NATIONAL

Former Home Depot exec to lead Chrysler under new owner

Chrysler LLC named former Home Depot Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli as CEO, demoting Tom LaSorda, as new owner Cerberus Capital Management LP takes control of the automaker.

Nardelli, 59, a Cerberus adviser with no auto-industry experience, vowed Monday to focus on quality and move quickly to improve Chrysler's designs. LaSorda becomes president, while Chief Operating Officer Eric Ridenour will leave and won't be replaced.

The shift puts Cerberus' stamp on Chrysler as it begins operating the third-largest U.S.- based automaker as a private company.

KINKO'S TO EXPAND FedEx Kinko's, a unit of package-delivery company FedEx Corp., said Monday it plans to expand its operations throughout fiscal 2008 by adding 300 new U.S. office and print centers.

The company also said it would redesign 110 existing centers and introduce 20 locations primarily in the Asia-Pacific region.

WAGE HIKES McDonald's Corp. is adopting wage hikes and new uniforms in China.

McDonald's said Monday it will raise wages for its restaurant crews to levels between 12 percent and 56 percent higher than the suggested minimum wage.

LOCAL

Newmont to make loans in Indonesia for stake in mine

Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp., the world's second- largest gold miner, will provide a $109 million loan to local governments in Indonesia to pay for a 3 percent stake in its copper-gold mine, a company official said.

The loan will be extended to the governments of Nusa Tenggara Barat province and the districts of Sumbawa Barat and Sumbawa Besar, said Martiono Hadianto, president and CEO of PT Newmont Pacific Nusantara, a Newmont subsidiary.

ARCHSTONE-SMITH SALE Archstone-Smith Trust delayed the completion of its sale to a group led by Tishman Speyer Properties LP.

The company said it expects to close by Oct. 5.

RECORD CAPACITY Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc. said Monday it filled a record 88.5 percent of its aircraft in July as the summer's heavy travel season got into full swing.

The low-cost carrier reported 1.06 million passengers in July, up 16.3 percent from July 2006. Its available seat-miles rose 14.1 percent, and revenue passenger miles increased 18.5 percent in a year-over-year comparison.

LAWSUIT RESPONSE American Skiing Co. called a lawsuit by Vail Resorts Inc. "without merit" and said it still intends to sell its Canyons ski area to Talisker Corp. In a filing with securities regulators, American said it had no written or oral agreement to sell the Park City, Utah, resort to Vail.

Broomfield-based Vail disclosed late last month that it had been bidding for The Canyons and wanted to best an offer from Talisker.

ADAM AIRCRAFT CEO Adam Aircraft said John D. Wolf has been named chairman and CEO, effective immediately. Wolf, along with President Duncan Koerbel, joined Adam Aircraft in February to help achieve FAA certification of its A700.

BANK EARNINGS United Western Bancorp posted second- quarter net income of $2.24 million, or 31 cents a share, vs. $307,000, or 4 cents a share, a year earlier.

The company said its costs of funds borrowed declined, while it garnered higher interest from an increase of loans.

Total assets were $2.04 billion, down slightly from $2.16 billion on Dec. 31.

QWEST EXEC Qwest Communications has named Kim Whitehead vice president of consumer marketing. Whitehead, formerly with BellSouth, replaces Tom McLoughlin, who is leaving the company.

ECONOMY

Housing bust cutting into states' revenues

The worst housing recession in 16 years is pinching revenue of U.S. states, including Florida and California, because of lower sales and real estate-related tax collections, Standard & Poor's said.

Florida expects tax revenue in the current fiscal year to miss projections made in March by about 4 percent, or $1.1 billion, the credit rating company said today.

California, the most populous state, in June recorded a 6.9 percent, or $315 million, decline in sales-and-use tax receipts from June 2006.

States depend on sales and income taxes for about two- thirds of their revenue, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A decline in new-home sales depresses employment in the construction industry.

Falling existing-house prices also discourage people from borrowing against home equity, damping consumer spending and diminishing tax revenue.

• Defaults by companies rated below investment grade will more than double over the next 12 months because credit will become scarcer, Moody's Investors Service said.

Default rates in the U.S. will be highest among construction, packaging, consumer durables and automotive companies, Moody's said.

THIS JUST IN...

• Boulder-based New Frontier Media, a producer and distributor of general and adult-themed motion picture entertainment, and Private Media Group, which also specializes in adult entertainment, announced an exclusive content distribution deal.

• MOA Architecture in Denver added Bill Speck as project manager.

• The law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck announced that Ashley Krause and Leah P. VanLandschoot have joined the firm as associates. Krause and VanLandschoot will work in the firm's Denver office.

• Al Yeganeh, the soup man who inspired "The Soup Nazi" episode" on Seinfeld, will dedicate a new soup Aug. 16 at the Denver Pavilions at 500 16th St., Suite 136.

• Holland & Hart LLP hired Billi McCullough and Maureen McInerney to its project development and finance practice in Denver.

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado created an Associate Board. The 19-member board of directors and executive-level leaders from metro Denver will be chaired by Lindsay Brown of The Staubach Co. Other members are Jonathan Adleman, Xcel Energy; Jason Baldwin, Compass Bank; Topher Beard, Western Pacific Insurance Network; Travis Dungan, KPMG; Brendan Falvey, Colorado Rockies; Jill Hixon, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce; Bryan Howe, Erhardt, Keefe, Steiner, & Hottman; Melissa Kerin, Sherman & Howard; David Lederhos, Vectra Bank; Dennis Moore, Denver Broncos; Chris Onan, Appian Ventures; Chris Ottele, Holme, Roberts & Owen; Mikaela Rivera, Otten Johnson; Anthony Ryan, Hogan & Hartson; Lia Sedillos, Petro-Canada Resources, USA; Sharon Walker, CBS 4; Cashin White, JPMorgan Chase; and Jeremy Yazinski, Lockheed Martin.

• Palace Construction of Denver added four new owners: Mark Greer, Rich Kagiyama, David MacArthur and Matt Seewald.

• Beverley Dahan, Medicaid contracts manager and PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) administrator for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, has joined Denver-based Total Longterm Care as director of regulatory affairs.

Rocky staff and wire reports

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