expect heavy occupancy, those that rely the most on tours and foreigners will be down the most. Stierheim blamed widespread publicity about Florida's crime problems. Company buys stake in Servico WASHINGTON Energy Management Corp. took an initial 9.48 percent stake in Servico Inc. of West Palm Beach The New York-based investor spent $3.47 million to buy 620,100 shares between Nov.

29 and Dec. 6, according to papers filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Energy Management said it bought the shares for investment. Servico, based in West Palm Beach, owns or manages about 35 hotels in 15 states. Servico shares closed unchanged at 6Vi Wednesday on the American Stock Exchange.

W.R. Grace loses asbestos case MINNEAPOLIS The owners of an office complex won a $19.7 million judgment against W.R. Grace the maker of asbestos fireproofing that was installed 31 years ago. A jury decided Friday that Grace, based in Boca Raton, was liable for $6.2 million in actual damages to the owners of the Northstar Center. On Tuesday, the jury awarded Northstar Associates $13.5 million in punitive damages.

Grace knew about asbestos' health hazards before they were commonly known and targeted Minneapolis for the sale of asbestos-containing products, said Kenneth McClain, attorney for the center. A Grace spokesman said the company plans to appeal. Shareholder sues Sensormatic MIAMI Sensormatic Electronics Corp. has been sued by a shareholder who claims the company made deceptively rosy statements about its anti-theft tags and its prospects of winning a music-industry endorsement. Sensormatic denied the allegations.

The shareholder, identified by the company only as "Mr. Silver," accuses Sensormatic of "false and misleading statements" in describing the "suitability" of its anti-theft tags for music products, a company filing said. The suit, filed in federal court in Miami, seeks unspecified damages for investors who bought the company's stock between Jan. 8, the day of a Sensormatic lawsuit, and Nov. 11, when the company's device was rejected by music distributors, Sensormatic said.

yr. 'rr trm THE ASSOCIATED PRESS United Airlines employees work Wednesday at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. United board OKs buyout Investors take aim at Premium Company, employees took part in fraud, federal lawsuits claim By ERIK MILSTONE Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Organizers of a $500 million-plus fraud at Prerriii-um Sales Corp. in North Miami Beach paid almost $1.9 million to people who aided the scam by confirming phony transactions, according to lawsuits filed Tuesday. Defendants include Pueblo International Inc.

of Pompano Beach, which owns Xtra Super Food Centers Longs Drugs of California a California drugstore chain; Malone Hyde Inc. of Memphis, a food distributor and subsidiary of the Fleming Companies Inc. of Oklahoma City. The companies declined comment or denied wrongdoing Wednesday. Premium Sales and its affiliates were in the "food diverting" business.

They told investors they made money by buying huge quantities of food items and then reselling them in another part of the country at a profit. Although Premium, founded in 1986 and headed by Kenneth Thenen and Daniel Morris, had some legitimate business, it quickly turned into a "fullblown Ponzi scheme" aided by employees at Pueblo, Longs and Malone Hyde, according to the suits filed in U.S. District Court in Miami. Premium and its affiliates recorded more than $1.2 billion worth of phony sales in the first five months of this year, according to one suit. Employees of Pueblo International, Longs and the other defendants named Tuesday aided the swindle by confirming that certain transactions had occurred when in fact they hadn't, according to the suits.

The confirmations benefitted the "grocery defendants" which made money off legitimate transactions with Premium and, in one case, "lent a patina of credibility that was critical" to the scam, according to the suits. One suit, filed by investors in the Premium dealsj claims many of the defendants broke securities laws when they sold investments in Premium or its affiliates. Among those accused of taking "off the books" payments in cash or through bank accounts: Charles Valvo, an employee of Pueblo InternaJ tional in Pompano Beach: $500,000. Malone Hyde's Mike Flynn, $600,000. Meanwhile, investors and others who lost money when Premium folded have until Monday to file claims with the U.S.

Bankruptcy Court. Man claims firm wasted trust account The $5.15 billion buyout would give employees a 53 percent stake in the airline. The Associated Press CHICAGO Directors of United Airlines' parent company on Wednesday approved an employee buyout that would swap a controlling stake for billions of dollars in wage and benefit savings. The buyout would create the country's largest employee-owned company and would give employees a 53 percent stake that could be increased to 63 percent depending on the stock's performance. Labor and management valued the deal at $5.15 billion, or $173 per share, which mostly reflects what the airline would save in concessions from workers.

As the board met at an undisclosed New York location Wednesday, investors bid the company's shares up 4Vi per share to 148Vi on the New York Stock Exchange, on speculation that an employee-run UAL was the best investors could hope for. The deal also would require approval of members of the Machinists union at United, the Air Line Pilots Association's governing board and UAL shareholders. Officials have said it could take another six months for the deal to be finalized. United Airlines' two top officers stand to make more than $45 million from an employee buyout of parent UAL a compensation consultant said. Stephen M.

Wolf, UAL chairman and chief executive, and John C. Pope, president and chief operating officer, were expected to leave. The unions have said they hope to replace Wolf with Gerald Greenwald, the former heir apparent to Lee Iacocca at Chrysler Corp. who left the automaker to join a failed 1990 employee buyout bid for United. 2.

