The Boston Globe - 17.10.2019

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019 The Boston Globe Business B9

By Neal E. Boudette
THE NEW YORK TIMES
General Motors and the auto-
workers’ union said Wednesday
that they had reached a tentative
agreement on a new labor con-
tract that could end the month-
long strike that has idled GM
plants across the Midwest and
the South.
Details were not released, al-
though the union, the United Au-
tomobile Workers, said it had
“achieved major wins.” After the
union’s announcement of the ten-
tative accord, GM put out a two-
sentence announcement of con-
firmation.
Officials of the union’s GM lo-
cals will gather Thursday in De-
troit, and if they accept the tenta-
tive agreement, they could vote to
end the strike immediately. They

could also continue the walkout

until the deal is ratified by a ma-

jority of the 49,000 UAW mem-

bers employed by GM.

GM’s shares rose about 2 per-

cent after the announcement.

The walkout has cost the

union, its members, and GM it-

self hundreds of millions of dol-

lars in lost dues, wages, and reve-

nue, as well as idling truckers

and suppliers that serve the auto-

maker.

The tentative agreement, if it

becomes final, would solve the

most immediate challenge facing

GM’s chief executive, Mary T.

Barra, and should provide cer-

tainty in calculating labor costs

over the next four years. But she

must contend with issues on oth-

er fronts, including a sales slow-

down in the United States and

China, and the need for big in-

vestmentsinelectricvehiclesand

self-driving cars.

The stakes were also high for

the union. It faced discontent in

its ranks over what members saw

as a failure to win a fair share of

the gains GM has made since its

bankruptcy a decade ago.

The union was hoping to im-

prove wages and benefits for tem-

porary workers and more recent

hires, who are on a pay scale that

does not reach the top UAW wage

of $31 an hour. It pointed to GM’s

record profits in North America

and more than $10 billion in

stock buybacks since 2015.

GM entered the talks hoping

to reduce its health care costs and

limit increases in wages and ben-

efits. It offered to invest $7 billion

in US factories, including a pro-

posed battery plant, built with a

partner, that would hire union

workers under a separate con-

tract. It proposed to locate that

plant near Lordstown, Ohio,

where a GM factory assembling

the Chevrolet Cruze ceased pro-

duction this year.

GM,autounion

reachagreement

Tentativedeal

couldendstrike

thatstalledplants

Picketing

United Auto

Workers

Richard Rivera,

and Robin

Pinkney in

Langhorne, Pa.,

Wednesday

reacted to news

of a tentative

contract

agreement.

By Adam Feuerstein

STAT

Boston biotech Alexion Pharma-

ceuticals said Wednesday that it

will acquire Achillion Pharmaceuti-

cals to expand its pipeline of experi-

mental drugs targeting rare diseas-

es of the immune system.

The all-cash deal values Achil-

lion at $930 million, which repre-

sents a 72 percent premium over

Achillion’s closing stock price on

Tuesday. Achillion shareholders

will also be offered a contingent val-

ue right worth another $2 per

share, payable on the achievement

of certain clinical and regulatory

milestones.

Alexion is best known for its two

injectable drugs, Soliris and Ul-

tomiris, which treat rare diseases

caused by the over-activation of C5,

a component of the complement

system, a part of the body’s im-

mune system.

Achillion, based in Pennsylva-

nia, is developing oral drugs that

inhibit the production of Factor D,

which is involved in the “alternative

pathway” of the complement sys-

tem. In September, the Food and

Drug Administration granted

“breakthrough therapy designa-

tion” to Achillion’s lead Factor D

blocker, danicopan.

Before Wednesday’s announce-

ment, Achillion had been develop-

ing danicopan in combination with

Alexion’s Soliris in patients with

paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobin-

uria, or PNH — a rare, inherited

disease in which red blood cells are

destroyed by over-activation of the

complement system, a part of the

body’s immune system. The compa-

ny is also conducting a study of

danicopan used alone to treat an ul-

tra-rare kidney disease.

For Alexion, the decision to buy

Achillion is part of a broader and

ongoing plan to diversify its pipe-

line so that future growth is not so

heavily reliant on revenue from So-

liris and Ultomiris, while also stay-

ing true to its roots as a rare-disease

company.

Despite a stellar financial per-

formance over the past year, shares

of Alexion are down about 14 per-

cent because of concerns that bio-

similar versions of Soliris could

crimp revenue growth.

