In the Region

Lockheed wins $1B contract

Lockheed Martin Corp. said yesterday that its Moorestown plant was awarded a $1 billion contract by the Defense Department for continued development of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Weapon System. Under the five-year contract, the company's Surface-Sea Based Missile Defense business will design, develop and install further Aegis ballistic missile defense capability for the United States and allied navies. Aegis is a radar naval defense system. Lockheed, Bethesda, Md., has 4,700 employees in Moorestown. - Paul Schweizer

ING banking arm to be sold

ING Direct Bank, the Wilmington telephone/online banking arm of troubled Dutch-Belgian giant ING Group, will be sold by 2013 as part of a deal with the Dutch government, chief executive Arkadi Kuhlmann told 1,200 workers in Wilmington and another 1,000 in Minnesota and other sites in a "town meeting." It's part of a restructuring plan the bank arranged with European regulators to sell assets and raise cash in exchange for public financial support. ING also owns insurance and investment operations in Frazer, Wilmington and Radnor, among other places. - Joseph N. DiStefano

PHH hires a new CEO

PHH Corp., a Mount Laurel firm that owns a mortgage lender and a vehicle fleet management firm, hired Jerome J. Selitto as president and chief executive officer. Selitto, who was also named to the PHH board of directors, most recently worked at Ellie Mae Inc., a supplier of software to the mortgage industry. From 1992 to 1999, he was vice chairman of Amerin Guaranty Corp., which merged with a predecessor to Philadelphia's Radian Group Inc., a mortgage insurer. George Kilroy, who was acting president and CEO of PHH, will continue to lead the company's fleet management business and be a director. Kilroy had taken over after the ouster of Terence W. Edwards by PHH's largest investor, Pennant Capital Management L.L.C. - Harold Brubaker

3Q revenues down by half

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P., the Philadelphia oil pipeline operator, said its third-quarter revenue fell by half, to $1.43 billion, while net income dropped 3.6 percent, to $48.5 million. A year-over-year decline of nearly 50 percent in crude oil prices was the "key driver" in the revenue decline, the company said. Earnings per share for the three months ended Sept. 30 fell to $1.13, from $1.41 a year earlier. Sunoco Logistics is 40 percent owned by oil refiner Sunoco Inc. The company declared a cash distribution of $1.065 per common partnership unit - a 10.4 percent increase over the third quarter of 2008. - Reid Kanaley

Cephalon signs option to buy firm

Drug company Cephalon Inc., Frazer, said it would make an up-front payment of $30 million for an option to acquire BioAssets Development Corp., a privately held biopharmaceutical company in Wellesley, Mass. Cephalon did not say what additional payment it would make if it exercises the option. But it said BioAssets stockholders could also receive added future payments for meeting regulatory and sales milestones. BioAssets is developing a treatment for sciatica pain. Cephalon had 2008 revenue of $2.11 billion. - Reid Kanaley

Solar roofer to open plant

SRS Energy, a Philadelphia developer of solar roofing products, intends to open a manufacturing plant in Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County, by the first quarter of next year. SRS said an initial 50 jobs would be created at the new production facility. - Diane Mastrull

Tyco Electronics selling Australia unit

Tyco Electronics Ltd., which is incorporated in Switzerland but run from offices in Berwyn, is selling an Australian division that makes transmission line hardware products for $16 million. Preformed Line Products Co., Mayfield Village, Ohio, said it would acquire the Dulmison division. - Roslyn Rudolph

Elsewhere

Firm cuts 2,500 laid-off workers

Caterpillar Inc. said about 2,500 laid-off employees would be permanently cut from the company and 550 others would be brought back to work by the end of next year. The workers are among more than 22,000 laid off earlier this year as Caterpillar dramatically scaled back production due to weaker demand amid the global economic downturn. The Peoria, Ill., company has cut 16 percent of its workforce, which now stands at just above 94,000. - AP

Grid projects to be announced

President Obama and administration officials today will announce $3.4 billion in spending projects to modernize the nation's electric power system. Obama will detail the "smart grid" funding at a solar plant in Arcadia, Fla. White House officials say the projects will create tens of thousands of jobs in the near term and lay the groundwork for changing how Americans use and pay for energy. - McClatchy-Tribune

Demand up for indexed notes

The U.S. Treasury sold $7 billion of 4 1/2-year inflation-indexed notes at a yield of 0.769 percent, as demand rose relative to the last auction of securities with the same maturity. The bid/cover ratio, which gauges demand by comparing the number of bids with the amount of securities sold, rose to 3.10 from 2.66 at the last auction. - Bloomberg News

Rates rise for six-month T-bills

Interest rates on six-month Treasury bills rose for the second straight week in yesterday's auction after nearly two months of record lows, while rates on three-month bills fell. The Treasury Department auctioned $29 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.075 percent, down from 0.080 percent last week. Another $30 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 0.185 percent, up from 0.170 percent last week. The discount rates reflect the bills sold for less than face value. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,998.10, while a six-month bill sold for $9,990.65. - AP

Yields increase for 1-years

The Federal Reserve said yesterday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages, rose to 0.39 percent last week from 0.36 percent the previous week. - AP