General Mills has bought Food Should Taste Good, a maker of natural snack foods, including tortilla chips made in flavors ranging from sweet potato to chocolate.
Banking + Finance
The two firms said in a statement that they decided to "amicably discontinue merger discussions, because they could not come to an agreement on key terms."
UnitedHealthcare has agreed to acquire two Florida based companies-deals that will add about 85,000 Medicare Advantage members and 12,200 Medicaid members from across Florida to the company's fold, along with eight primary care centers in the state.
The grant comes at a time when an important deadline is looming; by January 1, 2013, each state must demonstrate that its own health insurance exchange will work.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis said that banking conditions in Minnesota have improved in the past year and will continue to gain strength in 2012, but the state's banks still have a long way to go to get back to the profitability they saw before the financial crisis.
Fargo-based State Bank & Trust plans to open its first Twin Cities branch in Golden Valley; meanwhile Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp announced that it will open its first banking branch within a Minnesota hospital.
Carlson Real Estate Company is working with an investment banking firm to assist it in exploring "strategic alternatives" regarding its real estate portfolio, which includes a 36-story complex in Minneapolis containing the Radisson Plaza Hotel and Plaza Seven Office Tower.
Crown Bank was sued by the receiver in the Petters bankruptcy case, and it also faces accusations of fraud from Nevada-based Beal Bank-but the Edina-based bank has denied any wrongdoing and says the cases don't raise questions about its overall operations.
A recent settlement requires five of the nation's largest banks to pay roughly $25 billion in relief to U.S. homeowners-and Minnesota borrowers are expected to receive up to $280 million under the deal.
Datacard Group has invested in DeviceFidelity, and it will now offer the company's In2Pay technology, which allows consumers to make purchases with the wave of a smartphone.
Northwestern Mutual's Twin Cities offices expect to hire 94 financial representatives and 206 interns in 2012; Northwestern Mutual says that 45 percent of its senior field managers began their careers with the company as interns.
After announcing two other acquisitions during the past week, the Minneapolis-based bank said it will also buy the institutional trust business of California-based Union Bank.
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman says a proposal for a Minneapolis Vikings stadium that involves funding for Target Center renovations is "unbalanced" and "inequitable."
U.S. Bank acquired BankEast, a Tennessee-based bank that was shuttered last week by regulators; it also announced plans to purchase the Indianapolis-based corporate trust business of UMB Bank.
Twin Cities Business' Quarterly Economic Indicator survey found that, compared to the previous quarter, more Minnesota businesses expect to hire, invest in infrastructure, and raise prices during the first quarter of 2012.
It might be in venture capital—for companies with strong ideas, large markets, and clear exit strategies.
Data backup and storage provider Code 42 Software, Inc., has secured $52.5 million in venture funding, which it plans to use to accelerate product development.
The appeal follows two previous appeals to lower courts, both of which were unsuccessful.