For Achillion, the acquisition is

somewhat of a take under. In 2015,

the company was worth nearly $1.6

billion on the basis of some promis-

ing drugs for hepatitis C and ru-

mors that it was acquisition bait for

Gilead Sciences. But Achillion’s

hepatitis C drugs faded, taking the

stock price with it. Achillion shifted

to developing complement-mediat-

ed diseases — and now an exit to

Alexion.

Adam Feuerstein can be reached at

[email protected].

Biotech

Alexion

toacquire

Achillion

Purchasewillhelp

broadenpipeline

forBostonfirm

Atlantic Offshore.)
BHC also runs water taxis and
ferries to Salem and Province-
town and provides whale watch
trips and other excursions.
Hornblower already had a
presence in Boston, with two din-
ner ships (Odyssey and Spirit)
and three charter vessels, as well
as boats in nearly 20 other North
American cities. The private eq-
uity firm Crestview Partners, in
turn, has held a controlling stake
in Hornblower for more than a
year.
The BHC deal had been ru-
mored for months. But Nolan
says the sale discussions date to
early 2018, when she and Ken-
neth Svendsen, president of
Hornblower Cruises & Events,
got to talking at an industry con-
ference.
Last month, the Boston Plan-
ning & Development Agency ap-
proved shifting BHC’s Long
Wharf leases to Hornblower. Last
week, theMBTAapprovedtrans-
ferring the commuter ferry con-
tract.
The sale caps a decade or so of
strong growth for BHC, when it
more than doubled in size after
members of the Nolan family
bought out the now-defunct con-
struction company Modern Con-
tinental’s majority stake in 2006.
(The family brought Modern as a
partner on a decade earlier.) BHC
beat out a rival operator for the
Hull ferry in 2013, taking full
control of all official MBTA
routes on the water, and then
took over contracts to run excur-
sion boats to the Boston Harbor
islands.
BHC’s upward trajectory has
mirrored the city’s. The green

uCHESTO MEANS BUSINESS
Continued from Page B7

monster of a Central Artery came

down, reconnecting downtown

and the waterfront. In its place,

the Greenway sprang up. Luxury

condos and offices replaced park-

ing lots in the Seaport. Nolan

says the company’s growth will

continue — with Hornblower’s

considerable backing.

That will be a relief for ferry

advocates such as Alice Brown, a

planning director with the non-

profit Boston Harbor Now. The

organization recently spearhead-

ed a study to din the most com-

mercially viable ways to expand

commuter service in the harbor.

The recommendations includ-

ed frequent rides to Quincy, with

stops at Columbia Point and a

new East Boston dock that could

help get commuters downtown

or to the Seaport.

Work is underway on both

fronts: Lieutenant Governor

Karyn Polito stopped by the John

F. Kennedy Library on Wednes-

day to talk about a dock redesign

happening there. The City of

Quincy applied to the MBTA last

month to participate in a pilot

program that would improve the

city’s limited service. Lynn offi-

cials did so, as well, to revive its

short-lived commuter service.

Brown says she’s encouraged by

the progress on plans for a prop-

er ferry dock in East Boston. And

maybe that long-awaited Seaport

dock on Commonwealth Pier will

finally happen, since Fidelity is

rebuilding the World Trade Cen-

ter.

It remains to be seen where

Boston Harbor Cruises will fit

among all the moving pieces. But

if what Nolan says is true, a big-

ger company’s backing should

ensure that BHC continues to

make waves in the harbor for

many years to come.

Jon Chesto can be reached at

[email protected].

Boston Harbor Cruises is sold to a Chicago firm

ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE/FILE 2014

Alison Nolan of

Boston Harbor

Cruises will

stay on board

as general

manager after

the company’s

acquisition.

MATT ROURKE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

in the economy where the ‘haves’
have more and the ‘have-nots’ are
struggling to keep up and falling
farther behind,” said Jennifer Mo-
linsky, the report’s lead author
and a senior research associate for
the housing studies center. “We
have experienced a good economy
for the past few years, but we’re
seeing a growing number of older
residents facing cost burdens. So
clearly the economy isn’t working
for everyone.”
Molinsky said the problem is
likely to worsen in the coming de-
cade when the bulk of the baby
boomer generation moves into its
80s and many seek to downsize in
markets where senior housing is
expensive and there’s a shortage of
affordable options.
The number of households
headed by someone over 65
climbed from 27 million to 31 mil-
lion in the period studied. Within
that age group, incomes of those
in the top 10 percent rose 22 per-
cent, while incomes of those in the
bottom 10 percent fell 4 percent.
Over-65 homeownership rates as a
whole dipped to 78.5 percent last
year from a peak of 81.1 percent in
2012.
Among the oldest Americans,

uHARVARD
Continued from Page B7

the percentage of single-person

households is rising, with the

number living alone projected to

more than double, to 10 million by

2038.

