Indianapolis startup Marcadia Biotech Inc. today announced it has signed an agreement with drug giant Merck & Co. Inc. to help bring Marcadia’s promising diabetes therapies to market. Financial terms were not disclosed. However, Merck, headquartered in Whitehouse Station, N.J., will pay Marcadia an upfront fee as well as payments for exclusivity and ongoing collaborative […]
Indiana riverboat casinos don’t go up for sale every day. So when one becomes available, it’s bound to spark interest. Hence,
the dilemma facing Centaur Inc., the Indianapolis-based casino developer.
In the mid 1990s, Carmel’s then-giant Thomson Consumer Electronics annually sold $300 million worth of high-end televisions under the name Proscan. But by the end of the decade, the company’s French owners had abandoned Proscan in favor of a strategy emphasizing the betterknown RCA brand. Now a former Thomson executive based in Indianapolis is attempting to revive Proscan. Last year, Pat Deighan sold nearly $50 million worth of Proscan high-definition flatscreen LCD televisions in the United States. This year, he…
The debt strategy Gov. Mitch Daniels’ top financial officials developed to save the state money on major projects like
Lucas Oil Stadium has turned sour.
The debate over making Indiana employers responsible for illegal immigration will live to see another day. This morning, the House Public Policy Committee voted 7-4 to pass an amended version of a Senate bill that aims to crack down on illegal immigration by targeting their employers. Under the version passed by the committee, some language […]
Plainfield-based wireless device distributor Brightpoint Inc. today announced that it has inked a deal to add Google Inc.’s services to cell phones. Under the deal, Brightpoint will install Google Search and Google Maps on a range of smartphones. “It is a major deal for us,” said Brightpoint CEO Bob Laikin. “Aligning Brightpoint with Google is […]
Center Township Trustee Carl Drummer and his predecessors have stockpiled more than money over the years. The trustee’s office
also holds a portfolio of mostly undeveloped properties worth at least $10 million. Several key parcels have been on the trustee’s
books-and off the tax rolls-for decades. Drummer has made some progress in finding uses for the properties since an IBJ special
report first questioned his holdings in November 2006. But it would have to be measured in inches. The most…
At an aging building at 863 Massachusetts Ave., they pass through a metal detector and wait in line to show a clerk their
identification and copies of overdue bills. Center Township Trustee Carl Drummer sometimes helps. The Trustee’s Office received
an average of $6.9 million each of the last seven years, mostly from taxes, to provide poor relief-now known as township assistance.
But only about $2 million reached the penniless each year, with much of the difference covering administrative overhead….
Although he collects an average $6.9 million each year for poor relief, mostly from taxes, Center Township Trustee Carl Drummer
is rarely asked to explain his finances. Drummer’s budget is filed-unread-each year in the Indianapolis City Controller’s
office. The 66-employee Indiana Department of Local Government Finance reviews it, along with budgets from every other taxing
entity in the state. Year-end reports go to the State Board of Accounts, a 282-worker agency that conducts 2,700 to 3,000
audits of Indiana counties,…
West Lafayette-based drug developer Endocyte Inc. today announced it has secured a $15-million credit line through Alexandria, Va.-based Oxford Finance Corp. and Chicago-based GE Healthcare Financial Services. Endocyte CFO Mike Sherman said the credit line gives his company financial flexibility as it tries to advance a series of patented cancer treatments. Unlike a venture capital […]
Thanks to a series of major economic development wins, Indianapolis is enjoying a pharmaceutical distribution business hot streak. Life sciences industry leaders hope to keep the sizzle burning in 2008 and beyond. “It’s not something we’re hoping we can do someday. It’s something we’re already doing now,” said BioCrossroads CEO David Johnson. “We’re simply trying to expand the footprint of what we’re doing.” Pharmaceutical logistics has become a big business. According to the Arlington, Va.-based Healthcare Distribution Management Association, U.S….
Here’s a political hot potato that so far has received little discussion in the rancorous debate over property-tax reform:
Should the enormous costs of helping impoverished Hoosiers continue to be funded county by county, or spread to taxpayers
statewide?
Back in 1999, investors in Gazelle TechVentures expected a sprint to spectacular profits. Instead, they got a marathon slog.
According to Gazelle Chairman and largest investor Scott Jones, it was like training for a race on a sunny day, then running
it through a blizzard.
Indiana’s friendly economic development rivalry against Michigan and Illinois is heating up. Confident that its business costs
are lower, Indiana has begun a six-month advertising campaign designed to attract companies across the state line.
Human-assisted Internet search engine ChaCha today is launching a service allowing users to make inquiries via text messages on their mobile phones. “Whether you’re walking through the mall or driving down the highway, you can very quickly get answers through ChaCha,” said ChaCha CEO Scott Jones. To attract interest, Carmel-based ChaCha will offer the service […]
Democrat Bart Peterson leaves office in early January after two terms as mayor of Indianapolis. Succeeding him will be Republican Greg Ballard, a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps who parlayed property-tax outrage into a surprise win. As Peterson, 49, prepared to leave office, he sat down with IBJ. The following is an edited version of the interview. IBJ: You didn’t expect to be stepping down this year. What was the most significant priority you had planned for…
Many called it “the perfect storm.” But in retrospect, the dark clouds of Indiana’s 2007 property tax crisis had been forming
for years. Legislators caught wind early that something was amiss and spent all spring preparing to weather the impact.
In early 2007, many expected Marion County Republicans to punt on the chance to unseat Democratic Mayor Bart Peterson. After
all, the two-term incumbent had high approval ratings and a campaign war chest of $2.5 million. Attractive GOP candidates
willing to embrace the challenge were in short supply.
Locally based Hammond Kennedy Whitney & Co. closed on $202 million in new capital this month, doubling its size. Its resources
have increased, but HKW’s investment philosophy is unchanged. It continues to buy small and midsize specialty manufacturing
companies, infuse them with cash and management expertise, then patiently wait for them to grow.
With little encouragement and less financial support, mayor-elect Greg Ballard was forced to campaign as a longshot outsider. But his surprise election turned the tables. In the last six weeks, he’s been embraced quickly by Marion County’s Republican elite. And his transition team is stacked with insiders. To prepare an administration in less than two months, Ballard assembled a transition team of 24 local leaders, who then pulled in 150 volunteers to examine the current shape of city and county…
