Insurance: Conseco expects to exit bankruptcy by mid-2003

Insurance and finance company Conseco Inc. said Wednesday that it expected to make a quick exit from bankruptcy protection.

The company filed bankruptcy late Tuesday after reaching tentative agreements with two of the three groups of investors owed a total of $6.5 billion from acquisitions in the 1990s that soured, including a $6 billion purchase that left Conseco with the nation’s largest portfolio of mobile-home loans.

The company, which has about 14,000 employees and had $8.1 billion in revenues last year, expects to emerge from Chapter 11 protection during the second quarter of next year, if not earlier, the company’s lead attorney told a bankruptcy court in Chicago.

Agriculture: Monsanto CEO resigns

Monsanto Co. president and chief executive Hendrik A. Verfaillie resigned Wednesday, citing the biotechnology and agricultural company’s poor financial performance during the past two years.

Analysts said the sudden departure of the 56-year-old CEO who has worked for Monsanto for more than a quarter century was shocking.

Monsanto stock fell $1.19, or 5.89 percent, to close at $19.02 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock is slightly more than half of its $36.35 price in January.

Board chairman Frank Atlee III will serve as interim CEO while a search is conducted, the company said. A spokeswoman said no timetable was established for the search.

Banking: Capitol Federal names new chief executive

Topeka-based Capitol Federal Financial announced Wednesday that John B. Dicus has been named the company’s new chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1.

He replaces his father, John C. Dicus. The elder Dicus will remain chairman of the company’s board of directors. John B. Dicus currently serves as the company’s president and will continue to serve in that role.

John B. Dicus is a graduate of Kansas University’s School of Business and serves as a trustee for the Kansas University Endowment Association.

Overland Park: Peoples sells branch

Lawrence-based Peoples Bank has sold its branch in Overland Park to Great Western Bank of Omaha for $1.6 million.

The banking company, which is owned by the Winter family of Lawrence, decided to sell the bank’s 103rd Street location in Overland Park because it no longer fit the company’s business model, said Warner Lewis, a spokesman for the bank.

The sale does not affect any of Peoples’ other locations, including those in Lawrence and Ottawa.

Great Western has 14 offices in the Omaha area and specializes in commercial banking. The bank has plans to open two more offices in the Kansas City area within the next two years, company officials said.