Business Courier Serving Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky articles from December 1999

Business Courier Serving Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky archives from December 1999

Yung bids for Atlanta hotels.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Columbia Sussex CEO prepared for a fight Northern Kentucky hotel mogul Bill Yung has launched a $181 million takeover bid for Atlanta hotel chain Lodgian Inc. Lodgian has rejected Yung's initial bid of $6.50 per share. But the...

1999: A busy way to end the century.(Editorial)
December 31, 1999... CINCINNATI LOST A LITTLE MORE of its past, but also prepared to welcome some exciting changes. As we stop and take a breath, finally, to look back at the year's biggest business stories, we find ourselves saying a lot of goodbyes. ...

Fifth Third eyeing Louisville market for next bank acquisition.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... With the ink on its latest round of acquisitions dry, pundits are again talking about Fifth Third Bancorp preparing to embark on another shopping spree. Word on the streets of Louisville is that the Queen City's largest bank has its eyes...

Largest Tri-State Brokers.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Incomplete data received from Hilliard Lyons for the Largest Tri-State Brokers list published in the Dec. 10 issue resulted in the omission of James Kemp as one of the firm's top local officials.

Largest Tri-State Money Management Firms.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... The Dec. 24 Largest Tri-State Money Management Firms list incorrectly identified the top local official of Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Timothy Johnson is the firm's top local official. The column heading "1999 Rate of Return for Equity...

Miller-Valentine expanding.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Sees Jacksonville Office project as Fla. beachhead The Cincinnati office of Miller-Valentine Group will oversee the construction of an $11 million office building in one of Jacksonville, Fla.'s hottest development hubs. The...

Local business history's 'Indiana Jones'.
December 31, 1999... STEVEN WRIGHT IS RACING TO save Tri-State business records for future generation to study When historians reflect on Cincinnati business in the late 20th century, they may find one of the city's greatest historical voids. It's a...

Griffey lands endorsement contract with Nabisco.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Nabisco bucks trend as other firms shy away from athletes Nabisco will launch an aggressive sports marketing campaign next month built around Cincinnati native Ken Griffey Jr. and four other high-profile athletes who will likely get more...

CG&E seeks $1.2B in 'transition costs'.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... As Ohio enters utility deregulation, the Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. wants to send its rate payers a $1.2 billion tab for costs left over from the old system. Under a transition plan filed Dec. 28 with the Public Utilities Commission of...

Hutchison elected to FHLB board.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Joseph Hutchison, senior vice president at Franklin Savings & Loan Co., has been elected to the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati. Hutchison will assume one of the two open seats reserved for Ohio financial...

Federated Logistics leases new facility.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Federated Logistics has signed a lease for 85,000 square feet in a building on South Cooper Avenue in Lockland. Neal Sundermann, president of Cincinnati Commercial Realtors Inc., was the listing agent for the deal. Federated plans to move...

Workplace gambling usually innocent fun.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... It's legal in Ohio if only winners take profits Gambling is a popular and quite legal workplace pastime, yet most human resource departments lack a written policy on the subject According to a survey by the Alexandria, Va.-based...

Client Server has new name, new strategy.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Lucrum Inc. focuses on e-business solutions The downtown technology consulting company Client Server Associates will kick off 2000 with a new identity and aggressive marketing plan. Starting Jan. 3, the company will begin using its...

Marketer joins toy company as president.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... The Forest Park-based doll maker with big plans for the toy industry has hired a former Dayton bank marketer as its president. Bruce Clapp, 31, left his job as marketing director for Liberty Savings Bank in November to become president of...

CHEEK-UMS INC.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... CHEEK-UMS INC., a toy designer/maker founded by Becky Callahan, is trying to break into the business with what it hopes will be the next Cabbage Patch doll.

BRUCE CLAPP.
December 31, 1999... BRUCE CLAPP, former director of marketing with Liberty Savings Bank in Dayton, joined the Forest Park-based company in November as president.

County must pay Bengals for poor '00 attendance.
December 31, 1999... How's this for an example of your tax dollars hard at work -- or more to the point, hard at risk? If the Cincinnati Bengals continue their losing ways, and draw the same number of fans to their new home next year as they drew this year...

