Finance and Commerce Daily Newspaper, MN articles from April 2003

Finance and Commerce Daily Newspaper, MN archives from April 2003

Graco Inc. acquires California company with a cash deal.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Graco Inc. of Minneapolis said Monday that it has purchased the assets of Sharpe Manufacturing Co. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif. Terms of the cash deal were not announced. Sharpe, which had sales of $11.5 million...

MBA students learn real-world skills with real money.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Mark Anderson For some time now, the Carlson School of Management has used a paraphrase of an old financial bromide (or was it a sales pitch?) for its unofficial motto: "We learn about money the old-fashioned way: We earn it." ...

No fooling: Many mutual funds are making money this year.
April 1, 2003... Byline: Dave Price Throughout much of the current bear market, most mutual fund managers have felt like they've been the butt of a long, cruel joke. But slowly, they're starting to dish out a few of the punch lines themselves. ...

HomeServices acquires Louisville-based real estate firm.(Rector-Hayden Realtors)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff HomeServices of America, a Minneapolis-based residential real estate brokerage firm, announced Tuesday that it has purchased Louisville, Ky.-based Rector-Hayden Realtors. "We are excited to be partnering with the...

MiniMax acquires Inver Grove Heights engineering firm.(Maier Engineering Co.)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff MiniMax Corp., an Eagan-based software provider for the utility industry, announced Tuesday that it has acquired Maier Engineering Co., an Inver Grove Heights based firm that specializes in electrical engineering,...

Interview with new dean of U of St. Thomas MBA program.(Interview)
April 2, 2003... Byline: Jessica Griffith When the University of St. Thomas decided to offer a full-time master's of business administration degree, the newly created College of Business sought an experienced leader willing to develop a vision for the...

St. Jude Medical completes acquisition of Japanese distributor.(purchase of Getz Brothers Co.)(Brief Article)
April 2, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff St. Jude Medical Inc. of Little Canada has completed its acquisition of Getz Bros. Co., a Tokyo-based company that distributes St. Jude products in Japan. St. Jude officials said they paid $230 million in cash for...

Adolfson & Peterson Construction named Contractor of the Year.(Brief Article)
April 2, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Adolfson & Peterson Construction has been named Contractor of the Year by the Minnesota Concrete and Masonry Contractor's Association. The award recognized the company's active participation in the organization's...

Construction begins on Mound Public Safety facility.(Brief Article)
April 3, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Burnsville-based Amcon announced this week that it has begun construction on the 33,000-square-foot Mound Public Safety facility in Mound. The building, which will house the city's police and fire departments, is...

MN Multi Housing Assn. elects new chair of board of directors.(Brief Article)
April 3, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Jan H. Susee, CEO of Metes & Bounds Management Co. in Richfield, is the new chair of the Minnesota Multi Housing Association's board of directors. Susee's goals for the nonprofit trade organization include...

Race track's lobbying tab could reach $400K.
April 3, 2003... Byline: Dave Price Canterbury Park officials spent nearly $100,000 pitching their "racino" concept to Minnesota lawmakers during the final three months of 2002, and they anticipate spending at least $200,000 to $300,000 more on lobbying...

Small banks defy slowdown with banner year.
April 4, 2003... Byline: Mark Anderson There were a lot of economic reasons to be feeling on edge at the end of 2002, but some good cheer would be in order if you were working at one of the top community banks in the Twin Cities. The 20 largest...

Edina-based mutual fund facing liquidation.(All Sectors mutual fund)
April 5, 2003... Byline: Dave Price An Edina investment adviser has until Monday to repay expenses that were run up against the assets of a small mutual fund he started last year or will face going out of business. Trustees of the All Sectors mutual...

Robert Heck wins financial services award from SBA.(Small Business Administration)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Robert Heck, president of Twin Cities-Metro Certified Development Co., has been named Minnesota Small Business Financial Services Advocate of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Twin Cities-Metro is a...

Construction industry weighs benefits of new building codes.
April 8, 2003... Byline: Brian Johnson A Twin Cities residential construction expert predicted that Minnesota's adoption of the International Building Codes could have a positive impact on multifamily construction in the state. Gary Heppelmann, head of...

Business duo named Emerging Business Owners of the Year.(Lori Moline, Martha Van Gorder receive award)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff The Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners has named Lori Moline and Martha Van Gorder as its Emerging Business Owners of the Year. Their travel company, CrossingBorders Inc. of...

