St. Louis Business Journal articles from August 1999

St. Louis Business Journal archives from August 1999

St. Anthony's may unionize.(union at St. Anthony's Medical Center)
August 2, 1999... Workers at St. Anthony's Medical Center are expected to decide by mid-August whether they want to vote on union representation. Sharon Penrod, chairwoman of United Health Care Workers of St. Louis, said a majority of the 2,000 workers at...

Liddy's successor sought.(GenAmerica Pres. and CEO Richard Liddy)
August 2, 1999... GenAmerica Corp. is in high gear as it scrambles to find a successor to Richard Liddy, its retiring top executive, in the midst of planning an initial public offering. Liddy, 63, agreed at the request of GenAmerica's board to remain as...

Carlie, Walsh weigh in on law-accounting union.(interview with Suelthaus & Walsh P.C. Pres. Tom Walsh and Stone Carlie Cos. CEO Mark Carlie)(Interview)
August 2, 1999... The practice of law could change dramatically based on the outcome of a vote at the annual American Bar Association meeting in Atlanta. On the table is a proposal that would allow law firms to join or form multidisciplinary practices (MDPs)...

Steinberg, former Carboline CEO, goes to Fortune Group.(Sherwin Steinberg)
August 2, 1999... Sherwin "Bud" Steinberg, former president and chief executive at Carboline Co., has brought his deal-making expertise to The Fortune Group, a Clayton-based investment banking firm. Steinberg was named a senior director at The Fortune Group...

StreamSearch opens L.A., N.Y. offices; raising capital.(plans for Los Angeles, California, and New York City offices of audio and visual search engine StreamSearch.com)
August 2, 1999... Life is moving at full tilt for StreamSearch.com, an audio and visual search engine launched in May by Rob Shambro with roughly $1 million from local investors. St. Louis-based StreamSearch.com, describing itself as the "remote control of...

Tri-Tek's $32 million sale came down to the wire.(Tri-Tek Information Systems Inc.)
August 2, 1999... Tri-Tek Information Systems Inc. came within minutes of canceling its deal with Cleveland-based Century Business Services. Century had the right to negotiate exclusively with the Chesterfield company until 10 p.m. July 16, said David Fuchs,...

City drops Syndicate Trust condemnation.(St. Louis, Missouri)
August 2, 1999... The city of St. Louis is walking away from its efforts to acquire the dilapidated Syndicate Trust/Century buildings through condemnation - essentially daring the owners to make good on previous plans to redevelop the downtown property. The...

Primary buys its way to IPO.(Primary Network Holdings Inc.)
August 9, 1999... Primary Network Holdings Inc., armed with a $53 million venture capital investment, has been on an Internet company buying spree - a likely precursor to making a public stock offering next year. This year, the 7-year-old telephone and...

BJC cuts scope of project.(BJC Health System)
August 9, 1999... BJC Health System has taken a scalpel to its $320 million construction project at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University Medical Center. But whether the health system made a surface cut or a deep incision depends on who is...

Plugging into e-commerce.(Sigma-Aldrich Corp.)
August 9, 1999... Sigma-Aldrich, World Wide rack up Net sales With the Internet hotter than ever, companies are burning rubber to get onto the e-commerce superhighway to sell products and services online. Sigma-Aldrich Corp. (www.sigma-aldrich.com), for...

Crenshaw explores banking world with New Frontier.(banker Joe Crenshaw; New Frontier Bancshares Inc.)
August 9, 1999... Veteran St. Charles banker Joe Crenshaw is leading a group of investors raising $5 million to launch New Frontier Bancshares Inc., a start-up bank in St. Charles County. Among the investors are Bruce Wolferding, vice president of sales in...

Systems Consultants looks to 2001 to launch an IPO.
August 9, 1999... Systems Consultants Inc., a Clayton company that provides financial and management software as well as consulting services, plans to go public by the summer of 2001. Jack Sharp, founder and president of privately held SCI, said the...

Gladney kicking off sports broadcasts over Internet.(Andrew Gladney, founder of Max Broadcasting Network Inc.)
August 9, 1999... Andrew Gladney is betting on new technology to turn his latest business venture into another gold mine. Gladney, a founder of Savvis Communications Corp., is launching Max Broadcasting Network Inc. on Sept. 10. The company will produce...

Bremen opening St. Charles branch, third in two years.(Bremen Bank and Trust Co.)
August 9, 1999... On Oct. 1 in St. Charles County, Bremen Bank and Trust Co. will open its third branch office in two years. The 131-year-old bank, based in north St. Louis, didn't have any branches until 1997, when it opened an office in Hazelwood. The...