Western-Southern launching call center Jan. 3.
December 31, 1999... Western-Southern Life Insurance Co. is putting the finishing touches on its new call center, which will go live Jan. 3. The new center will be used to reach out both to new business prospects and under-served existing customers. Western...

Life, health insurers may see less sanguine 2000.
December 31, 1999... Life and health insurers are having a whale of a 1999, according to Florida research firm Weiss Ratings Inc. Net profits at the nation's 1,199 life insurers rose by 17.4 percent to $13.5 billion during the first half of the year, compared to...

November home sales decline.
December 31, 1999... Home sales activity in Greater Cincinnati continues to remain ahead of the record-breaking results of one year ago, despite a second consecutive monthly slowdown in November. Local home sales fell 9.4 percent in November, with 1,477 homes...

Chemed to exchange shares.
December 31, 1999... Six weeks after announcing it would slash its dividend by more than 80 percent, Chemed Corp. is offering to exchange up to 2 million common shares for convertible preferred securities each worth $27. Each preferred stock will have a $2...

Bank named online innovator.
December 31, 1999... PC Week magazine ranked Fifth Third Bank No. 1 in its list of the top 100 financial services e-business innovators. Fifth Third topped the list of insurance, health care, real estate, brokerage and personal credit services companies for its...

Momentum sues PacifiCare.
December 31, 1999... Momentum Health Solutions LLC has filed a lawsuit against PacifiCare of Ohio Inc. The lawsuit, filed in Hamilton County Court, alleges a number of wrongs by PacifiCare, including that PacifiCare refused to honor a payment agreement to...

Henkel Corp. becomes Cognis.
December 31, 1999... Henkel Corp., which has a specialty chemical operation in Cincinnati, will begin operating as Cognis Corp. Jan. 1. Cognis will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Netherlands-based Cognis BV, which is itself owned by Henkel KGaA. Moving its...

Firms picked for trade mission.
December 31, 1999... Five Cincinnati groups will be among the 31 Ohio companies and organizations accompanying Gov. Bob Taft on a trade mission to Japan from Jan. 28 to Feb. 6. The local groups include Cinergy Corp., Fifth Third Bank, Firstar Bank, Greater...

Escort to acquire Beltronics.
December 31, 1999... Escort Inc., the Cincinnati-based maker of radar detectors, has signed an agreement to acquire Beltronics, a radar detector manufacturer based in Ontario. Escort President Greg Blair will coordinate the activities of the two companies, whose...

Fifth Third custodian for Dacotah.
December 31, 1999... Fifth Third Bank said it will provide custody services for the trust business of Dacotah Bank, headquartered in Aberdeen, S.D. Custody services include safekeeping of assets, trade settlements, income collection and reporting. Fifth Third now...

OHIO EMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS IN NOVEMBER.
December 31, 1999... Ohio's unemployment rate was 4 percent for November, down from 4:2 percent in. October, according to the Ohio Bureau of Employment Statistics. Monthly Data (in thousands) ...

THE Giving COMPANY.
December 31, 1999... Starting an Internet company is low-cost, but doesn't always generate lots of business. Angela Grieco knows Internet companies are a dime a dozen and she doesn't want hers to get lost in the shuffle. Grieco tiled to grow Sundara, her...

Architectural firm's focus: downtown projects.
December 31, 1999... Schuster working on Reds stadium design When he was in college, Michael Schuster spent his summers peddling beer at Cincinnati Reds games. Now, he has a chance to impact generations of future Reds vendors. That's because Schuster's...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
December 31, 1999... ADVERTISING/MARKETING. Hensley Segal Rentschler has hired the following Brad McBride, e-commerce specialist; Doug Landers, senior e-commerce program developer; Greg Lambert and John Woodall, e-commerce program developers; H. Robert...

Gifting one option to lessen income, estate tax liabilities.
December 31, 1999... The bull market in stocks over the past two decades has produced a significant increase in wealth for numerous investors. Many individuals are finding that their assets are more than sufficient to meet their lifetime needs, and that they may...

COURIER RATE BAROMETER.
December 31, 1999... COURIER RATE BAROMETER Latest Year ago Two Three week week wks. ago wks. ago AVERAGE INTEREST RATES 30-yr. mortgage ...

