Strictly Business

   In Business Today, a U.S. senator brainstorms for economic growth, the stock market speculates on the future of M&T Bank and potential property buyers or renters will be offered a new way of looking over the Erie County market.

- Stumping for rejuvenation - Matt Glynn/The Buffalo News
   Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand appealed for ideas to rejuvenate the economy, and the manufacturing sector in particular, during a visit with business and labor leaders on Tuesday.
   Gillibrand toured General Motors' Town of Tonawanda engine plant, then met with 16 guests from companies, unions, government and economic development agencies.
   Those participating in a round-table discussion cited access to capital, brownfields cleanup and renewable energy technology as avenues to job growth.
   The meeting's host has fared better than many manufacturers lately. The Tonawanda engine plant this year was awarded two new engine lines, projects that represent a combined investment of $825 million. ...
   But manufacturing as a whole has faced tough times. About 30 percent of the U.S. jobs lost since December 2007 were in that sector, the Democratic senator said.
   In the Buffalo Niagara region, manufacturing employment has declined from an annual average of 92,600 in 1990 to just 50,300 last year, according to the state Department of Labor. Through June this year, the average was 47,300 manufacturing jobs.
   Arthur Wheaton, an automotive expert at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Buffalo, told Gillibrand that more manufacturers would be successful if they emulated the labor-management cooperation at the GM Tonawanda plant.
   "They're not just leaders in Western New York, they're leaders globally," he said.

- Report boosts stock of M&T - Jonathan D. Epstein/The Buffalo News
   M&T Bank Corp. shares soared Tuesday after reports from overseas that Spain’s Banco Santander SA and Buffalo-based M&T have restarted merger talks.
   M&T shares rose after a report in the Financial Times, attributed to anonymous sources, that the two banks had “rekindled” discussions over merging Santander’s U.S. subsidiary, Sovereign Bancorp, with M&T. Previous talks were halted over a disagreement about which bank would be in control. ...
   Under the earlier proposal, M&T would acquire Philadelphia-based Sovereign in a stock transaction that would double M&T’s size. Such a deal would create a regional powerhouse in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states with nearly $150 billion in assets and more than 1,500 branches from Virginia to New Hampshire.
   In exchange, Santander would gain a minority stake in M&T. Santander might also acquire the 22.5 percent position that Allied Irish Banks Plc now owns from its 2003 sale of Allfirst Financial in Baltimore to M&T. European regulators are forcing AIB to sell that as part of Ireland’s bailout of the bank. ...
   A deal would let Santander turn over the troubled Sovereign, which suffered billions of dollars in losses, to M&T.

- Database lists commercial sites - Jonathan D. Epstein/The Buffalo News
   The Buffalo Niagara Enterprise economic development organization has teamed up with the local trade group for commercial real estate brokers to launch a new electronic database listing commercial properties available for sale.
   BNE and the Western New York chapter of the New York State Commercial Association of Realtors this week unveiled their new commercial multiple-listing service for the Buffalo Niagara region at www.buffaloniagaracls.com .
   The new service, launched together with technology firm GIS Planning, combines real estate listings with community data on a new Web site that is available to both commercial real estate professionals and the public.

-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News