Crane rental company in bankruptcy

Maxim Crane Works, the nation's largest crane rental company, with operations in Cincinnati, has worked out a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy with its senior creditors.

Under the plan, the Pittsburgh-based company said its total debt will be cut from $700 million to $450 million, and senior secured lenders will receive most of the equity in the reorganized company.

Maxim was created through a series of acquisitions including Carlisle Equipment Co. in Wilder, Ky, in 1999 and Kings Crane Services in Cincinnati in 2000.

Hillenbrand completes sale of Air-Shields

Hillenbrand Industries Inc. in Batesville, Ind., said it has completed the previously announced sale of its Hill-Rom Air-Shields infant care business to Drager Medical based in Luebeck, Germany.

The purchase price for the Hatboro, Pa., business which employs 200 and had revenues last year of $50 million wasn't announced. Hillenbrand said the sale didn't include Hill-Rom's maternal care business.

Ford announces date for Lorain closing

LORAIN, Ohio - Ford Motor Co. said it will close its Lorain Assembly Plant in late 2005, resulting in the loss of about 1,200 jobs. Ford previously had said it would close within four years, but gave no timeline.

Production of the plant's Econoline van will shift to the Ohio Assembly Plant in nearby Avon Lake by January 2006, Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari said. Production of the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner at the Avon Lake plant will be transferred to a Kansas City, Mo., plant in August 2005.

The company gave details to workers on Wednesday. Ford is cutting short a seven-year commitment made in August 2002 to keep production of the Escape at the Avon Lake plant and that will eliminate some state funding for Ford, said Bruce Johnson, director of the Ohio Department of Development.

Report: Women get less venture capital

It hasn't gotten any easier for women to attract the attention or the dollars of venture capitalists, according to a recent gender-based venture capital report.

The national "Venture Funding for Women Entrepreneurs" report paints a bleak picture of financing for women-led companies and of women executives at venture-backed businesses. The report, conducted by Growthink Research and Reinvention Inc., reflects a large funding gap between the sexes and an industry still dominated by men.

Eighty-four women-led businesses received just 4.1 percent, or $783.8 million, of the more than $19 billion in venture capital raised by 1,860 U.S. private companies in 2003, the report said.

PETA says Dalai Lama opposes KFC in Tibet

The Dalai Lama has appealed to Louisville-based Yum! Brands Inc. not to open a fast-food KFC chicken outlet in his homeland of Tibet, according to an animal rights advocacy group.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released a letter it said was from the Dalai Lama, telling the restaurant chain that his people believe in slaughtering animals humanely - and eat larger ones such as yaks so that fewer animals will die. Most Tibetans are not vegetarians.

In Louisville, a Yum! spokesman said the company had not received the letter. "We have no plans today to enter Tibet," the Yum! spokesman said.

Third hearing set on HMO merger plan

INDIANAPOLIS - A third public hearing in California to examine Anthem Inc.'s proposed $16.4 billion merger with WellPoint Health Networks has been scheduled for July 9 in Sacramento, Calif.

The new hearing means the merger of Anthem and WellPoint - which would create the nation's largest health benefits firm - cannot occur until at least midyear.

This spring, Anthem's chief financial and accounting officer said the earliest the merger could be finalized - pending approval from all parties - was July 1. The joining of Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based WellPoint - owner of Blue Cross of California - and Indianapolis-based Anthem would create an HMO with 26 million clients, the nation's largest.

Critics said the merger is tailored to provide a golden parachute to outgoing executives who have little stake in the new company's performance.

From wire reports