“Economic inequality is grow-

ing within and across the older

population,” the Harvard study

says. “While many households

now of retirement age [65 and

over] have the means to age in

place or move to other suitable

housing, a record number in this

cohort are cost burdened and will

have few affordable housing op-

tions as they age.”

Harvard researchers also cited

figures from the US Department

of Housing and Urban Develop-

ment showing an uptick in home-

lessness among older adults. The

percentage of the homeless popu-

lation that is over 50 jumped from

22.9 percent to 33.8 percent from

2007 to 2013, with the number of

people over 62 living in housing

shelters rose nearly 70 percent to

76,000, that data showed

The report, titled “Housing

America’s Oldest Adults 2019,” is a

supplement to the Harvard cen-

ter’s annual State of the Nation’s

Housing reports that cover all ag-

es. It examines the most recent da-

ta available, from 2012 to 2017, a

period of robust growth in the US

economy and financial markets

following the great recession and

housing bubble the previous de-

cade.

Among the most troubling

findings is that the impact from

the 2008 recession still weighs

heavily on many in the 50-64 age

range who lost jobs and homes

and, a decade later, still have low-

er incomes and homeownership

rates than prior generations.

Many also juggle more credit card

and student loan debt than in the

past.

For about 10 million house-

holds feeling the financial squeeze

in the 50-64 age group, “ensuring

financial and housing security in

retirement will be a struggle,” the

report says.

Low-income renters are experi-

encing the greatest pinch, the re-

port suggests, with no ability to

draw on home equity in their old-

er years. Tenants over age 65 paid

an average rent of $830 a month,

compared to an average of $458 in

taxes and insurance for older ho-

meowners who have paid off their

mortgages.

At the same time, racial and

ethnic disparities have grown in

the over-65 group. The gap in

homeownership between blacks

and whites was 19.4 percent last

year, a 30-year high, and the gap

between Hispanics and whites

was 18.4 percent. The disparities

were wider still in the 50-64 age

range, which has a black-white ho-

meownership gap of 27 percent-

age points.

Members of some minority

groups, such as Hispanics and

Asians, are more likely to live in

multigenerational households, the

report said. As such groups be-

come a large share of the US popu-

lation in coming decades, the

number of multigenerational

households is likely to increase.

Elissa Sherman, president of

Leading Age Massachusetts,

which represents nonprofit hous-

ing and aging services for older

adults, said the trends outlined in

the study are consistent with what

she’s seen in Massachusetts,

where the high cost of housing has

made it difficult for many lower-

income seniors to spend as much

on food, health care, and other

needs.

“The trends are going in a di-

rection you don’t want to see,”

Sherman said. “Part of it is the

sheer numbers of baby boomers

moving into the older age range,

and they may not have sufficient

resources for housing. Part of the

problem is we don’t have enough

affordable housing.”

Sherman said the report un-

derscores the urgency for more

federal spending on subsidized

housing. On the state and local

level, she said, the housing crunch

can be eased by permitting more

senior housing as well as steps

ranging from homesharing to sup-

ports and services like age-friendly

home modifications that let older

adults stay in their homes.

One particular challenge re-

searchers found is that more older

Americans are heading into retire-

ment with mortgage debt than in

the past, said Chris Herbert, man-

aging director of the Harvard

housing studies center. That’s

partly a function of a mobile econ-

omy in which many people move

for better jobs but also a result of

the refinancing boom where many

take new mortgages with lower

monthly payments — but in the

process extend their terms.

Holding such debt as housing

prices continue to rise in many

parts of the country is “a recipe for

a real squeeze among older

adults,” Herbert said.

Robert Weisman can be reached at

[email protected].

Follow him on Twitter

@GlobeRobW.

Financialinequalityisgrowingamongseniors,Harvardstudyfinds

‘The

trendsare

goingina

direction

youdon’t

wantto

see....

Partofthe

problem

iswe

don’thave

enough

affordable

housing.’

ELISSA

SHERMAN

Leading Age

Massachusetts