Banking & Finance

Milwaukee-based Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. today announced that its Public Finance business has added five bankers and opened three new offices in Texas, expanding the firm’s presence in the state.

ARI Network Services, a Milwaukee-based provider of software of solutions that connect consumers, dealers, distributors, and manufacturers in selected vertical markets, reported fiscal third quarter net income of $210,000, or 3 cents per share, down from $541,000, or 7 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago.

The Milwaukee office of Baker Tilly Capital, LLC, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm and subsidiary of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP, has completed the sale of Milwaukee-based Nature's Protein Inc. to J. Strickland Company of Olive Branch, Miss.

Menomonee Falls-based ZBB Energy Corp., a developer of intelligent, renewable energy power platforms, announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 31.6 million shares of its common stock at a price to the public of 38 cents per share.

Pewaukee-based PJs Plumbing Company Inc. has acquired J.D. Wilson Plumbing LLC of Merton.

First Business Financial Services Inc. was recently ranked as the 15th top-performing mid-sized public bank in the country.

The Wisconsin Mortgage Bankers Association has named seven new leaders to its board of directors and leadership team for 2012-2013.

Plano Molding Company of Plano, Ill. has acquired Frabill Inc. of Jackson. Corporate Financial Advisors of Milwaukee represented Frabill in the transaction.

First Business Financial Services Inc. was recently ranked as the 15th top-performing mid-sized public bank in the country.

The board of directors of Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation Inc. authorized the company to expend up to an additional $1 billion to repurchase shares of the company's common stock.