Mattress Firm, a Houston-based mattress retailer with three Indianapolis stores, has been sold to management and the Boston private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates LP. The seller was Sun Capital Partners Inc., the Florida private equity firm that bought Marsh Supermarkets in September for $88 million.
Two high-level managers at the new Conrad Indianapolis hotel downtown have resigned effective at the end of the month, the hotel said today. The hotel said today General Manager Jan Chovanec will leave at the end of this month to move closer to his family. Director of Sales and Marketing David Catalon has taken a […]
If Indianapolis wins its bid to host the Super Bowl in 2011, the region would attract 98,000 visitors and reap $131 million in direct spending, an analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows. Spending could be as high as $262 million when certain indirect spending, such as a concession company’s purchase of goods from local firms, is applied. […]
WellPoint Inc. reported a 23-percent increase in fourth-quarter profit, to $801.1 million, on revenue of $14.6 billion, a rise of 28.9 percent. For the year, the Indianapolis-based health insurer said profit rose 25.6 percent, to $3.1 billion. Revenue of $57 billion was up 28 percent. The upswing was driven mainly by new enrollments and the […]
Rene Champaigne is retiring as CEO of ITT Educational Services Inc. in April after pushing the value of stock in the Carmel company to $70 a share from virtually nothing a decade ago. Champagne, 65, has been chief executive since 1985. He will remain chairman and be paid an annual salary of $560,000, according […]
Mittler Supply Inc., a South Bend-based independent distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases as well as welding equipment and supplies, has agreed to be bought by Praxair Distribution Inc. for an undisclosed price. Praxair is a subsidiary of Praxair Inc. of Danbury, Conn. Mittler generated $73 million in sales last year and has 210 […]
The Florida businessman whose financially troubled airline forced Integra Bank to write off $17.7 million in bad loans is being sued by music groups including Backstreet Boys and ’N Sync over royalties, according to the Evansville Courier. Louis J. “Lou” Pearlman, a first cousin of folk singer Art Garfunkel, is heavily involved in recording music […]
Strong demand for recycled steel and falling energy prices helped Steel Dynamics Inc. churn out $105 million in fourth-quarter profit, its second best, and $396.7 million in 2006 profit, a record. The Fort Wayne company said the quarter was an increase of 64 percent from the same period a year earlier; the year was up […]
More people watched the AFC title game between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots than any non-Super Bowl television show since the final episode of Friends, according to CBS, which broadcast Sunday’s game. The 46.7 million people viewing the Colts-Patriots game compared to 52.5 million who tuned into the conclusion of NBC’s Friends in […]
A study released this week projects $66 billion changing hands among generations in Indiana over the next 10 years. If 5 percent of the amount were donated to charity, the resulting $164 million a year in income could be made available to communities, according to the study sponsor, the Indiana Grantmakers Council. Other findings include: […]
State job numbers rose 0.3 percent in December from the same month last year, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The 2,986,300 nonfarm jobs were down slightly from November but in line with a long-term trend of plodding growth. The Indianapolis area also maintained a steady upward pace, increasing 0.8 percent from December […]
Visitors to French Lick Resort Casino dumped $1.8 million in wagers and admission taxes in December, the casino’s first full month, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission. The casino opened Nov. 3. Argosy casino in Lawrenceburg collected the most among the state’s 11 riverboat casinos, $15.5 million. The riverboats reported a total of $76.3 million […]
Writing off a $17.7 million balance on loans to an unnamed Florida charter airline has forced Integra Bank to report a $2.6 million loss for the fourth quarter. The Evansville bank reported yesterday that it had classified the loans as non-performing after learning three other banks also thought their loans to the airline were secured […]
The ethanol industry, which is mushrooming in Indiana, could get a massive push from President Bush in his State of the Union speech tonight, according to The New York Times. Bush might call for increasing ethanol to as much as 10 percent of total gasoline consumption by 2012. Such a ramp-up could require producing 15 […]
Louisville struggles to attract high-end white-collar jobs because it’s stuck in a high-density, “almost European” neighborhood of competing cities that includes Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Nashville, says Paul Coomes, a University of Louisville economist. Indianapolis attracts engineers, scientists and other professionals because its downtown is vibrant and, unlike Louisville’s, isn’t dissected by freeways, Coomes said in […]
British plumbing and heating supplier Wolseley Plc said today it will eliminate 2,000 jobs in the U.S. because the soft housing market has weakened profits. Its Stock Building Supplies arm, which is based in Raleigh, N.C., in the U.S., is laying off 1,500 jobs at 22 locations in addition to 2,000 positions it already has […]
Pfizer’s insulin-production plant in Terre Haute was not on a list of plant closings the New York pharmaceutical giant announced today. Pfizer said it would shutter one plant each in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Omaha, Neb., along with research two facilities in Ann Arbor, Mich., and one in Kalamazoo, Mich. The company cited the closings as part […]
Health care startups in Indiana attracted $37.2 million in venture capital last year—up 61 percent from the $23.1 million in 2005, according to BioEnterprise, a Cleveland not-for-profit that offers management counsel and support services. The increase outstripped the 25 percent growth experienced by the Midwest. The Indianapolis area landed six deals worth a total of […]
A Chrysler Group four-speed transmission line at a Kokomo plant may be sold to China’s Chery Automobile Co. if a deal between the two automakers is finalized. Chrysler and Chery previously announced an agreement in principal for Chrysler to distribute Chery-made small cars globally. A story today in AutoWeek says Chery wants to move the […]
Approximately 130 workers at Daimler-Chrysler’s transmission operations in Kokomo were laid off last week after slow sales of gas-guzzling pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles prompted the automaker to cut production. About 100 of the jobs were at Kokomo Transmission and 30 at Kokomo Casting, according to the Kokomo Tribune. The company employs about 6,000 in […]
