It has just been reported that Pulte Homes, Inc. is acquiring its rival Centex Corp. at $1.3 billion including a stock-for-stock swap valued at $3.1 billion and the assumption of $1.8 billion in debt.

Pulte Homes, Inc. is a corporation based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and was the Tampa Bay area’s fourth largest homebuilder in 2007 for having $130. million on 622 closings as shown in the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Book  of Lists. Among the local Pulte Communities are Palm Cove in Pasco, Valhalla South in Hillsborough County, and Trillium in Hernando County.

On the other hand, Centex was ranked as the 10th on the 2006 list of homebuilders for having $94 million in sales on 395 closings locally. Among the communities for Centex are Southshore Falls, Ashley Pines in Pasco County and Edgewater at Lake Brandon.

The transaction is intended to combine Pulte’s strength in active-adult and retirement housing with Centex’s hefty market share of first-time homebuyers. Also, the acquisition will provide Pulte large tracts of land in Texas and the Carolinas, which are two of the most resilient real estate markets, and a presence in 29 states and Washington, D.C.

According to Pulte’s president and chief executive officer, Richard J. Dugas, Jr., combining the two industry leaders with proud legacies into one company puts Pulte in an excellent position to navigate through the current housing downturn, poised to accelerate the corporation’s return to profitability. “Centex’s significant presence in the entry level and move-up categories is complemented by Pulte’s strength in both the move-up and active adult segments, the latter through our popular Del Webb brand,” he further stated.

Dugas also said that the acquisition will give the Pulte “considerable presence in more than 59 markets across America and that it also allows Pulte access to Centex’s holdings in Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina, “two areas that continue to exhibit strength in the face of today’s difficult housing market.

On the part of Centex, Centex Chairman and Chief Executive Timothy Eller said, “this deal is a game-changer, pure and simple.”

When the transaction gets consummated, Pulte shareholders will own approximately 68 percent of the combined company, and Centex shareholders will own approximately 32 percent.

These two companies which were combined will be using the Pulte name and will be based in Bloomfield Hills. However, the firms said a “significant presence” will be maintained in Dallas, which is where Centex was based. The positions of chairman, president and chief executive officer of the combined company will be assumed by Dugas while Eller will become Pulte’s vice chairman and will work as a consultant for two years following the acquisition’s completion.

According to Pulte reports, the company had a net loss of $1.5 billion, or $5.81 per share in 2008 but with a revenue of $6.3 billion. In contrast, it had a net loss of $2.3 billion, or $8.94 per share but with a revenue of $9.3 billion the year before. Centex, on other hand, reported a net loss of $663.9 million, or $5.34 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, on revenue of $872.2 million as compared to a $975.2 million, or $7.94 per share loss, on revenue of $1.9 billion the year before.

The trading of the shares of Centex this Wednesday afternoon is at $9.07 which is 19% higher than its previous close of $7.62. Pulte shares, on the other hand, actually dropped nearly 11% ti $9.61 from its Tuesday close of $10.77. Nonetheless, the combined company will have twice the revenue of its next largest rival, D.R. Horton Inc. Pulte and Centex pulled in a total of $11.61 billion in the last twelve months, compared to D.R. Horton’s $5.82 billion.

Unfortunately, there will be an unspecified number of job cuts as a consequence of this transaction.

Central California based Setton Farms has just issued a recall of about one million pounds of pistachios due to salmonella contamination worries.

Just last March 27, the California Department of Public Health gave out an announcement that it had been conducting an investigation on the pistachio recall from a CA supplier. Food safety officials are looking through the Farms’ plant in rural Turlare County in order to see if it could lead them to the source of contamination. Expansion of pistachio recall was also announced in a conference call held at 7pm ET plus they also mentioned that consumers shouldn’t eat any pistachios until more info is known.

The recalls has just began last Friday when the Georgia Nut Company recalled its Kraft Back to Nature Nantucket Blend trail mix after finding out through a test that some were positive of salmonella.

According to Dr. David Acheson, director of food safety for the Food and Drug Administration, the contaminated pistachios are not related to a recent outbreak of salmonella tied to peanuts. It can be remembered that barely two months, there have been a huge recall of peanut-related products.

A spokesman for Setton declined to comment, saying the company’s own inquiry into the cause of contamination was continuing. Setton likewise says in its website that the California plant is the second-largest pistachio processor in the United States.

Fortunately, no illnesses have been reported.

University of California, Berkeley and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore have just agreed to pursue a research alliance collaboration to focus on the three research areas which are synthetic biology, stem cells and energy efficiency in order to achieve in new peaks in research excellence.