PAK/TEEM, INC. Celebrates 10 Years!(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
December 31, 1999... PAK/TEEM, Inc., headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, was established in 1989 by a group of veteran engineers from the consumer products manufacturing industry. Today it has a professional staff of over 60 engineers, designers, and technicians...

Business Success, Determined By Strategy.
December 31, 1999... Less than a decade old, e-business has been akin to the gold rush of late 1800's. Internet space has been claimed, not by the comprehensiveness of the business offering, but by whoever got there first. Speed to market has been king and a...

NCB Looking to Buy More Bad Debt Portfolios.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... More than twelve years ago, National Check Bureau Inc. and Unifund pioneered the purchasing-bad-debt industry. Today, the two companies, are leaders in the field. In fact, Unifund is listed as one of the top three buyers of bad debt and...

Blueprint for Tax Savings.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... How, and how much, your assets are taxed is determined largely on how they are classified. If your organization has recently acquired, expanded, or built facilities, Grant Thornton can help you generate significant tax savings through a Cost...

The Internet and Sales Tax Advantage to the Business Owner.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Most companies realize that the Internet is changing the face of business. Both retailers and consumers have embraced the advances in technology, utilizing the Internet to buy and sell nearly everything imaginable. Is it worth it for your...

TECHNOLOGY POSES NEW CHALLENGES FOR COURTS.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Businesses today confront on a daily basis the opportunities and threats posed by a transforming and disruptive e-business environment. As these recent cases illustrate, changes in technology also are presenting courts with new twists on...

Sector weighting favors health care and cyclicals.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... The economy is booming. The stock market is setting new all-time highs. And everyone is making money, right? No. The broadest measures of the market are still suffering through a correction that began in August of this year. On Dec. 8,...

INSIDER TRADING RECAP.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... INSIDER TRADING RECAP (Number of insider transactions in past six months) Company Buy Option Sell Am. Annuity 2 4 1 Am. Financial 4...

MONEY MARKETS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... MONEY MARKETS 7-day average Fund yield Countrywide Institutional Government 5.33 Countrywide Ohio Tax-Free Money ...

STOCK STATS.(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... STOCK STATS Exchange/ Year- Week- 52- 52- Ticker Close to-date ago net P/E week week Name of security symbol...

MORNINGSTAR MUTUAL FUNDS.(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... MORNINGSTAR MUTUAL FUNDS Top 20 GREATER CINCINNATI FUNDS Fund Star Net asset Yr.-to-date 3-Yr. Rank Fund name category rating value ...

INSIDER TRADING.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... INSIDER TRADING (Shares indicate common shares except asnoted) Company/Officer Transaction Amount Price Chemed Corp. Rick Arquilla, Purchased 1,528...

DIVIDENDS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... DIVIDENDS Increase Company Amount Period (from) Payable Cincinnati Financial Corp. 17 cents quarterly No...

Scripps counts on campaign 2000 cash for boost.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... Niche TV grows, closer to profits That 2000 will be crammed with political advertising is enough to make most any television viewer recoil. But for executives of E.W. Scripps Co. , who have been furiously trying to bolster revenues in the...

THE NUMBERS.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... VITAL STATISTICS (Dollars in millions except per share data and ratio figures) Net Earnings Book value...

DEAL OF THE WEEK.(Process Plus buys vacant Circuit City building)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... THIS WEEK'S DEAL: McCormick, McNab from Colliers and Piker pair sell $1.4 M Circuit City site DEAL OF THE WEEK examines a recent noteworthy lease or sale of local commercial property and/or a residential sale; the transaction must exceed...

R. Gary Winters.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... R. Gary Winters, president and managing shareholder, at McCaslin, Imbus & McCaslin, has become a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Gus Perdikakis.(recipient of 1999 Industry Leadership Award.)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Gus Perdikakis, president of Gus Perdikakis Associates Inc., was the recipient of the National Technical Services Association's 1999 Industry Leadership Award.

ILSCO.(recipient of Showstopper Award)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... ILSCO has received a Showstopper Award for its RocketSplice at the 1999 NECA show held in New Orleans, La.

