Transaction

Exelon Corp. and Constellation Energy Group have reached an agreement with Electricite de France, a large Constellation shareholder, for the French utility to withdraw its opposition to a proposed merger between the companies. The terms of the agreement address Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, a joint venture between Constellation and EDF that owns and operates three nuclear facilities with generating units in Maryland and New York. No payment was made by either party associated with the agreement, which reaffirms the terms of the joint venture.

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a relatively obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar, another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week's word: JOB The week's nearly expired and I still owe you a word.  While we generally visit mildly exotic words here, some of the ordinary one have a Past, and such is job .  You may think that having a job is a grand thing, and those of us who have at one point or another would agree heartily.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. continued its slim-down yesterday, selling three Midwestern television stations to Sunrise Television Corp. for $81 million in cash.Baltimore-based Sinclair is trying to get rid of some of the radio and TV stations that it picked up during a recent acquisition binge that turned the company into an industry heavyweight but also saddled it with some holdings that it couldn't afford to keep.The stations it is selling to Sunrise -- KGAN-TV of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; WICS-TV of Springfield, Ill.; and WICD-TV of Champaign, Ill. -- were obtained in one of those purchases, a $310 million multi-station deal with Guy Gannett Communications.

Annapolis Bancorp Inc., the parent company of BankAnnapolis, has agreed to be acquired by Pennsylvania-based F.N.B. Corp. in a deal valued at $51 million. Under the deal announced Monday, F.N.B. will gain $437 million in assets and eight offices in Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's counties. Shareholders of the Maryland company will receive 1.143 shares of F.N.B. stock in exchange for each share of Annapolis Bancorp. F.N.B. President and CEO Vincent J. Delie Jr. said in a statement that the acquisition was consistent with his company's expansion strategy.

Lockheed Martin Corp.'s financial woes are stoking suspicions that the defense giant's proposed acquisition of satellite communications company and Bethesda neighbor Comsat Corp. may be in trouble.Lockheed Martin planned to pay most of the transaction -- initially valued at $2.7 billion -- with its own stock.The value of that currency is declining: Adjusted for a 2-for-1 split, Lockheed Martin shares are worth 28.4 percent less than they were when the deal was announced Sept. 20.The European edition of the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Comsat Vice President and General Counsel Warren Y. Zeger said some Comsat shareholders have expressed concern because the recent decline in Lockheed Martin's share price has reduced the value of the transaction by 16 percent, and Comsat has "all aspects of this matter under review."

Annapolis Bancorp Inc., the parent company of BankAnnapolis, has agreed to be acquired by Pennsylvania-based F.N.B. Corp. in a deal valued at $51 million. Under the deal announced Monday, F.N.B. will gain $437 million in assets and eight offices in Anne Arundel and Queen Anne's counties. Shareholders of the Maryland company will receive 1.143 shares of F.N.B. stock in exchange for each share of Annapolis Bancorp. F.N.B. President and CEO Vincent J. Delie Jr. said in a statement that the acquisition was consistent with his company's expansion strategy.

Linda Barnes spends a good chunk of her life at the state Motor Vehicle Administration's office in Essex - far too much, in her view. "I wait 21/2 hours sometimes. There are days when it's been three hours," said the auto title agent from Perry Hall. Barnes' perception that the Essex MVA is particularly slow is validated by cold, hard statistics. According to data posted online under Gov. Martin O'Malley's StateStat program, that office is the slowest in the MVA system, with an average customer spending just over 40 minutes to wait in line and complete a transaction.

NEW YORK -- Shareholders yesterday approved Walt Disney Co.'s purchase of Capital Cities/ABC Inc., a $19 billion acquisition that will give Disney the pieces it needs to compete in an increasingly crowded industry.The addition of Capital Cities' television and cable networks, such as ABC and ESPN, supplies Disney with top-ranked news and sports programming to go along with its world-leading movie and theme park businesses. Such content will give Disney a leg up as a growing number of cable channels, on-line services and even broadcast networks battle for an audience, executives said.

MNC Financial Inc. today announced it has agreed to sell Landmark Financial Services Inc., its consumer finance subsidiary, to Commercial Credit Inc. for about $370 million.MNC Financial is the parent company of Maryland National Bank.MNC Financial said it expects to close the transaction in early January 1991. The transaction would permit MNC Financial to reduce its debt by about $374 million, the company says.

NEW YORK -- You'd never consider donating $300 of your annual income to a bank, would you? If you're withdrawing cash from an ATM twice a week that could be just what you're doing. Cash machines are convenient, but the fees they charge cost Americans more than $4 billion a year, reports Bankrate.com. You pay an average $1.64 per transaction every time you withdraw money from an ATM owned by a bank where you don't hold an account. Tack on the average $1.25 your own bank charges for each withdrawal and you're looking at fees of about $300 a year.