GateywayCDI promotes its way to $11 million in sales.(Company Profile)
August 9, 1999... Hethcote sews his own path from shoes to jackets to promotions Business activity: As companies turn to incentives such as prizes chosen from catalogs to keep employees in a tight job market. GatewayCDI keeps coming up with new ideas and...

Tapestry's systems reach as high as the White House.(Tapestry Integration Specialists Inc.)
August 9, 1999... Few start-up high-tech companies could match this claim from Tapestry Integration Specialists Inc. - the White House is using one of the systems the 2-year-old company created. "The product is called MinuteMan. It's a program we developed...

A-B plant grows to $750 million.(Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc.)
August 16, 1999... The cost of the packaging plant Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. wants to build has escalated to $750 million, 50 percent higher than previously planned, according to people familiar with the company's plans. However, the actual size of the project...

GenAmerica likely to be broken up.(General American Life Insurance Co. to merge with another insurance company)
August 16, 1999... General American Life Insurance Co., the flagship of GenAmerica, St. Louis' third-largest private company, likely will be merged with another financial industry giant in the coming weeks, said analysts familiar with the company. The most...

O'Brien ousted from Union Financial.(bank holding company's CEO and president Denis O'Brien)
August 16, 1999... Denis O'Brien was forced out as president and chief executive of Union Financial Group Ltd. after his business strategy proved too aggressive for the board of directors of the Swansea-based bank holding company. Faced with a growing drain...

Game Face strands creditors on base, files bankruptcy.(sports apparel manufacturer Game Face Sports International)
August 16, 1999... Former St. Louis Cardinals Brian Jordan and Danny Cox, along with Civic Ventures Investment Fund, have struck out with investments in Game Face Sports International. The sports apparel manufacturer has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy under...

Hard-charging PaylinX seeks $20 million infusion.(software company)
August 16, 1999... PaylinX Corp.'s Bob Lozano wants to, bury his West Coast competition and will soon have $20 million to help fund the onslaught. The local software company is talking to investment banks and venture capitalists for a fresh round of financing...

Nooney becomes part of Coldwell Banker Spectrum.(real estate firm's contract with Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate Services Inc.)
August 16, 1999... Nooney Inc. has affiliated with Coldwell Banker Commercial, one of the largest diversified real estate organizations in North America. Under the new franchise arrangement, Nooney will provide real estate brokerage, leasing and management...

Parker sharpens Edge by doubling firm.(Edge Mortgage Services Pres. Rick Parker)
August 16, 1999... Edge Mortgage Services has doubled its staff in the five months since the company's president, Rick Parker, bought the firm from Allegiant Bancorp. Parker, a former vice president at Allegiant, purchased Edge Mortgage in March. He would...

A-B interactive promo lets drinkers win at sports bars.(Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc.)
August 16, 1999... Anheuser-Busch Cos. will bring its Budweiser NFL sponsorship activity this season to the one place' other than stadiums where millions of Americans gather to drink beer and watch football - sports bars. The company has created a Score Pour...

Excuse me, you're sitting on my milk jug.(Environmental Recycling Co.)(Company Profile)
August 16, 1999... Business activity: The long, uphill struggle for Environmental Recycling Co. is finally over. After losing money every year since it started manufacturing lumber out of recycled plastic in 1991, the company will turn a profit for the first...

Reinsurance Group of America Inc.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
August 16, 1999... A. Greig Woodring President and chief executive officer Reinsurance Group of America Inc., through its operating subsidiaries, offers life reinsurance in various markets throughout the world. The company reported a profit from continuing...

Jefferson Savings faces suit.(Jefferson Savings Bancorp Inc.; stock manipulation and fraud)
August 23, 1999... Jefferson Savings Bancorp is facing a class action lawsuit that alleges stock manipulation and fraud by seven officers and directors of the savings and loan. The suit contends insiders lied about the thrift's financial performance and...

Schilling rents software via Net.(Randy Schilling of SoluTech)
August 23, 1999... Randy Schilling is among a group of local entrepreneurs trying to help launch a new U.S. industry: leasing software to businesses over the Internet. Schilling's St. Charles-based SoluTech has started a business called WebBizApps that is...

Brooks gets a little help from his friends.(Robert Brooks of Gabriel Communications)
August 23, 1999... Robert Brooks and his management team at Gabriel Communications are getting by with a little help from their investment friends - partners who in some cases knew Brooks from his previous deals. "It's all relationship driven," said Thomas...

Busch, Jacobs, Lambright net $18 million in A-B stock: 3 execs exercise options at bargain prices.(August Busch III; John Jacob; Steven Lambright; Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.)
August 23, 1999... Three top executives at Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. picked up about $18 million, after selling thousands of shares of the company's stock bought at bargain-basement option prices. Chairman and president August Busch III walked away with about...

