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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1997)
ÍMJV. IX.ITV/ Page A 5 iin rtlanò (ßbserucr Fred Meyer grows with major buyout A grocery empire founded when Fred Meyer began peddling coffee door Io door in 1909 announced a $4 X hi I lion deal to create the nation's fourth-largest supermarket chain. Fred Meyer Inc. said it will buy Ralphs Grocery Co. of Los Angeles and Quality Food Centers Inc. of Bellevue. Wash., pushing the gro cery business into the wave of con solidations that have swept others in the retail industry "Sure, you can still build new stores." said Robert G. Miller, chief executive officer of Portland-based Fred Meyer. "But with consolidation, you have lots of cost savings. It just makes us a much stronger retailer." The acquisitions will create a $ 15 billion multiregional supermarket chain with 88.000 employees and more than 800 food stores in 14 states. I l also will make the chain the market leader in Los Angeles. Seattle. Salt I .ake City. Las Vegas and Albuquer que. N.M.. and No. 2 in Portland and Phoenix. "W e'll have the No. I and No. 2 market positions in most of the top 10 fastest-growing cities in the na tion." said Stuart Sloan, chairman of Quality Food Centers. It is the second major expansion this year for Fred Meyer after share holders in September approved a$ 1.9 billion acquisition of Smith’s Food <& Drug Centers Inc. of Salt Lake City. just three years ago, analysts were speculating whether the company could remain competitive following an 88-day grocery workers' strike. Miller, who was hired away from rival Albertsons in 1991 to revive Fred Meyer, oversaw a transition back to a publicly traded company after the New York buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts took it pri vate in 1981, three years after the death of founder Fred Meyer. "Right after KKR sold their stake, people said that was the beginning of the end for Fred Meyer," said Laura Richardson, who follows the com pany for Pacific Crest Securities in P ortland. “ But th e y ’ve show ed they're a really smart management team that knows how to run a grocery chain and a retail chain." Fred Meyer does not plan any changes for its customers or QFC customers, but it will wrap Q FC’s Hughes Family Markets in Southern California into the better known Ralphs chain. Fred Meyer will assume about S3 billion in debt, boosting its total to $5 billion, but Miller was confident the combi ned chains will generate at least $100 million a year in savings and help it quickly pay down debt Sloan added that the combined stores will also have more buying power, reducing costs by purchasing in larger volumes, along with im proved distribution "The big story here is distribution efficiency. T hat’sa t least 5 0 percent til then cost savings." said Lisa Sroute of Ragen McKenzie in Seattle. The QFC deal is valued at $1.7 billion, and the Ralphs transaction at $3.1 billion. Under the QFC deal, valued at $1.7 billion, each QFC shareholder would receive the greater of I 9shares of Fred Meyer stock or $55 worth of Fred Meyer stock for each share ol QFC stock, subject to a maximum exchange ratio of 2.3 shares of Fred Meyer stock. On Friday, QFC stock closed at $ 5 1.625, up 75 cents. In a separate agreement. Fred Meyer would exchange 22.5 million shares of its stock for 100 percent ol the equity of Ralphs' parent. Food 4 Less Holdings Inc., a private com pany controlled by Ron Burkle. who also is Fred Meyer chairman. If the average Fred Meyer share price is less than $26.67. the number of shares issued to Food 4 Less would be adjusted upward to a maximum of 24 million shares. Miss Collins m eets kids A warm welcome from founder Evelyn Collins goes out during the fall meeting for kids at the non-profit Grace Collins daycare and preschool in northeast Portland. (Photo by M. Washington) Campaign For Renters' Rights The Community Alliance of Ten ants is holding a Renters' Rights N eighborhood SpeakO ut on the Westside of Portland as part of the Campaign for Renters' Rights The SpeakOut will be held Wednesday. Novmeber 19th. 7:(X) PM at the Ver mont Hills United Methodist Church - SW 55th Dr and Iowa St Bus #1 Vermont The SpeakOut isachance for area renters to learn about