CNT shares hammered because of acquisition plans.(Computer Network Technology to acquire Inrange Technology Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 8, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Shares of Computer Network Technology (CNT) dropped 28 percent on Monday after the Plymouth-based computer hardware company announced plans to acquire a rival networking firm in a cash transaction valued at about $190...

Former school teacher finds success in business world.
April 9, 2003... Byline: Liz Wolf When Dee Thibodeau was a child, her entrepreneurial father told her she could be anything she wanted to be when she grew up. But he didn't just stop there. "He would tell me, 'You can do anything you want to do, and...

Expanding Manchester Cos. snags Piper-Jaffray official.
April 9, 2003... Byline: Dave Price Manchester Cos. continues to beef up its investment banking capabilities, snaring a former managing director at U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray to head its expanding financial services group. Kent Adams joined...

Associated Banc-Corp aims to avoid pitfalls of previous cross-industry mergers.(acquisition of CFG Insurance Services)
April 10, 2003... Byline: Mark Anderson Associated Banc-Corp's acquisition of Minnetonka-based CFG Insurance Services has two advantages that bank-insurance mergers have lacked until now: a road map showing the hazards that hindered earlier consolidations,...

All Sectors Fund liquidated by trustees.(Brief Article)
April 10, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Trustees of the All Sectors Fund have sold off all of its holdings and pulled the plug on its controversial fund manager less than a year after its launch. The decision follows failed efforts by outside trustees to...

CNS Inc. appoints interim chief financial officer.(Marcia O'Brien)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff CNS Inc., the Eden Prairie-based maker of Breathe Right nasal strips and other health-care products, has hired an interim chief financial officer to replace the late David J. Byrd. The company said Thursday that...

MedicalCV sells corporate headquarters to PKM Properties.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Inver Grove Heights-based MedicalCV Inc. has sold its corporate headquarters to PKM Properties in a $3.84 million deal that will eliminate MedicalCV's bank debt. MedicalCV, which manufactures heart valves, said...

Wisconsin bank acquires Liberty State Bank in $78 million deal.(First Federal Capital Corp.)
April 11, 2003... Byline: Mark Anderson Liberty State Bank, an 85-year veteran in the St. Paul banking community, will have a new out-of-state owner and a new name by the third quarter this year. First Federal Capital Corp. (Nasdaq: FTFC), a $3 billion...

Taxi 2000 unveils prototype; seeks $15 million in funding.
April 11, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff A Twin Cities company that believes it has designed the next breakthrough in personal transportation will soon be again courting investors to get on board. The fare on this trip likely will approach $15 million,...

Nat'l Eagle Center group hopes funding flies with lawmakers.
April 12, 2003... Byline: Brian Johnson When it comes to Minnesota's budget woes, even America's national bird isn't safe from funding cuts. But a Minnesota city that's famous for its bald eagle population is asking the state to restore funding for a...

Interview with director of Grant Thornton's new Business Risk Services unit.(Troy Duncan)(Interview)
April 15, 2003... Byline: Monte Hanson Hoping to prevent future corporate scandals like Enron and WorldCom, Congress last year approved tough new accounting rules under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Sarbanes-Oxley, considered by many experts to be the...

MN lawmakers consider staggered terms for Met Council.
April 15, 2003... Byline: Brian Johnson Hoping for more continuity on the metro area's regional planning body, a residential builders group is supporting a measure that would create overlapping terms for Met Council members. House file 1228, sponsored...

Investment banking slump weighs down Piper Jaffray.
April 16, 2003... Byline: Dave Price Piper Jaffray turned a small profit during the first three months of 2003 -- reversing a big loss in the previous quarter -- although the soon-to-be-independent Minneapolis brokerage continues to slump badly from a drop...

Supporters tout MN's new building design standards.(sustainable building guidelines)
April 17, 2003... Byline: Brian Johnson Minnesota's new sustainable building guidelines for public construction projects make sense from a business standpoint as well as an environmental perspective, according to a University of Minnesota researcher who...

TCF Financial positions itself for rising interest rates.
April 17, 2003... Byline: Mark Anderson TCF Financial Chairman Bill Cooper acknowledged that there's a little more risk ahead in 2003 as the effects of lingering record-low interest rates play out on the balance sheets of his and many other middle-tier...

Collaborative Design wins award for transportation center.(Brief Article)
April 17, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff The Hawthorne Transportation Center received an honorable mention from the International Parking Institute. The award will be presented to the city of Minneapolis on May 19 at the International Parking Conference and...

