Business briefs
Lanxess to buy Chemtura for $2.1 billion
Lanxess AG agreed to buy U.S. competitor Chemtura Corp. for about $2.1 billion in cash, more than doubling the size of its additives business and accelerating a shift toward specialty chemicals. Shareholders of the maker of lubricant additives and flame retardants will get $33.50 a share under the terms of deal, Cologne, Germanybased Lanxess said. The offer is 19 percent higher than Philadelphiabased Chemtura’s close at $28.18 on Sept. 23. Lanxess has its North American headquarters in Findlay. Competition for Chemtura can’t be ruled out, although there aren’t any other companies that are so complementary and have the same synergy potential as Lanxess, Mr. Zachert said on a conference call with journalists on Monday.
Dunning, Garay win Athena Awards
Audrey Dunning, chief executive of Summa, a digital technology firm, received the 2016 Greater Pittsburgh Athena Award. Marteen Garay, director of entrepreneur programming at Urban Innovation21, a nonprofit that promotes business development, received the Athena Young Professional Award. The awards recognize women who are leaders in their professions and who have made an impact by mentoring younger women. The awards, sponsored by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, were presented Monday at an event at the Westin Convention Center Hotel, Downtown.
IRS issues warning over new email scam
The Internal Revenue Service has been getting reports from across the country of a new scam in which individuals have been receiving fake tax forms by email that indicate they underreported their income as
related to Affordable Care Act coverage in 2014. The forms are coming as email attachments containing what are called CP2000 notices, which are generally sent to taxpayers when income reported from a third-party source, such as an employer, doesn’t match what the taxpayer reports on his return. These fakes are dated for the 2015 tax year. The IRS is warning consumers and tax professionals to not click or open the attachments.
Ex-Verizon worker accused of selling phone records
A former Verizon Wireless technician is accused of using the company’s computers to obtain customers’ private call records — plus data showing where customers’ phones were — and then selling them to an unnamed private investigator, federal prosecutors said. Daniel Eugene Traeger, who worked in Alabama, sold the confidential information from 2009 to 2014, authorities said. Representatives from Verizon Wireless didn’t say how widespread the breach may have been.
Lands’ End CEO steps down
Federica Marchionni has stepped down from her role as Lands’ End CEO and resigned as a director, the company announced. Its board of directors appointed Joseph Boitano and James Gooch as co-interim chief executive officers. Mr. Boitano currently serves as executive vice president and chief merchandising and design officer, and Mr. Gooch is the executive vice president and chief operating and financial officer. Ms. Marchionni, an Italian-born New Yorker, was brought in from luxury fashion house Dolce & Gabbana to run the Dodgeville, Wis.-based retailer. Her employment agreement specified that she would not have to move to Dodgeville. Her principal workplace was in New York. She took the CEO reins in February 2015. From 2011 through 2014, sales dropped nearly 10 percent.