Business news digest

REGION
Federal judge OKsWerner Holding sale
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- A federal bankruptcy court judge in Delaware has approved the sale of Werner Holding Co. in Greenville to an investor group for 270 million. The group is led by Black Diamond Capital Management, which has offices in Connecticut, Illinois and England. A press release said Werner will continue to operate its ladder-making operations. The deal will remove the company's debt and provide it with working capital. Werner filed for bankruptcy protection last June and said it intended to emerge as a low-cost producer of ladders. It recently has closed local ladder-making operations.
Management groupplans dinner meeting
WARREN -- The Western Reserve Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management will hold a dinner meeting on the benefits of mediation May 8 at Cafe 422, 4422 Youngstown Road SE. Networking begins at 5:30 p.m., with dinner at 6 p.m. Sonya Howard of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission will speak how a company can go through the process of mediation. E-mail reservations to SMauro@mtc.easterseals.com by Tuesday.
From Vindicator staff reports