TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2010
KLMNO
EZ SU WASHINGTON BUSINESS
Sunrise sells its interest in 58 properties to Ventas
BY THOMASHEATH Sunrise Senior Living said
Monday that it sold its minority interest in58 senior centers inthe United States and Canada as the troubled operator of senior citi- zens’ housing continues to clean up its finances and reduce debt. McLean-based Sunrise will net
$41.5milliononthesaletoVentas, a Chicago health-care real estate investment trust. The transaction comes as the
company seeks to right itself after a series of poor investments and heavy debt pushed it to the brink ofbankruptcy.Butnewchief exec- utiveMarkOrdanhassoldproper- ties, reduced debt and downsized theworkforce,puttingthe compa- ny on an apparent solid footing. “It’s our view that this is one of
the final stepsneededto complete asuccessful recapitalizationof the company,” Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jerry L. Doctrow said. “Between this and a transaction lastmonth, they’ve raised $91million of cash and been able to extend maturi- ties and refinance a significant amount of balance sheet debt.” Sunriseisoneof thelargestand
best known senior citizen care companies in the world, manag- ing 356 senior communities across North America and Eu- rope. Itwillcontinuetomanage79 senior living communities for Ventas, including the 58 proper- ties in which it sold a minority interest. “Sellingour jointventureinter-
ests toVentasbringsSunriseaddi- tional funds to improve our bal- ance sheet and provide a founda- tion for careful growth,” Ordan said in a statement. Ventas has 503 facilities in 43
states andCanada. Ordan said previously that the
restructuring, which includes re- ducing the number of communi- ties it operates from more than 400 to 356, was necessary. Sun- rise’sworkforcehasdroppedfrom approximately 40,000 people a year ago to 35,000 as of June 30. At the endof 2009, Sunrisehad
$440 million in debt that was either maturing in 2010 or in de- fault to lenders. That number is now thought to be under $100 million, according toDoctrow. AStifelNicolaus analyst report
Monday said the transaction “will be positive for both companies.”
heatht@washpost.com
Verizon to repay customers for accidental data fees BY CECILIA KANG Verizon Wireless is trying to
make goodwith its customers for wrongly billing them$50million for data services they didn’t intend to use, but it still faces scrutiny from federal regulators that could expose the company tomore penalties. The Federal Communication
Commission said Sunday eve- ning that it will continue its formal investigation intoVerizon Wireless data charges to explore why the nation’s biggest wireless provider took so long to pay back its customers for a practice that had been occurring over more than two years. The agency could pursue fines if it determines that Verizon intentionally duped its customers into paying for servic- es they did not request. Analysts said that greater
scrutiny by federal regulators of billing and service issues could put pressure on cable and tele- comcompanies beyond just Veri- zon. The FCC would not confirm
that its investigation encompass- es other carriers, but analysts said the problems of confusing billing and overcharges are in- dustry-wide. “We see this as part of a trend of the government, and the FCC in particular, taking up consumer protection actions that in the aggregate could cre- ate some cost increases and reve- nue pressure,” said Rebecca Ar- bogast, head of tech policy re- search at Stifel Nicholaus invest- ment firmin the District. The FCCwill propose a regula-
tion next week that would re- quire cellphone makers to alert users by text message and other
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
Verizon says it will refund 15 million subscribers more than $50 million for erroneously charging them for services they didn’t sign up for. Verizon Wireless said Sunday
meanswhen they suddenly incur greater charges and fees. A sur- vey by the agency found that 30 million cellphone users said they experienced “bill shock,” with extra charges on their monthly bills for data overcharges and other fees. The agency has also proposed
updating truth-in-billing rules that require companies to better disclose their billing practices so
users understand in clear lan- guage each line-itemcharge. “All of these policies need to be
combined into one comprehen- sive policy so that consumers can finally feel like they have some control over the cellphone ser- vices they sign up for,” said Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst at Free Press, a group that advocates for media and communications re- form.
that it would refund 15 million customers, or one-sixth of its subscribers, more than $50 mil- lion for erroneously charging themfor Internet and other data services they didn’t sign up for. The company had said in a
letter to the FCC in December that it wasn’t charging custom- ers for unintentional data servic- es,whichwould include acciden-
A11
tally launching aWeb browser. Verizon didn’t respond to
questions about the FCC’s con- tinued investigation. “Questions remain as to why it took Verizon two years to reimburse its cus- tomers and why greater disclo- sure and other corrective actions did not come much, much soon- er,” said Michele Ellison, the FCC’s chief of enforcement.