Fifth Third Bank.(building recognized for renovation)(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... Fifth Third Bank has announced that its 530 Building, located on Walnut Street has been named Cincinnati's Renovated Building of the Year by the Building Owners and Managers Association. Also, Fifth Third Bank is No. 1 in PC Week's ranking of...

Fifth Third Securities Inc.(bond sale announced)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... Fifth Third Securities Inc. has announced the sale of a bond anticipation note for the city of Loveland. The city borrowed $2.5 million for one year at a rate of 4 percent and the bonds were re-offered at 3.75 percent. The notes will mature...

American Spectrum Midwest.(property leased by Robertson & Co.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... American Spectrum Midwest has announced that Robertson & Co. has leased 930 square feet at 8220 Northcreek Drive, Suite 240, Cincinnati from Nooney Income Fund II LP.

Largest Tri-State Colleges and Universities.(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... Largest Tri-State Colleges and Universities (Ranked by enrollment as of fall term 1999) Enrollment Number Number Name total/ of...

ASK THE CEO.(Brief Article)
December 31, 1999... ASK THE CEO is a continuing series in which we ask important-to-the-region questions of corporate leaders. THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Who would you choose as the person of the millennium'? Mike Brown CTD Technologies Inc. There are...

Workplace of today echoes early 1900s.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 31, 1999... A comparison of the workplace of today with work life at the turn of the last century reveals many differences -- as expected -- and a few startling similarities. As they did in the prior century, growth industries are attracting...

City squanders non-residents' earnings tax.
December 31, 1999... Citizens awake! The taxes are coming! One if by baseball, two if by football and three if by plain old highway robbery! Enlist me in the modern version of the militia of Lexington and Concord, then stand out of the way while we dump some...

AFTER 100 YEARS, THE CITY IS.(20th century in Cincinnati.)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... back where it started: re-inventing itself in order to regain lost glory. As your explore Cincinnati's Century of Business (pages 5 through 12), a timeless truth emerges. The more things change in Cincinnati the more they stay the same....

Former Paine Webber stockbroker under investigation by FBI.(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... A former stockbroker in the Cincinnati office of PaineWebber Inc. is facing a federal investigation. Richard Zenni, 37, was fired by the New York-based brokerage company Oct. 15, according to a company spokesman. An FBI spokesman said...

CORRECTIONS.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... A Dec. 17 headline incorrectly characterized Mort Libby's and Ray Perszyk's status with Libby Perszyk Kathman. The two partners are stepping back from day-to-day management, but remain on the firm's board of directors. Iqbal Brainch's...

Provident regains top spot.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... Bank adds $700M in Hamilton Cty. deposits Provident Bank's full-scale retail banking assault is paying off. Three years after giving up the top spot in Hamilton County's deposit market share to Fifth Third Bank, Provident has...

Fidelity plans one-stop, back-office shop.(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... THE FINANCIAL FIRM' S COVINGTON campus will be the hub for a new package of business services. Financial giant Fidelity Investments is getting ready to roll out a package of business services aimed at making it a one-stop, back-office...

Mixed-use development under way in Lockland.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... Offices, hotel, restaurants to be part of $16 million facility One of the bigger forces behind the revitalization of Lockland recently broke ground for a huge project that will bring office buildings, a hotel and new restaurants to the...

Centennial I, III sold for $13M.(New Boston Fund buys buildings.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... New Boston Fund from Massachusetts purchased Centennial Plaza I and III, two office buildings totaling 240,000 square feet on Central Avenue downtown, for $13 million Dec. 21. New Boston and its Indianapolis-based property management...

Peoples plans Butler headquarters.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... The new entity that will result from the planned merger of three area savings and loans plans to move into Butler County soon after its initial public offering is completed next spring. Peoples Community Bancorp Inc. said in its Dec. 17 IPO...

Mortgage firm buys Arrowhead.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... AppOnline.com Inc., the mortgage firm that earlier this year acquired Queen City Mortgage Co., has bought Arrowhead Mortgage Co. Arrowhead will assume the AppOnline name. Arrowhead originated about $120 million in loans this past year, said...

Fingerhut investing in Internet start-ups.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... Federated unit sees future in Web marketing Catalog giant Fingerhut Companies Inc., the unit of Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc., has quietly built a tidy side business investing "tens of millions of dollars" in...