Last March 23-24, 2009, a joint workshop was held which allowed NTU and UC Berkeley faculty to have a face-to-face discussions and the opportunity to get to know the latest research and developments in the three key research areas.

It was agreed that faculty from the two universities will be working on joint research projects on an equal footing which includes the bringing in resources and funding. It is expected the colleagues from Schools outside of NTU’s College of Engineering will likewise participate as the research on these three areas are multidisciplinary.

The first research area which is synthetic biology, which is an emerging multidisciplinary field, actually combines science and engineering to design and build or “synthesize” novel and biological functions and systems. This may be a new area in biological research but it holds a great potential for answering problems in biomedicine, energy supply and environmental remediation.

The second research area is Stem Cell research and it is greatly important to the future of biomedical research as it has major implications for treating and preventing devastating human diseases. In Singapore, there is a critical mass of stem cell researchers working on embryonic including adult stem cells which was built up.

The area of energy fills up the third research area and the important issue in this field is the impact of energy use on climate change and global warming. In order for the adverse impact of climate change be mitigated, energy efficiency needs improvement as it is one strategy to ensure that the economy will grow in an environmentally sustainable manner.

NT President Dr. Su Guaning said “Within the University, we have developed peaks of excellence in energy research and we hope to develop our capabilities further including in collaboration with Berkeley especially in the area of energy efficiency for tropical buildings.” He further stated that the university is widely seen as the best public university in the United States and that Berkeley leads in cross-disciplinary research including in the area of bioengineering and clean energy.

“We are excited to work with Berkeley to tap complementary capabilities in the defined topical areas to achieve new peaks in research excellence. I am confident our collaboration will generate innovative solutions to the global research challenges in the three focus areas, creating positive contributions to the welfare of humankind and deepening our collaboration,” Dr Su continued.

Just recently, NY Times published the resignation letter of AIG’s Financial Products Vice President Jake DeSantis addressed to AIG CEO Edward M. Liddy. This is why we came to know that DeSantis is actually quitting from AIG.

In the letter, DeSantis wrote: “It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:”

The reason of DeSantis’ resignation was likewise stated in the letter. He specifically mentioned: “But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn’t defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut.”

“Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you. Liddy both defended the bonus payments to Congress last week and told legislators he had asked for the bonus money to be returned–for the employees to “do the right thing,” DeSantis further stated.

AIG Bonuses have indeed created a strong public backlash when the company chose to use taxpayer money to pay off multimillion dollar retention bonuses every to those executives who were not with AIG anymore.

Willis Group Holdings, London’s insurance giant, is changing the name of Sears Tower to Willis Tower by merely exercising their naming rights over one of the tallest buildings in the world.

The insurance has just made an announcement Thursday morning that they will move to the Sears Tower and that the said building will now be named as Willis Tower. Under a leasing deal between the New York-based owners and the Willis Group Holdings, the 100-story Chicago giant shall be renamed.

Sears Tower was first opened in 1973, designed by the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Said firm is the same firm that designed the John Hancock Tower on the city’s North Side. Sears Roebuck and Co. was the building’s original tenant before the department store moved its headquarters to the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates in 1992. A real estate investment group formed in 2004 now owns the 1,451-foot skyscraper. Since the said year, Sears Tower has been owned by a group led by New York investors Joseph Chetrit, Joseph Moinian and Steve Bederman and including Yisroel Gluck and John Huston of Skokie-based American Landmark Properties Ltd.

It can be remembered that the name change isn’t the first in recent years for Chicago. In the year 2006, the city’s State Street shopping district saw Marshall Field’s department store become Macy’s. Also, in 2003, the White Sox started playing baseball at U.S. Cellular Field instead of Comiskey Park.

According to the London-based Willis Group Hldings, it will consolidate five local offices into more than 140,000 square feet in the 110-story building situated at 233 S. Wacker Drive. There will be about 500 employees who will be moving into the building, Willis further stated.

The spokesman in New York for Willis Holdings Corp., Will Thoretz, said ”We certainly appreciate and understand the sentimental attraction to the Sears Tower name, and it’s certainly a Chicago icon. Our move into Chicago is a good thing for the city. We’re bringing hundreds of jobs into the city.”

On the part of Sears Holdings Corporation, its spokeswoman Kim Freely said “We’re saddened. We believe that Chicagoans will continue to refer to the building as Sears Tower.”

“It just doesn’t work,” said Robin O’Sullivan, a tourist from Cork, Ireland, as he walked into the Sears Tower’s Skydeck entrance on Thursday. “It’s known worldwide. Everyone in Ireland knows it’s the Sears Tower.”

The tower was regarded as the world’s tallest building until 1996. It ceased as such when it was surpassed by the Petronas Towers built in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.