West Milwaukee-based Rexnord Holdings Inc., the parent company of RBS Global Inc. and Rexnord LLC, announced today that it has filed for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock.
The company plans to list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol "RXN."
The proceeds from the stock offering, estimated at up to $750 million, will be used to repay indebtedness and for "general corporate purposes," the company said.
Apollo Management, the private equity firm that purchased Rexnord in 2006, will not exit the business with the IPO, said Todd Adams, senior vice president and chief financial officer for Rexnord.
"These will be new Rexnord shares," he said.
Sale price or number of shares to be issued have not been determined, Adams said.
Rexnord has about 7,400 employees worldwide. Adams would not say how many employees the company has locally.
Rexnord is a manufacturer with two divisions, power transmission and water management. The company's power transmission products include gears, couplings, industrial bearings, flattop, aerospace bearings and seals, special components and industrial chain, and conveying equipment. The company's water management products include professional grade specification plumbing, water treatment and waste water control products.

Milwaukee-based Manpower Inc. today reported second quarter net earnings of $107.4 million, or $1.34 diluted earnings per share, down about 33 percent from net earnings of $160.4 million, or $1.86 diluted earnings per share, for the second quarter of 2007.
Wall Street reacted negatively to the news, and Manpower's stock fell $6.84 per share this morning to $49.29.
The company's revenues for the second quarter were $5.9 billion, an increase of 17 percent from the second quarter of 2007.
"Despite a more difficult economic environment, the Manpower team performed well in the second quarter, supported by our geographically balanced portfolio of services," said Jeffrey A. Joerres, Manpower Inc. chairman and chief executive officer. "We were able to increase our revenues to record levels, contributed primarily by many of our major European countries. At the same time, we have experienced some stabilization in the U.S. operations. Right Management, our career transition and organizational consulting business, is doing well and continues to add strategic value to our clients. Although the economic environment has softened, we are confident that we are well-positioned and well-equipped to maximize the opportunities that typically come with economic downturns."
For the first half of the year, Manpower's net earnings were $182.9 million down compared to $219.9 million for the first half of last year. Earnings per diluted share for the six months that ended June 30, were $2.27 compared to $2.54 per diluted share in 2007.
However, revenues for the first half of the year were $11.3 billion, an increase of 18 percent from the first half of 2007.
"We are anticipating the third quarter of 2008 diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $1.45 to $1.49, which includes an estimated favorable currency impact of 17 cents," Joerres said.

Milwaukee-based Sensient Technologies Corp. today reported net earnings of $25.5 million for the second quarter, up 19 percent compared to $21.2 million in net earnings for the second quarter of 2007.
Second quarter diluted earnings per share rose 17.8 percent to 53 cents from 45 cents in last year's second quarter.
The company reported record revenue of $332.8 million for its second quarter.
"We reported record second quarter revenue, operating income and earnings," said Kenneth P. Manning, chairman and CEO of Sensient. "The Company has achieved ten consecutive quarters of earnings growth and we expect this strong performance to continue in the second half and into next year."
For the first half of the year, the company reported net earnings of $46.1 million, up 19.6 percent compared to net earnings of $38.6 million for the first half of 2007.
Sensient reported that it expects 2008 diluted earnings per share to be between $1.80 and $1.84. That is an increase over the range previously provided by the company, which was between $1.77 and $1.80.
Sensient is a manufacturer and marketer of colors, flavors and fragrances.

Brown Deer-based Bank Mutual Corp. reported net income of $4.3 million, or 9 cents diluted earnings per share, for the second quarter, compared to $4.6 million, or 8 cents diluted earnings per share, for the second quarter of 2007.
The company's earnings for the first six months of the year were $9.3 million, or 19 cents diluted earnings per share, compared to $9.3 million or 16 cents diluted earnings per share during the first half of 2007.
Net income decreased for the second quarter primarily as a result of net investment losses of $1.1 million and a net gain of $585,000 on the sale of undeveloped land in 2007 with no comparable gain in 2008, the company said.
"Although the current volatility in financial markets is challenging, we believe our asset quality, capital strength, liquidity and cost efficiency provides us with an operating edge over our competitors," said Michael T. Crowley Jr., chairman, president and CEO of Bank Mutual. "Specifically, our policy to not originate sub-prime loans allows us to better weather the effects of the weakening economic conditions that are reported in the daily headlines. We are also pleased to see improvement our net interest margin."

Wisconsin's U.S. Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl say they are part of a bipartisan coalition of members of Congress pledging to ratify the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact at the federal level.
The compact is designed to protect the Great Lakes from water diversions to far-away dry areas and to regulate the use of Great Lakes water by areas just outside of the Great Lake basin, such as Waukesha County. The compact has been adopted by all of the Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces, but still must be adopted by Congress.
"I applaud all the Great Lakes states for this monumental agreement to protect the Great Lakes and I will work with my colleagues in Congress to ratify the compact at the federal level," Feingold said. "Wisconsin's economy and environment are closely tied to the health of the Great Lakes and this compact is critical to preserving the lakes' for future generations."
"Preserving the Great Lakes is essential to ensuring the economic vitality and environmental well being of Wisconsin and the greater region," Kohl said. "Congress must follow the lead of the Great Lakes states and ratify this historic agreement to protect one of our nation's most important assets."

The U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that a Business Recovery Center has been established to help businesses impacted by the severe storms, tornadoes and flooding this summer.
The center is located at 10310 W. Watertown Plank Road, Wauwatosa.. It is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
"Due to the amount of physical and economic losses caused by the flooding in Wisconsin, we want affected businesses to have a resource where they can meet individually with SBA representatives and find out how a low-interest disaster loan can help them recover," said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA Field Operations Center East.  
Businesses of any size and non-profit organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets.
The SBA also offers mitigation loans to disaster victims based on 20 percent of the verified physical loss. These funds are designed to help borrowers pay for protective measures to protect or minimize damages of the same kind in the future.
For small businesses, and private non-profit organizations of all sizes, the SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs, such as ongoing operating expenses. Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any physical property damage. Interest rates can be as low as 4 percent for businesses with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based upon each applicant’s financial condition.

The first phase of Capitol West, a $110 million mixed-use development in downtown Madison, has been completed. The development 's 164 condominiums include units in an 11-story tower, row houses, lofts and town homes. About half have been sold or reserved. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

The enterprise of the future must manage a pace of change that has yet to be experienced by most companies, says Karl Robe, the leaders of the public relations practice at Avicom Marketing Communications, and author of today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

Busy readers of the BizTimes Daily can get a jumpstart on the weekend ahead by reading the OnMilwaukee.com Weekend Preview. Onmilwaukee.com is a media partner of Small Business Times.

The BizTimes Stock Index gained 2.89 points to close at 139.71 Thursday, but local stocks retreated in early morning trading today as decliners far outnumbered gainers. The largest local decliners this morning were Manpower Inc. (down $6.84 to $49.29), Harley-Davidson Inc. (down $1.57 to $37.16) and Joy Global Inc. (down $1.55 to 71.82). The largest local gainers this morning were Sensient Technologies Corp. (up $1.00 to $30.78) and Brady Corp. (up 46 cents to $35.51). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.