Exchange Commission

NEW YORK -- May Department Stores is likely to make a major acquisition in the next several months, analysts say."May wants to buy something, and they've probably been looking around the country for the best possible department store chain," said Peter Siris, an analyst at UBS Securities. "The problem is finding something that's available."May is the largest U.S. operator of "conventional" department stores, with 318 stores. The stores are split among 12 divisions, including Lord & Taylor and Hecht's.

NEW YORK -- Philip R. Lochner Jr., a commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said yesterday that he would be leavingthe agency next month rather than seek reappointment.The announcement took many officials at the SEC by surprise, particularly since Mr. Lochner appeared to have enjoyed his work at the commission. He has served only 18 months.Mr. Lochner was appointed last year to complete the five-year term of the commission's former chairman, David S. Ruder. Earlier this year, hehad told some colleagues that he hoped to be renominated.

Metastorm announces additions to board Severna Park-based Metastorm Inc., a customer-interaction management provider, recently announced the appointment of former Navy Secretary John H. Dalton and J. Carter Beese, president of Riggs Capital Partners, as members of the company's board of directors. Dalton previously served in the Carter, Reagan, and Clinton administrations and is chairman of EPCAD Systems, which produces electroplasma cleaning for metals. He was secretary of the Navy from 1993 to 1998.

Two Host Marriott Corp. subsidiaries will sell a combined $1 billion in debt to refinance existing bonds and pay off their line of credit with Marriott International Corp.HMH Properties Inc., which owns 70 lodging properties, will dTC issue $600 million in debt, and Host Marriott Travel Plazas Inc., which operates food, beverage and merchandise concessions, will sell $400 million in debt.The two companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of Host Marriott Hospitality Inc., which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Host Marriott Corp.

LEXINGTON, Mass. - Raytheon Co. Chief Financial Officer Frank Caine resigned yesterday and was immediately replaced by Controller Edward Pliner, two weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission sanctioned Caine for violating a rule barring selective disclosure of financial information. Pliner, 44, was a partner for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Raytheon's auditor, before joining the defense contractor in April 2000. Caine, 52, will remain with the company awhile to assist Pliner, Raytheon said.

Cable firms to appealCable television operators will appeal a federal court ruling in Washington requiring one-third of their channels to be reserved for commercial and public TV broadcasters, an industry spokeswoman said yesterday.The ruling, issued late Thursday, upholds a section of a new cable law that was challenged by cable operators and their programmers.Legg Mason actionLegg Mason Inc. in Baltimore said yesterday that it registered $50 million of convertible subordinated debt with the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of its plan to increase capital and expand its brokerage operations.

WASHINGTON -- Campaign aides to Democratic Sen. John Kerry solicited contributions from Johnny Chung, a controversial Democratic fund-raiser, after the Massachusetts senator's Washington office helped arrange a visit to the Securities and Exchange Commission for Chung and some foreign business associates.Chung's nearly $400,000 in contributions to the Democratic Party are a focus of the Justice Department's inquiry into improper campaign fund raising in the 1996 elections.According to a report published yesterday in the Los Angeles Times, Chung, a California businessman, reimbursed his employees for contributing to Kerry's campaign at a reception he held for the Democratic senator at a California hotel in September 1996.

Indicators show growthFresh reports yesterday show the economy growing moderately without stirring inflation: Existing-home sales rose in June for a second straight month and employment costs increased at the slowest pace on record.In June, sales of previously owned homes jumped 6.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.78 million, highest since a 3.82 million rate last October, the National Association of Realtors reported.At the same time, the Labor Department said its Employment Cost Index advanced just 2.9 percent in the year that ended in June.

Shareholders of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and Potomac Electric Power Co. will vote March 29 on the utilities' proposed $2.9 billion merger, which received a blessing from the Securities and Exchange Commission last week.The meetings -- stockholders are expected to receive proxy statements within days -- will be the first public address concerning the merger by either BGE or Pepco executives since the deal was announced in September.By combining into Constellation Energy Corp., BGE and Pepco plan to create the nation's ninth-largest power concern, with annual revenues reaching $5 billion and assets of $15.4 billion.

Carnegie International Corp., a Hunt Valley holding company that specializes in telecommunications, said yesterday that it is moving to resolve a regulatory wrangle that has held up trading in the company's stock since April 30.Carnegie said it is "in the final process" of addressing Securities and Exchange Commission questions about the manner in which Carnegie accounted for a transaction made last year.The company had previously said little about the reasons behind its trading suspension, which began just after the company was listed on the American Stock Exchange.