Viewpoints

Once again, the office holiday party is at hand, a time when socializing among co-workers plus alcohol can create an environment ripe for post-party headaches for employers. Holiday parties are a long-standing tradition that can create good cheer and reward a year-long effort. As a work-sponsored function, the challenge is to keep employees safe and limit company liability, while trying to ensure that everyone has a good time.

A different kind of thanks. Yours.

Associated Bank plans to build a new 3,011-square-foot bank branch building with a drive-through window at 1301 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., just north of the Park East corridor in downtown Milwaukee.

Milwaukee private equity firm Generation Growth Capital Inc. has acquired Garden & Associates Inc., a Minneapolis company that provides language outsource services for medical settings.

Oak Creek-based Eder Flag Manufacturing Co. has acquired some of the assets and expertise of Baartol Company, a Kenton, Ohio-based flagpole manufacturer that is going out of business.

Milwaukee-based ARI Network Services Inc., a provider of website, software and data solutions, announced that its application to list the company's common stock on the NASDAQ Capital Market has been approved.

Milwaukee-based Roundy's Inc. has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Roundy's Supermarkets Inc., intends to offer, subject to market and other customary conditions, $200 million in aggregate principal amount of senior secured second lien notes due 2020.

Milwaukee-based Hays Companies of Wisconsin has formed a property/casualty insurance unit specifically for the transportation industry.

Bank Mutual has hired Dan Mekemson as senior vice president and director of mortgage lending. He will work out of the corporate headquarters at 4949 W. Brown Deer Road in Milwaukee.

The BMO Harris Bank on Paradise Drive in West Bend is closing, according to the West Bend Daily News.