IN THE REGION
Delta completes refinery buy
Delta Air Lines on Friday finalized its purchase of the ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer and will begin to bring back about 400 employees who were laid off last year when the plant was idled. A Delta spokesman said that its subsidiary, Monroe Energy L.L.C., will start a turnaround at the Delaware County refinery after the July 4 holiday with the aim of resuming fuel production this fall. The airline paid $180 million for the plant, with the Corbett administration chipping in $30 million on the condition that Monroe maintain 400 employees for five years. — Andrew Maykuth
Vanguard officer to retire
Vanguard Group, the Malvern mutual fund giant that is Chester County's largest employer, said chief investment officer George U. "Gus" Sauter, 57, would retire Dec. 31. Sauter will be replaced by Mortimer J. "Tim" Buckley, 43, who has been in charge of retail investment since 2006. Sauter joined Vanguard in 1987 as head of the company's small direct stock-investment group, rising to direct the low-priced fund indexing operations that have been the company's greatest source of growth. He was named chief investment officer in 2003. Separately, Vanguard boosted its Partnership Plan payouts to senior managers and other veteran employees by around 10 percent, says Dan Wiener, publisher of the Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors newsletter, citing Vanguard's own CrewNet internal newsletter. — Joseph N. DiStefano
Chesapeake to settle allegations
Chesapeake Energy will pay $1.6 million to settle allegations that its Marcellus Shale drilling leaked methane into the drinking-water wells of three homes in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Oklahoma City gas producer will buy the homes as part of the settlement. The settlement was reached Thursday while the case was before an arbitration panel in Philadelphia. DEP investigators blamed poor casings in Chesapeake's wells for allowing gas to migrate. Chesapeake admitted no wrongdoing. Chesapeake installed treatment systems for the water wells, but the owners of the three homes were unsatisfied. "The company believes there is no permanent damage that would prevent a future sale, enabling Chesapeake Appalachia to recoup a significant portion of the settlement," the company said in a statement Friday. — Andrew Maykuth
Ritz Camera files for bankruptcy
Ritz Camera & Image L.L.C., which calls itself the largest U.S. chain of specialty camera shops, filed for bankruptcy for the second time in three years after the founding family failed to turn around the 94-year-old retailer. Ritz, which has locations in the Philadelphia area, listed debt and assets of at least $50 million each in Chapter 11 court papers in federal court in Wilmington. — Bloomberg News