Telecommunications: AT&T receives subpoena in analyst investigation

AT&T has been subpoenaed by New York investigators probing whether a top analyst for Citigroup Inc. upgraded his rating on the telecommunication giant’s stock to help the bank land a role advising on a $10.6 billion deal.

AT&T spokeswoman Eileen Connolly confirmed Friday that the company received the subpoena from Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer’s office, and is providing documents to investigators. She declined to elaborate.

A source familiar with the matter said the subpoena focuses on whether telecommunications analyst Jack Grubman changed his rating on AT&T to help Citigroup’s Salomon Smith Barney investment banking division win the role underwriting AT&T’s April 2000 deal.

Retail: Kmart won’t need loan

In perhaps a sign that bankrupt retailer Kmart Corp.’s finances are improving, the company said it would not seek any additional financing to help it operate through the upcoming holiday shopping season.

The discount retailer as late as last week said it believed it would need to add to its $2 billion line of credit to make vendors more comfortable with Kmart’s ability to pay its bills.

But Friday, company officials said “substantially all” its vendors had resumed shipping goods under normal terms, alleviating the need for an additional loan.

The company also said it expected its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to improve significantly this year.

In Lawrence, Kmart operates a discount store on south Iowa Street and has a distribution center in the northern part of the city that employs approximately 600 workers.

Agreement: Delta forms partnership with two other airlines

Passengers on Delta, Northwest and Continental could seamlessly transfer flights between the airlines as early as next spring under an agreement announced Friday.

Atlanta-based Delta, the third-largest airline in the country, said it planned to join and expand the existing partnership between No. 4 carrier Northwest and No. 5 Continental.

If federal regulators clear their new code-sharing agreement, the airlines would sell seats on each other’s flights, and travelers would be able to get frequent-flier miles on any of the airlines.

Leo F. Mullin, Delta’s chairman and chief executive, said the agreement will allow each airline to effectively add at least 650 daily domestic flights to their current totals.

Candy: Pennsylvania to fight potential Hershey sale

Pennsylvania’s top legal officer asked a state court to issue a restraining order against a possible sale of Hershey Foods Corp., saying “it’s time to put a halt” to a transaction that he said could harm the community.

The request, filed in Dauphin County Orphans Court, is the latest step state Atty. Gen. Mike Fisher and his office have taken to discourage the Hershey Trust Co. from auctioning its controlling stake in the nation’s largest candymaker.

The move came less than two weeks after Fisher asked a state court to review any sale and disclosed that his office is drafting legislation intended to discourage a sale by requiring trustees to consider community interests before selling a controlling stake in a for-profit company.