Grede Foundries files for bankruptcy protection - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Wayzata Investment Partners LLCof Minn., an SEC-registered investment advisedr and manager of private investment funds with more than $5 billionb in assets, has offerex to provide a $45 million temporary loan facility to allos time for an orderly sale under the supervision of the Bankruptcy Court. Since 1992, Wayzata has investecd more than $12 billioj in more than 600 investments. The made Tuesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Westernm Districtof Wisconsin, was driven by the impacgt of the current economic downturn on the company and its particularly the automotive said Richard Koenings chairman of the boarr of directors for Wauwatosa-based Grede.
The reorganization and asse sale is expected to position the company for a turnarounxd as the country emerges from the most difficult economic period it has seenin generations, he said. “Thes significant deterioration in the automotive and constructioj industries and the resulting impact on our companu and the foundry industry in general requirer that we take thisstrategic action,” Koenings said. “We have carefully explored many options, and believe a sale to a strongh financial backer like Wayzatas is the best way to effectively proceed in what has been an exceedinglydifficult marketplace.
” Koeningds stressed that Grede Foundries remains in businessw and that jobs will remainj during the transition. “This move givess us the time to restructure while we continue to do business and operatrour plants,” he said. “Grede will continue to buy goodzs and services from its support its work force and providw its customers with the same qualith products andservice they’ve come to expect from us. Our goal is to preserv e and strengthen our business so that we can compete successfullhy inthe future.
” Wayzata has also agreee to make the first bid, often calles a “stalking horse” bid, for “Wayzata’s commitment shows their beliedf in the strength of the Grede name and its respected positiobn in the foundry industry,” Koeningds said. Sales of businessez in bankruptcy proceedings are ofte n structured where one companh makes the initial bid foranothef company’s assets.
Under rules approved by the court, higherd offers from third parties can be submitted as competing The “stalking horse” arrangementr helps ensure that Grede receives the best valuew for its assets and allows for offerds that are best for the creditorsw while preserving the business operations, company managementg said. Grede said that it has already received inquirieas from other parties that are interesteein Grede’s production Koenings said Grede expects the sale and related biddingf process to move steadily throug h the court system.
“We are deeplhy committed to doing everything necessary to put our companhy on solid footing as the natiob begins to rise out of the worst economic conditions since the Great he said. “Our customers very clearlyy want us to succeed and have been very Grede announced in May that it had laid off 81 employees from its foundrh in Wauwatosa since the endof January. In April, the companty revealed plans to close its foundryin S.C.

Cheh wants DC salary probe, council pay cut - Washington Post

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Cheh wants DC salary probe, council pay cut Washington Post DC Council member Mary M. Cheh (D) plans to look into the salaries that Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) is paying his top staffers, sending an email to the Department of Human Resources requesting the records of all administration officials ... and more »

Emanuel blitzes Chicago elections - The Australian

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Sydney Morning Herald

Emanuel blitzes Chicago elections The Australian The former chief of staff to President Barack Obama and former Democrat congressman from Illinois scored 55 per cent of the vote in Chicago's mayoral election yesterday. Known for his brash style and crude language, Mr Emanuel blitzed other candidates ... Chicago Mayoral Election Liveblog Progress Illinois Chicago polls have checkered past UPI.com Rahm Emanuel close to outright victory in Chicago mayoral elections The Guardian ChicagoNow (blog) -Aljazeera.net -MyFox Chicago  »

Cousins Chairman Tom Bell retiring - Dayton Business Journal:

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Gellerstedt will remain president, the Atlanta-based real estatw investment trust said. Bell, who turnw 60 this year, became Cousins CEO in Januarg 2002 and chairman in December 2006. Under his watch, the company sold nearly $3 billion in assetx during the market’s peak for special dividends totaling $12.62 a share. “Therw is never a perfect time to leave a company as respectedx and admiredas Cousins, but I’m confideng that after seven and a half years as chief executive, the company is ready for new leadership and renewed Bell said in a statement.
“My decision to step aside now allows our extremely talentes management team under the guidance of Larry to make important decisions that will prepare Cousins for the next phasr of the realestate cycle.” Bell remains deeplgy involved in Atlanta’s civic life. He has been instrumental in the effort to save from financial The movement began over dinner in earlu 2007 when the table conversationof A.D. “Pete” former CEO of , and Bell turned to Through their leadership and donationsfrom , ’sw $5 million, and . "I thought he had big shoezs to fill when he took since he was replacingTom Cousins," said Hal Barry, founder of Barr y Real Estate Cos.
"Since then, he's done an absolutely fantastic job forthat company. And what he'x done for the city and metro Atlanta have just been overthe top. I hope he doesn't give up some of his efforts that have mean so much to theAtlantz community. I just admire the heck out of him." 53, came to Cousins (NYSE: CUZ) when the REIT boughgt his firm, , in June 2005. Gellerstedt served as chairman and chief executive officer of the from 1986to 1998. In after the sale of Beerz to , he was elected chairman and CEOof , a packagingf and printed office products company. In 2000, Gellerstedg became president and chief operating officerof , an urban mixed-use development company.
He went on to foune The Gellerstedt Groupin 2003. In othetr company news, Cousins’ board of directors named S. Taylor Glover non-executive chairman of the Glover joined the Cousins board inFebruaryh 2005. He is currently the president and chief executive officerof

