THE TICKER // CHICAGO

ComEd makes early-retirement offers Commonwealth Edison Corp., seeking to trim expenses as it braces forderegulation, is offering voluntary early retirement packages to1,500 managers in select work groups, said spokeswoman Sandra Allen.Employees who accept the packages will receive lump-sum paymentsbased on salary and service, outplacement assistance and health andlife insurance benefits. Employees have until Sept. 12 to sign upfor the program, and the retirements will take place until Dec. 5.ComEd expects that 10 to 15 percent of the people offered retirementwill accept, Allen said. NICOR to join gas pipeline venture NICOR Inc., the holding company of Northern Illinois Gas, said ithas signed a letter of intent to help sponsor the Viking Voyageur GasTransmission project, a $1 billion, 800-mile pipeline that willtransport natural gas from the Canadian border to the Midwest. NICORhopes to complete an agreement that would make it a 20 percentpartner in the venture. Greenway weighs bid to buy Outboard Greenway Partners L.P. andaffiliates, holders of a combined 9.9 percent stake in OutboardMarine Corp., said they may counter Detroit Diesel Corp.'s $16 ashare bid to buy the Waukegan boatmaker. The New York-basedinvestment group is "actively exploring the possibility of making anoffer to the company and/or its shareholders that would represent asuperior transaction," Greenway said in a Securities and ExchangeCommission filing Friday. Detroit Diesel agreed July 8 to buyOutboard Marine for $500 million. Culligan buys water filtration business Culligan Water TechnologiesInc. completed its acquisition of Paoli, Pa.-based Ametek Inc.'swater filtration business. The Ametek division will become a whollyowned subsidiary of Culligan in an agreement worth $155 million,including $25 million in debt. City wins cable TV conventions The National Cable TelevisionAssociation will bring its convention to McCormick Place in 1999,2001 and 2003, the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau announced.The show, which attracted 27,000 people to New Orleans this year, hasnot been in Chicago since 1977. Loews plans Woodridge theater Loews Theatres, a Sony RetailEntertainment company, will build an 18-screen, first-run movietheater in southwest suburban Woodridge. The complex, which willhave 4,400 seats, is scheduled to open next summer. Loews operates19 theaters and 123 screens under the Loews and Sony names in thisarea.