Business digest

REGION

Targeting auto industry

TOLEDO — A newly created legislative committee studying the future of Ohio’s auto industry is aiming to help automakers make a profit and hire more Ohioans.

State Rep. Matt Lundy of Elyria heads the committee and says it isn’t out to add more costly regulations or punish the industry.

Ohio lawmakers on the committee met for the first time Monday in Toledo and heard from a number of people involved in the auto industry.

The panel has until the end of September to come up with ideas, including proposals for new rules and regulations aimed at helping the industry and its workers. The recommendations will go before the full Legislature.

More meetings are coming up in Lorain, Warren, Dayton and Mansfield.

Hanna performance report

PITTSBURGH — Hanna Holdings and Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, with offices in the Youngstown area, said the company’s total dollar volume for the period of January through June 2009 was $11.1 billion, 17 percent above the company’s performance of $9.5 billion during the first six months of last year. Units were up 22 percent over the same six-month period, with 63,529 units in the first half of 2009 compared with 52,100 in 2008.

Howard Hanna Mortgage Service’s volume also climbed for the first half of this year, closing 3,532 mortgages with a value of $538.5 million, representing a 44 percent increase in units and 37 percent increase in volume over 2008, when the company closed 2,568 mortgages with a value of $373,840,317.

world

New talks on Opel unit

BERLIN — General Motors, the German government and two bidders are conducting a new round of talks on the U.S. automaker’s European Opel unit. However, GM’s chief negotiator is making clear that a decision on a buyer isn’t imminent.

GM’s John Smith says he hoped the meeting Tuesday at the Economy Ministry in Berlin “further clarifies the issues from the best and final offers received two weeks ago.”

The two potential suitors for Opel are a consortium of Canadian car-parts-maker Magna International Inc. and Russian lender Sberbank on the one hand and Brussels-based investor RHJ International SA on the other.

Smith said he does not expect a bidder to be chosen at the meeting.

Vindicator staff/wire reports