American Eagle sues Payless
Marshall retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc. has brought suit against Topeka, Kan.-based Payless ShoeSource Inc. because of consumer confusion it claims has been created by the shoe retailer's sale of an American Eagle line of footwear. Payless is listed as the owner of a trademark using the term on handbags and small leather goods. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York.

TreeHouse adding to cupboard
The owner of the former Heinz plant on the North Side has agreed to buy a Texas maker of Mexican sauces. TreeHouse Foods Inc. plans to spend $88.5 million for San Antonio Farms, which sells salsa, picante and enchilada sauce both to private label customers and to food-service clients. The Westchester, Ill., company last year bought the baby food and soup operations of Del Monte Foods Co., including the Pittsburgh plant, for $275 million and has been looking for more acquisition opportunities.

Federated buying mutual fund
Federated Investors announced a definitive agreement to acquire a $321 million international equity mutual fund from Rochdale Investment Management LLC of New York. Terms were not disclosed. The Rochdale Atlas Portfolio will become the Federated InterContinental Fund once the transaction is completed in the third quarter. The fund, ranked five stars by Morningstar, will keep its current managers.

Also in business ...
Mylan Laboratories was one of 13 generic drug makers that received the go-ahead yesterday from the Food and Drug Administration to market the generic version of Sanofi-Aventis' popular sleep aid tablet Ambien ... GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending said it has provided a $365 million asset-based credit facility to Wesco Distribution Inc., the Station Square-based distributor of electrical supplies and equipment, in a deal that refinances and significantly increases a previous credit line ... In a move that will affect about 260 unionized employees, the Hershey Co. said it would shut down a plant in Reading, the second-plant closing announcement in a little more than two months as the nation's largest candy maker seeks to cut labor and materials costs ... Warren-based Northwest Bancorp, parent of Northwest Savings Bank, said it earned $11.3 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, in the first quarter, down 28 percent from $15.8 million, or 32 cents per diluted share, a year ago, which includes an after-tax gain on the sale of education loans of about $2.8 million. Excluding the gain, earnings slipped 13 percent for the three months ended March 31.