St. Louis Business Journal articles from July 1997

St. Louis Business Journal archives from July 1997

Joint bid to buy SLU hospital. (St. Louis Health Care Network and Unity Health System's planned acquisition of Saint Louis University's hospital)
July 14, 1997... Health Care Network, Unity combine efforts The St. Louis Health Care Network and Unity Health System are working together on a bid to buy Saint Louis University's hospital. Saint Louis University also is talking to Tenet Healthcare Corp.,...

Matters of the heart. (heart transplant program management)
July 14, 1997... Shortage driving up costs of transplants at SLUCare, Barnes-Jewish hospitals A heart transplant program is no place for anyone who's squeamish about calculating the dollar cost of life. That's especially true in these days of managed care....

Feds probe Community CarePlus.
July 14, 1997... James Sweat, the former chief executive officer of Community CarePlus, was suspected of stealing thousands of dollars from the health maintenance organization before he was fired in April, according to a statement by the company. Six other...

Duke Realty buying into Riverport complex. (Duke Realty Investments)
July 14, 1997... Duke Realty Investments, the Indianapolis-based commercial real estate investment trust with major holdings in Earth City, is poised to be a major player at Riverport. According to people close to the deal, Duke has signed a contract to...

Retailer Maxine Clark bets $750,000 on bear market. (opening of stuffed toy store Build-A-Bear Workshop)
July 14, 1997... Eighteen months after stepping down as president of the $2.3 billion Payless Shoe-Source chain, veteran retailer Maxine Clark is putting her money on a bear market. Clark - named by Discount Store News as one of the "30 Most Powerful People...

Novelly group sues Clark for $21 million. (group headed by Apex Oil's Tony Novelly; Clark USA)
July 14, 1997... Five years after investors led by Apex Oil's Tony Novelly sold out of Clark USA for $100 million, they are back at the table, demanding Clark's biggest shareholder owes them more. The Novelly group is seeking another $21 million, plus...

HMOs, health systems view Medicare bills differently. (health maintenance organizations; Medicare reform bills)
July 14, 1997... Managed care companies and health systems in the St. Louis area are keeping a close eye on the progress of separate House and Senate Medicare reform bills being debated in Washington, D.C. Managed care companies say the effort could cut...

Making an impression. (Advanced Technology Printing Corp.)
July 14, 1997... Advanced Technology OSL ahead of pack with waterless printing press Business activity: The keyword in Advanced Technology Printing Corp. is "advanced." A small company formed through a unique partnership, Advanced Technology is a waterless...

Medicine Shoppe, BioLogix among hottest franchises.
July 14, 1997... The International Franchise Association has come up with a list of the hot franchises and they all tie in with the busy lifestyles of people today. The association says the mantra of every successful business owner applies to franchisers as...

Ultradata Systems Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 14, 1997... Monte Ross President and chief executive officer Ultradata Systems Inc. is a provider of handheld information devices, especially travel computers. The company reported a profit of $208,137, or 8 cents a share, on sales of $9 million for the...

Bell Center heads for sale block; SBC unloading real estate to pay for Pacific Telesis deal. (SBC Communications Inc.)
July 7, 1997... SBC Communications Inc., within the next month. will try to sell and lease back at least part of One Bell Center; its flagship property downtown, sources say. The office building is one of several properties in urban areas that the company...

Stifel courted by two securities firms. (Stifel Financial Corp.)
July 7, 1997... Explores acquisitions of its own through $28 million offering Stifel Financial Corp. has been approached by at least two other securities firms interested in buying the firm to bolster their Midwest presence. The feelers from other...

Petrolite closing here; 250 jobs will be lost.
July 7, 1997... Baker Hughes Inc.'s acquisition of Petrolite Corp. will cost St. Louis 250 jobs in the next year as Petrolite's headquarters closes. Baker Performance Chemicals Inc., a division of Baker Hughes, and Petrolite formed a new subsidiary company...

Radio talk: Baker tunes into Heritage. (Sinclair Communications Inc.'s plan to acquire Heritage Media Corp.)
July 7, 1997... Barry Baker's Sinclair Communications Inc. is the leading contender to buy Heritage Media Corp.'s 23-station group, which includes three stations in St. Louis - WILFM, KIHT-FM and WRTH-AM. Add to that Sinclair's existing radio properties here...