Century began with hopes of prosperity.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... It's a classic Cincinnati "what if?" Had this one turned out differently, the Queen City could have become the Motor City. The year was 1901, when two still-unknown men visited Cincinnati on separate occasions. Each wanted to set up...

Reform during the teens gave way to war.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... If Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken were time-warped back to 1915, he would have little trouble adapting to the major issues of the day. "We favor the building of a large convention hail as soon as possible," reads a resolution, passed...

Prohibition brings end to city's livelihood.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... Shortly after ringing in the new decade, Cincinnatians lost one of the city's hallmark industries. The city had become famous as a brewing center by the late 19th century, consuming more beer per capita than any other city in the nation....

Construction lessens force of Depression.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... The Great Depression didn't pass Cincinnati by, but the local economy remained standing. Symbols of this fortitude remain today as the 1930s Art Deco buildings scattered across the city. In the aftermath of the stock market crash and at...

War effort fueled city economic recovery.(Cincinnati, Ohio)(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... On Jan. 1, 1942, on Vine Street, a Dun & Bradstreet reporter accidentally shot and killed one of his colleagues after participating in the custom of firing guns into the air to celebrate the New Year. That solitary shot went little...

Auto age hit apex in cruise control '50s.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 24, 1999... Cincinnati business entered the 1950s on cruise control. Allaying fears of a severe postwar recession, factories had converted their production lines to peacetime goods and began cranking out consumer products of all kinds. In 1951, the...

Stadium project redefined skyline in '60s.(Cincinnati, Ohio)(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... The decade of the 1960s was a challenging, boisterous, evolutionary time for the country, but a rather uneventful period in the growth of the Tri-State business community, save for a few notable developments. Arguably no other year in the...

Reds brought pride to revived city in 197Os.(Cincinnati Reds baseball team)(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... In the spring of 1970, all eyes were on the riverfront. Crews were working night and day to complete Riverfront Stadium, a building that would become a staple of the Cincinnati skyline and a national hotspot during the '70s. ...

High interest rates paved way for boom.(Cincinnati economic news from the 1980s)(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Sky-high interest rates, double-digit unemployment and an inflation rate that nearly matched unemployment levels greeted the early part of the 1980s. It was certainly a far different business atmosphere than today's. By year end 1982,...

Tri-State prepares for next millennium.(Cincinnati, Ohio region)(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... The 1990s was a decade of runaway prosperity, coupled with an acute fear of the future. While billions of dollars were poured into such projects as the reconstruction of Fort Washington Way and a total redesign of the riverfront, the...

Merger to form national plumbing distributor.(Mutual Manufacturing & Supply Co. to merge with Bertsch Co. and Piping and Equipment Co.)(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Mutual Manufacturing & Supply Co. has merged with companies in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Conyers, Ga., to form a new distribution firm with national reach and annual sales of $330 million. Cincinnati-based Mutual distributes industrial...

Uniform rental growth good news for Cintas.(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... A new report by the U.S. Census Bureau meant good news for the Cintas Corp. and led the Mason-based uniform maker to re evaluate its potential market share. According to new census data, the uniform rental industry grew by 9.3 percent --...

MMS seeks solutions for Lockland manufacturer.(Midewest Manufacturing Solutions teams with Midwest Mobil Technologies)(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Ray Attiyah, president of Midwest Manufacturing Solutions, has developed partnerships with a local manufacturer for 2000. Lockland-based Midwest Mobil Technologies, a manufacturer of health care products, has teamed up with MMS to grow...

Mid-sized banks pull in biggest profits per client.(in the financial services industry)(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... You could be forgiven for thinking an air of profit angst hangs over the financial services marketplace. Two recent studies took a close look at banks' profitability and the verdicts aren't all that positive. The profit issue is...

Louisville mortgage firm eyes N. Ky. for expansion.(Baker Financial Group and Mortgage Company of Kentucky plan growth in Northern Kentucky)(Brief Article)
December 24, 1999... Two recently merged Louisville mortgage companies have their eye on Northern Kentucky as the next step in their growth. Banker Financial Group acquired Mortgage Company of Kentucky last month, creating one of the largest privately owned...