Target to put solar panels on 180 stores
Target Corp., the second-largest U.S. discount chain, is planning to install solar panels on 180 stores and distribution centers across the country.
The retailer hired Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC to develop a total of about 100 megawatts of systems, with an average system size of almost 1,700 panels, the Middletown, Conn.-based company said in a statement. Greenskies has already installed photovoltaic panels on 58 Target buildings.
Target, based in Minneapolis, has pledged to have rooftop solar power on 500 of its buildings by 2020. The projects planned under this agreement will be completed by early 2017.
Over the past two years, the top 25 corporate solar users in the United States have more than doubled their capacity, according to an October report from the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group for the industry. SolarCity Corp., the largest U.S. rooftop solar installer, has installed solar panels at more than 200 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sites.
-- Bloomberg News
MGM Resorts rejects board's nominees
MGM Resorts International rejected proposed board nominees from an activist hedge-fund manager pressing the casino operator to split into a real estate investment trust and a hotel-management firm, setting the stage for a proxy fight.
The board of MGM, the largest casino operator in Las Vegas, unanimously rejected four director nominees proposed by Land & Buildings Investment Management, according to a regulatory filing earlier this month.
"The board, as it is currently constructed, is very effective, independent, and diverse and has a broad range of expertise," MGM Resorts said.
Land & Buildings said it will press ahead to elect its nominees. A proxy fight will pit the casino company against Jonathan Litt, whose Land & Buildings Investment Management values Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts at $33 per share, about 50 percent above the current price. Litt says the shares could hit $55 if the company restructures and sells assets as urged.
The rejection "sends a clear signal that the board would prefer to take part in a contentious situation rather than work collaboratively to reach a solution that is in the best interests of all shareholders," Land & Buildings said.
MGM released its annual proxy statement Friday without scheduling a date for its shareholder meeting. The company declined to comment beyond the filing.
"The Land & Buildings proposals include concepts that the board and management have previously analyzed," MGM Resorts said in the filing. "The company will continue to review opportunities in keeping with its commitment to identify long- term strategies to enhance shareholder value."
-- Bloomberg News
Biogen: Alzheimer's drug slows disease
An experimental drug for Alzheimer's disease sharply slowed the decline in mental function in a small clinical trial, researchers reported recently, reviving hopes for an approach to therapy that until now has experienced repeated failures.
The drug, being developed by Biogen Idec, could achieve sales of billions of dollars a year if the results from the small trial are replicated in larger trials that Biogen said it hoped to begin this year. Experts say that there are no really good drugs now to treat Alzheimer's.
Biogen's stock has risen about 40 percent since early December, when the company first announced that the drug had slowed cognitive decline in the trial, without saying by how much. Analysts and investors had been eagerly awaiting the detailed results, which were presented Friday at a neurology meeting in France.
The drug, called aducanumab, appears to have met or exceeded Wall Street expectations in terms of how much the highest dose slowed cognitive decline. However, there was a high incidence of a particular side effect that might make it difficult to use the highest dose.
-- The New York Times
Porsche seeks ventures, despite woes
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, the company that owns a majority of Volkswagen AG's common stock, is searching for new investments, even with no end in sight to its legal battles.
Porsche SE is "working intensively" on adding to its investment portfolio, Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn said in a prepared statement.
The search by the Stuttgart, Germany-based company has yielded just one small investment aside from its stake in Volkswagen. Last year, it bought 10 percent of traffic-information provider Inrix Inc. for about $44 million.
Porsche SE plans to invest in automotive-related companies with its cash pile, which stood at $2.41 billion at the end of December.
SundayMonday Business on 03/23/2015