And the winners are....(Businesspersons' Favorite Restaurants)
July 7, 1997... Compiling the results of this year's voting for Businesspersons' Favorite Restaurants, I got to thinking of what would be my ideal meal. Appetizers would be toasted ravioli and Culpepper's chicken wings, followed by a Pasta House salad or...

10 more Venture stores may be shed if recent sell-off not enough. (Venture Stores Inc.)
July 7, 1997... The 20 out-of-state stores sold by Venture Stores Inc. to Kmart to raise cash and focus on core markets may not be the end of the store sales. Venture still has 10 stores in non-core markets, including three in Houston, three in Dallas, two...

A.E. Wease reorganizes, emerges from bankruptcy.
July 7, 1997... In late 1996, the A.E. Wease Inc. distribution company was staring at a major cash shortfall as its creditors - primarily tobacco companies - tightened up credit lines and then eliminated their extension of credit. The moves forced the...

Spinoff gives Hussmann chance to grow international market. (Hussmann Corp.)
July 7, 1997... Hussmann Corp. historically has played second fiddle to its Whitman corporate parent. Now the Bridgeton company known around the world for its refrigerated cases, is poised to show the world - and the investment community - its international...

Attendance, ticket prices up; Cards still will lose money. (St. Louis Cardinals)
July 7, 1997... The baseball season has barely hit the halfway point, and the Cardinals owners are already predicting it will be a loser. Attendance, broadcast ratings and ticket prices are all up from this time last year. But so is the team's payroll, which...

Kiel dark most of summer, but filled 210 nights in year. (Kiel Center)
July 7, 1997... While crowds flock to Riverport Amphitheatre and The Muny, the $200 million Kiel Center will sit empty all but 10 days this summer. The only events scheduled are eight St-. Louis Vipers in-line hockey games, a country music concert and a...

Where Irish eyes are smiling. (St. Louis, Missouri's pubs)(Businesspersons' Favorite Restaurants)
July 7, 1997... McGurk's is tops for a pint; O'Connell's, O'Brien's also rate The Irish are known for their strong opinions on politics and pubs. So where do their descendants - or in some cases, transplants - go to feel at home in St. Louis? To hear a...

LaserSight sets sights on $15 million in IBM patents. (LaserSight Inc.)
July 7, 1997... LaserSight Inc. could be in line for as much as $15.3 million from sales of excimer lasers in the United States by the turn of the century, if a deal with IBM goes through as planned later this month. The technology and health services...

J. Norman Consulting wins hospital association's OK. (Missouri Hospital Association)
July 7, 1997... A Missouri Hospital Association committee is recommending a system developed by a West Port firm to help hospitals and emergency service providers communicate better. The MetroCom Council has selected J. Norman Consulting Inc. as the vendor...

On the rebound: PASCO stacks up sales of $3 million, bounces back from costly dispute. (Productive Automated Systems Corp.)
July 7, 1997... Business activity: Nearly put out of business in 1993 by a lengthy contract dispute, PASCO (Productive Automated Systems Corp.) has rebounded and is ready to move into a larger, more modern plant to handle its growing business. PASCO designs...

Cass Commercial Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
July 7, 1997... Lawrence Collett Chairman and chief executive officer Cass Commercial Corp., through its subsidiaries, Cass Bank & Trust Co. and Cass Information Systems' Payment Group, offers commercial banking services and freight bill payment, auditing,...

TWA loses arbitration in pay dispute with pilots. (Trans World Airlines)
July 7, 1997... A labor arbitrator has ruled against Trans W9orld Airlines in its dispute with pilots over pay calculations. The pilots say that the arbitrator's June 30 ruling included sharp words for TWA and promised to come out fighting if TWA didn't...

Executive profile: James Hardman. (president and CEO of Unity Health System)
July 7, 1997... PERSONAL INFORMATION: Name: James R. Hardman Organization: Unity Health System Title: President/Chief Executive Officer Education: Master of Health Care Administration (honor graduate) - Baylor University Bachelor of Arts - Duquesne...