Business news in brief

Sterling Financial Corp., a Lancaster bank that was beset by fraud at an equipment-leasing subsidiary, said the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel granted its request for continued listing on the Nasdaq stock market, as long as certain conditions are met, mainly the timely restatement and filing of financial statements. PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Pittsburgh, agreed last month to buy Sterling for $565 million in a deal expected to close in the first quarter of next year.

- Harold Brubaker

Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., Chadds Ford, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had asked for more time to review the company's application for a new indication of its migraine drug Frova. Shares of Endo closed up 51 cents, or 1.65 percent, yesterday at $31.35 on the Nasdaq. Analysts said that, while the FDA has postponed its decision indefinitely, Endo management indicated that the agency simply needs more time and there were no current requests for additional data or safety concerns. The FDA approved Frova in November 2001 to treat acute migraine headaches. Endo and its partner, Vernalis P.L.C., are seeking approval to sell Frova as a short-term prevention for menstrual migraine headache. Endo is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on pain medicines. Products include Percocet, Endocet, Lidoderm, Opana and Frova.

- Linda Loyd

Daleco Resources Corp., West Chester, which earlier this week reported a quarterly loss of $1.9 million on revenue of $341,000, said chairman and chief executive officer Stephan V. Benediktson resigned. The natural-resources holding company said its board vice chairman, Nathan K. Trynin, also resigned. Benediktson, 73, and Trynin, 76, had been with the company since August 2005. Daleco gave no reason for the departures. Company president Gary J. Novinskie said the firm would conduct a search to fill the vacancies. Daleco shares trade over the counter. They closed down 4 cents yesterday at 25 cents.

- Reid Kanaley

Adelphia Communications Corp. creditors will receive $531 million in cash and 6.45 million shares of Time Warner Cable Inc. as a distribution under the company's bankruptcy plan. Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp., Philadelphia, purchased Adelphia's operations out of bankruptcy last year. Adelphia, once the fifth-largest U.S. cable-television provider, said in a statement that the stock had a value of $244 million, as estimated under its reorganization plan that took effect in February. The shares now are worth about $217.6 million based on Time Warner Cable's current share price of $33.73. The planned distribution will give Adelphia unsecured creditors $76.74 and 0.93309 of a Time Warner Cable share for each $1,000 they are owed. Adelphia didn't say how much it has distributed to creditors so far.

- Bloomberg News

Richard Bendis is stepping down as chief executive officer and chairman of True Product ID Inc., which is relocating its headquarters and senior management from Philadelphia to Beijing, the company said. James MacKay will rejoin True Product ID as chairman of the board. Bendis will be a consultant, and will help facilitate the transition to new management. Bendis was formerly CEO of Innovation Philadelphia, a nonprofit group created by Mayor Street in 2001 that seeks to attract technology companies to the region. He resigned that $410,000-a-year post in March 2006. True Product ID, a provider of security and surveillance technology, was formerly called ONTV Inc.

- Linda Loyd

Exelon Corp., owner of the largest fleet of U.S. nuclear power plants, is ramping up its Limerick 1 reactor in Pennsylvania after disconnecting from the grid to fix a problem in the switchyard. "We had to do some maintenance on a disconnect switch in the electrical switchyard, so we had to take the generator offline," April Schilpp, spokeswoman for Chicago-based Exelon, said in a telephone interview. Exelon also is the parent of Peco Energy. The reactor stopped sending power to the grid at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Schilpp said. The reactor has been reconnected to the grid, and operators "are in the process of ramping back up," she said.

- Bloomberg News

Delphi Corp., a former General Motors Corp. auto-parts unit, won the last union approval it needs to emerge from bankruptcy this year. The United Steelworkers reached a tentative accord covering about 900 workers at two plants in Ohio, the union said in a statement. Five other unions have already agreed to the contract. Delphi, Troy, Mich., said Thursday that it planned to file a turnaround plan by Sept. 30 and exit court protection by Jan. 1. The union agreements allow the company to close 21 of the 29 U.S. facilities in operation when it filed for Chapter 11 in October 2005. Delphi, which was spun off from GM in 1999, has said it needs labor concessions to cut costs and emerge from almost two years of court protection. The accord with the Steelworkers must still be approved by its members.

- Bloomberg News

Toys "R" Us Inc. said it was removing all vinyl bibs from its Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us stores as a precaution after two bibs made in China for one supplier showed lead levels that exceeded Toys "R" Us standards. Toys "R" Us said the result came in testing this month of bibs supplied by Hamco Inc. and marketed under the Koala Baby, Especially for Baby and Disney Baby labels. Vinyl bibs made by other companies have been temporarily removed to avoid any confusion among customers and to allow further testing, Toys "R" Us said. A message seeking comment from Hamco was not immediately returned.

- AP

Borse Dubai made a $3.95 billion takeover bid for Sweden's OMX AB, challenging U.S.-based Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. for ownership of the Nordic stock exchange operator. The owner of the Dubai stock exchange is offering $32.84 per OMX share. That is a premium of nearly 14 percent over the cash-and-share offer from the Nasdaq, which struggled to gain a foothold in Europe before unveiling the OMX deal in May. Rumors of a bidding showdown for OMX have been rampant since last week, when Borse Dubai revealed it had taken a 4.9 percent stake in the company and secured options to acquire more than 25 percent. OMX's board said in a statement that it was reviewing both offers.

- AP

Aeroflot, Eastern Europe's largest airline, expects to pay a maximum $5.8 billion to buy 44 airliners from Airbus SAS and Boeing Co., a discount of at least 17 percent. The state-controlled carrier will pay "no more than" $2.9 billion for 22 Airbus A350 XWB models and $2.9 billion for 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Leonid Dushatin, an Aeroflot board member, said. Dushatin is also first deputy chief executive officer of National Reserve Corp., which owns 30 percent of the airline. The sales contracts for the planes are valued at more than $7 billion at list prices, which don't take account of incentives the plane-makers offer for large purchases.

- Bloomberg News