The Week in Business
CP&L enters natural gas market
Triangle Business Journal
Carolina Power & Light Co., in its largest acquisition, is buying North Carolina Natural Gas for $354 million in stock.
The move diversifies CP&L into the gas market.
Stock in Fayetteville-based NCNG gained more than 45 percent on the news. The firm provides natural gas to 173,000 customers in North and South Carolina, with much of its territory overlapping CP&L's. It recorded $232 million in revenues in 1997.
An analyst at the HSBC securities firm said the merger would dilute CP&L earnings for the next three years.
Buildnet, a software company in Raleigh targeting home builders, hired Nathan Morton, the former chief executive of Computer City and CompUSA, as chairman.
Morton, 50, worked at CompUSA from 1989 to 1993 after a stint at Home Depot. BuildNet has raised $5 million in venture capital and is seeking $5 million more.
The Roman Catholic Diocese hired York Properties to help design a commercial village on 45 acres of its Western Boulevard campus in Raleigh. The diocese envisions shops, restaurants, offices and housing for the property across from Pullen Park.
A group led by Durham developer Andrew Widmark plans to renovate the historic six-story downtown Durham building that once housed Nello Teer Co.
The 93-year-old building at 212 W. Main St. sold for $130,000; renovation costs are likely to top $1 million.
Nello Teer moved out of the building in 1993 after about five decades.
New home sales continued at a record pace during the third quarter. Triangle housing sales are expected to top last year's record of $1.8 billion.
For the nine months ending in September, sales of new homes in the six-county region were 14 percent ahead of last year, housing analyst Bernard Helm reported.
Starwood Capital Group hired CB Richard Ellis to manage the RTP Service Center, the 17-building complex that is the only commercially zoned property in Research Triangle Park.
CB, which has national relationships with Starwood, replaces Teer Associates, the Durham-firm that has been the sole property manager for the past 29 years.
Carolina Holdings of Raleigh is buying Carolina Truss Co., which operates plants in Monroe and Florence, S.C. Carolina Holdings, which is owned by a British conglomerate, had sales of $1.3 billion in the year ended July 31.
Sen. David Hoyle, co-chairman of the state's Study Commission on the Future of Electric Service in North Carolina, said the group wouldn't have a proposal for the General Assembly until the spring of 2000.
That's more than a year after the group's initial target date. The long legislative session has delayed the commission's efforts.
Midway Airlines' 130 flight attendants are voting whether to join the Association of Flight Attendants. Ballots will be counted Dec. 18.
Winston Hotels, the Raleigh real estate investment trust, closed on a $71 million loan through GE Capital Corp. of Stamford, Conn. Winston owns stakes in 50 hotels in the Southeast.
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