The purchase amount is about 38 percent of Magma’s notes due May 2008. The notes were purchased at 13.25 discount, so Magma spent about $35 million on the buyback.

The company said it will record a $4.8 million pretax gain from the repurchase in the first quarter. The repurchase leaves about $65.2 million in convertible subordinated notes outstanding, and will reduce the company’s fully diluted shares to about 1.7 million.

A proportional amount of Magma’s hedge and warrant transaction, which it entered into in 2003, will be terminated. The transaction was entered to limit possible dilution from converting the notes.

Magma Design shares fell 1 cents to $6.99 in morning trading on the Nasdaq.

“Strategies to revitalize Barbie include bringing the toys to life instead of a prior emphasis upon the product aesthetic,” analyst Margaret Whitfield wrote Monday in a note to investors.

Whitfield upgraded the stock to “Outperform” from “Market Perform.” She also raised her stock-price target to $19 from $18, and her 2007 earnings-per-share estimate to $1.25 from $1.17.

Mattel, which also sells Hot Wheels toy cars and Fisher Price preschool toys, has struggled in recent quarters as Barbie dolls have lost favor with young girls amid increased competition from electronics such as iPods and cell phones.

Mattel plans to market Barbie dolls using two advertising agencies, “one focused upon fantasy dolls and the other upon reality dolls,” Whitfield said.

While Barbie is expected to drive growth next year, Whitfield said, “Near-term results should benefit from cars and Superman and the strength of the Fisher Price business.”

Mattel shares rose 37 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $16.56 in recent trading on the New York Stock Exchange. In the past year, the stock has moved between $14.52 and $19.50.(AP)

Kaydon Corporation is a leading designer and manufacturer of performance-critical, custom-engineered products, supplying a broad and diverse group of industrial, aerospace, medical and electronic equipment, and aftermarket customers.

Contact:

Kaydon Corporation, Ann Arbor
Brian P. Campbell, 734-747-7025 ext. 129

Source: Kaydon Corporation

Separately, the Board also approved the repurchase of up to 200 million additional common shares, from time to time as market conditions allow. This represents approximately 16 percent of the 1.2 billion common shares outstanding at April 24, 2006.

This authorization is a continuation of the company’s share repurchase program, which began in September 1994.

Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said “We have refocused American Express on a less capital-intensive payments business, delivered strong earnings growth and are in excellent competitive position. The dividend increase and repurchase program reflect the underlying momentum in our business. We believe they will be an effective way of delivering value to our shareholders.”

The last increase in the common stock dividend at American Express was declared on September 27, 2004, when the dividend was increased by $0.02 or 20 percent to $0.12 from $0.10.

American Express Company (http://www.americanexpress.com) is a leading global payments, network and travel company founded in 1850.

Source: American Express Company

RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate Fund is a newly organized, non-diversified, closed-end management investment company. Its primary investment objective is to provide capital appreciation. RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate Fund attempts to achieve its objectives by investing primarily in the securities of Asian Pacific real estate companies.

“We are pleased to welcome RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate Fund to the American Stock Exchange,” said Tom Rzepski, Vice President of the Amex’s closed-end fund business. “The Amex looks forward to a long and collaborative relationship with RMR Advisors as we continue to provide investors with a variety of innovative investment opportunities.”

The investment advisor of the new fund is RMR Advisors, Inc. RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate Fund is the fifth closed-end fund RMR Advisors has listed on the Amex.

With an initial share price of $20 for the RMR Asia Pacific Real Estate Fund, the approximate initial value of the 1.75 million shares priced today is $35 million, excluding the underwriter’s over allotment option. The underwriting syndicate is led by RBC Capital Markets. RMR Advisors has listed all of its closed-end products with Amex and has chosen Weiskopf, Silver & Co. as the specialist for RAP.

The American Stock Exchange currently lists 149 closed-end funds with over $30 billion in assets. For additional information on this fund or other Amex- listed closed-end funds, please call 1-800-THE-AMEX.

The American Stock Exchange® (Amex®) is the only primary exchange that offers trading across a full range of equities, options and exchange traded funds (ETFs), including structured products and HOLDRS(SM.) In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the pioneer of the ETF, responsible for bringing the first domestic product to market in 1993. Leading the industry in ETF listings, the Amex lists 167 ETFs to date. The Amex is also one of the largest options exchanges in the U.S., trading options on broad-based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks.

Source: American Stock Exchange

Shares of Las Vegas Sands climbed $5.91, or 9.3 percent, to $69.58 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, near its 52-week high of $73.14.

