The Jewish Foundation for Economic Opportunity (JFEO) recently gave $100,000 to create a new loan fund within the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corp. (WWBIC). The new fund, to be administered by the WWBIC, will help nurture and grow minority-owned businesses in the Milwaukee area.

The JFEO was formed in 1992 by several local Jewish business owners and lawyers to help improve living conditions in Milwaukee, said Rick Florsheim, founder and president of the foundation. He also is a partner at the Milwaukee law firm Foley & Lardner LLP.

The JFEO has made-low interest loans to help more than 20 businesses get off the ground or grow since it started, Florsheim said. "We seized on our strong suit, which was business, and we hoped to identify people that didn't have the sort of network that the majority of us had to raise capital and make introductions," Florsheim said. "We've helped a bunch of businesses, but we're very low key."

The WWBIC has provided loan administration, documentation, location of potential loan clients and other administrative functions for the JFEO's loan program since the mid-1990's. "They knew the people in need of assistance, and they could evaluate the candidates," Florsheim said.

About two years ago, the JFEO decided to shift its focus to helping one or two larger Milwaukee area minority-owned businesses grow, Florsheim said. The business that it is helping now, which he declined to name, did not need capital assistance and the JFEO's money was not being lended to the people who needed it, he said.

"The idea now is to take this large chunk of capital and give it to WWBIC so they could put it into funding the businesses that could use seed capital and put it to use," Florsheim said. "This is a way for us to get the funds out there and get them into use. For what we're doing at the moment, capital's not important. But for what WWBIC does, it is very important."

The new loan within the WWBIC's portfolio also will help the agency stretch its dollars to the greatest extent, said Wendy Baumann, the WWBIC's president. "We will keep (the dollars) with the same spirit, lending to minority businesses in Milwaukee," she said. "And the added part is that funds like this can be very helpful when you couple them with the state of Wisconsin's minority business development loan fund at reduced interest rates. We already leverage the dollars very well - almost one to one, sometimes as high as five to one."

The WWBIC made 82 business loans last year, totaling $6.2 million, and Baumann estimated that the JFEO's dollars would not be idle for long. "Our dollars can be actively engaged very quickly," she said.

For more information, visit www.wwbic.com.

North Shore Bank recently broke ground for its newest bank branch in Grafton at Wisconsin and First avenues. The new branch will incorporate a stone farmhouse that has stood on the site for almost 140 years. "This event is a little different from our typical groundbreaking, because we normally don't have a building already on our construction site,” said Steve Steiner, North Shore Bank's senior vice president – retail banking, during the groundbreaking ceremony.

"But this is no ordinary building project. What we're building on this site is much more than a bank branch. We're building a business that we want to be an economic asset to Grafton, and we're building the foundation for what North Shore Bank hopes will be a long and mutually beneficial relationship with this community.”

The two-story stone home was built in 1869 by Heinrich Anschuetz, whose family opened the Lime Kiln Quarry in the late 1800s. Many buildings in Grafton and Cedarburg were built with stone from the quarry.

Construction plan calls for the original house to be preserved and connected to a new building, with North Shore Bank's office encompassing the interior of both buildings. The small amount of stone removed to allow the connection of the two structures will either be used elsewhere in the building or offered to a local historical group, Steiner said.

North Shore Bank, headquartered in Brookfield, was founded in 1923. It has assets of $1.7 billion and 42 offices throughout eastern Wisconsin and northeastern Illinois.

M&I reports loss of nearly $400 million for quarter
Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. has reported a net loss of $393.8 million, or $1.52 per share, for the second quarter of 2008. That compares to a profitable net income of $178.9 million, or 68 cents per share, from continuing operations for the second quarter of 2007. For the first half of the year, M&I had a net loss of $247.6 million, compared with profitable net income of $347.7 million, from continuing operations, for the first half of 2007. The company said its losses are directly related to the problems with the nation's housing market. During the quarter the company took a provision for loan and lease losses of $866 million.

