Closing Price

MINNEAPOLIS -- Jostens Inc., the largest U.S. maker of yearbooks, class rings and achievement awards, accepted a buyout offer of about $950 million in cash and assumed debt yesterday from a company controlled by Investcorp.The takeover group, which includes Jostens management, will pay $25.25 a share, 38 percent more than Monday's closing price, and take on about $100 million in debt. The purchase price is about 7 percent less than Jostens' 52-week high of $27.125.Jostens' stock trades at less than it did six years ago amid high costs and stagnant sales.

The new Baltimore Bartenders Guild issues no seals of approval. It simply demands that prospective members give a damn about the ingredients and ingenuity of their cocktails. Since profiling the guild last month, I've been checking out members who are new to Baltimore, such as Adrian Ross-Boon of Wit & Wisdom. The results so far — including my most recent excursion to check out Tim Riley's work at Ten Ten — are proving that the guild's ethos is promoting effort, individuality and a desire to surprise customers with something they won't find at just any bar. The bar at the relatively new Harbor East bistro is considered, looks good and has knock-out cocktails.

An article in some editions yesterday about the debut of trading in Netscape Communications Corp. shares on the Nasdaq stock market misstated the total market value of the company. At its peak price of $75 a share on the first trading NTC day, the company's market value would have been approximately $2.85 billion. At its closing price of $58.25 that day, Netscape's market value was approximately $2.21 billion.The Sun regrets the error.

Buyers snatched up hundreds more homes last month than they did a year ago in the Baltimore metro area, a record 36 percent increase economists attributed to a mad rush to get an $8,000 federal tax credit. In September, area home sales had risen about 10 percent over the previous year. The tax credit, aimed at first-time buyers, was due to expire at the end of this month. Last week the program was extended and expanded, with higher income limits and a $6,500 credit for many homeowners buying again.

Federal Express Corp., seeking to snatch more business from strike-weakened United Parcel Service, is buying the Caliber System Inc. trucking company for about $2.4 billion in stock.The combination announced yesterday enables Federal Express to match UPS in offering a wide range of delivery options, from its trademark air express to the local-package traffic that Caliber handles.The deal also illustrates how the once-humdrum business necessities of inventory control, distribution and delivery have become crucial elements in corporate efforts to achieve an advantage.

ST. LOUIS -- Mercantile Bancorp Inc. agreed yesterday to acquire Roosevelt Financial Group Inc. for $1.07 billion, as Missouri's second-largest bank prepares to compete with growing regional rivals, such as Boatmen's Bancshares Inc.After the merger, Mercantile will have $30 billion of assets, 23 percent of all the money deposited in Missouri banks and thrifts.Mercantile also said it would buy back as many as 7 million of its shares, or 11 percent, worth about $355.3 million at Friday's closing price.

ABBOTT PARK, Ill. -- Abbott Laboratories, a top seller of antibiotics and ulcer drugs, said yesterday that it will buy Alza Corp., the No. 1 U.S. maker of sustained-release drugs, for $7.3 billion, adding new cancer and incontinence medicines.Each Alza share is to be traded for 1.2 Abbott shares, or $53.03, based on Abbott's closing price of $44.1875, a 15 percent premium to Alza's closing price of $46.25 yesterday. Alza shares have soared 25 percent over the past week on expectations that the company would be acquired and were recently quoted at $48 in Instinet trading.

After years of sometimes languid results, increased competition and sales setbacks, The Ryland Group Inc. proclaimed yesterday that it had turned a financial corner, and produced its best homebuilding earnings this decade as evidence.In the final quarter of 1997, the Columbia homebuilder generated net income of $9.5 million, 64 cents per share, a 91 percent gain from the same period a year ago. Revenue in the quarter rose 14.4 percent to just over $499 million.At the same time, Ryland's homebuilding operation reported record new orders that rose 33 percent to 2,059, and a 28 percent boost to 2,812 in its backlog of homes sold but not closed.

In an effort to pull itself out of a financial slump, Manugistics Group Inc. said yesterday that it is restructuring its operations and laying off 80 workers.The Rockville company, which sells software that helps companies manage their inventories, said the moves will allow the firm to focus on key customers and cut costs.The company has 1,451 employees worldwide, 514 in Maryland. Company spokeswoman Charlotte Penner said about 50 of the layoffs will occur in Maryland."We need to adjust our expenses to be in line with our revenue stream," Penner said.

Fidelity Investments, the nation's largest mutual fund company, deliberately provided incorrect information on the value of its funds last week, causing newspapers to report that most Fidelity funds did substantially better than they actually did.A Fidelity spokeswoman, Constance Hubbell, said yesterday that the fund management company had not been able to calculate the value of 166 funds on Friday because of a computer problem.Rather than simply admit the problem, she said, Fidelity chose to report to the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD)

Once more, gloom is descending over Wall Street. After rallying for a few hopeful months this spring, the stock market is sinking to its lowest level in years. Cracks are reappearing in the credit markets. The price of oil is rising from one record to another. And the analysts who seemed so confident a few weeks ago are predicting another round of steep losses at big financial companies such as Citigroup Inc.. Yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 358 points, its steepest decline in nearly three weeks.