By David Waisglass and Gordon Coulthart Or- 1111 1 -iT Investor pays $5.95 million for PB home Leslie Greyling's purchase is the largest in Palm Beach for '93. By BETH REINHARD Palm Beach Post Staff Writer PALM BEACH In the priciest residential sale on the island this year, South African investor Leslie Greyling has paid $5.95 million for an oceanfront Addison Mizner home, according to his real estate broker. Greyling, who said he already owns a home in Palm Beach, is planning to buy the Chesterfield Deluxe Hotel next month. Greyling also paid $350,000 for the furniture and artwork at his new home at 710 S. Ocean said his broker, Robert Wyner of Barclay's International Realty Inc.

Greyling, 41, is president and chief executive officer of Orlando-based Members Service a public company that has agreed to buy the Chaparral Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and a Missouri a riverboat gambling company. He Investor Leslie Greyling paid $5.95 million for a 1929 Addison Mizner home at 710 S. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach. 3 "Oh, you want the gun shop on the second and lying to a federal grand jury.

The most recent owner was Brookshore Ltd. whose officers are Kenneth and Franklin Frank. Their New York City attorney, Richard Platka, would not comment on the sale. Brookshore paid $3.7 million for the house in 1988, but Wyner said the house was extensively renovated in the last two years. The most recent sale was not recorded in Palm Beach County property records as of Wedneday.

Wyner said the sale was com- Please see HOME1 OB said he had been eyeing the white, Meditteranean-style home that sits on two acres in Palm Beach for about 10 years. "I think Palm Beach property is a good investment at this time," he said. The five-bedroom house was built in 1929 for Harold S. Vander-bilt and later owned by polo magnate Howard Phipps. In the 1980s, Palm Beach developer Leonard Mercer Jr.

ran his real estate business from the house. Mercer spent more than two years in jail for paying a $30,000 kickback for an illegal loan floor this is the toy department." Dow Jones Industrial Avg. 3,762. 19 1 7.04 American StocK Exchange 462.83 2.06 Standard Poor's 500 467.32 2.02 NASDAQ Composite 756.07 0.44 Toronto Composite 4,226.85 12.12 NYSE: 258.15 1.01 Volume: 272.44m Gainers; 1,151 Unchanged: 632 Losers: 953 Paramount agrees to merge with QVC By ELIOT KLEINBERG Palm Beach Post Staff Writer DELRAY BEACH An 82-year-old man is sparring with Dean Witter Reynolds claiming the stockbrokerage squandered two-thirds of a $150,000 trust fund for his ill nephew. Bernard Lampert has picketed Dean Witter's West Palm Beach office once and plans to do so again today.

Lampert, a retired accountant, took over a trust fund for his nephew containing at least $150,000 after Lampert's brother-in-law died in 1985. The man's son, who lives in New York and is in his 40s, suffer? from a severe emotional disorder that makes it impossible for him to work. Lampert says he was unsophisticated in invest-, ment strategy and trusted his Dean Witter broker to; provide an income for his nephew at least $800 js month. "I knew I had to support Robert for the rest of his life," Lampert said. He claims the firm put all the money in risky partnerships and in-house mutual funds and by 1991 had lost $100,000.

Lampert claims a judgment against the firm imminent when Dean Witter delayed it by filing fof stay Nov. 17 in Palm Beach Circuit Court. Lampert says he sought arbitration from the National Association of Securities Dealers in Septem-i ber 1992. I Please see TRUST 1 0B $386 Silver: $5.04 Gold: 3-Month: 3. 1 1 6-Month: 3.28 1-Year: 3.56 30-Year: 6.21 Fed Funds: 3.06 highest value for Paramount shareholders by creating a level playing field," Davis said.

"They allow existing shareholders to increase their bids." Paramount also said it had been advised by Viacom that it was considering raising its offer. Viacom declined through a spokesman to comment. Based on Tuesday's stock prices, Paramount placed the value of QVC's offer at $84 per share, or slightly more than $10 billion. Shareholders have 10 business days until Jan. 7 to decide whether to tender their shares to QVC.

"We're pretty much where we've been, waiting to see what Viacom is going to do," said Lisbeth Barron, a securities analyst at S.G. Warburg. Please see PARAMOUNT 1 OB The Associated Press NEW YORK Paramount Communications Inc. reversed itself Wednesday and agreed to a $10 billion merger with QVC Network a potentially fatal blow to efforts by friendly suitor Viacom Inc. and Paramount Chairman Martin Davis.

The formal recommendation by Paramount's board at last puts the 3'z-month takeover battle for the entertainment and sports conglomerate into the hands of shareholders. But the recommendation is not binding on them, and Viacom could increase its $9.6 billion offer. Davis, who has sought to repel QVC since the brawl began, emphasized the possibility of a Viacom merger in a statement. "These procedures are designed to provide the British Pound: Canadian Dollar: German Deutschemark: Japanese Yen: .6698 1.3355 1.7055 1 10.40 41 $14.77 February delivery:.