BUSINESS BRIEFS

VIRGINIA

Appalachian Power to raise rates 7.7 percent

Appalachian Power Co. has the go-ahead to raise its Virginia rates 7.7 percent to recover the cost of purchasing fuel for power generation.

The State Corporation Commission said yesterday that it had reduced the company's request by more than $97 million. It approved an increase of $129.5 million to recover fuel costs from July through August 2010.

The SCC says a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month will pay about $7.16 more. Under the company's proposal, the bill would have been $12.21 a month higher, or 13 percent.

UR holding session on MBA program admission

The University of Richmond's Robins School of Business begins its first monthly informational admission meetings about its MBA program tomorrow.

Prospective MBA students can join Lois Vogle, the program coordinator, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at UR's downtown center, 626 E. Broad St., to get admissions questions answered. The meetings will take place the first Wednesday of every month there.

Lunch will be provided for registrants only. While the deadline has past to get lunch for tomorrow's program, interested students can still show up.

90 marine-cargo workers to lose jobs

Management of Virginia's marine-cargo terminals will lay off 90 workers as container volume continues to slump.

The layoffs announced yesterday represent about one-fifth of the work force employed by Virginia International Terminals Inc., the port authority's management entity.

The layoffs are the first in its 28-year history. The port authority's marine terminals are in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News and a hub in Front Royal.

SouthPeak Interactive has new board member

SouthPeak Interactive Corp., a video game publisher based in Chesterfield County, said videogame industry veteran Paul Eibeler has joined its board.

Eibeler is best known for his leadership at Take-Two Interactive. During his tenure as president and CEO of Take-Two, the company grew from $250 million in revenue to more than $1.3 billion. He is currently chairman of Cokem International, a leading interactive software distribution company.

THE NATION

CIT clears hurdle in restructuring effort

CIT Group Inc. yesterday cleared another hurdle in its restructuring effort as it attempts to avoid bankruptcy protection, saying it has received enough offers to complete a debt repurchase program.

The embattled commercial lender, which nearly collapsed last month, said that as of Friday nearly 65 percent of $1 billion in bonds due Aug. 17 have been tendered for repurchase. CIT Group has said failing to complete the offer could result in a bankruptcy filing.

CIT, which is one of the nation's largest lenders to small and midsize businesses, said it needs 58 percent of the debt to be tendered for repurchase to complete the deal.

Bank of America to pay $33 million to settle suit

Bank of America Corp. has agreed to pay a $33 million penalty to settle government charges that it misled investors about Merrill Lynch's plans to pay bonuses to its executives, regulators said yesterday.

In seeking approval to buy Merrill, Bank of America told investors that Merrill would not pay year-end bonuses without Bank of America's consent. But the Securities and Exchange Commission said Bank of America had authorized New York-based Merrill to pay up to $5.8 billion in bonuses.

Elsewhere

• Federal regulators are seeking more than $22 million from Charles Conaway, the former CEO of Kmart Corp., who was found liable for misleading investors about the company's finances before a bankruptcy filing in 2002.

• Bank of America Corp. shuffled some of its top executives and said one might be in a position to succeed CEO Ken Lewis. One of the changes brought former Citigroup Chief Financial Officer Sallie Krawcheck to BofA to run its global wealth and investment management operation. She is taking over for Brian Moynihan, who will become head of consumer banking. Moynihan is succeeding Liam McGee, who is leaving the company after nearly 20 years.

• American International Group Inc. selected ex-MetLife Inc. CEO Robert Benmosche as the company's fifth leader since 2005.

• Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple Inc.'s board because of the companies' conflicting interests as competition between the one-time allies heats up. The split comes weeks after Google unveiled plans for a personal computer operating system that could siphon sales from Apple's Mac line.

• About 6,000 General Motors Co. blue-collar workers have taken the latest round of early retirement and buyout offers, but it fell short of GM's goal, meaning that about 7,500 too few workers took the offers and more layoffs are likely.

-- From Staff and Wire Reports