European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 24, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 the stars and stripes Money matters saturday july 24,1993 re to pars rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking and credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal us err non Mark 1.68british Pound 1.54 dutch Guilder. 1.89greek drachma. 227.6428 tn8 of lot to Vii to pity wet tin fh0 . Figures to Ruyts to m do fart the of fat a  1 .502 German Mark. 1.717 Swiss franc. 1.s131 French franc. 8.871dutch Guilder. 1.932 belgian franc. 35.50 Canadian Dollar. 1.2813note flu pm met Uwi to Daliara to to British Pound other cur Rendes to the Dollar. Gold quote $392.60 an Rounot so Law quote $5.08 in ounce f Dow Jones 1 new York up Dow Jones closing Range of w rage on thursday. Pm lev clot cfttmfl30 industrials 3569.88 351.4.32 3525.22 off 30.18 20 transport 159074 1562.53 1575.99 up 2.78 15 utilities 247.63 245.08 246.84 unch65 stocks 1315.43 1295 72 1302.80 dfs.22 exam official allegedly had papers copied Bonn Germany a pm documents found in the Home of an associate of Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arr Ortua in clude secret plans that Lopez apparently ordered copied for him before he defected to Volkswagen prosecutors said thursday. With each new development in the Lopez Case German hews reports say Volkswagen is under increasing pressure to fire him despite his ability to slash manufacturing costs and save millions in profits. General motors corp. Accuses Lopez of systematically gathering and making off with Trade secrets before he abruptly jumped ship to vow in March. Volkswagen officials said thursday s announcement by prosecutors added no weight to the accusations against Lopez who the company said has done out standing work since becoming Volks Wagen s no. 2 Man March 15. Volkswagen which lost $732.5 million in the first Quarter expects to Cut some $4.8 billion in costs this year according to company executives quoted last week in handels Blatt a business newspaper. Much of the sayings came by renegotiating prices paid to suppliers. One question prosecutors in Darmstadt Ger Many Are exploring is whether Lopez and his associates illegally brought Over detailed information on suppliers from general motors. Prosecutors in Darmstadt Are also investigating Jose Manuel Gutierrez a top associate of Lopez and two other associates said spokesman Georg Nauth. Low inflation has priority Over growth fed chief says Washington a Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan is standing firm on fighting inflation even though some democrats want him to give a higher priority to fostering eco nomic growth while they Cut the budget deficit. If anything Greenspan s rhetoric was even sterner during an appearance be fore the Senate banking committee on thursday than it was two Days earlier before a House subcommittee. He made it Clear that he and his colleagues would t hesitate to Dampen economic growth to stamp out the first signs of inflation. I must say that growth per be does t necessarily engender inflationary pres sures but we have to be vigilant to make certain that that does not happen he said. Three democratic chairmen in the Senate Michigan s Donald w. Riegle jr., of the banking committee Tennes see s Jim Sasser of the budget commit tee and Maryland s Paul s. Sarbanes of the joint economic committee warned Greenspan that the fed was in danger of toppling the country into a re cession if it did not use Low interest rates to offset the constraining effects of the tax increases and spending cuts Congress and president Clinton Are about to enact. I would Hope the fed would not get into a monetary tightening situation. That would choke off this struggling re covery such As it is Riegle said but in response Greenspan invoked memories of toe Early 1980s, when inter est rates soared to Post civil War highs. And using unusually explicit language he said the fed would not hesitate to raise rates at the first hint of inflation rather than wait for inflation to build up requiring Large rate increases. The signal we Are endeavouring to Send Here is that at some Point rates Are going to have to move up he said. The Central Bank has kept the Federal funds rate the rate charged among Banks on overnight Loans at 3 percent since Las september. Taking the inflation rate into account that amounts to a real interest rate of Zero Greenspan said. The evidence indicates we cannot maintain a Zero real Short term rate in definitely in the future he said. Greenspan did not say when rate would increase but he said the Central Bank would examine inflation data forthe next two to three months to see if the trend of moderating inflation in May and june continues. So far this year consumer prices have increased at an annual rate of 3.1 per cent compared with an increased 2.9percent