GWIC Acquired by American Enterprise Group

American Enterprise Group, Inc. (AEG), a Des Moines-based company, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, American Republic Insurance Company, has finalized its previously announced acquisition of Great Western Insurance Company (GWIC), based in Ogden, Utah.

“We are excited to have Great Western Insurance Company join the American Enterprise family,” said Tom Swank, Chief Executive Officer of AEG. “This addition creates a tremendous opportunity for us. Together we are able to provide a greater solution set to our senior market customers, backed by the financial strength and stability required to support significant growth throughout all our lines of business.” READ MORE

Athene Targets More Acquisitions in 2018

Rising interest rates will only spur Athene to look at more insurance deals this year, chairman and CEO James R. Belardi said.

Athene announced it would reinsure $19 billion worth of fixed and fixed indexed annuity liabilities from Voya Financial in December, and earlier last year also entered into a flow reinsurance deal with Lincoln Financial.  READ MORE

DowDuPont Announces Brand Names for the Three Independent Companies It Intends to Create

DowDuPont™ today announced the corporate brand names that each of its divisions plans to assume once they are separated as independent companies as intended. While certain product names will change at separation, many products within each intended company will continue be sold under their current, widely known brand names.  READ MORE

Pella Corp. Started From a Five Thousand Dollar Investment

Pella Corporation was founded based on principles that they still operate by today, nearly 100 years later. That is - to simply make life easier by producing innovative windows and doors. READ MORE

Buffett says no surprise Wells Fargo forced to pay for ‘past sins’

Investors looking for a discussion of Wells Fargo’s troubles in Warren Buffett’s annual investor letter were left disappointed.

On Monday, after the weekend release of the much-anticipated annual letter, he offered some views on Berkshire Hathaway’s biggest investment position.  READ MORE

EMC Insurance Group Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.03 EPS

EMC Insurance Group released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The insurance provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03), Bloomberg Earnings reports. EMC Insurance Group had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 4.54%. The company had revenue of $169.93 million during the quarter.  READ MORE

Digging Up the Facts on Principal Financial Group, Inc.

Principal Financial Group, Inc. (PFG) is an interesting player in the Financial space, with a focus on Life Insurance. The stock has been active on the tape, currently trading at $62.37, down from yesterday’s close by -1.47%. Given the stock’s recent action, it seemed like a good time to take a closer look at the company’s recent data. READ MORE

Private Equity Fund Epiris Buys Time Inc. U.K. From Meredith Corp.

After months of rumors, the private equity firm Epiris on Monday confirmed its purchase of Time Inc. U.K., one of Britain’s largest consumer magazine and digital publishers, from Meredith Corp. READ MORE

Fed puts brakes on Wells Fargo when bank needs to step on gas

The Federal Reserve's surprise ban on Wells Fargo & Co growing its balance sheet comes at a difficult juncture for the United States' third-largest lender.

The San Francisco-based bank has been dogged by higher expenses related to a long-running sales practices scandal and investors want it to reboot its revenue engine to help boost earnings. READ MORE

Shares of Meredith Corporation Slump 13% Despite Topping Estimates

What happened?

Shares of Meredith Corporation, an American media company focusing on marketing services and publications for home, family, food, and lifestyle markets, are down 13% as of 3 p.m. EST Thursday, despite Meredith reporting second-quarter results that topped analysts' estimates. READ MORE

Federal Reserve Shackles Wells Fargo After Fraud Scandal

The Federal Reserve on Friday imposed unusually harsh penalties on Wells Fargo, punishing it for years of misconduct and barring it from future growth until the bank fixes its problems.

The central bank blasted Wells Fargo’s board for failing to oversee the bank, and it announced that the company would replace four members of its 16-person board by the end of the year. READ MORE

Meredith's Acquisition Of Time Inc. Receives Antitrust Clearance

Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP; www.meredith.com) announced that early termination of the waiting period has been granted under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976 applicable to its acquisition of Time Inc. (NYSE: TIME; www.timeinc.com). As a result, Meredith plans to complete the transaction – first announced on November 26, 2017 – within the next 30 days, subject to satisfaction of the other terms and conditions of the tender offer.  READ MORE

The CEO of Wells Fargo Might Be in Big, Big Trouble

Late last year, Congress scrapped Obama-era rules from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would have banned forced-arbitration clauses in financial contracts. This bill, which President Trump quickly signed, was self-evidently bad for consumers at the time—and if anyone needs further proof of how ridiculous and harmful these clauses are, just look at what Wells Fargo has been up to over the past several months. The mega-bank famously issued at least 3.5 million fake accounts without consumer consent, triggering a $185 million fine to state and federal regulators. The bank aimed to demonstrate sales growth to investors and boost the stock price with bogus numbers, but millions of customers got caught up in the exchange, paying unnecessary fees and taking hits to their credit scores. Scores of defrauded customers sued Wells Fargo in a series of class-action lawsuits. READ MORE

'The engine of the economy roared back to life': US small-business confidence hit a record high in 2017

Small-business confidence hit a record high in 2017, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

The right-leaning lobbying group on Tuesday released its latest index of small-business optimism, capping what it said was "an all-time record-setter" of a year. READ MORE

Time Shareholders Fight $2.8B Merger With Meredith

Shareholders filed a federal class action challenging Time Inc’s proposed $2.8 billion sale to the Koch-backed Meredith Corporation. READ MORE

Fizzle or Sizzle? What’s Behind the Numbers For Principal Financial Group, Inc.

Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:PFG) presently has a current ratio of 2.98. The current ratio, also known as the working capital ratio, is a liquidity ratio that displays the proportion of current assets of a business relative to the current liabilities. The ratio is simply calculated by dividing current liabilities by current assets. The ratio may be used to provide an idea of the ability of a certain company to pay back its liabilities with assets. Typically, the higher the current ratio the better, as the company may be more capable of paying back its obligations. READ MORE

Wells Fargo to Show Unpopular Tax Cut Helps Workers

Looks likes corporate America is trying to sway public opinion on the unpopular tax bill -- or at least gain favor with the president. READ MORE

Athene Enters into Reinsurance Agreement with Voya Financial

Athene Holding Ltd. (“Athene”) today announced it has entered into an agreement with Voya Financial (“Voya”) to reinsure approximately $19 billion of fixed and fixed indexed annuity liabilities. READ MORE

Grocery Disruptor of the Year: Hy-Vee

The Midwestern chain has branched out into gyms, apparel and burger joints — and is disrupting the traditional supermarket model in the process.  READ MORE

3 Tips To Help Managers Understand Their Employees

Have you ever worked for a manager who showed little enthusiasm for your personal interests, unique talents, and long-term career aspirations? Based on the statistics about employees quitting managers, the answer for many people to this question is likely to be a resounding “yes."  READ MORE