Mergers and acquisitions have all but ground to a halt because of lack of credit, disparate expectations between buyers and
sellers, and hesitance on the part of buyers to deploy their capital.
The Promotion Co Inc., an Indianapolis-based event promoter, said today that it has acquired the Monster Nationals series
of monster-truck shows from Image Promotions Inc. in Chardon, Ohio.
Republic Airways Holdings says it has completed its acquisition of privately held Midwest Airlines
for $31 million in cash and debt.
Investors in a company built around clinical research software bought from Eli Lilly and Co. have found their exit, though
it’s far from the lucrative payoff they’d once imagined.
Midland, Mich.-based Dow Chemical Co. is still considering divesting Indianapolis subsidiary Dow AgroSciences LLC. But chances
that the chemical manufacturing giant will sell its local agricultural chemical and biotech unit have decreased.
Indianapolis-based Grain Dealers Mutual Insurance Co., one of the largest property-casualty insurers in the state, will
become part of The Main Street America Group, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company said this morning.
The cross-continent mega deal that made Brightpoint Inc. the world’s biggest wireless phone distributor
has lost much of its sheen two years after being struck. Brightpoint Inc. in August 2007 purchased Denmark-based
Dangaard Telecom for $385 million in stock and the assumption of $350 million in Dangaard debt.
Two Indianapolis benefits consulting firms have finalized their merger, the companies announced this morning. Terms of the
deal between Benefit Associates Inc. and Benefit Consultants Inc., in the works since March, were not disclosed.
Private equity firms have a reputation as ruthless acquirers. They slash fat and jettison sluggish product lines, all in a quest to wring out higher profits and grow the parts of the business with the most potential. For Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences—or at least for its 1,200 local employees—a buyer like that would be a godsend. […]
By purchasing two struggling airlines for which it flies, Republic Airways Holdings is taking aboard substantial risks that
threaten its profitable niche, analysts say. Frontier Airlines and Midwest Airlines are not only leaking money, but fly at
an altitude where major carriers routinely dogfight
in a fare war Republic hasn’t had to fight as a contract carrier.
National acquisition-and-merger rage among benefits firms continues as Gallagher swallows groups in Noblesville and Louisville.
Gallagher’s Carmel office grows its client portfolio to 300.
The city’s third-largest law firm is poised to tie the knot with Kentucky’s Greenebaum Doll & McDonald. But differences in the way the firms compensate partners are taking longer than expected to sort out.
Express Scripts Inc. has cleared an
antitrust review for its planned purchase of Indianapolis-based WellPoint
Inc.’s pharmacy benefits management business, bringing the $4.7 billion deal
closer to completion.
Compared with some of his pharmaceutical CEO peers these days, John Lechleiter has his company on a diet. Instead of using a mega-merger to bulk up before the famine that patent expirations will bring on the industry next year,
Lechleiter has Eli Lilly and Co. burning management fat while looking for smaller companies to munch on.
Indianapolis residents have been passionate about Ritter’s handmade frozen custard ever since it debuted almost two decades
ago. But while the ice cream is sweet, the story of the former mom-and-pop company’s attempts to morph into something grander
is decidedly bitter. Now, New York-based TruFoods, which bought the company in May 2008, is trying to get the formula
right.
In a March 13 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, publicly traded White River revealed it’s postponed its merger with First Chicago Bancorp, and now is negotiating new terms.
Investors cheered this morning after WellPoint Inc. agreed to sell its pharmacy management unit to Express Scripts Inc., but
the fate of about 2,100 WellPoint employees now is up in the air.
WellPoint Inc. has
agreed to sell its pharmacy benefits management arm for $4.675 billion in cash and stock to St. Louis-based Express Scripts,
the companies announced April 13.
Benefits brokers and agents—facing increasing demands from employers and declining commissions—are merging at an
accelerating
pace.
Tim Durham is facing allegations of self-dealing after a publicly traded company he helps run in Dallas acquired assets from
a finance company he owns in Ohio.
