PPD, one of the Triangle's largest drug-research companies, announced this morning that is being acquired by affiliates of two private equity firms, The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman, for $3.9 billion.

PPD is based in Wilmington but has about 1,400 workers in the Triangle. Rumors have been swirling for months that PPD was on the market and that The Carlyle Group was among the frontrunners.

Under the terms of the deal, The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman are acquiring the outstanding shares of PPD for $33.25 per share. That's a 30 percent premium on where the shares closed Friday.

PPD was founded 25 years ago by Fred Eshelman. Eshelman had been running the company since former CEO David Grange retired in May.

The proposed merger between Duke Energy and Progress Energy would shift benefits to Wall Street at the expense of the environment and the state's poor, an environmental representative warned utilities regulators today.

Public hearings continue all day Wednesday in Raleigh on the proposed merger between Duke Energy and Progress Energy.

The N.C. Utilities Commission started the hearings yesterday with impassioned pleas from residents to block the merger, followed by statements from Duke CEO Jim Rogers and Progress CEO Bill Johnson. The agency, which is expected to approve the merger, has set aside the rest of the week to hear from experts.

The North Carolina electric companies want to create the nation's biggest utility with 7.1 million customers in six states. Rogers and Johnson laid out the rationale for the merger Tuesday as a strategy to create the financial heft needed to embark on multi-billion dollar construction projects.

The chief executives of Duke Energy and Progress Energy said this afternoon their companies plan to seek rate increases soon to meet a deadline to recover severance payments that will be paid to employees who lose their jobs as a result of the utilities' merger.

The public hearings on the proposed merger between Progress Energy and Duke Energy got underway this morning with dozens of residents waiting their turn to speak in a standing-room only hearing room.

Pfizer announced today that all the remaining outstanding shares of Icagen have been tendered, setting the stage for the Durham-based drug company to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer.

Nearly 5.4 million shares of Icagen common stock were tendered as of 6 p.m. Monday.

Pfizer already owned more than a million shares before the Monday deadline, and the additional shares bring the company's ownership stake in the company to 70 percent.

Pfizer expects to complete the acquisition once the merger agreement is approved at an Icagen stockholders meeting.

Opponents are already jockeying for legal advantage in next week's public hearings on the proposed merger between Duke Energy and Progress Energy.

The two power companies today asked the N.C. Utilities Commission to quash some objections raised by critics of the merger as irrelevant. If the companies prevail, the environmental groups would be barred from arguing some of their points.

The hearings are set to begin Tuesday, with Progress CEO Bill Johnson and Duke CEO Jim Rogers expected to testify on the first day. The hearings could last four days to give time to hear witnesses and listen to experts and go through cross-examinations.

More pre-trial filings are due later this week to the utilities commission as the two utilities seek to convince the utilities commission to rule critics' objections out of bounds.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is the latest to chime in as a critic of the planned merger between Duke Energy and Progress energy. The labor union wants assurances that the companies keep their promise not to lay off any linemen, technicians or field workers as part of their consolidation.

The IBEW was one of a number of groups that filed comments late Thursday to meet the deadline of the N.C. Utilities Commission. The commission is set to hold public hearings in Raleigh in two weeks on the corporate merger that would create the nation's largest electric utility.

Raleigh-based Progress said it plans to eliminate 700 to 1,000 positions in Raleigh, erasing up to half its downtown workforce as the corporate headquarters is consolidated in Charlotte. Progress and Charlotte-based Duke have said they don't expect the job cuts to affect workers in the field and in power plants.

"The companies' nebulous promise to avoid involuntary layoffs 'to the maximum extent possible' is insufficient," the IBEW wrote in its filing.

North Carolina critics of the proposed merger between Duke Energy and Progress Energy are making last-minute filings with the N.C. Utilities Commission to express their displeasure at the planned creation of the nation's largest electric utility. The deadline to file objections was today.

The groups warn that the planned merger would be a bad deal for customers and for the environment. The groups are asking the utilities commission not to approve the merger without imposing additional conditions to promote green energy.

A coalition of groups including the Sierra Club and Environmental Defense Fund say the merger would create a giant power company that will dominate the state and crowd out competition from clean energy producers.

The N.C. Sustainable Energy Association, a Raleigh trade group that represents solar and other renewable developers, wants the commission to require the power companies to pay $75 million into a public benefit fund to pay for home weatherization and other programs. The utilities have committed to contributing $15 million, one-fifth that amount.

Duke Energy and Progress Energy cleared another hurdle in their $26 billion corporate merger this morning with the announcement that the two companies reached a settlement with South Carolina's consumer advocate.

The agreement with the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff, which is very similar to terms signed in North Carolina last week with the Office of the Public Staff, means that the consumer advocate agencies in both states will not oppose the merger when it comes up for review before the utilities commissions in each state.

The consumer advocates say the settlements will help keep down future rate increases, which are inevitable as both companies enter a phase of mutli-billion dollar power plant construction and transmission upgrades.