Cummins could lose out on GE’s industrial business
General Electric Co. apparently has spurned an offer from Columbus-based Cummins Inc. for its industrial gas-engine unit and instead is nearing a sale to Advent International for at least $3 billion, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The private equity firm apparently has triumphed over several competitors, and a transaction may be announced as soon as Monday, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter who weren’t identified. The assets include the Jenbacher and Waukesha industrial-engine businesses, the Journal said.
A GE representative declined to comment on rumors or speculation. Advent and Cummins spokesmen couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Cummins Inc. and Kohler Co., as well as a group comprised of investment firms KKR & Co. and B&C Industrieholding GmbH, recently had advanced in the bidding war for the GE engine unit, Bloomberg reported on June 3.
Demand for Indy area homes stays on torrid pace
Area home builders are continuing to see strong demand for new homes, according to the latest numbers from the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis.
Builders filed 738 single-family construction permits in the nine-county area in May, up 18 percent over the 626 permits that were filed in May 2017. It was the busiest May for permits since 2007, when 779 were filed.
Area filings have been on the rise in 28 of the last 30 months on a year-over-year basis.
On a year-to-date basis, permit filings are up 25 percent, from 2,497 in the first five months of 2017 to 3,110 during the same period this year.
Permits were up 40 percent in Hancock County, to 70.
Second scooter firm rolls out electric rides in Indy
A second service offering electric scooters for rent has entered Indianapolis in less than two weeks, following the introduction of a competitor that caught city officials off-guard.
On Saturday, Lime (formerly LimeBike) began deploying scooters in the city. Customers can unlock the scooters using a smartphone app, ride them to their destinations and then leave them there for other customers to use. Lime workers retrieve the scooters at night, recharge them and then redistribute them to popular locations..
Lime follows electric scooter company Bird, which entered the Indianapolis market on June 15 by dropping its dockless scooters downtown, in Irvington and along Massachusetts Avenue.
