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Breaking up may not be so hard to do: Despite taking lumps over rash of product recalls, Guidant remains strong, according to analysts

Guidant Corp. will be just fine if Johnson and Johnson walks away from its $25.4 billion purchase of the medicaldevice maker, Wall Street analysts say. Even so, the Indianapolis company would have to grapple with some tricky issues, they say, including quelling lingering product-safety concerns among doctors and stabilizing the executive ranks. Guidant has been battered by a series of product problems and recalls in recent months. On Oct. 18, it took another punch when J&J executive Robert Darretta told…

BioStorage gets set for major expansion: Three-year-old local firm eyeing West Coast, Europe

The 60 industrial-size freezers standing in formation like soldiers at attention look unassuming from the outside, but their contents are invaluable. Stored at temperatures of minus-80 degrees Celsius, the millions of biological samples inside the far-west-side warehouse represent the future of disease research and drug development. The repository is operated by BioStorage Technologies, a 3-year-old venture created by a pair of researchers who met at the local office of Princeton, N.J.-based Covance Inc., a drug-development services firm. Oscar Moralez developed…

BULLS & BEARS: DePauw’s Bayou blunder should be wake-up call

This month, the DePauw University Foundation revealed that, based on the advice of a high-paid consultant, it had invested $3.25 million in the Bayou Management hedge fund, which has collapsed amid allegations of fraud. As IBJ Daily reported Oct. 17, DePauw has filed a federal lawsuit against the consultant. Bayou, formed in 1996, had over time amassed more than $400 million from about 100 investors. The list of other investors caught in the debacle include the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority…

Hot mod madness: Customizer Kenny Brown enjoys performance-car revival

In a dark corner of the Kenny Brown Performance garage is the 2005 Mustang Ford Motor Co. should have built. Supercharger. Disc brakes as big as the tires of some cars. All hung on a chassis that’s Prince Charles stiff. And shrouding its meaty tires are a protruding rear fender and a filled-in quarter window raked all the way back to the taillights, akin to the 1967 Mustang fastback. “It’s kind of like the marriage of heritage and technology,” said…

TAWN PARENT Commentary: New school districts worth the pain

Change seems to be the one constant at Indianapolis Public Schools. Superintendent Eugene White unveiled a major redistricting plan Oct. 12 that would send 14 percent of students to new schools next year. IPS has been redrawing its districts every few years since the ’70s. In recent years, children in my Irvington neighborhood have been assigned at various times to Thomas Carr Howe, Arlington and Broad Ripple high schools. Now, it’ll be back to Howe again. Some families, like mine,…

Affordable housing gets $2.3 million:

The City-County Council on Oct. 10 voted to allocate $1.5 million in federal grant money and $800,000 from the Indianapolis Housing Trust Fund toward affordable-housing efforts. One project that will benefit from the federal money is the Rink-Savoy redevelopment at Illinois and Vermont streets, which will create 62 rental units and five condominiums for low-income households. That project will receive $235,000. Westside Community Development Corp. will receive $248,000 to support the construction of 23 homes, all of which will be…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Ex-exec cuts guilty plea; Brightpoint says it’s not a target

One of two former Brightpoint Inc. employees charged this month in an accounting scandal has agreed to plead guilty in return for receiving a prison sentence of no more than 18 months. John Delaney, 40, former chief accounting officer of the wireless phone wholesaler, could end up spending far less time behind bars. In his nine-page plea agreement filed in federal court in Indianapolis, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says it will argue for a lesser sentence. Delaney on Oct. 13…

Kipps Brothers still evolving after 125 years

Walk through the Kipp Brothers showroom and you’ll find the makings of one heck of a birthday celebration: gag gifts galore, endless sugary treats and headgear that puts the traditional party hat to shame.