James Page Brewing quietly reaches profitability.
April 18, 2003... Byline: Dave Price In less than a year, Dave Anderson will have gone from the corporate confines of Cargill Inc. in suburban Minneapolis to hawking beer at biker parties. And he couldn't be happier. As part of efforts to...

Small batch of Communications Systems Inc. stock goes to divisional president.(Daniel Easter)(Brief Article)
April 19, 2003... Byline: Dave Price Easter's basket this year is starting to fill up with Communications Systems Inc. stock. Easter -- as in Daniel Easter, a divisional president with the Hector, Minn.-based networking equipment manufacturer --...

Skyway retailers struggle with tight economy, reduced traffic.
April 19, 2003... Byline: Jessica Griffith Popcorn tumbles inside a giant popper in the back room of The Popcorn Place, on the skyway level of One Financial Plaza in downtown Minneapolis. A handful of customers order the special: buttered popcorn and a cold...

Commercial finance firms embraced by economic squeeze.
April 22, 2003... Byline: Mark Anderson When bank credit got tighter and borrowers' balance sheets grew leaner during the last two years, many firms felt the squeeze. But it was pretty good news for commercial finance companies, a sector that's filling a...

Defense contractor Ciprico blames war for slump in military sales.
April 24, 2003... Byline: Dave Price Even for defense contractors, war is not necessarily a good thing. Plymouth-based Ciprico Inc., which has been counting on a big surge in sales to the military to carry the network storage manufacturer to...

Bad debt is good business for Cavalry Investments.
April 24, 2003... Byline: Mark Anderson It will be hard for any financial business to beat the pace of growth that Cavalry Investments plans in the next 12 months for its recently acquired St. Paul office. The New York-based bad-debt buyer said last...

Houlihan Lokey adds executive to Minneapolis office.(Jeffrey A. Arnesen appointed senior vp at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin)(Brief Article)
April 24, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, an international investment bank headquartered in Los Angeles, named Jeffrey A. Arnesen as a senior vice president in its Minneapolis office. Arnesen will handle new business development and...

Securian Financial makes move to boost annuities sales.(partnership with Waddell & Reed)
April 25, 2003... Byline: Mark Anderson Securian Financial Group, the parent of St. Paul's Minnesota Life, announced Wednesday a partnership that it hopes will give a boost to the company's annuities line, the insurance industry's fastest-growing product...

Schwan Food completes $240M purchase of Mrs. Smith's line.(from Flowers Foods)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Schwan Food Co. of Marshall said Thursday that it has completed a $240 million deal to buy the Mrs. Smith's frozen dessert business from Flowers Foods of Thomasville, Ga. Schwan President and CEO M. Lenny Pippin said...

Oppidan Investment developing $10M store for Gander Mountain.(Brief Article)
April 26, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Oppidan Investment Co. of Minnetonka will break ground next week on a $10 million store for the Gander Mountain outdoor-sports retail chain. The 96,275-square-foot building, financed by Union Bank and Trust of Omaha,...

FDA decision gives Urologix a glimmer of hope.(regulatory approval for Cooled ThermoCath)
April 26, 2003... Byline: Dave Price A little good news may be enough to rekindle hopes at Urologix. Punished by investors after a string of missed earnings and diminishing market position, shares of the Plymouth-based medical-technology company posted...

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray finalizes deal with regulators.
April 29, 2003... Byline: Dave Price U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray on Monday finalized the terms of a $32.5 million enforcement action by federal and state regulators to settle charges it issued misleading equity research to bolster its investment-banking...

American Express Financial opens three new mutual funds.(Brief Article)
April 29, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff Minneapolis-based American Express Financial Corp. announced Monday the opening of three new mutual funds, continuing a reorganization of its fund family that's been underway for more than a year. None of the new...

General Litho Services acquires Digital Works Plus.(Brief Article)
April 29, 2003... Byline: F&C Staff General Litho Services, Inc. has acquired Digital Works Plus. With the addition of color digital variable printing, Brooklyn Park-based GLS plans to trim down time and costs with shorter print runs. Digital printing...

Independent banks filling niches created by consolidation.
April 30, 2003... Byline: Mark Anderson The big banking headlines in recent years have stood above stories about the consolidation of the Twin Cities' largest community and regional banks into even bigger financial organizations. But a compelling...