TRW rejects merger offer

Cleveland-based TRW Inc. shareholders on Friday blocked a $6.7 billion hostile takeover bid by defense contractor Northrop Grumman.

Northrop Grumman officials said they would announce Monday whether they still planned to try to buy the company.

“I would characterize it as a clear cut victory,” said TRW chairman Philip Odeen, pictured above, which is involved in aerospace, defense, automotive parts and information technology. No official vote total was immediately available Friday.

Northrop Grumman had been trying to go directly to TRW shareholders since the suburban Cleveland company’s board twice rejected its bids as inadequate.

Securities: Second conviction made in area investment program

An Overland Park man has pleaded guilty to felony securities violations for selling $1 million in worthless promissory notes.

Alan Charles Ellebrecht, 54, will be sentenced June 14. He pleaded guilty Thursday in Douglas County District Court to two counts of selling securities without being registered as a broker, and of selling unregistered securities.

According to the Kansas Securities Commissioner’s office, Ellebrecht began recruiting investors for Premier Capital 1 and Premier Capital Mortgage, businesses he managed with John Carland of Lawrence. Carland previously was convicted of securities fraud for his role in the ventures.

The men claimed their businesses would profit from collecting bad debt and loaning money to people who buy manufactured homes.

The notes were sold to 23 Kansans and one person from Arizona. One Kansas family a mother in her 90s and her two daughters invested $490,000.

Bankruptcy: Enron planning for recovery

Enron Corp. on Friday unveiled its proposal to emerge from bankruptcy as a mover of electricity and natural gas, with operations stretching from the United States to South America.

Enron’s name would disappear under the proposal outlined during a closed-door meeting with creditors in New York, said interim chief executive Stephen Cooper. Their support is crucial for the success of the plan, and Cooper said the creditors received it favorably.

The new company or companies, under the working title OpCo Energy Co., would have more than 15,000 miles of pipeline and $10.8 billion in total assets.

The company has no plans to go back into the energy trading business, which Enron developed and turned into its most profitable unit.