Marsh store on hold: Grocery chain halts plan for much-ballyhooed Atlas replacement

Farrar broke the news to residents this month after speaking with Arthur Marsh, the store’s namesake, who lives in the area. A source inside Marsh confirmed the project is on hold, but company officials declined repeated opportunities to elaborate. Marsh is pulling back from the project at a time it’s under increasing financial strain. In its most recent quarter, the Indianapolis-based company posted a profit of just $674,000 on revenue of $410 million. In an August statement, CEO Marsh Supermarkets…

VIEWPOINT: Ruling holds promise for life sciences

It wasn’t frontpage news when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision on Merck KGaA v. Integra Lifesciences earlier this summer. But among Indiana’s burgeoning life sciences sector, it should have been-n – largely because of the doors it opens (or appears to) for research-based discoveries. On June 13, the country’s highest court ruled that a “safe harbor” provision in U.S. law gives life sciences companies more freedom to use patented compounds in pre-clinical research, as long as the…

Merger or not, pension remains problem:

Few want to talk about the prospect. But if the police merger should fail, it won’t mean a return to business as usual. Local government can’t sustain the status quo much longer. There’s a reason Mayor Bart Peterson, a Democrat, is exploring cop consolidation now. Because of the rising cost of police and fire pensions, every year it becomes more difficult to keep public safety budgets in the black. This year, the city will pay $21.6 million toward the pension…

Cop merger might have just enough: Backers make concessions in effort to build majority

It’ll be close. But Mayor Bart Peterson may have just enough support to make his proposed police merger a reality. The City-County Council is expected to vote on the issue Oct. 31. Advocates are hurriedly negotiating with key players, hoping lastminute concessions will pull a handful of councilors off the fence. “I don’t think it’s going to be a wide margin either way,” said Peterson, a Democrat. “But I do believe it will pass. Because at the end of the…

Guidant drama keeps building:

Guidant drama keeps building Stock sales by Dollens, others may stoke lawsuits. Analysts say firm will be OK if sale to Johnson & Johnson unravels.

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: What are your workers hiding from you?

Many years ago, when I worked for a machine-tool dealership, I learned a lesson about technology and employees. As I was watching an employee run a part, I noticed he was doing something I knew hadn’t been in the engineering setup requirements. When I asked about it, he replied that he knew his decision hadn’t been sanctioned by the “idiots with slide rules,” but if he had done it the approved way, it wouldn’t work. Further, if he had notified…

Arts and Crafts tours coincide with IMA exhibit:

Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana and the Indianapolis Museum of Art are collaborating to offer tours of local homes in conjunction with IMA’s International Arts & Crafts Exhibition, which opened Sept. 25. A half-day motorcoach tour on Oct. 23 will allow those interested in the Arts and Crafts architectural and design movement to view buildings that typify the design. The tour will visit four private homes and a church in the historic Irvington neighborhood on the east side. The area…

Big changes at Emmis?:

Big changes at Emmis? Analysts say sale of TV stations positions Jeff Smulyan to take media company private in leveraged buyout. PAGE4

EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s put retail where we want it

Before we get into anything this week, let me clear up an error from last week. I wrote that Techpoint received $2.3 million in government incentives for locating at Indianapolis International Airport. The company was Transpoint. My apologies to all who have cause to be offended. Now let’s get on to the problem of the chicken and the egg. Many folks wonder which came first. When we have trouble identifying causality, we cite the chickenand-egg problem. Is the clothing store…

BULLS & BEARS: Past pandemics didn’t deflate stock market

The fear du jour is the Avian Flu and the potential for the mother of all global pandemics. In November 2004, the World Health Organization said an influenza pandemic was “inevitable,” and in May of this year scientists predicted it could strike as much as 20 percent of the world’s population! Recently, news media have shown pictures from Asia of crates of dead birds and reported new predictions, ranging from 5 million to 150 million human deaths. Hundreds of millions…

Lee, Willis prosper outside limelight: Former WRTV co-anchors run growing public relations firm

News defined the careers of Clyde Lee and Diane Willis for a combined five decades. And it was the nation’s biggest news event of the last decade-9/11-that served as an ominous backdrop for the duo’s first entrepreneurial venture. “We incorporated in August 2001, and less than a month later, 9/11 hit, and we thought, ‘Oh my,'” Lee recalled. But more than four years later, Lee/Willis Communications is still standing-and prospering. The fiscal swoon that followed 9/11 caused many companies to…

Bruce R. Frank & Associates LLC: Business, basketball give adviser a leg up International perspective useful for Indianapolis consulting firm

At 6 feet 8 inches, consultant Bruce R. Frank is an imposing figure. But it’s the 30 years of business experience the former professional basketball player has accumulated that he says helps him tower over his competition. Frank, 51, is the founder of Bruce R. Frank & Associates, an Indianapolis-based consulting group that helps life-sciences companies develop business strategies. So far, he has found most of his clients outside Indianapolis: Frank spent seven months on the road last year. The…