Articles

Steak n Shake investor seeks board seats

A Texas-based investment group disclosed in a regulatory filing this morning that it has amassed a 5.8-percent stake in The Steak n Shake Co. and wants two of its representatives added to the struggling company’s board. The group includes San Antonio-based Lion Fund and Western Sizzlin Corp., a steakhouse chain based in Virginia. According to […]

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Marbaugh acquired by Florida company

Indianapolis-based Marbaugh Reprographics Supply Co. has been bought by Global Imaging Systems Inc., a Tampa, Fla., firm that was acquired by Xerox Corp. in May. Marbaugh sells and services wide-format copiers. The downtown company also scans, prints and offers other reproduction services. Former Marbaugh co-owner Brad Clough will be vice president and general manager.

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St. Vincent exec named to Michigan position

Patricia Maryland, chief operating officer of the Indianapolis region of St.Vincent Health and president of St.Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, has taken a new position overseeing marketing in Michigan for Ascension Health. Ascension Health, the nation’s largest Catholic and not-for-profit health system, is based in St. Louis. St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital will name an interim president.

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Indiana rated more favorably for business costs

Indiana ranks 36th in this year’s annual “Cost-of-Doing-Business,” an index compiled by the Milken Institute, a California think tank. Last year, Indiana placed 33rd. The ranking is a modest win for Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has focused much of his effort on lowering the cost of Hoosier business. The index considers states’ costs of […]

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Westfield OKs expanded Eagle Station project

Westfield town councilors have unanimously approved an expansion of multi-use development Eagle Station to 997 acres, up from the 856 acres approved last year. The project now could include 2,230 single-family houses, 800 apartments and a number of businesses, according to the Noblesville Daily Times. The developer, Westfield-based Wilfong and Kreutz Land Development LLC, has […]

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IRL extends Iowa race deal two more years

Iowa Speedway today at the Iowa State Fair announced a two-year extension with the Indy Racing League to host the Iowa Corn Indy 250 through 2009. The Iowa Corn Growers Association will remain as title sponsor for the races. The announcement was made by ABC/ESPN racing analyst and former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace, who designed […]

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Auto suppliers to hit ‘devastating’ stretch, expert says

Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of auto parts suppliers could be forced out of business within five years as Detroit automakers continue downsizing to bring costs under control, Farmington Hills, Mich., consultant Laurie Harbour-Felas told Bloomberg. “Some of these suppliers will go into bankruptcy and be bought up in pieces; some will just go away,” Harbour-Felas […]

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Rolls-Royce lands $269M Air Force contract

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded Rolls-Royce Corp. a contract valued at upward of $296 million to develop jet engines for a variety of military airplanes. General Electric was awarded a similar contract after a competition that fielded several proposals. The Air Force’s Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology program aims to develop engines that […]

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Hurco profit shoots up on strong sales, fees

Profit at Hurco Cos. Inc. soared 36 percent in its third fiscal quarter due to vibrant sales and service fees, particularly in Europe. The Indianapolis-based maker of machine tools said the $5.2 million profit in the period ended July 31 also was driven by a big increase in orders in Europe and North America. A […]

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Cape Air might link Indy to Evansville, South Bend

Massachusetts-based Cape Air has scheduled a meeting Aug. 20 in Indianapolis with airport officials from Evansville and South Bend to discuss starting commuter flights between the two cities and Indianapolis. An official of Evansville Regional Airport told the Evansville Courier & Press that the planes used by Cape Air, nine-passenger Cesna 402s, would be ideal. […]

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Fishers law firm plans to sue Bear Stearns

Maddox Hargett & Caruso in Fishers said it plans to team with three other law firms to sue Bear Stearns on behalf of investors in the Wall Street firm’s failed hedge funds. Bear Stearns has been buffeted in recent weeks as it announced that it has had to rescue two funds that lost money as […]

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BREAKING: Verizon Music Center taken off market

Noblesville’s Verizon Wireless Music Center is no longer for sale and will host a full lineup of shows in 2008, the facility’s general manager, Steve Finkel, told IBJ this afternoon. Many expected the 2007 season to be the swan song for the popular amphitheater. The venue owner, California-based Live Nation, put the 203-acre property on […]

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Farrar Garvey bought by Illinois engineering firm

The Indianapolis transportation engineering company Farrar Garvey & Associates Inc. has been acquired for an undisclosed price by Clark Dietz Inc., an engineering firm that handles civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. Clark Dietz’s eight offices are in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Its largest office is in Champaign, Ill., and its president operates from Chicago. Farrar […]

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Biofuel demand causes farmland prices to skyrocket

A Purdue University survey shows that the average price of bare Indiana farmland has shot up 17 percent to 19 percent since June 2006. Poor-quality land averaged $2,991 an acre and high-quality averaged $4,407. Transitional land, shifting out of agriculture, rose 4.5 percent, to $9,520. Most of the increase was driven by higher prices for […]

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Clergy resume protest at Market Tower; street closed

A clergy group that’s trying to help a union organize an Indianapolis janitorial company planned to stage another protest at noon today in front of Market Tower downtown. To accommodate the protest, the city closed Market Street between Monument Circle and Illinois Street for two hours. The closing prompted building manager Kevin Branch, of Colliers […]

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City Market lands loan for renovation

Indianapolis City Market said today that Chase Bank has given it a $700,000 conventional low-interest loan to enable it to finish a renovation that began in January. Including the new loan, the market has spent slightly more than $2 million on the project. “We’re ready to get folks in there and get this thing open,” […]

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Development incentives scrutinized by tax panel

About 4.2 percent of gross assessed property value in Indiana-roughly $16 billion worth-is not taxed because it is in a tax-increment-financing district or covered by a tax abatement, both of which are intended to encourage economic development. The figures, which amount to $400 million of property taxes, were discussed yesterday by the Commission on State […]

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Buffett quadruples stake in WellPoint

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. boosted its stake in WellPoint Inc. to 4.2 million shares in the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing. The stake represents less than 1 percent of WellPoint’s common stock. Even so, it’s a fourfold increase from the first quarter, when Berkshire reported that it had amassed 979,000 […]

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First Indiana reports more loan difficulties

First Indiana Corp. announced after the market closed yesterday that it will discontinue making consumer loans originated by a national network of mortgage brokers.The bank said it is withdrawing from that business immediately, which will lead to $535,000 in expenses in the third quarter. It had been selling most of the loans to investors.“The general […]

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Still chance Sallie Mae acquisition could fail

The $25.3 billion offer for Sallie Mae parent SLM Corp. is expected to gain shareholder approval tomorrow, but the buyers themselves might back out. The prospective investors are uncertain whether the deal will go through, Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc. analyst Sameer Gokhale told Bloomberg. Early this month, the buyers, led by J.C. Flowers & […]

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