Big deals: following the money

South Florida CEO, April, 2003

Comcast Upgrades

* Comcast Corp. said it will invest $200 million to upgrade the South Florida cable television system it took over from AT&T Broadband last year when the two companies merged. The upgrades will take two years and have already begun in parts of Broward County. Comcast has more than 800,000 cable subscribers from Key West to Vero Beach.

HIG Capital Buy

* Halo Industries, a promotional-products company based in Illinois, is under contract to be purchased by Miami-based venture capital firm HIG Capital for $22 million. The transaction will allow Halo to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which it has been in since July 2001. The deal is expected to close this month upon approval by the US Bankruptcy Court in Chicago.

AutoNation Settles

* Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation will pay the Internal Revenue Service $470 million to settle disputes regarding tax deductions related to employee health benefits. Terms of the settlement call for AutoNation to make a $350 million payment next March, followed by three payments of $40 million each. The company could, however, end up paying an additional $25 million to $100 million to settle additional outstanding issues with the IRS. AutoNation had originally forecast it would end up paying the government between $475 and $550 million.

FAU Secures Grant

* Florida Atlantic University has won a $10 million grant to fund the school's Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology. The center will be part of the Charles E. Schmidt Biomedical Science Center and will focus on the development of marine resources for medicines and products to treat certain diseases. FAU is one of three state schools to win the grant. Former Lieutenant Governor Frank Brogan recently took over as the school's president, replacing Anthony Cantanese.

Wendy's Franchisees Bought

* Boca Raton-based Brockway Moran & Partners has acquired Pennant Foods Corp. and Southeast Food Services, operators of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers franchises. While financial terms for the deal were not disclosed, Brockway Moran said it merged the two companies under the Pennant Foods name. Pennant, which is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, will now operate a combined 89 Wendy's restaurants in southern California and eastern Tennessee.

AMI Deal

* Boca Raton-based American Media Inc.--the tabloid publisher that came under an anthrax attack at the end of 2001--will receive $508 million in new capital from Evercore Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, a new investor. Thomas H. Lee and Evercore, AMI's controlling shareholder, will each ante up $254 million. The two partners will jointly own American Media when the deal is closed, with the company valued at $1.5 billion. AMI recently expanded its holdings with the $350 million purchase of the Weider magazine group.

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Cell Phone Towers Shed

* SBA Communications has entered into a deal to sell up to 21 percent of its cell phone towers to New Jersey-based AAT Communications for $203 million, with an option for a smaller deal. Boca-based SBA, which leases its towers to wireless-phone service providers, said it could sell 801 towers to AAT. An alternate deal for 679 towers would bring in $160 million. The New Jersey company is the largest privately held tower-provider in the industry. SBA said it expects the sale to be completed in stages between the beginning of May and the end of September this year. Proceeds will be used to reduce SBA's $1.1 billion debt load.

Race Bought

* Championship Auto Racing Teams, or CART, has purchased Raceworks LLC, the Miami company headed by developer Willy Bermello. Raceworks put on its first Grand Prix of the Americas last October, drawing 80,000 spectators. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the buy signifies that CART will promote the Grand Prix of the Americas for the next 15 years in downtown Miami. This year's race--which includes Le Mans Series races--will take place Sept. 26-28.

Rexall Class Action Settled

* Boca Raton-based Rexall Sundown will pay up to $12 million to settle two class action lawsuits accusing the company of falsely claiming its Cellasene diet pills eliminated cellulite. Consumers may seek up to $240 each--making it the largest suit ever involving dietary supplements, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Terms of the settlement still require court approval, but Rexall will deposit an initial $8 million with the FTC. If claims top $8 million, Rexall will be on the line for up to $4 million more. Rexall, which introduced the cellulite-reduction pill in 1999, admits no wrongdoing in the case.

Siemens Cuts Jobs

* About 300 workers will lose their jobs in Boca Raton when German telecom company Siemens completes the restructuring of its Information and Communications Networks subsidiary, which is based in the city. Another 133 employees will lose their jobs in Miami when a production facility is closed by 2004. Layoffs in Boca Raton started at the end of March and will leave the employee count there at about 650 when complete.