WASTE MANAGEMENT

Allied Waste to Pay $1.5 Billion for Laidlaw Trash Unit: The move by Allied Waste Industries Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz., to acquire the solid waste company three times its own size will make it the fourth-largest solid waste management company in the United States. The deal, which comes amid growing consolidation within the $35-billion trash collection and disposal industry, calls for Allied to pay $1.2 billion in cash and the rest in stock and notes. Allied’s shares rose 37.5 cents to $9.50 on Nasdaq. Toronto-based Laidlaw’s class A shares rose $1 to $11.375 on the New York Stock Exchange.