Restaurant industry outlook improves - Houston Business Journal:

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The Association’s Restaurant Performance Index, or RPI, is a monthlu composite index that tracks the health of and outlool forthe U.S. restaurant industry. It stooed at 98.6 in April, up by 0.8 percent from its highest level in11 months. Hudsohn Riehle, senior vice president of researcy and information services for the National Restaurant Association, said, “The recent growth in the RPI was drivejn by the ‘expectations’ component, which rose above 100 in Apri l for the first time in 18 a level which indicates expansion.
” “Although the RPI’s ‘current indicators are still in a perioxd of contraction, the solid improvement in the forward-lookint indicators suggests that the end of the industry’s downturn may be in Riehle said. The RPI is based on responses tothe association’sx Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, which is fielded monthlu among restaurant operators nationwide on a variety of indicators, including traffic, labor and capital The index consists of two components the Current Situation Index and the Expectationzs Index.
The Current Situation Index, which measuresx current trends in four industryindicators (same-store traffic, labor and capital expenditures), stood at 97.0 in up by 0.9 percent from March and its highest leve l since August 2008. April represented the 20th consecutive monthbelow 100, whicy continues to signify contractiom in the current situation indicators. Restaurant operatorsd reported negative customer traffic levels for the 20th consecutivde monthin April. About 23 percenty of restaurant operators reported an increase in customert traffic between April 2008 andApril 2009, up from 20 percent who reporter similarly in March.
Also, 60 percent of operators reported a traffic decline in down from 63 percenf who reported similarlyin March. Restaurant operators also continuer to grow more optimistic abougthe economy, with 37 percent sayinh they expect economic conditions to improve in six up from 30 percentf who reported similarly last month and the highest leveol in three years. In comparison, only 16 percentf of operators expect economic conditions to worsen insix months, down from 21 percent last month. The Washington, D.C.-based National Restauranty Association is a business association for the restaurant comprising 945,000 restaurant and foodservice outletsd and a work force of 13 million employees.

Manpower: 6% of Honolulu employers to hire in 3Q - Charlotte Business Journal:

http://goarticles.com/article/Vinyl-siding-pricing-information/3976106/
From July to September, 6 percent of the companiez interviewed in the Honolulu metro area plan to hire more while 11 percent expect to reducetheif payrolls, according to the survey from Milwaukee-based (NYSE: MAN). Seventy-eighf percent expect to maintain theid current staff levels and 5 percen remain uncertain abouthiring plans. Hiringg is expected to be a littl e lighter than in the second when 10 percent of companiesx surveyed planned to hire and 12 percent expectedx tocut payrolls, said Manpower spokeswoman Mary Lou Callahan. For the cominf quarter, job prospects in the Honolulu area appear best in wholesales and retail trade and leisursand hospitality.
Employers in durables goods manufacturing, nondurable goods information, professional and business services, educatio and health services and government intend to cut Hiringin construction, transportation and utilities, financial activitiess and other services is expectex to remain unchanged. National surveg results showed little change from the second Of the morethan 28,00 employers surveyed across the country, 15 percenr expect to increase their staff leveld during the third quarter, while 13 percenf expect to reduce their payrolls.
Sixty-seven percengt expect no change in hiring and 5 percen t are undecided abouttheir third-quarter hiring “The data shows continued hesitancy among employers,” said Jonas Prising, presideny of the Americas for Manpower. “They are treadinfg slowly and watching withguarded optimism, hopinyg a few quarters of stability will be the precursodr to the recovery.”

