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Business Briefs: NVR completes purchase of Heartland Homes
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NVR completes purchase of Heartland Homes
NVR Inc., Western Pennsylvania's largest home builder, announced it has completed the purchase of substantially all of the assets of Heartland Homes, the second largest builder in the region. Reston, Va.-based NVR, parent company of Ryan Homes, will continue to market under the Heartland Homes name. Marty Gillespie, president of Heartland Homes since 2005, will continue to manage the Heartland business.
Consol Energy sold coal assets in Alberta
Consol Energy sold western Canadian coal assets for $127 million in the closing days of 2012, the Cecil-based energy company announced Thursday. The firm sold a portion of metallurgical coal assets in Alberta, Canada, for $102.5 million in a partnership with Toronto-based private merchant bank Forbes & Manhattan Inc. In a second transaction, Consol also sold its interest in other Alberta coal assets for $24 million to Riversdale Resources, a Sydney, Australia-based mining company. Consol sold more than $350 million in assets in 2012 that the company said were not generating revenue. Consol plans to continue doing so in 2013.
Local security firms to serve energy industry
Gentile & Associates of Monaca, Beaver County, and St. Moritz Security Services of Baldwin Borough have formed a joint venture that will initially focus on services to businesses involved in the energy industries in the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale regions. The companies employ a total of 2,400 security personnel.
Last few months of 2012 saw rise in charity giving
Charitable giving edged up 1.7 percent for the three months ending in November 2012 compared with the same period in 2011, according to an index that tracks donations and giving trends among 3,000 U.S. nonprofits. Online giving jumped by 13.3 percent during the period, said the Blackbaud Index of Charitable Giving.
Jobless applications rose by 10,000 last week
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications rose by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 372,000 in the week ended Dec. 29. The previous week's total was revised higher. Many state unemployment offices were closed this week for the New Year's holiday and did not submit complete data for last week. As a result, the department relied on estimates for nine states. Two weeks ago, the department estimated 19 states because of Christmas closings. In a typical week, the government estimates only one or two states.
Also in business ...
Natural disasters cost insurers $65 billion last year, with the United States accounting for nine-tenths of the bill and Superstorm Sandy prompting payouts of $25 billion, insurance company Munich Re AG said Thursday. The lengthy summer drought produced the second-biggest insurance bill of $15 billion and $17 billion. ... Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan slipped to 3.34 percent from 3.35 percent last week, and the 15-year fixed mortgage average ticked down to 2.64 percent from 2.65 percent last week. The record low is 2.63 percent.
First Published January 4, 2013 12:00 am
