Zions Bancorp to Buy Pioneer Bancorp in $341 Million Deal

Zions Bancorp

(ZION) - Get Report

, Utah's second-largest banking company, agreed to buy

Pioneer Bancorp

(PNCZ:OTC BB) for about $341 million in stock. The deal values each Pioneer share at $35.70 a share, a 15% premium over today's close of 31.

Hoover's

, an Austin, Texas-based publisher of an online guide featuring data and profiles on about 14,000 companies, filed for a $48.9 million IPO. The company hopes to trade under the symbol HOOV on the

Nasdaq Stock Market

.

In other postclose news:

Mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures

Columbia Energy Group

(CG) - Get Report

said it will up its $6.7 billion unsolicited bid for

Consolidated Natural Gas

(CNG)

if the proposed deal wasn't completed by Aug. 15, 2000.

Texaco

(TX) - Get Report

called the market chatter about a union with

Chevron

(CHV)

that pushed up its stock 8.1% today "just speculation and rumor."

Offerings and stock actions

Mirage Resorts

(MIR)

announced a 16.6 million-share offering.

Miscellany

International Paper

(IP) - Get Report

announced plans to close its two offices in Wayne, N.J., as a result of its acquisition of

Union Camp

.

Kaiser Aluminum

(KLU)

and the

United Steelworkers

agreed to meet in Pittsburgh May 10 to negotiate a bargaining agreement.

A fire broke out today at a Houston refinery operated as a joint venture between

Lyondell Petrochemical

(LYO)

and

Citgo

, a U.S. subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company

PDVSA

.

TWA

(TWA)

said it's willing to accept binding arbitration with its machinists union, but the union rejected the arbitration, starting a 30-day countdown to striking.