Baltimore-based NeighborCare Inc. slapped down yesterday a takeover bid from Omnicare Inc., its larger rival in the business of filling prescriptions for nursing homes. A day after receiving Omnicare's $1.5 billion offer, NeighborCare's board unanimously rejected it, terming it "blatantly opportunistic," a company announcement said. "The best case for this company is to remain independent," John J. Arlotta, NeighborCare's president and chief executive officer, said in an interview yesterday.

T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. will close its Small-Cap Value Fund to investors at the close of business today, a move aimed at keeping the fund from becoming too large to manage. The Baltimore-based mutual fund company said the fund would continue accepting additional investments from existing investors, as well as direct rollovers from qualified retirement plans into new IRA accounts offered by Price. Companies typically close their mutual funds to keep them from being unwieldy, since it is more difficult to beat the market averages with funds that are too large.

The Chevron Corp. agreed yesterday to acquire Texaco Inc. for about $36 billion, creating the world's fourth-largest oil concern. The companies' boards approved the deal, which is expected to be announced today, executives close to the transaction said. It comes during a period of high oil and gas prices and much political jostling in the United States and abroad to keep those prices in check. The acquisition will likely come under intense scrutiny by regulators, who could force the combined company to divest certain assets, especially in states like California where the company would dominate the retail gas station business.

Symantec Corp. and its Rockville-based rival, Axent Technologies Inc., will combine forces to thwart hackers and rid the corporate world of computer viruses in a stock-for-stock purchase valued at $975 million, the two companies announced yesterday. Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec, the largest maker of computer security software for consumers, is offering Axent shareholders one-half share of Symantec stock - a $31.84 value at Wednesday's closing price - for each share of Axent stock they own. That represents a 67 percent premium over Axent's closing price Wednesday, before the purchase was announced.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Jostens Inc., the largest U.S. maker of yearbooks, class rings and achievement awards, accepted a buyout offer of about $950 million in cash and assumed debt yesterday from a company controlled by Investcorp.The takeover group, which includes Jostens management, will pay $25.25 a share, 38 percent more than Monday's closing price, and take on about $100 million in debt. The purchase price is about 7 percent less than Jostens' 52-week high of $27.125.Jostens' stock trades at less than it did six years ago amid high costs and stagnant sales.

Because of a typesetting problem, price information for several stocks on the New York Stock Exchange is unreadable in today's tables. Following are the stocks and yesterday's high, low, closing price and change for the day:AVEMCO 16 3/8 , 16 1/4 , 16 5/16, +1/16; Chse pfM 24 5/8 , 24 1/8 , 24 1/2 , +7/16; FrdH pf 24 5/8 , 24 1/2 , 24 19/32, +3/32; Grumn 61 3/4 , 61 5/8 , 61 3/4 , +1/16; INCO 24 7/8 , 24 37/64, 24 7/8 , + 5/8 ; IBM pf 23 5/8 , 23 1/8 ,...

Baltimore-based NeighborCare Inc. slapped down yesterday a takeover bid from Omnicare Inc., its larger rival in the business of filling prescriptions for nursing homes. A day after receiving Omnicare's $1.5 billion offer, NeighborCare's board unanimously rejected it, terming it "blatantly opportunistic," a company announcement said. "The best case for this company is to remain independent," John J. Arlotta, NeighborCare's president and chief executive officer, said in an interview yesterday.

ABBOTT PARK, Ill. -- Abbott Laboratories, a top seller of antibiotics and ulcer drugs, said yesterday that it will buy Alza Corp., the No. 1 U.S. maker of sustained-release drugs, for $7.3 billion, adding new cancer and incontinence medicines.Each Alza share is to be traded for 1.2 Abbott shares, or $53.03, based on Abbott's closing price of $44.1875, a 15 percent premium to Alza's closing price of $46.25 yesterday. Alza shares have soared 25 percent over the past week on expectations that the company would be acquired and were recently quoted at $48 in Instinet trading.

Shares of Ciena Corp. jumped almost 23 percent yesterday on speculation that the Linthicum telecommunications equipment maker might soon win a new contract or be acquired by a larger company.Ciena shares gained $4.1875 to close at $22.5625, a 22.8 percent increase. It was the company's highest closing price since Sept. 8.Feverish takeover speculation is nothing new for Ciena. Since a proposed merger with Tellabs Inc. fell apart Sept. 14, there have been rumors that other large makers of telecommunications-network gear might want to buy Ciena.