Displaying items by tag: finance

GRAND RAPIDS — Mercantile Bank Corp. ended 2020 with higher quarterly earnings despite the ongoing costs and economic turbulence from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $15 million Sturgis Bancorp Inc. raised through a debt offering will go to support further growth across Southwestern Michigan.

The latest state effort to provide financial aid to Michigan small businesses and entertainment venues that are ailing from the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting restrictions has a relatively short application window based on previous demand.

TRAVERSE CITY — Insurance brokerage High Street Insurance Partners Inc. has acquired two more agencies, adding to the firm’s existing market presence in the eastern U.S. and expanding it into the Pacific Northwest.

ADA — Century Technology Group LLC looks to reload by pursuing acquisitions of technology companies that it can grow.

Michigan’s economy could stand to benefit in the years ahead as manufacturers move to reshore work to the U.S. after dealing with severe disruptions in their foreign supply chains when the coronavirus first surfaced in China.

The U.S. economy that got hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic this spring heads toward 2021 on the rebound, although a surge in cases during the fall and renewal of restrictions in many states may limit economic growth nationally early in the new year.

Wall Street dealt with its share of volatility in 2020, a year with a deep decline at the outset of the pandemic followed by a later rebound. Citing volatility in the stock market over the last few years, some investors have shifted toward safety in managing their money. Susan Vogel-Vanderson, the managing director for Fifth Third Private Bank in West Michigan, hopes the new year brings some certainty to financial markets. A trusts and estates attorney, Vogel-Vanderson also is monitoring what could happen to tax rates in 2021 under the Biden administration, particularly if Democrats take control of the U.S. Senate after the Georgia runoffs.

John Ruther joined the Grand Rapids office of O’Keefe Consulting LLC in July as managing director. The company, based in Bloomfield Hills, offers a range of services including turnaround and restructuring consulting, corporate finance and litigation support. Ruther spoke with MiBiz about his view that some of the business practices that employers adopted in the pandemic — remote work and accelerating the use of automation — will remain in place in 2021 and beyond.

A new $200 million fund to support growing businesses in Michigan intends to direct half of the capital it raises to financing minority-owned companies.