Bank Mutual reports flat earnings
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 Crowley Jr., chairman, president and chief executive officer 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."

Fiserv completes sale of majority interest in its insurance business
Brookfield-based Fiserv Inc. has completed the sale of a 51-percent interest in its insurance business, Fiserv Insurance Solutions, to Trident IV, a private equity fund managed by Greenwich, Conn.-based Stone Point Capital LLC. Fiserv received approximately $510 million in net after-tax proceeds and retains a 49 percent equity interest in the business. Hundreds of life, property and casualty, health, and reinsurance carriers, managing general agents, and administrators receive insurance technology, professional services, and outsourcing solutions from Fiserv Insurance Solutions.

Private investment firm acquires Signicast
Signicast Corp., a Hartford-based investment castings manufacturer, has been acquired by The Pritzker Group, a Chicago and Los Angeles-based private investment firm that represents the interests of the Pritzker family. Signicast has more than 650 employees. Its Hartford facility is approximately 500,000 square feet. It also operates a facility in Milwaukee, where the company was founded. The company had about $130 million in revenues for 2007 and forecasts more than $140 million in revenues this year.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Pritzker Group typically partners with management teams of the companies it is purchasing, and Signicast's management team was part of this acquisition, said Richard Griffin, group vice president of The Pritzker Group.

While The Pritzker Group owns and has operated industrial and manufacturing companies, it is not planning major changes at Signicast. "We look forward to working with their management and their top customers," Griffin said. "We want them to keep doing what they're doing. They have a formula for success, in terms of sales, service and fulfillment times." Walter "Terry" Lutz, president of Signicast, will continue to lead the company, along with Robert Schuemann, executive vice president. Before the sale, Lutz held a majority of the company.

There were many potential buyers for Signicast, including private equity groups and strategic buyers. The company was most attracted to a family private investment firm because, Lutz said, because it does not plan large changes. "They (private investment firms) were the only kind of people we talked to," Lutz said. "They were the only ones that fit our objective. We were looking for someone who could accept Signicast for what it was and continue it for the future."

MGIC reports $97.9 million quarterly net loss
Milwaukee-based MGIC Investment Corp. reported a net loss for the quarter that ended June 30, of $97.9 million, compared with net income of $76.7 million for the same quarter a year ago. Diluted loss per share was 79 cents for the quarter, compared to diluted earnings per share of 93 cents for the same quarter a year ago. The company's net loss for the first six months the year was $132.3 million, compared with net income of $169.1 million for the first half of last year.

However, total revenues for the second quarter were $424.5 million, up 15 percent from $369.0 million in the second quarter of 2007. The increase in revenues resulted primarily from a 14.3 percent increase in net premiums earned to $350.3 million, the company said. Net premiums written for the quarter were $371.8 million, compared with $321.0 million in the second quarter last year, an increase of 15.8 percent.

Curt S. Culver, chairman and CEO of MGIC, said that delinquencies and foreclosures remain at elevated levels resulting from lower home values and a softening economy and as a result continue to impact the company's financial results.

Rexnord files for IPO
West Milwaukee-based Rexnord Holdings Inc., the parent company of RBS Global Inc. and Rexnord LLC, announced last week 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.

Metavante conducts food drive
Metavante Corp. is holding a food drive among its Milwaukee and Madison locations to supply local food banks with items to help provide children with adequate nutrition during the summer months. Metavante's six Milwaukee locations will be partnering with the Hunger Task Force, and Metavante's Madison location will be partnering with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Inc.

Metavante's wants to raise over one ton of food for the local community. Food barrels and money boxes will be provided at each location for employees to make donations. The drive will run from July 21 through Aug. 1 and all donations will be collected and weighed by the Hunger Task Force and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Inc. on Monday, August 4.

The regional Metavante initiative will build off of the momentum of the recent success of Metavante's Customer Care Center located at Schlitz Park, where employees collected nearly 29,500 food items for Milwaukee's Second Harvest in June.