Oregon' s Land lord Tenant Law, tell their own sto ries. and get involved with CA T's Campaign for Renters' Rights There will also be a Renters' Rights Clinic -- staffed by volunteer lawyers and CAT hotline staff - to answer spe cific questions in a one on one atmo sphere. The Neighborhood SpeakOut is a great opportunity to get involved with the Renters' Rights Movement and win real protections for renters from abusive landlords Anyone interested in Renters' rights and social justice issues should attend. This event is free and wheelchair accessible. Free Childcare will be provided if arranged in advance. For more information or to register for childcare, call the Community Alii ance of Tenants at 460-9702 Oregon's Furse Help Diabetes Fight The Honorable Elizabeth Furse, was honored by the American Dia betes Association. Oregon Affiliate, during their Annual Gala Auction on N ovem bers, 1997. Because o f her efforts on behalf of people with diabetes. Medicare will reimburse for supplies for all pa tients with diabetes, effective July 1. 1998. There will also be dramati cally increased spending on diabetes by the Department of Health and Human Services. Grants totaling over $150 million will be awarded over five years toward research into the prevention and cure of type I diabetes. An additional $150 mil lion in grants over five years will be awarded for providing services for the prevention and treatment of dia betes among the Native American population. Furse led the non-parti- san effort to get this coverage in cluded in the Balanced Budget Act, which was signed by President Clinton in August. The American Diabetes Associa tion, serving Oregon and SW W ash ington, has renamed their diabetes grant program in honor of Furse. The program, now called the Eliza beth Furse Diabetes Grant Program, provides local funding for proposals H O U S IN G tlanfr bseruer Americorps And Habitat Get Things Done S leep in g in the k itch en floor for three w eeks, 12 A m erico rp s *N C C C m e m b e rs ris e e a c h m orning w ith to o lb elts ready to build hom es in N o rth e a st P o rt land w ith H abitat for H u m an ity. M otivated by th e ir te a m ’s m otto "getting things do n e," the 18 to 2 4 -y ear-o ld s w ill keep living in the H ab itat o ffic e s w h ile w o rk in g on P o rtla n d H abitat co n stru c tio n sites until S aturd ay , N ovem ber 15. w hen they co n tin u e th e ir H ab itat for H um anity tour o f O regon. A m e ric o rp s * N C C C ( N a tio n a l C iv ilia n C o m m u n ity C orps) is a 10-m onth re sid e n tial national serv ice program designed for young adults. R ep resentin g one o f the five N CCC cam pu ses, this team calls the W estern R e g io n 's base hom e. The team , along w ith 22 o th er groups statio n ed in San D iego, travels around the nine states in clu d ed in the region p e rfo rm ing various form s o f com m unity serv ice. N CCC team s m odel their serv ice after th eir m ission s ta te m ent: get things done, strengthen c o m m u n itie s, e n co u rag e re sp o n sib ility , and ex pand o p p o rtunity. T he m em bers o f this NCCC team have already accom plished a g reat deal in th e ir first week w o rk in g w ith P o rtland H abitat: they have roofed a w o m en ’s build h o u se , re d e sig n e d the H abitat w a re h o u se , and p re fa b ric a te d w alls for a fo ur-hom e project. F our o f the N CCC w om en helped site su p erv iso r M elissa M edeiros g et the roo fin g done on H a b ita t’s W o m e n ’s B u ild . “ A m e ric o rp s w om en ro c k !” said M edeiros. “T h ey have been a d ed ic a te d , h a rd -w o rk in g , p o sitiv e , and e n th u sia stic ad d itio n to our c o n stru c tio n c re w .” The team cu rren tly resid in g in P o rtlan d has focused tw o m onths o f its 10-m onth service on w orking to m eet hu man needs by helping H a b ita t b u ild h o m e s w ith low -incom e fa m i lies w ho are trying to e s tab lish perm anent re s i dence in the N orth and N o r th e a s t n e i g h b o r hoods A bbie M itchell, the leader o f the N CCC team here in P o rtlan d , spoke o p tim istic a lly of w orking w ith the H a b i tat project. "W e 're very ex cited to be a part of H a b ita t’s m ovem ent to help provide housing for low -incom e fam