Business news in brief

Cigna Corp., the Philadelphia insurer of employer-based health plans, said it would freeze its pension plan for current workers to save an estimated $40 million a year. The company's 26,000 employees won't earn any new benefits under the cost-cutting plan, scheduled to begin July 1, said Arlys Stadum, a spokeswoman for Cigna. Cigna's 40,000 retirees won't be affected by the measures, she said in a telephone interview. - Bloomberg News

Crown Holdings Inc., a Philadelphia maker of metal food and beverage containers, said in a regulatory filing that on Friday it completed the sale of $400 million in six-year notes. That sale is another sign that capital markets are improving, giving corporations easier access to money for their businesses. The interest rate on the senior secured notes is 7.63 percent. Shares closed down 31 cents at $22.65. - Harold Brubaker

Broder Bros. Co., a clothing wholesaler in Trevose, said that through Friday, holders of $206.4 million of $225 million in debt had tendered their notes in a proposed debt-for-equity swap. A minimum of $213.75 million is needed by Thursday to complete the proposed swap and avoid filing for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. Broder, which is majority-owned by buyout firm Bain Capital Inc., warned debt holders that the offer was probably better than the one they would receive in bankruptcy court. - Harold Brubaker

Windstream Corp., a Little Rock phone company, said it had agreed to buy D&E Communications for $159 million in stock and cash in a deal that would double the size of its business in Pennsylvania. Windstream also would assume $171 million in debt from D&E, which is based in Ephrata, Lancaster County. - AP

WPCS International Inc., an Exton communications infrastructure company, said it had received about $6 million in new contracts. "Over the last month, we have seen an increase in bid activity, indicating to us that infrastructure expenditures are being planned," said Myron Polulak, executive vice president. - Christopher K. Hepp

Banco Santander S.A., Spain's biggest bank and parent of Sovereign Bancorp, will offer shareholders the option to receive part of their dividend in stock. It paid 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in dividends for 2008. By offering the "scrip" option, Santander will give shareholders greater flexibility in how they're paid, including the opportunity to avoid withholding tax levied on cash dividends. - Bloomberg News

The Obama administration proposed $58 billion in additional taxes to offset budgeting errors that overstated revenues in the president's plan to finance a health- care overhaul. The tax measures target a host of activities, including aggressively reducing for tax purposes the value of property received as gifts or in estates. The largest budgeting error overstated the money that would be raised by limiting charitable and other deductions for high-income taxpayers. - AP

A Manhattan lawyer has pleaded guilty to defrauding hedge funds of more than $400 million. Marc Dreier, 58, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The charges carry a potential prison term of 30 years to life in prison. - AP

About 1,650 former employees of Mortgage Lenders Network, including about 90 in Horsham, will divide a $2.7 million settlement from the bankrupt firm. The Connecticut company failed to provide the required 60-day warning to employees that it would close, said their lawyer, Charles A. Ercole of Klehr, Harrison, Harvey, Branzburg & Ellers L.L.P. in Philadelphia. The company had argued in bankruptcy court in Delaware that the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act allows companies not to give the notice if business conditions change too quickly. The company, which closed in January 2007, was one of the first businesses struck down as the subprime-mortgage market collapsed. - Jane M. Von Bergen

Beleaguered insurer American International Group Inc. said it was selling its Japanese headquarters to Nippon Life Insurance Co. for $1.2 billion in cash. The transaction, which would be among the biggest divestitures AIG has made to reimburse the U.S. government for its massive infusion of aid, is expected to close in the second quarter. The 15-story building sits on prime real estate in central Tokyo, next to the Imperial Palace. - AP

Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in yesterday's auction. The Treasury Department auctioned $31 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.190 percent, down from 0.195 percent last week. Another $29 billion in six-

month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.305 percent, down from 0.330 percent last week. The discount rates reflect that the bills sell for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,995.20, while a six-month bill sold for $9,984.58. - AP

The Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, rose to 0.53 percent last week from 0.50 percent the previous week. - AP

Members of the Boston Globe's largest union will vote June 8 whether to ratify wage and benefit cuts that the newspaper's parent company, the New York Times Co., is demanding to keep the 137-year-old daily from closing. The Globe reported that Boston Newspaper Guild members will vote on proposals for an 8.3 percent wage cut and a five-day unpaid furlough, for a total pay cut of roughly 10 percent. - AP