IBJ Staff

Odds of house prices in the Indianapolis area dropping further in the next two years are low, according to a report by PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. The metro area has an 8.4 percent chance of seeing its average sale price decline by the middle of 2009, the Walnut Creek, Calif., company said. That’s optimistic compared […]

First Indiana Corp. said today it would delay its second-quarter earnings release because BKD LLP has withdrawn as its auditor. The release had been scheduled on July 19. BKD was hired June 4 when First Indiana announced it had booted KPMG LLP as auditor. On July 9, Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. said it would […]

A proposal by Indianapolis developer Paul Kite to build a retail center anchored by a Target in McCordsville has been rejected by the community’s town council because it’s in an area zoned residential. The 63-acre project would have been built at the southeast corner of county roads 1000 North and 600 West in Hancock County, […]

Dow Jones & Co., which publishes The Wall Street Journal, and News Corp. have agreed to sale terms, the newspaper reported late last night. Dow Jones’ board will meet this evening, although the newspaper said it is unclear how the Bancroft family, which owns 64 percent of Dow Jones’ voting power, will react. The price […]

Two public relations and advertising firms have been hired by the troubled Indiana Pacers a month after the organization brought in Jim Morris as a special adviser. The local offices of Publicis and Optimedia, both owned by Paris-based Publicis Groupe SA, will provide advertising, strategic planning and communications services, the Pacers said today. The contract […]

Bill Stephan has been named vice president for engagement at Indiana University, where he wrote an economic development plan three years ago. The announcement was issued today by IU and Clarian Health Partners, where Stephan is senior vice president of community relations and corporate communications. Stephan will be responsible for leading economic development initiatives of […]

Indianapolis-based Vector Insurance Services LLC has been acquired by MajescoMastek of Edison, N.J., for an undisclosed price. Vector, led by founder and CEO Harold Apple, has 30 employees providing policy acquisition, administration, and processing to customers in the North American life insurance industry. MajescoMastek is the U.S. subsidiary of Mastek, a technology giant headquartered in […]

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has named Charles E. Sparks as business development director. Sparks previously led the central Indiana office for the state’s economic development outreach. Sparks replaces longtime development director Christopher Pfaff, who resigned in May to become director of the Center for Business Support and Economic Innovation at Indiana State University in […]

In his seven years as president of Purdue University, Martin Jischke exceeded some of the lofty goals he set but missed others, according to an analysis by the Journal & Courier of Lafayette. Jischke, whose last day was yesterday, raised $1.7 billion in private funds-well over the goal of $1.3 billion. He also made sweeping […]

Last month, word got out that The Indianapolis Star had decided to fold the newspaper’s business section into the Metro&State section. Industry experts called the move a cost-saving measure, while Star officials said it was a matter of looking for better ways to get news to its readers. Upon further review this month, Star officials […]

Mark Cuban, the Indiana University business major who went on to become a billionaire and buy the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, has applied to Major League Baseball as a next step in his interest in buying the Chicago Cubs, according to the Dallas Morning News. Several other people, including John Canning, who runs a Chicago […]

The Netherlands’ supreme court has ruled that ABN Amro Holding NV is not required to seek shareholder approval to sell its LaSalle Bank unit. Today’s decision clears the way for the sale of LaSalle to Bank of America, of Charlotte, N.C. LaSalle Bank, headquartered in Chicago, has virtually no retail presence in Indianapolis, instead focusing […]

A hearing examiner for the Metropolitan Development Commission today recommended approval of zoning changes requested by developers of Tower House on Meridian. The recommendation reflects agreements with nearby broadcasters WISH-TV and WFYI addressing the proximity of their satellite towers to the project. The proposal, from locally based Inner-Urban Homes & Hospitality, incorporates the existing Grain […]

Alcoa Inc. stock today shot above $45 per share, an increase of nearly 7 percent, on further speculation the company will be acquired, possibly by Australian mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd., according to Bloomberg. The runup in shares of Pittsburgh-based Alcoa followed an announcement that Rio Tinto Group, a mining company based in London, had […]

KB Home Inc. probably will be the only national builder to abandon the Indianapolis-area market, local observers say. Dallas-based Centex Corp., Pulte Homes Inc. of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and Beazer Homes USA, headquartered in Atlanta, are even more likely to stay now that KB is leaving, said Steve Lains, CEO of the Builders Association of […]

Demand for new ethanol plants, of which Indiana has 20 planned or operating, could already be drying up. Aventine Renewable Energy, a Pekin, Ill., ethanol producer whose shares have fallen 35 percent this year, said a year-long price slump caused by a glut of the fuel additive might last two more years. U.S. ethanol prices […]

Locally based Royce Inc. has sold its Illinois consumer-finance business to World Acceptance Corp. of Greenville, S.C., to avoid the prospect of paying a gross-receipt tax. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is pushing for the tax in a heated battled with the Legislature over the 2008 budget. Such a tax would be too great of a […]

As early as next year, Moody’s Investors Service could lower its debt rating on Eli Lilly and Co. because of the looming patent expiration of Lilly’s top-selling drug, Zyprexa. In a quarterly snapshot of the drug industry, Moody’s said it will take a hard look at any pharmaceutical company with a blockbuster drug set to […]

A Minneapolis-area startup apparently has withdrawn plans to build an $18 million processing plant in Richmond, but the Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County isn’t sure because it can’t reach the company. Nevertheless, the development group says the company, Kelsie’s Food and Dairy, must forfeit a $10,000 deposit it made on 26 acres because it […]