Singapore last year reversed its decades-old ban on casino gambling, and said it would award licenses to operate a casino resort at Marina Bay and another on the resort island of Sentosa to boost tourism and help the city-state shed its straight-laced image.

U.S. casino operators have been rushing to expand in Asia to tap the region’s fast-growing ranks of millionaires and middle-class consumers.

Las Vegas Sands was selected for the Marina Bay license over three other bidding groups — MGM Mirage and CapitaLand Ltd., Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and Keppel Land Ltd., and Genting International PLC and Star Cruises Ltd.

Las Vegas Sands, which is controlled by former Comdex trade show boss Sheldon G. Adelson, also runs the Sands Macao in Macau, the only part of China where casino gambling is legal.

The casino-resort at Marina Bay, which will be built on a 50.9-acre waterfront site near the financial district, is likely to cost more than 5 billion Singapore dollars ($3.16 billion), Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar told a news conference.

Currently, the world’s most expensive casino is the $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas that was completed late last year.

Sands says it expects to open the resort in 2009.

Sands’ President and Chief Operating Officer William Weidner welcomed the Southeast Asian island-republic’s decision.

“Our presence in Singapore, combined with our footprint in North Asia and access to China, the largest source of tourism in the foreseeable future, will enable us to generate mutual benefits for both economies and for visitors alike,” Weidner said in a statement.

Jayakumar said Sand’s proposal best met the city-state’s economic and tourism objectives, and would significantly strengthen Singapore’s position as a leading destination for conventions and exhibitions.

The casino and resort will be a “large scale iconic development,” he said, with a construction cost of 3.85 billion Singapore dollars ($2.43 billion) and a land cost of 1.2 billion Singapore dollars ($760 million).

“The (Sands) proposal also possesses unique design elements which will provide a memorable image for Marina Bay,” Jayakumar added.

The Marina Bay Sands will directly employ 10,000 people and result in 20,000 jobs being created in other industries, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang told the news conference.

According to the Singapore Tourism Board, the bidders were assessed based on four criteria: tourism appeal and contribution; architectural concept and design; development investment; and strength of the consortium and partners.

The tender for Singapore’s second casino was launched in April. The government will likely decide on the winning bid for the Sentosa casino before the end of the year.

Adelson founded the technology trade show Comdex in 1979 and sold the company to Japan’s Softbank Corp. for more than $860 million in 1995. He purchased the Sands Hotel and Casino, former home to Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, in 1989. He later tore down that facility and erected the The Venetian, a $1.5 billion casino resort. Las Vegas Sands went public in December 2004.

Lawson, who lives in the small town of Shawsville in southwest Virginia, went to a payday lending store in nearby Christiansburg. She borrowed $200, agreeing to pay a $36 charge once she received her next Social Security check.

Then Lawson, 49, began juggling, borrowing from one payday lender to help pay off the other. In 2004 and 2005, Lawson says, she and her husband had more than five loans at different payday shops, racking up fees along the way. She expects her financial problems to result in bankruptcy.

“We’d pay them off and immediately reborrow to just have money to make the house payment,” said Lawson, who has several medical conditions and cares for three grandchildren. “It got to where it was just impossible to keep up.”

Revolving-door loans like Lawson’s have become quite common in the growing payday industry, which is permitted to charge interest at triple-digit annual average rates in about 38 states, consumer groups say.

To take out a payday loan, a borrower typically gives the store a postdated personal check that includes the fee and the principal. The lender holds the check for about two weeks or until a customer receives a paycheck or Social Security payment. At that point, a borrower can let the lender deposit the check, can repay the amount — or take out another loan, which consumer advocates say many people do.

The nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending estimates more than 90 percent of these small, short-term and high-cost loans go to repeat borrowers. In Virginia, regulators found that 85 percent of payday customers returned to the same store in the same year — some more than a dozen times.

“They set it up so you have to pay the whole thing off in two weeks, and they know you can’t,” said Jay Speer, executive director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center. “It’s bad enough that the interest rates are 380 percent (on an annual basis), but the worst part is that they trap you.”

The payday industry says its loans aren’t designed to serve consumers with long-term financial needs. Instead, the lenders say they fill a void in the small, unsecured loan market by extending credit to people in a short-term crunch, perhaps due to a major car repair or medical bill.

“If you look at our target customers, they are middle-class working Americans who for whatever reason get caught between paychecks without alternatives,” said Jamie Fulmer, investor relations director for Advance America, Cash Advance Centers Inc. The Spartanburg, S.C.-based company is the nation’s largest payday lender.

Last year, the industry generated about $6 billion in fee revenue and $40 billion in loan volume at 23,000 stores, according to estimates from the investment firm Stephens Inc. At the six public companies alone, loan volume rose 24 percent to approximately $7.4 billion in 2005 from the previous year.

