Also. . .
* Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds don’t deserve a new trial in the case of cancer-stricken ex-smoker who was awarded $21.7 million in damages, San Francisco Superior Court Judge John Munter ruled. A San Francisco jury concluded March 27 that the tobacco companies should pay $20 million in punitive damages for misrepresenting the risks of smoking and breaking promises to inform the public about research on health and smoking. The punitive award was on top of a $1.72-million compensatory damage award.
* Chase Manhattan Corp. agreed to buy closely held Beacon Group to make the founder of the small mergers advisory firm head of the bank’s growing investment banking business. Chase Vice Chairman James B. Lee Jr. will surrender his duties as head of Chase’s investment bank to Beacon’s Geoffrey Boisi, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner. Lee, 47, will focus on client relationships and major transactions. Boisi, 53, left Goldman in 1993 after 22 years to found New York-based Beacon.
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* Ford Motor Co. signed a final agreement to buy BMW’s money-losing Land Rover unit for $2.73 billion and said the British-based company now will have to meet the environmental standards Ford has set out for its sport-utility vehicles. Ford said it expects to boost sales of Land Rover’s expensive SUVs from 178,000 to about 200,000 over the next few years and expects Land Rover to be profitable after 2002.
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* Merrill Lynch & Co. said it will pay $275 million to Japanese trading company Sumitomo Corp. to settle a copper trading dispute. It did not admit to any wrongdoing. Merrill said it has reserves to pay the bulk of the settlement, with less than $10 million coming from pretax second-quarter earnings. The settlement is the second-largest ever paid by the brokerage, after its $400-million settlement of charges it contributed to Orange County’s bankruptcy in 1994.
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* British candy and soft-drink maker Cadbury Schweppes said it is negotiating to acquire Kraft Foods International’s chewing gum and candy business in France. The French confectionery business employs about 450 people and had sales of about $172 million in 1999.
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