ilies in the P ortland area, it’s in sp iratio n al to see how m uch w ork can be a c c o m p lis h e d on th e s e houses in one day, even m ore so w hen w orking on them y o u rse lf.” Mortgage Market Presents Continuing Education Class Class to cover Pro Techniques of Listing & Selling M ortgage M arket Inc. w ill be sentin g the In stitu te o f Real ate S u c c e s s 's (IR E S ) "P ro ,’hniques o f L istin g & Sell- ” at 9 :0 0 AM to 5:0 0 PM on vem ber 14 at the H om e B uild- A s s o c ia tio n (H B A ). T h e ss. led by Ken S chw arz o f ES. will provide real estate ikers and agents w ith 7 hours b ro k e r c e rtifia b le re q u ire d jrs - nearly h a lf o f the CE jrs req u ired by O regon Law. The class will p resen t ag en ts h new for sale by o w n er and nred listing tech n iq u es as well as how to w ork a open house su c c e ssfu lly and new farm ing stra te g ie s. A d d itio n ally the class w ill co v er te ch n iq u es on in flu en c in g y our sphere of in fluence for g reater sales and m arket p o sitio n . The class will be held at the HBA located at I 5555 SW Bangy R oad n ear the in te rse c tio n of H ighw ay 2 17 and 1-5. M ortgage M arket is an O regon b a s e d f u ll- s e r v ic e m o rtg a g e b an k er and b ro k er w ith m ultiple lo catio n s in P ortland and branch o f f i c e s in S a le m , E u g e n e , M edford, V an co u v er and th ree S e a ttle area lo c a tio n s. M o rtg a g e M ark et sp e c ia liz e s in re sid e n tia l m ortgages featu rin g low clo sin g costs and fast tu rn around. The com pany e m ploys 94 m ortgage b a n k ers and 56 sta ff e m p lo y with a clear education or community service orientation. Funding for this year's grant program is made pos sible through individual donations and a grant from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund. The Spirit Mountain Community Fund, established by the Confeder ated Tribes o f the Grand Ronde Com munity of Oregon and the Spirit Mountain Casino, has approved a grant of up to $50,000 in honor ol Congresswoman Furse to match in d iv id u a l d o n a tio n s. K athryn Harrison, Chair of the Grand Ronde Tribal Council, made the notifica tion of the grant monies during the Auction. The Spirit Mountain Community Fund was created earlier this year under an historic gaming compact between the Confederated Tribes ol the Grande Ronde community and O regon's Governor, John Kitzhaber. The Tribe annually contributes six percent of its net profits from Spirit Mountain Casino to the Spirit M oun tain Community Fund to be used for grants to community projects in I I northwestern Oregon counties. The estim ated amount for the Spirit Mountain Community Fund in 1997 is $2 million. Is Your Future With Standard? We need people with a wide range o f skills and talents. I f you're looking for an equal-opportunity employer that offers great benefits and competitive wages, take a look at Standard Insurance Company. Call our job hotline at 503-321-6736. We're proud to be The Urban League o f Portlands Employment Partner of the Year for 1997 S tandard I nsurance C ompany P e o p le . N o t j u s t p o lic ie s .® A NEW DENTAL RESEARCH STUDY AT RUSSELL STREET CLINIC ARE YOU HIV POSITIVE? Do You Have Tooth Pain? Do You Have These Symptoms? Do you have a persistent tooth ache, interm ittent tfxith pain, or swelling in your m outh or face? Have you been told your tooth needs a rtxit canal? Participate In A New Free Research Study You may qualify to participate in the O ral Health Enhancem ent Study being conducted by the Russell Street Dental Clinic, a part of OHSU. Volunteers must be HIV positive, IS to 65 years of age and have at least IS teeth. Benefits Participants w ill receive free root canal treatment, free CD4 counts and viral load blood tests, free check-ups, and $ 125 for participation. Participants w ill also be helping to improve the quality of life for people w ith HIV. For more information, call: (503) 494-6300 ees. T he M ortgage M arket c o rp o ra te o ffic e is located at 6 C e n te r Point D rive, Suite 300 in Lake O sw ego. T h e ir p h o n e n u m b e r is 50 3 /9 6 8 -9 2 5 7 . S C ItN C t* Where Healing. Teaching and Discowy Come Together rrtF“^ U- IVIHSU V An mint opportunity, ulhflMltu i.tton insuiuunn.