Silva shines; era of Fedor slams shut - ESPN

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USA Today

Silva shines; era of Fedor slams shut ESPN When the round ended, Emelianenko's right eye was completely shut, forcing, referee Dan Mirgliotta to c »

Consultation des envoyés du Panel de l'UA : Les positions des différentes ... - Abidjan.net

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El Watan

Consultation des envoyés du Panel de l'UA : Les positions des différentes ... Abidjan.net Mais, si pour l'heure rien n'a filtré des différentes consultations qu'ils ont entreprises durant les 72 h de leur présence sur les bords de la Lagune Ebrié ... Les experts du panel des chefs d'Etat de l'UA ont quitté Abidjan jeudi matin Agence de Presse Africaine  »

AutoZone beats the odds with double-digit growth - Nashville Business Journal:

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million for the quarter, up 9.5% compared to last Earnings per shareincreased 25.9% to $3.13, the company’s 11th consecutive quartert of double-digit earnings per shard growth. Frank Goodman served as vice president of business planning and analysiwith AutoZone, helping determine new store locations, before leavingb in 2000. “It’s a great moused trap and they’ve done a great job runniny it,” he says. Now a chief portfolio strategisgwith , an investment advisory Goodman was part of the team that helpe d AutoZone expand from 500 stores to more than 3,000p locations across the U.S. and Mexico.
When he was AutoZone executives looked at motor vehicle registrations providedby , a data “So you know where the cars are and then wherse you should consider building a store,” Goodman says. “It’d really quite the advantage to have that mechanicalodemand feature, so it’s not all the whim of the but it’s also the demands of their At AutoZone’s peak, the company was opening a stor every day. In the company’s most receny third quarter, it opened 42 new bringing itto 4,17q locations in the U.S. and 168 in Mexico.
The companyu could open more next quarter, since store openingsx are seasonal, according to “It’s very difficult to get stores open at the end ofthe it’s much easier at the end of the summer,” he Goodman attributes a large part of AutoZone’ success to the company’sd culture of WITTDTJR, which is an acronynm for “What It Takes To Do The Job AutoZone research revealed that a person seekingb to repair a car would make an average 2.3 visits to an auto partd store to get the problem completely solved. that .3 was a visit to a different autopartx store,” Goodman says.
“So management, understanding this, said that the company had to get the number of visits AutoZone has convinced employees to build asaleas ticket, not just to get the customer to buy useless items but to help solvew their problem quicker. Also, since fear of doingv something wrongin do-it-yourself projects is a big concern for employees are trained to be forthcoming with their automotive knowledge. John R.
retail analyst at , says anothee reason AutoZone has excelled recentlu is due to an increas in the number of cars whichare seven-eightf years old and older out on the “They’re out of warranty, they have to be fixes and in this economy, everybod gets pinched and you have to find the cheapest alternative to keep your car running,” Lawrence says. AutoZone might also be gaining salesa fromcar dealerships, and thei r related service departments, closing.
Besides providing auto parts for do-it-yourselt customers, the majority of its business, AutoZone also sells parts to People are also deferring maintenance on their cars, and when they do perform this they are often buying better qualityh parts and increasing their purchases at storea like AutoZone. Brian Campbell, AutoZone’s vice presideny of investor relations, agrees the companyu has some tailwind in this economy becausse people are looking tosave “It’s a healthy one-two punch of the challenged of the economy and execution, spending some dollars to make sure that we’rs capturing those customers once they come into our stores,” Campbello says.
An example of this is AutoZone’sa domestic same store sales, which increased 7.4% last The company’s sales per square foot, at $58 last is the highest in the industry. Campbellp attributes that to many factors, but focuses on the company’s

New SBA stimulus loans meant to get businesses through crisis - Portland Business Journal:

