Articles

VC firm raises $116M for second fund after knocking first one out of park

Thanks to hefty 35-percent gross returns on its $60 million first fund, locally based Centerfield Capital Partners LP has
raised nearly twice as much for its second. This month, the venture capital firm closed on $116 million from a variety of
investors. As before, Centerfield’s 50 limited partners include major Hoosier institutions. But this time, numerous big banks,
insurance companies and pension funds from outside state lines were also investors.

Read More

Do you demand a 401(k)?

Corporations are boosting 401(k) plans even as they abandon traditional pension plans.

Workers are getting automatic enrollment, more investment options and greater contributions from employers.

Employees want 401(k)s, and theyâ??re good for business, companies say. In fact, companies without 401(k)s…

Read More

Boone incomes edging Hamilton

Hamilton County is where the wealth is, followed by Boone County, right?

Not necessarily, anymore.

The average person in Boone County now makes more money than the average person next door in Hamilton County.

In an upcoming column in IBJ, Morton Marcus, who…

Read More

The merits of earthquake coverage

Everyone has a story to tell today about this morningâ??s earthquake, which came from West Salem, Ill., and
measured 5.4 on the Richter scale. People were awakened. Things moved.

This quake was a piker compared to the devastation the…

Read More

University foundations and tuition

College and university foundations have been raking in the dollars in the past few years due to big investment
returns. Millions of dollars have flowed in.

As IBJ reporter Tracy Donhardt wrote in this weekendâ??s paper, critics say more of…

Read More

Do you feel poorer?

Inflation is speeding up and wage growth is slowing down, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said this
morning.

Blame rising oil prices for the inflation and the slowing economy for the sluggish wage growth, says the
Economic Policy Institute, a…

Read More

Seeking your take on the markets

You IBJ readers are a wealthy lot. Our latest survey, taken in September of last year, shows that you had
a $170,700 median household income and the median value of your investments came to $679,700.

Three of four had corporate stocks…

Read More

Mortgages are getting cheap

Mortgage rates are falling. This week, rates on 30-year mortgages slipped below 6 percent for the first time
in more than two years.

Are the cheaper rates putting you in a mood to refinance or step up to that house youâ??ve…

Read More

Rash of deals saves Gazelle venture-capital fund

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.

Read More

Buyout firm lands $202M infusion

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.

Read More

Knall accepts suspension in unusual SEC case

Newly public records suggest that securities investigators had far from an airtight insider-trading case against David Knall,
the star Indianapolis investment broker who nonetheless agreed to settle the 3-year-old inquiry by agreeing to a one-year
suspension. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the pact Dec. 4. In addition to consenting to the suspension,
Knall, a managing partner of Stifel Nicolaus & Co., agreed to pay $123,865.

Read More

Butler class to invest university endowment money

When a Butler University finance class starts investing in the stock market this fall, it won’t be Monopoly money that’s on
the line. In a three-year pilot program that is unique for a school of Butler’s size, a group of senior finance students will
use $1 million from the university’s endowment fund to invest.

Read More