kangc@washpost.com
GTSI shares plunge after suspension from new government contract work BY STEVEN OVERLY
Capital Business Staff Writer Shares of GTSI plummeted
Monday after a federal agency temporarily barred the informa- tion technology company from new government contracts and a potential suitor withdrew an of- fer to buy the Herndon-based company. EyakTechnology — or Eyak-
Tek, as the Dulles company is known — has tried repeatedly in recent weeks to acquire GTSI and a spokesman said any future bidswill depend on the impact of the suspension, which the Small
6Monitor your investments
atwashingtonpost.com/markets
Daily Stock Market Performance Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
11,500 11,000 10,500 10,000 9500
Nasdaq Composite Index
2600 2400 2200 2000
S&P 500 Index 1220
1170 1120 1070 1020
1137.03 –0.8 +2.0 2344.52 –1.1 +3.3 10,751.27
Close %Chg –0.7
Daily
%Chg +3.1
YTD
Business Administration dis- closed Friday afternoon. GTSI stock tumbled $2.90, or
40 percent, on Monday to close at $4.35 per share. EyakTek had offered to buy
GTSI for asmuch as $7.50 a share before rescinding the offer. GTSI had repeatedly rebuffed Eyak- Tek’s unsolicited offers, deeming them too low. GTSI owns 37 percent of EyakTek, a provider of infrastructure, security and in- formation technology systems to the government. The decision to temporarily
suspend GTSI from new federal work came after the company's relationship with smaller con-
tractors became the focus of an internal SBA examination and the subject of a report by The Washington Post. In Friday’s notice of suspen-
sion, the SBA accused GTSI of inappropriately using other firms to gain access to contracts allotted for small businesses. The Post report said GTSI had teamed up with an Alaska native corporation called Eyak Corp. to form EyakTek and pursue gov- ernment work. Under federal law, Alaska native corporations are eligible for certain contracts without competition. In an open letter Friday, GTSI chief executive Scott W. Fried-
THEMARKETS
Industry Group Automobiles
Gas Utilities
Internet & Catalog Retail Power Prodct & Enrgy Trdr Real Estate Mgmt & Dev Diversified Consumer Svcs Paper & Forest Products Consumer Finance
S&P 500 Industry Group Snapshot Daily
Health Care Technology REITS
%Chg 4.49 1.24 0.44 0.33 0.24
–2.17 –2.43 –2.63 –3.55 –4.51
International Stock Markets Daily
Americas
Brazil (Bovespa) Canada (S&P/TSX Comp.) Mexico (Bolsa) Europe
Eurozone (DJ Stoxx 600) France (CAC 40) Germany (DAX) U.K. (FTSE 100)
Asia Pacific O N D J F M A M J
Company 3M
Alcoa
AmExp AT&T BoA
Boeing
Caterpillar Chevron
Exxon Mobil GE
Home Depot HP
Dow Jones 30 Industrials Daily
Close 86.70
11.92 39.05 28.86 13.15 66.33 77.27 81.31
Cisco Systems 21.76 Coca-Cola DuPont
58.88 44.42 62.19 16.10 31.67 40.64
%Chg %Chg –1.1
–2.5 –6.5 0.2
–1.1
–0.7 –1.2 –0.8 –0.7 –0.4 –1.0 –0.6 –1.6 –0.5 –0.3
Other Measures Index
Post-Bloomberg DC Area Index CBOE Volatility (VIX)
YTD 4.9
–26.1 –3.6 3.0
–12.7 22.5 35.6 5.6
–9.1 3.3
31.9 –8.8 6.4 9.5
–21.1 Close
DJ Total Stock Market Index 11,895.80 Russell 2000
669.45 196.78 23.53
J A S
Company IBM
Intel J&J
JPMorgCh Kraft Foods McDonald's Merck
Microsoft P&G Co Pfizer
Travelers
United Tech Verizon
Wal-Mart Walt Disney
Close 135.25
18.87 61.67 38.95 30.94 74.95 36.52 23.91 59.96 16.90 52.12 70.53 33.03 53.57 33.14
Daily%Chg –0.9 –1.4 –0.5 4.6
%Chg %Chg –0.3
Daily
–2.3 –0.1 0.4
–0.9 0.0
–0.2 –1.9 –0.3 –1.6 0.0
–0.8 0.4 0.4
–0.6
YTD 3.3
–7.5 –4.3 –6.5 13.8 20.0 –0.1
–21.6 –1.1 –7.1 4.5 1.6 6.7 0.2 2.8
YTD%Chg 3.5 7.0 5.0 8.5
Australia (ASX 200) China (CSI 300) Hong Kong (Hang Seng) Japan (Nikkei)
4625.30 2935.57
22,618.66 9381.06
Cross Currency Rates EU €
US $ per EU € per
Japan ¥ per Britain £ per Brazil R$ per
Canada $ per Mexico $ per