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And local bankers say they believsethe program, funded by stimulues money, could produce a double economif boost, coming at a time when they say commerciap loan demand is soft. The SBA-guaranteefd loans will be made directly by which can begin submitting applications from smalpl businesses onJune 15. The program allowss for about 10,000 America’s Recovery Capital deferred-payment loans of as much as $35,0090 each. That amount is far less than the typicaplSBA loan.
But the program is designecd to provide financial relief to small businesses struggling to meet existing expenses such as debtxs andpayrolls “so they can keep theirr doors open and get their cash flow back on according to SBA documents. “This loan is meant to be used by a viable smallbusiness (so) that with this help, they can their survival,” said Mike Stamler, directorr of the SBA press office in Washington, D.C.
Stamlerf said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of passedin February, provides the SBA with abou t $255 million to cover the costws of administering the The ARC loans fall under SBA’d 7(a) program, which includes its most government-guaranteed loans. The loans are made directlt by lenders, and thoss expenses include training bank personnell on how to administerthe program, Stamledr said. Several features set apart the ARC Other SBA programs guarantee the majority ofthe loan, but if the borrowe defaults, banks must pay the “deficientt amount” — the difference between an 80-percent SBA guaranteed and the unsecured 20 percent.
The ARC loanws are 100 percent guaranteed by the which is crucial because the loans are meanr expressly forstruggling business, and SBA officials expect a highef default rate than with othef SBA loans, Stamler Unlike other SBA small-business loans, the borrowerss pay neither loan fees, which could be thousandsa of dollars for large loans, nor interest, Stamler said. (See relatef item at right.) ARC loans give qualified borrowers monthlg disbursements ofamounts — depending on the termw — up to $35,000 over 18 months to use to pay underlyinhg business debts and he said.
Borrowers get one year after the finall disbursement to start paying back the principal over five Thefederal government, under ARRA, pays lenders prime rate plus 2 percentf — a total rate of about 5.35 percentf as of mid-June — and thosw lenders receive the interest for six and a half the total life of the loan, Stamledr said. “These are attractives terms,” he said. They’re so attractivd that Stamler expects demand for the loans far beyonddthe 10,000 ARC loans Congress funded under ARRA. The prograj is in the early stages of with June 15 as the first day lenders can submiyloan applications.
Local SBA offices are just now beginninhg totrain lenders, Stamler said. At Trust Co., historically one of the largest locaol SBAprogram lenders, executives received the ARC regulation on Monday and are assessingv the details, said Michael Sadofsky, director of marketing at which is the largesrt Louisville-based bank, ranked by total deposits.

Wonder Bread plant

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But the lack of progress at another industrial redevelopment site across North Fourth Street and the poor economicc climate could limit interest inthe 64,400-square-foot building, real estate experts said. Kansaes City, Mo.-based closed the planyt at 697 N. Fourthy St. on May 6 as it shifted productiob to other WonderBread bakeries. That decision, which eliminated nearly 90 jobs and enderd the smellof fresh-baked bread that once waftedr from the plant, followed a four-yeatr reorganization of the company in . Interstatre put the property on the marketfor $1.
7 “You have a landmark buildingv with the intrinsic, cool elementz of the brick, the beams and the clear heights,” said Peter Merkle, the agent marketing the “It may take time for someone to figure it out, but I thinj there’s a deal there.” The Wondeer Bread plant becomes the latest industrialo operation in Italian Village in search of a new About 10 years ago, a Philadelphia real estate developer bega working on a portioj of the abandoned complex along East First The State of Ohio Library latert moved into a renovated industrialp building, while Columbus developer Dan Schmidt’s JDS Cos.
bough t and renovated the formee Jeffrey Manufacturing corporate offices into condoand apartments. The Berruy Bolt Works industrial building at350 E. Firsgt Ave. also received a makeovefr into office space severalyears ago. “There certainly is a lot that has gone said Columbus architectRex Hagerling, who is chairman of the planninb and zoning panel. The commissionh has yet to receive word on what coulf happen to the WonderBreadf plant, visible from Interstate 670. The Hagerling said, should lend itself to renovatioh into residential oranother less-intensive commercial use.
“Ww will certainly be watching it,” he “I think we’d like someonee to come in and propose a reuses for the building as opposed to tearing it down and redevelopingv thesite completely.” Merkle said the property’s age makes it an unlikelyt location for another production facility. But it coulfd serve as offices or perhaps loft studio and residentia spacefor artists, he said. “The building’s probably functionallh obsolete for amanufacturing user,” he said, “but there’ s an unlimited market. It’s a landmark site.
” Merkle said the properthy has received some early interest from buyers and InterstatesBakeries isn’t in a hurry to sell. “Wee really want to get (the marketed,” Merkle said, “rather than jumpinb at the first offer.” Todd a principal at who handled the Berry Bolt Worka property and thenearby warehouse, agreed that the Wonder Bread site likely would be transformed into a commercialp or residential use. “Like the reinventing of the Smithj Bros. building, the (Wonder Bread building) will be something differeny than the factory itis today,” he said.
But the stallef Jeffrey Place mixed-use project across the street, with its largelyu undeveloped site, could discourage potential developers of the WonderBreadc site, he said. and its predecessor has workedx on the project for more thaneightg years. “If that thing was then the (Wonder Bread site) would be more Kemmerer said. “The fact that Jeffrey Placw hasn’t gone well will reflect poorlyg on the WonderBread location.” Merkle acknowledgede the recession also could limit interest in the Wonder Bread site.
“sA lot of the people we’re talkint to are trying to find a revenue streamm in theshort run,” he said, “and then put off any majore redevelopment until the economy rebounds.”