for All of last year. Shareholders to decide Fate of plan to split Marriott into 2 companies Washington a Marriott corp s plan to split into two companies separating its worldwide Empire of hotels and real estate is in the hands of share holders following months of arguments in and out of the courtroom. The food service and lodging company was to hold its annual shareholders meeting Friday in Washington. Topping the Agenda was to be the re structuring plan. The plan would Divide Bethesda  Marriott into a profitable hotel management firm to be called Marriott International inc., and a debt Laden real estate management com Pany. Host Marriott corp. The Marriott family which started the business in the 1920s As a Root Beer stand outside Washington d.c., will hold about 25 percent in each company after the split. Marriott chairman . Marriott or. Will continue in that position at Marriott International. His younger brother Rich Ard e. Marriott will head Host Marriott. Stockholders will get a special dividend of one share of Host Marriott for each share of Marriott Stock they hold. Shares of Marriott corp. Will be exchanged for shares of Marriott International and shareholders will end up with an equal number of shares in each of the two Sepa rated companies. Marriott corp. Is one of the nation s leading hotel operators. It owns or Man splitting Marriott in two stockholders of Marriott corp. The big lodging and food company a re to void Friday on a plan to split it in two. Marriott wants to separate ownership of properties from management of operations. A look at the proposed companies Marriott International inc. Chairman j. W. Marriott or. Business manages franchises 740 hotels motels. Food and facilities management for 3.000 businesses schools health care clients. Manages 14 retirement Homes. 1991 sales $7.4 billion employees 182,000 debt about $450 million Host Marriott corp. Chairman Richard e. Marriott business owns 139 hotels motels 14 retirement communities restaurant souvenir shops in 74 airports and on 14 highways. 1991 sales $1.7 billion employees 23,000 debt about $2.3 billion. Goal Divide thriving management business from debt Ridden real estate company. Management company would be a stable investment whereas real estate company while riskier could offer higher returns. Provisions Man Ion family to hold 25 percent stake in each company. Stockholders to get one share of each company for each share they now own. Bondholders to get new Stock Cash and new Bonds in Exchange for existing debt. Source Marriott corp. Ages 737 hotels under the Marriott courtyard residence inn and Fairfield names. The new Host Marriott corp. Would own 139 Marriott hotels 14 retirement communities and the Host travel Plaza business which operates restaurant con Cessions at 74 airports and at rest Stopson 14 . Toll roads. Aps a Marriott s Stock soared in the 1980s As the company built and sold about $7 Bil lion Worth of hotels under contracts that kept Marriott on As manager. But a combination of plunging real estate values recession cutbacks in corporate and personal travel and a credit crunch left Marriott choking on a $3.5 billion debt Load by 1991. Company to change promotions for Gold card7 Washington a a Texas direct marketer has agreed to drop its nationwide mailings offering a Gold card for $29.95 which some Consumers mis take for a credit card the . Postal service said thursday. While admitting no wrongdoing dal Las based cred corp agreed to halt the disputed mailing and will refrain from using language similar in the contested mailings in future promotions postal service counsel Dan Bryant said. The proposed consent decree will be come final if approved by the postal serv ice s judicial officer. The postal service and the better business Bureau had complained that the mailings did not make Clear that the card was a catalogue membership card Good for purchases directly from cred corp and not a Reg ular credit card. The agreement also provides that the postal service will return to Consumers thousands of enrolment applications not delivered to cred corp under a voluntary interim mail detention agreement the company signed last month. The letters will be stamped promotion  we believe that involves several Hun dred thousands of dollars Bryan said. The settlement also provides for the return of the $29.95 annual fee to con Sumers who make a written request to cred corp. One of our primary motivations for entering a consent decree. Was in order to provide some Relief to Consumers Bryant said. Cred corp spokesman Rod Downey said the company agreed to the consent decree to avoid litigation costs. Cred corp will continue to Market the Gold card he said and has always had a 60-Day refund policy. The better business Bureau which has received almost 50,000 Calls about Credi corp in the last three years welcomed news of the settlement