Business Digest: Bass Pro Shops, Cabela agree to tweak deal

April 18–RETAIL

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Bass Pro Shops, Cabela tweak deal to appease regulators

SIDNEY, Neb. — Bass Pro Shops acquisition of rival outdoor gear retailer Cabela's looks a bit more likely with a cheaper price and new terms of the credit card unit's sale.

Cabela's said Monday that Bass Pro will pay $61.50 per share, or $4.2 billion, for the company, down from $65.50 per share, or $4.5 billion. The company declined to say why the price was cut.

Cabela's also says Georgia bank Synovus will now buy the credit-card unit as a middleman. Synovus will keep its $1.2 billion in deposits before reselling it to the original purchaser Capital One. The terms of that transaction weren't detailed Monday.

Capital One had said that banking regulators questioned the deal because of an unrelated issue.

Cabela's CEO Tommy Millner says the changes make the deal more certain.

ECONOMY

China's economy gains steam; growth fastest since 2015

HONG KONG — China's economic recovery is gaining traction, with growth rising to its fastest pace in over a year in January-March.

The 6.9 percent annual pace of expansion for the world's second-largest economy, reported Monday, surpassed economists' forecasts and was an improvement from 6.8 percent growth in the last quarter of 2016.

Growth last was that strong in July-September of 2015.

Analysts said government spending and a property boom spurred by easy credit were the main factors helping to driving stronger demand.

China saw its slowest growth in nearly three decades in 2016, at 6.7 percent. The official full-year economic growth target for 2017 is 6.5 percent.

“Currently, China's economy is demonstrating good signs of pickup in growth, overall price stability, expansion in employment and improvement in the international balance of payments,” Mao Shengyong, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, told reporters in Beijing.

Fears of being dragged into a trade and currency war with the U.S. have abated after U.S. President Donald Trump toned down his previously antagonistic comments against Beijing.

ECONOMY

N.Y. manufacturers grow at a slower pace in April

WASHINGTON — Manufacturing in New York state expanded more slowly this month than it did in March, but factory hiring looked strong.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday that its Empire State Manufacturing Survey fell to 5.2 in April from 16.4 in March and a two-year high 18.7 in February. Still, anything above zero signals growth, and New York factories have been expanding for six straight months.

New orders grew at a slower pace this month. The index that measures hiring climbed to the highest level in more than two years. The Labor Department reported earlier that factories nationwide added 49,000 jobs from January through March; during the first three months of 2016, they had cut 4,000 jobs.

MANUFACTURING

Arconic CEO Kleinfeld steps down

NEW YORK — Arconic said Monday that Klaus Kleinfeld has agreed to step down as CEO and chairman after the company's board of directors discovered that he sent a letter to its largest shareholder without telling them.

Arconic said in a statement that Kleinfeld “showed poor judgment.” A spokeswoman at Arconic declined to say what was in the letter.

Arconic Inc. makes aluminum, titanium or nickel parts for planes, cars and electronics. The New York-based company was spun off from aluminum company Alcoa last year.

Arconic said Kleinfeld's letter was sent to a senior official at Elliott Management, an activist investor that has been pushing the company to replace Kleinfeld. Elliott Management has an 11.6 percent stake in Arconic.

Board member David Hess will serve as interim CEO as the company looks for a permanent replacement. Patricia Russo was named interim chair of the board.

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