Local Business Digest

LOCAL

V&M Star eyes expansion

YOUNGSTOWN — Vallourec Mannesmann Holdings, V&M Star, is in the process of evaluating a site in Girard and Youngstown for possible expansion of its melt shop and rolling mill operations, company President Roger Lindgren said.

V&M has applied for an EPA Air Permit application in concert with this ongoing planning process. But, at this time no decision has been made on the expansion of operations or the location of any expanded facility, Lindgren said.

V&M Star, located at 2669 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., makes seamless steel pipe products. It has about 450 employees and annual revenue of $1,750,000.

REGION

Delphi hearing rescheduled

TROY — Bankrupt auto-parts maker Delphi Corp., which has facilities in Warren, has pushed back a court hearing to change the terms of $4.35 billion in bankruptcy loans. It was an effort to give the company some breathing room amid a seizure of the credit markets. Delphi rescheduled the hearing with a New York court for Monday after its former parent, General Motors Corp., asked for a delay. A later hearing also gives Delphi time to settle objections from lenders, who said the changes were improper and violated the loan agreement. The extension would give Delphi an option other than trying to secure more loans.

NATION

AIG limits executive pay

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — American International Group is limiting how much it pays its executives, including granting a $1 annual salary for this year and next year to its Chief Executive Officer Edward Liddy.

The decision is one of many broader moves made by the troubled New York-based insurer Tuesday. It has been under pressure to restrict executive pay since accepting billions in government assistance.

The moves will also include no 2008 annual bonuses and no salary increases through 2009 for AIG’s top seven officers. There will be no salary increases through 2009 for the 50 next-highest AIG executives.

AIG also says no taxpayer dollars will be used for annual bonus or future cash performance awards for AIG’s top management positions.

GE to update investors

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — General Electric Co. said Tuesday it will host a webcast Tuesday to update investors on how its financing arm will navigate through the current crisis in financial and credit markets. The meeting will take place two weeks after GE announced it was reorganizing GE Capital, its battered lending arm, to save $2 billion in 2009. The revamping will lead to unspecified job cuts as GE shrinks the size of the business.

“This presentation will share the strategic and operational plans we have to navigate through this environment and the future growth opportunities that exist for GE Capital,” Trevor Schauenberg, vice president of corporate investor communications, said in a posting on GE’s Web site. The webcast, which is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. EST, will emphasize that GE Capital is “safe, differentiated and profitable despite the difficult current environment,” he said.

Because of the turmoil in the banking and credit markets, GE Capital posted a 33 percent profit decline in the third quarter, helping to drag down GE’s overall quarterly results by 22 percent.

From Vindicator staff and wire reports