0.7307
83.4200 0.6316 1.6981 1.0228
12.5876
114.1500 0.8644 2.3239 1.3998 17.2266
Interest Rates Consumer Rates
Money market funds 6-Month CDs 1-Year CDs 5-Year CDs New car loan Home-equity loan
0.75 0.80 1.08 2.23 5.80 7.17
1.0 2.1 1.2
–0.2
US$Brazil R$ Canada$Mexico $ 1.3685
Japan ¥ 0.0120 0.0088
0.0076 0.0204 0.0123 0.1510
Britain £ 1.5833 1.1569
132.0700
2.6886 1.6195
19.9304
0.5888 0.4303
49.0917 0.3719
0.6023 7.4130
0.9777 0.7144
81.5500 0.6175 1.6604
12.3053
0.0794 0.0581 6.6260 0.0502 0.1349 0.0813
Close
70,384.92 12,322.94 34,040.17
257.74
3649.81 6134.21 5555.97
%Chg 0.2
–0.3 0.7
–0.5 –1.1 –1.2 –0.7
YTD%Chg –20%
–5.0% 0 +5.0%
Commodities Futures
Copper Corn
Crude Oil Gold
Natural Gas
$3.6575 $4.7150 $81.47
$1315.40 $3.73
Close %Chg –0.7 +1.2 –0.1 –0.1 –1.8
Daily
Orange Juice Silver
Soybeans Sugar Wheat
0% +20%
Exchange-Traded (Ticker) %Chg Coffee (COFF.L) Copper (COPA.L) Corn (CORN.L) Cotton (COTN.L) Crude Oil (CRUD.L) Gasoline (UGAS.L) Gold (BULL.L)
–3.6 –0.4 –2.6 –4.0 1.1 1.9
Natural Gas (NGAS.L) Silver (SLVR.L)
Gainers Actel Corp
Sara Lee
Microsemi Arctic Cat Regeneron
Liz Claiborne Ford Motor Co
Apogee Enterprises Wynn Resorts
Church & Dwight Mednax Inc
Mercury Computer Electronic Arts
Kimco Realty Corp Dean Foods
Harley-Davidson
Cathay Gen Bancorp Post Properties Helen of Troy Ltd
RegencyCentersCorp
0.29% 0.25% 3.25%
Bank Prime Federal Funds LIBOR 3-Month
3.18% 3.84% 4.47%
10-year note Yield:
30-Year fixed mortgage 15-Year fixed mortgage 1-Year ARM
5-year note Yield:
2.48 1.23
4:30 p.m. New York time.
–0.1 –3.0 –0.2
Gainers and Losers from the S&P 1500 Index Daily
$20.95 $14.40 $18.30 $10.97 $28.27 $6.57
$12.84 $9.63
$90.51 $67.68 $55.08 $12.79 $16.96 $16.27 $10.61 $29.42 $12.19 $29.11 $26.49 $40.60
Close %Chg 30.8
7.2 7.0 6.3 5.9 5.1 4.7 4.7 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.4 3.2 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.5
Losers GenCorp
Pre-Paid Legal Svcs LenderProcServices Cyberonics
ION Geophysical Cross Country Hlth American Express LCA-Vision
GibraltarIndustries Affymetrix
Temple-Inland
Heidrick&Struggles KendleInternational Century Aluminum Enzo Biochem TrueBlue Inc
JDA Software Group Strayer Education HNI Corp
Coldwater Creek
2-year note Yield:
6-month bill Yield:
0.41 0.18
Note:Bank prime is from 10 major banks. Federal Funds rate is the market rate,which can vary from the federal target rate.LIBOR is the London Interbank OfferedRate. Consumer rates are from Bankrate. All figures as of
Close %Chg $4.68 –13.3
Daily
$58.06 $28.76 $25.54 $4.83 $6.63
$39.05 $5.21 $8.54 $4.29 $18.12 $18.53 $8.95 $12.79 $3.68 $13.04
–9.2 –8.6 –7.8 –7.6 –7.0 –6.5 –6.5 –6.2 –5.9 –5.7 –5.6 –5.6 –5.4 –5.4 –5.4
$23.00 –5.2 $168.00 $27.60 $5.08
Treasury Performance Over Past Three Months
–5.1 –4.9 –4.9
Value of $1000 invested for the past: Daily
$800
lander pledged to fight the alle- gations and “restore our good name.” He added: “Until tonight, no government agency hadmade an allegation that GTSI had vio- lated any law or regulations regarding thismatter.” Eyak Corp., based in Cordova,
Alaska, issued a response Mon- day to The Post’s report. “We embrace a solemn responsibility
to protect the interests of our shareholders,” chief executive Rod Worl said in a statement. “We are proud to have observed both the letter and the spirit of the legal requirements of all of the government programs, spe- cific contracts, and relevant leg- islation pertaining to our busi- ness.”
overlys@washpost.com
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Data and graphics by
$1.5465 $22.04
$10.5400 $0.2299 $6.4725
day $1000
Close %Chg –0.6 –0.1 –0.3 –1.4 –1.2
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month $1200
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