Insurance merger wins federal antitrust approval

Federal antitrust officials have cleared the way for the merger of the St. Paul Cos. Inc. and Travelers Property Casualty Corp. — a deal that would form the second-largest U.S. commercial insurer.

The Federal Trade Commission finished its review Tuesday of the combination, which was announced Nov. 17, without raising objections to the deal. That decision marks the first major regulatory hurdle cleared since the merger was announced last month.

Shareholders in both companies still must approve the merger, which is also subject to review by insurance regulators in a number of states, said Shane Boyd, a spokesman for the St. Paul.

Two lawsuits have been filed by Travelers shareholders, who claim they are getting a bad deal in the planned merger.

The combined Travelers-St. Paul would be based in St. Paul, Minn.

Telecommunications

AT&T freezes salaries

AT&T Corp. will halt salary increases for 43,000 nonunion workers until April 2005 as part of its effort to trim its costs.

The employees had been scheduled to receive merit raises in April 2004. Bonuses will be paid out as scheduled in March.

The freeze was announced Friday in an e-mail to employees by Dave Dorman, AT&T chairman and chief executive.

“By April 2005, business conditions permitting, we expect to resume merit increases on an annual basis, once again tying them to the yearly performance review cycle,” Dorman said.

Spokeswoman Tracey Belko could not immediately say how much the company stands to save from the freeze.

New York-based AT&T, the nation’s largest long-distance carrier, has 64,000 employees.

Wall Street

Markets closed today

U.S. stock and commodities markets are closed today in observance of Christmas. All markets will reopen Friday for a half day of trading. Full-day trading is scheduled to resume on Monday.