Acquisition

UAL Corp., the parent of United Airlines, said yesterday that it is postponing its decision on whether to pursue an acquisition of USAir Group Inc.The Chicago-based airline had been expected to reach a decision by early November after a monthlong study of USAir's finances and its operating structure. A preliminary recommendation was expected to be made today to the airline's board of directors.But a spokesman for the company said yesterday that a number of complex issues prompted the company to delay its decision until mid-November.

A Dutch equipment wholesaler has bought Hagerstown-based Tristate Electrical & Electronics Supply Co. Inc. for an undisclosed amount.The buyer, Hagemeyer N.V., announced the acquisition yesterday.Tristate, with 525 employees and 34 branches in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, is the leading electrical distributor in the mid-Atlantic, with annual sales of $192 million. The company supplies materials such as cables, switch gears, lamps and lighting products, and delivers technical support and services to contractors, industry and government institutions.

Provident Bankshares Corp. reported yesterday a 41 percent increase in first-quarter profit as the bank benefited from its acquisition of Southern Financial Bancorp and as commercial loans rose. The Baltimore-based bank had net income of $18.1 million in the first three months of this year, up from $12.9 million in the year-earlier period. Its earnings of 54 cents per diluted share fell one penny short of Wall Street estimates compiled by Thomson Financial. Provident's stock price slid in morning trading, later recovering to close at $30.96, up 1.7 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange.

New York -- In a generation that has witnessed flights to the moon, the splitting of the atom and the invention of the microchip, the most lucrative invention of all could be the Marlboro cowboy.Wall Street's decade-long infatuation with Philip Morris' tobacco-driven profits has pushed the company's total market value past that of General Electric Co. and IBM, twostandard-bearers of U.S. industry. At $68 billion in market capitalization, Philip Morris ranks, behind only Exxon's $74 billion.

The father-and-son owners of Baltimore-based Dryden Oil Co. announced yesterday that they have agreed to sell the nearly 100-year-old manufacturer of industrial lubricants to Castrol Inc., a Wayne, N.J., subsidiary of a British company, Burmah Castrol PLC.The sale, for an undisclosed amount, will leave Dryden President Lindsay Dryden III with operating control of the company, which employs about 450 people in 17 locations around the Eastern United States,...

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Discovery Zone Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection yesterday as the operator of children's indoor entertainment facilities said its rapid expansion burdened it with too much debt.The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company, whose bankruptcy filing had been expected for nearly two months, said it plans to reorganize. Discovery Zone said it would soon close unprofitable locations and renegotiate leases for some of its 330 centers in North America and Europe.Separately, Discovery Zone said it named Donna Moore its chief executive officer, president and a director.

Constellation Energy Group has agreed to acquire a Tulsa, Okla., natural gas company for $22.5 million, the Baltimore company announced Thursday. The proposed purchase of ONEOK Energy Marketing Co. would be the third acquisition this year that helps expand Constellation's retail business. ONEOK's 26,100 customers would bring Constellation's total retail consumers to almost 1.1 million. ONEOK does business in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Wyoming and Illinois. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

DigitalNet Inc., a privately held technology company in Bethesda, said yesterday that it completed the $223 million acquisition of a U.S. unit of Europe's third-largest computer services company. The deal for Getronics Government Solutions - which included $35 million in preferred stock and the rest in cash - was funded partly by a bank loan and partly by a Chicago-based private equity firm, GTCR Golder Rauner LLC. "We view this opportunity as a classic example of what we do, which is backing exceptional management teams in industries that we think have the right fundamentals in terms of growth and scale," said Craig A. Bondy, a vice president at GTCR.

Manugistics Inc., a Rockville inventory management firm, has agreed to buy a Canadian software company in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $68 million.The purchase of closely held Promira Software Inc. of Ottawa is ** intended to broaden Manugistics' client base. Both Manugistics and Promira develop software to help companies manage their supply chains, but the two companies focus on somewhat different markets."This acquisition allows us to enter a new set of industries, primarily high-technology electronics and motor vehicles.

Constellation Energy Group announced Monday that it completed a $1.1 billion deal to buy five power plants in the Boston area, increasing the company's energy-producing capacity by a third. The purchase is one of the Baltimore company's largest acquisition in years. Under the agreement, Constellation acquired four natural gas plants and one fuel oil facility from Boston Generating, which had filed for bankruptcy protection. The fleet produces 2,950 megawatts of power. Constellation currently serves 13.3 terawatt hours of customer load in the New England market, and prior to the deal, it did not have any power-generating facilities there.