Years ago - 2008 to be exact - I wrote about a $336 million settlement that required Visa, MasterCard and Diner's Club to return foreign transaction fees paid by those traveling outside the country or who made overseas purchases online. The trio had been accused of hiding these transaction fees. They didn't admit any wrongdoing. At the time, I encouraged readers affected - those paying the fees from February 1996 to November 2006 - to fill out a claim. The refund was expected to take up to 18 months.

Baseball America listed its weekly transactions today, and there are few by the Orioles that hadn't been reported. The Orioles usually wait to release every name at once so some trickle in at varying times -- I'm assuming most of these players will not get spring training invitations. Here is the list: pitchers Winston Abreu and Will Startup, catcher Zach Booker, second basemen Travis Adair, Tom Di Benedetto and Peter Fatse and outfielder Edgardo Baez. Startup, a 27-year-old lefty who pitched at Low-A Delmarva, High-A Frederick and Triple-A Norfolk last year, and Booker, a 26-year-old who played one game for Norfolk, were re-signed.

Exelon Corp. and Constellation Energy Group have reached an agreement with Electricite de France, a large Constellation shareholder, for the French utility to withdraw its opposition to a proposed merger between the companies. The terms of the agreement address Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, a joint venture between Constellation and EDF that owns and operates three nuclear facilities with generating units in Maryland and New York. No payment was made by either party associated with the agreement, which reaffirms the terms of the joint venture.

The following are real estate transactions recorded in Harford County during November 2011: Lisa C. Stone from Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 923 Edmund St., $127,777, 11/1. Jeffrey Lynn Hinte from Jeffrey Lynn Hinte, 521 Windemere Drive, $200,000, 11/1. Patrick McGill from Homesales Inc., 1725 Chesterfield Square, $159,000, 11/1. Richmond American Homes of Maryland Inc. from Richardson's Legacy LLC, 1205 Plowman Way, $3,465,000, 11/1. Richmond American Homes of Maryland Inc. from Richardson's Legacy LLC, 1207 Plowman Way, $3,465,000, 11/1.

Several Baltimore-area homeowners are suing the largest residential real estate team in the state, alleging a "scheme of fraud and misrepresentations" involving home purchases, sales and financing. The suit, a proposed class action, names the Creig Northrop Team, Long & Foster and several mortgage firms — including Long & Foster's Prosperity Mortgage Co. — as defendants. A similar lawsuit brought against the Northrop team by a Howard County couple was settled in March.

The Ravens brought back special teams standout Prescott Burgess on Tuesday. It was the sixth time Burgess has been added to the active roster since the team drafted him in the sixth round of the 2007 draft. He has been waived three times in his career, traded once and placed on injured reserve twice in his five NFL seasons. Contrary to popular belief, Burgess does not live in an RV that remains parked outside the Castle at all times. A player the Ravens have to have but can't stop getting rid of, Burgess has an interesting story, one that is a great example of what life in the NFL is like for players who have permanent residence on the roster bubble.

Coordinator offered to homebuyers, sellers Long and Foster Real Estate Inc., the mid-Atlantic region's largest real estate company, is launching a multimedia campaign to promote Home-Link, a service that offers homebuyers and sellers someone who takes care of all facets of a home transaction. The service assigns a personal move coordinator who assists a customer in arranging transaction-related tasks, such as home inspections and warranties, moving companies, home cleaning and repairs, and lawn care.

Below are insider transactions of 1,000 shares or more for publicly held companies based in Maryland or having substantial operations here. Insiders are officers, directors or owners of 10 percent or more of a corporation's stock.Life TechnologiesKeith G. Walker, director, purchased 1,000 shares of common stock at $28.25 each on April 19, 1996, and now directly holds 1,000 common.Travelers GroupMarjorie Magner, president, exercised an option for 10,903 shares of common at $50 each on March 26, 1996.

Linda Barnes spends a good chunk of her life at the state Motor Vehicle Administration's office in Essex - far too much, in her view. "I wait 21/2 hours sometimes. There are days when it's been three hours," said the auto title agent from Perry Hall. Barnes' perception that the Essex MVA is particularly slow is validated by cold, hard statistics. According to data posted online under Gov. Martin O'Malley's StateStat program, that office is the slowest in the MVA system, with an average customer spending just over 40 minutes to wait in line and complete a transaction.

The Federal Reserve released its final rule on interchange fees for debit cards, the fee that merchants pay banks for processing the transaction. The Wall Street reform law required that the Fed make sure the fee was “reasonable and proportional” to the processing cost. The Fed late last year proposed setting the fee at no more than 12 cents per transaction, a significant cut since banks were earning about 44 cents per transaction. Merchants were ecstatic. Banks upset. But today the Fed disclosed its final decision: 21 cents plus 0.05 percent on each transaction.