Business news in brief

New York state regulators overseeing Comcast Corp.'s acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc. are delaying a decision on the merger for more than a month. The New York Public Service Commission, which has the power to reject the deal between the cable giants, will vote Nov. 13 rather than Thursday, according to an agreement between the agency and Philadelphia-based Comcast filed Friday. The proposed merger, which would affect 2.2 million cable customers in the third most populous state, has generated almost 3,000 public comments, making this one of the most active proceedings in the commission's history, said James Denn, a PSC spokesman. - Bloomberg News

Capmark Financial Group Inc., the Horsham company that was formerly General Motors Acceptance Corp.'s commercial mortgage business, said it had agreed to buy Bluestem Brands Inc., of Eden Prairie, Minn., along with Bluestem's PayCheck Direct employee-purchase system, for $565 million in cash. Bluestem operates the online and direct-mail retailers Fingerhut and Gettington.com. As part of the deal, Steve Nave, Bluestem's chief executive officer, will become Capmark's CEO and a director. Capmark's present CEO, Bill Gallagher, and chief operating officer, Tom Fairfield, will continue to manage Capmark's remaining commercial finance assets. Centerbridge Partners L.P., which agreed to invest in Capmark in May, will name some other directors. Fairfield was not immediately available for comment on the effect of the deal on Capmark's remaining Horsham employees. - Joseph N. DiStefano

Architects Peter Saylor and Bill Gregg, whose firm SaylorGregg (formerly DagitSaylor) designed the new Karabots Pavilion at the Franklin Institute and other museum, performance, cafeteria and dormitory projects, have combined with JacobsWyper Architects. SaylorGregg will operate as a "cell" within JacobsWyper's offices at 1232 Chancellor St., the firms said in a statement. Jamie Wyper said the combination "enables us to compete for larger projects." He and partner Terry Jacobs count drugmakers Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca as clients, along with Amtrak, Wawa, and Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Swarthmore College. Together the firms employ 32 people. - Joseph N. DiStefano

The closed-door bankruptcy auction for Atlantic City's Revel Casino Hotel is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning at the New York offices of White & Case L.L.P. The auction was adjourned Wednesday before any bidding took place. The only public bid so far for the property is from Florida investor Glenn Straub, whose $90 million offer set the baseline for the auction. Revel's bankruptcy lawyers spent Wednesday working to get a qualified offer out of with at least one additional potential bidder who was not identified. - Harold Brubaker

Philadelphia-based Resource America Inc. said it would raise its quarterly cash dividend to 6 cents per share, the third increase since July 2013. Resource America is an asset management company. - Inquirer staff

Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in August, suggesting that real estate sales will remain sluggish over the next few months. The National Association of Realtors said Monday that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index fell 1 percent over the last month to 104.7. Higher prices and weak wage growth has limited buying, as the index is 2.2 percent below its level from a year ago. The five-year recovery from the recession has been uneven, such that historically low mortgage rates have failed to propel buying back to usual levels. Price increases going back to 2013 have led to fewer home buyers, while many families have lacked the income to save for down payments. - Associated Press

American consumer spending rose 0.5 percent in August after showing no gain in July, the Commerce Department reported Monday. About half of the increase was driven by auto sales. It was the best result since spending also expanded 0.5 percent in June. Income rose a modest 0.3 percent in August, slightly faster than a 0.2 percent July increase. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity. - AP

Macy's Inc. said it plans to hire about 86,000 seasonal workers at its Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores, call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers nationwide for the 2014 holiday season. The department store company hired about 83,000 in 2013, so this is an increase of about 3.6 percent. Most seasonal positions are part-time, and many involve working evenings, weekends or overnight. - Inquirer staff