In states like Virginia, known for its business-friendly environment, the industry is clearly booming. Although surrounding states — Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia — don’t permit payday lending, Virginia opened the doors to the industry with its Payday Loan Act of 2002, which specifically authorized the lenders’ high-cost loans.

Today, there are more than 750 payday stores in Virginia — or nearly two for every McDonald’s. Last year, the industry made $1.2 billion in loans in Virginia, a 21 percent increase over 2004, according to data from by state banking regulators.

More disturbing to consumer groups is the growth in repeat borrowers. The state report found that the number of consumers receiving between two and 12 loans during the year rose 23 percent to about 288,700. Those receiving more than a dozen loans rose 19 percent to about 90,900.

The numbers of repeat borrowers are likely higher, because the commission doesn’t count people who go to more than one payday lender during the same year.

Consumer groups have accused payday lenders of targeting low-income and military consumers by setting up offices in poor neighborhoods and near bases. But Jabo Covert, vice president of government relations for Check Into Cash Inc., disputes those claims.

Covert says the company seeks well-trafficked and suburban locations. About 5 percent of Check Into Cash borrowers in Virginia are military, he said. In addition, a typical customer has an annual salary in the $30,000 to $40,000 range but is often in a two-income household.

And customers of the Cleveland, Tenn.-based company do not stick around forever, Covert said. They might take out several loans in a year, but most are gone after 18 months. Loan defaults, he added, are in the single digits.

But consumer advocates say the lenders attract customers partly because, unlike banks and credit unions, they move fast, ask few questions and don’t run credit checks. The results, they say, can be disastrous.

Rusty Boleman, whose Richmond law firm represents debtors, says his clients tell stories of payday loans that “have them on their knees.” In the last several years, he says, payday loans have grown to become one of the key drivers in his clients’ bankruptcies.

“The argument I hear is that (the industry) is serving an underserved community,” Boleman said. “No, it isn’t. They’re taking advantage of poor people. They’re taking advantage of people who are desperate.”

Most states have enacted legislation allowing payday lenders to charge fees that amount to triple-digit annual average interest rates and that can become unmanageable if borrowers take out repeated loans.

In Virginia, payday lenders are authorized by state law to lend as much as $500 and charge $15 per $100, with a minimum maturity of a week. On average, they charge an annual rate of 386 percent. Before the state passed the Payday Loan Act, they would have been subject to a 36 percent small-loan cap — at least ideally. The lenders circumvented that rule by working with out-of-state banks.

There have been similar problems in some states with usury caps or other regulations that prohibit payday lending at triple-digit interest rates. The industry has taken advantage of a loophole in federal banking rules permitting nationally chartered banks to export interest rates from their own states to payday partners in more strictly regulated states.

However, both sides are increasingly running into resistance from state and federal regulators. North Carolina, for instance, just finished kicking out payday lenders it says have been illegally operating in the state through the so-called “rent-a-charter” relationships. On the other end, federal regulators have taken action against several banks working with payday lenders.

In Virginia, consumer advocates have unsuccessfully lobbied against payday lending. This year, a state legislator, Delegate G. Glenn Oder, proposed increasing the minimum length of loans to 15 days and prohibiting loans to consumers with outstanding payday loans. Attempts to weaken the bill were blocked by lawmakers seeking stronger regulation, and the measure never left the statehouse.

“It’s an uphill struggle once you have an industry entrenched in the state,” said Jean Ann Fox, consumer protection director for the Consumer Federation of America.

Contact:

North Pittsburgh Systems, Inc.
Allen P. Kimble, 724-443-9575
Fax: 724-443-9431

Source: North Pittsburgh Systems, Inc.

NYSE Group Inc. said its purchase of Euronext, which runs the Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon exchanges, would create “the world’s largest and most liquid global securities marketplace” with combined listings of $27 trillion. The combined company, worth $21 billion, would be called NYSE Euronext.

The acquisition would allow the NYSE Group to enter into futures and derivatives trading, as well as European stock trading. Combined with its current electronic options trading, the NYSE would be able to deal in stocks, options, futures, commodities and corporate bonds on two continents, up to 12 hours a day — a broad mix that could appeal to major institutional investors as a one-stop trading platform.

Euronext, which holds its annual shareholders meeting Tuesday, issued a statement after its board meeting Monday saying “the transaction with NYSE currently offers the most attractive combination,” but it stopped short of a formal recommendation to shareholders. Shareholders will be asked for their views on both proposals before management makes a formal recommendation, the company said.