Firstar to pare its board to 18 directors from 31.
August 23, 1999... Firstar Corp. will narrow its board to 18 directors from 31 after it completes its acquisition of Mercantile Bancorporation in September. Milwaukee-based Firstar will have 45 directors to choose from - 31 at Firstar and 14 from Mercantile....

Source triples credit line, racks up four acquisitions.(Source Information Management Co.)
August 23, 1999... The Source Information Management Co. has nearly tripled its credit line with Wachovia Bank of North Carolina from $15 million to $40 million. Source, which monitors and collects magazine sales rebates for major retail clients, said the...

Deters, Fries, Dabbs boot up solutions worth $20 million.(Global Solutions Group)(Company Profile)
August 23, 1999... Information technology company makes fast connections Business activity: The solutions Global Solutions Group provides must be working. The full-service information technology company is one of the fastest-growing private companies in...

Rock-solid Leonard Masonry builds $24 million company.(Company Profile)
August 23, 1999... Granite in the gleaming new Southwest Bank building in Des Peres was shipped from the United States all the way to Italy for cutting and polishing by Leonard Masonry in order to meet the project's timetable. "We found a fabricator in Italy...

Designs on growth.(ARCO Construction Co.)(Company Profile)
August 23, 1999... In 1996, Decorative Surfaces International, Inc. (DSI) took a hard look at its operations in Crestwood, Mo. and came to a stark conclusion expand and become more efficient or lose its competitive edge. DSI manufactures and sells coated...

Conning Corp.(Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
August 23, 1999... Leonard Rubenstein Chairman, president and chief executive officer Conning Corp. is an asset manager for the insurance industry and a provider of private equity to specialty insurance markets. The company reported a profit of $131 million,...

Argosy's stock on a roll.(Argosy Gaming Co.)
August 30, 1999... Many investors who bought shares of Argosy Gaming Co. earlier this year must feel as though they've hit the jackpot, with the company's stock price soaring about 400 percent since January. Better cash flow, debt restructuring and...

GenAmerica avoids loss of $500 million.(General American Life Insurance Co.)
August 30, 1999... General American Life Insurance Co. stood to lose about half a billion dollars if it had tried to solve its liquidity crisis on its own instead of selling itself to Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. That, according to an analysis of the firm...

LoanSurfer.con takes home $3 million.
August 30, 1999... Alan Kinzel and Chris McKanry opened their first business, a kite company, at McNair Elementary in Hazelwood. That grade school venture lost its wind when the cash, kept in a basement drawer, vanished. Today, the pair's latest venture,...

Solon, Miller lead investors in start-up banks in Alton.(Bart Solon; Donald Miller; launching of Partners Bank)
August 30, 1999... Bart Solon, the former chief executive of Bank of Alton, is leading a group of investors raising $4.5 million to launch Partners Bank in Alton. Partners is the second new bank in the Alton area this year. The Bank of Godfrey opened June...

Rodgers Townsend catches $10 million Spectrum work.(United Industries Corp.'s contract with Rodgers Townsend)
August 30, 1999... United Industries Corp. is sending an estimated $10 million in advertising to the start-up Rodgers Townsend agency. The account, primarily United's Spectrum division, brings the advertising firm work on bug and vermin killing products...

West Pointe Bancorp seeks $4.3 million in stock offering.
August 30, 1999... West Pointe Bancorp Inc. plans to raise $4.3 million in a stock offering. West Pointe, the holding company for Belleville-based West Pointe Bank and Trust Co., is selling up to 80,000 shares at $54 each. The offering is public, but it is...

Reliv mixes up $15 million in new business.(Reliv' International Inc.)
August 30, 1999... Reliv International Inc. has added more than $15 million in new business during the past six months, mixing and packaging nutritional products for other companies. The new business isn't profitable yet - Reliv lost $545,036 on $15.3...

Gateway Packaging bags $10 million in annual sales.
August 30, 1999... Business activity: We like to say, "Our packaging is flexible, but our quality is not." That's what Roger Miller, president of Gateway Packaging Co., said as he conducted a tour of the Granite City-based manufacturer of flexible packing...

Moneta tops independents, managing $2.75 billion.(Moneta Group Inc.)
August 30, 1999... A few decades ago, there were virtually no independent money managers in Missouri. Now the state has more than 1,000, including a number based in the city with several hundred million under management. Among the largest independents is...

J.A. Glynn & Co. finds niche in asset management.
August 30, 1999... Through JAG Advisors it provides investment management services to unions and pension funds They may be small in size, but J.A. Glynn & Co. manages some big money. As an investment manager of stocks and bonds, the company manages more...