The offer comes amid global efforts to consolidate exchanges that began in earnest March 30, when The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. made a $4.5 billion bid for the London Stock Exchange. The Nasdaq, which was rebuffed, has since acquired more than 25 percent of the LSE, prompting Euronext to call off its long-running interest in the British exchange. The Nasdaq’s moves have also pressured the newly public NYSE to find a European partner.

Under the 8 billion euro ($10.2 billion) NYSE proposal, each NYSE share would be converted into one share of common stock of the new combined company NYSE Euronext.

Holders of Euronext ordinary shares would be offered the right to exchange each of their shares for 0.980 shares of NYSE Euronext stock and 21.32 euros ($27.22) in cash. Based on the NYSE’s closing price Friday of $64.50, that values each Euronext share at 70.80 euros ($90.39) — below the Friday close of 74.60 euros ($95.24).

NYSE Chief Executive John Thain said the NYSE would most likely have to issue its own bonds, borrowing at least some of the $3 billion necessary for Euronext shareholders. The NYSE Group currently has about $650 million in cash available. Thain said the exchange operator would be able to completely pay off any debt within three years.

Euronext said that over the weekend, it received further details of Deutsche Boerse’s proposal made Friday, which had not contained specific financial terms. DB clarified that the value of its offer would be based on the two groups’ average share price over the three months leading up to the closure of a deal. At Friday’s closing prices, the offer would have been worth about 64 euros ($82) per Euronext share.

Deutsche Boerse issued a statement Monday denying a report that it would consider an all-share offer valuing Euronext at about 90 euros ($115) a share, but said it remains in contact with Euronext.

Deutsche Boerse AG shares fell 8.5 percent to close at 101.30 euros ($129.48) in Frankfurt before the Euronext statement was issued. Euronext shares dropped 9.5 percent to euro67.55 (US$86.34) in Paris, while in New York, NYSE shares fell 2.6 percent to $62.83.

According to terms proposed by the NYSE, the company would have its group headquarters at the NYSE’s current base in New York and European headquarters at Euronext’s base. The chairman of the combined company would be current Euronext Chairman Jan-Michiel Hessels, while NYSE Group Chief Executive John Thain would continue as CEO. The board of a combined company would include 11 directors from NYSE and nine from Euronext.

“NYSE Euronext will be the world’s most liquid and truly global financial marketplace, offering unparalleled benefits for investors and issuers in the United States, Europe and across the globe,” Thain said.

Each of the companies’ markets would come under the jurisdiction of local regulators — a move that seemed aimed at addressing concerns that European exchanges would have to comply with stricter U.S. market rules. NYSE Euronext common stock would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Euronext.

The NYSE said the proposed combination would result in cost savings of $375 million, saying that would create substantial value for all shareholders.

The transaction terms also assume Euronext will pay to its shareholders its ordinary dividend of 1 euro ($1.28) per share this year and its previously announced extraordinary dividend of 3 euros ($3.83) per share.

The NYSE’s move comes less than three months after it concluded its purchase of the former Archipelago Holdings Inc., an all-electronic stock market, and transformed itself from a not-for-profit into a publicly traded company. Even prior to the March 7 start of trading in NYSE Group stock, Thain had said NYSE Group would look for acquisitions abroad.

Thain said there was no plans to do away with the NYSE’s specialist system, in which human auctioneers help facilitate the buying and selling of stocks. However, Thain noted that while Euronext’s exchanges make use of specialists, they do so electronically. The NYSE is the only major stock exchange left in the world which humans physically interact. While Thain said he remained committed to the specialist system, he did not say whether those specialists would move to electronic trading.

Lawson, who lives in the small town of Shawsville in southwest Virginia, went to a payday lending store in nearby Christiansburg. She borrowed $200, agreeing to pay a $36 charge once she received her next Social Security check.

Then Lawson, 49, began juggling, borrowing from one payday lender to help pay off the other. In 2004 and 2005, Lawson says, she and her husband had more than five loans at different payday shops, racking up fees along the way. She expects her financial problems to result in bankruptcy.

“We’d pay them off and immediately reborrow to just have money to make the house payment,” said Lawson, who has several medical conditions and cares for three grandchildren. “It got to where it was just impossible to keep up.”

Revolving-door loans like Lawson’s have become quite common in the growing payday industry, which is permitted to charge interest at triple-digit annual average rates in about 38 states, consumer groups say.

To take out a payday loan, a borrower typically gives the store a postdated personal check that includes the fee and the principal. The lender holds the check for about two weeks or until a customer receives a paycheck or Social Security payment. At that point, a borrower can let the lender deposit the check, can repay the amount — or take out another loan, which consumer advocates say many people do.

The nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending estimates more than 90 percent of these small, short-term and high-cost loans go to repeat borrowers. In Virginia, regulators found that 85 percent of payday customers returned to the same store in the same year — some more than a dozen times.

“They set it up so you have to pay the whole thing off in two weeks, and they know you can’t,” said Jay Speer, executive director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center. “It’s bad enough that the interest rates are 380 percent (on an annual basis), but the worst part is that they trap you.”

The payday industry says its loans aren’t designed to serve consumers with long-term financial needs. Instead, the lenders say they fill a void in the small, unsecured loan market by extending credit to people in a short-term crunch, perhaps due to a major car repair or medical bill.

“If you look at our target customers, they are middle-class working Americans who for whatever reason get caught between paychecks without alternatives,” said Jamie Fulmer, investor relations director for Advance America, Cash Advance Centers Inc. The Spartanburg, S.C.-based company is the nation’s largest payday lender.

Last year, the industry generated about $6 billion in fee revenue and $40 billion in loan volume at 23,000 stores, according to estimates from the investment firm Stephens Inc. At the six public companies alone, loan volume rose 24 percent to approximately $7.4 billion in 2005 from the previous year.

In states like Virginia, known for its business-friendly environment, the industry is clearly booming. Although surrounding states — Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia — don’t permit payday lending, Virginia opened the doors to the industry with its Payday Loan Act of 2002, which specifically authorized the lenders’ high-cost loans.

Today, there are more than 750 payday stores in Virginia — or nearly two for every McDonald’s. Last year, the industry made $1.2 billion in loans in Virginia, a 21 percent increase over 2004, according to data from by state banking regulators.

More disturbing to consumer groups is the growth in repeat borrowers. The state report found that the number of consumers receiving between two and 12 loans during the year rose 23 percent to about 288,700. Those receiving more than a dozen loans rose 19 percent to about 90,900.

The numbers of repeat borrowers are likely higher, because the commission doesn’t count people who go to more than one payday lender during the same year.

Consumer groups have accused payday lenders of targeting low-income and military consumers by setting up offices in poor neighborhoods and near bases. But Jabo Covert, vice president of government relations for Check Into Cash Inc., disputes those claims.

Covert says the company seeks well-trafficked and suburban locations. About 5 percent of Check Into Cash borrowers in Virginia are military, he said. In addition, a typical customer has an annual salary in the $30,000 to $40,000 range but is often in a two-income household.

And customers of the Cleveland, Tenn.-based company do not stick around forever, Covert said. They might take out several loans in a year, but most are gone after 18 months. Loan defaults, he added, are in the single digits.

But consumer advocates say the lenders attract customers partly because, unlike banks and credit unions, they move fast, ask few questions and don’t run credit checks. The results, they say, can be disastrous.

Rusty Boleman, whose Richmond law firm represents debtors, says his clients tell stories of payday loans that “have them on their knees.” In the last several years, he says, payday loans have grown to become one of the key drivers in his clients’ bankruptcies.

“The argument I hear is that (the industry) is serving an underserved community,” Boleman said. “No, it isn’t. They’re taking advantage of poor people. They’re taking advantage of people who are desperate.”

Most states have enacted legislation allowing payday lenders to charge fees that amount to triple-digit annual average interest rates and that can become unmanageable if borrowers take out repeated loans.

In Virginia, payday lenders are authorized by state law to lend as much as $500 and charge $15 per $100, with a minimum maturity of a week. On average, they charge an annual rate of 386 percent. Before the state passed the Payday Loan Act, they would have been subject to a 36 percent small-loan cap — at least ideally. The lenders circumvented that rule by working with out-of-state banks.

There have been similar problems in some states with usury caps or other regulations that prohibit payday lending at triple-digit interest rates. The industry has taken advantage of a loophole in federal banking rules permitting nationally chartered banks to export interest rates from their own states to payday partners in more strictly regulated states.

However, both sides are increasingly running into resistance from state and federal regulators. North Carolina, for instance, just finished kicking out payday lenders it says have been illegally operating in the state through the so-called “rent-a-charter” relationships. On the other end, federal regulators have taken action against several banks working with payday lenders.

In Virginia, consumer advocates have unsuccessfully lobbied against payday lending. This year, a state legislator, Delegate G. Glenn Oder, proposed increasing the minimum length of loans to 15 days and prohibiting loans to consumers with outstanding payday loans. Attempts to weaken the bill were blocked by lawmakers seeking stronger regulation, and the measure never left the statehouse.

“It’s an uphill struggle once you have an industry entrenched in the state,” said Jean Ann Fox, consumer protection director for the Consumer Federation of America.