A new restaurant, The Gas Light Ale House, is expected to open at 1 Van Der Donck Street in Yonkers after renovations to the space are completed. The restaurant, owned by Westside Hospitality Group, will feature a contemporary American menu along with wines and beer. The manager will be Nicky Sarro, a Yonkers native and a veteran of the restaurant industry. The lease of the space was handled by Houlihan & O’Malley Real Estate Services.

Students from Pace University in Pleasantville recently were among the nearly 2,000 students and faculty from more than 200 universities in 40 countries that took part in the Smarter Planet University Jam. The event, coordinated by Armonk-based IBM Corp., was on online forum in which students discussed their ideas for a better world.

AboveNet Communications Inc., a telecommunications company that provides high-speed data links, said that it has signed a 10-year lease to remain at its White Plains headquarters at 360 Hamilton Ave.

 The company occupies 32,000 square feet in the downtown building owned by Reckson, a division of SL Green. AboveNet’s system delivers network and Internet services among 15 top U.S. markets and London.

“We are pleased to continue our commitment to the White Plains community with this lease signing,” said Bill LaPerch, AboveNet president and chief executive officer. “The New York area is one of our most important and robust markets of the 15 major metro markets that we support.  Our White Plains headquarters is strategically located to serve the needs of some of the world’s most demanding customers.”  

IntegraMed America Inc., the Purchase-based company that runs vein clinics and fertility centers, said that the Cleveland Clinic has begun offering its Attain IVF Program to patients undergoing fertility treatment.

Prestige Brands Holdings Inc., an Irvington-based consumer products company, said that two of its Spic and Span cleaning products will carry the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Design for the Environment” seal. Prestige said the program recognizes the ingredients in these products as safer for the environment, families and pets. Spic and Span Sun Fresh and Spic and Span Citrus Fresh dilutable cleaners are the products that will include the EPA seal.

IBM Corp. said that it will pay $1.2 billion to buy SPSS Inc., a Chicago-based technology company that makes software to help companies analyze data and identify business trends.

The buyout values SPSS, a publicly traded company, at $50 a share, or more than 42 percent above Monday’s closing price of $35.09. In trading yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, shares of SPSS soared $14.29 to $49.38.

Shares of IBM dropped 65 cents to $116.98 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The acquisition is expected to be completed before the end of the year if it receives shareholder and regulatory approvals.

The all-cash buyout expands IBM’s presence in the market for business analytics software that is designed to help companies develop a competitive advantage through the smart use of information that can help control costs, increase efficiency and boost profitability.

“With this acquisition, we are extending our capabilities around a new level of analytics that not only provides clients with greater insight—but true foresight,” said Ambuj Goyal, IBM’s general manager for information management.

IBM said that the addition of SPSS will allow it to offer products that are targeted at meeting the needs of major industries, including customer retention for financial services, patient care improvement data in the healthcare industry, crime prevention for the public sector and scouting site locations for retailers and manufacturers.

“This technology has also been used in political campaigns to zero in on likely voters to determine what campaign messages have the greatest impact on undecided voters,” IBM said in a written statement.

IBM has made about 80 acquisitions in hardware, software and services since Chief Executive Officer Sam Palmisano took the reins in 2002, according to Bloomberg News. Most of the deals, including the $4.5 billion purchase of Cognos Inc., have increased the scale of IBM’s software business.

In a second acquistion announced yesterday, IBM said that it bought Ounce Labs, Inc., a privately-held company in Waltham, Mass. Ounce makes software that helps companies reduce the costs related to security and compliance concerns. Financial terms of this buyout were not disclosed.

Kimberly Bishop, an executive recruiter and career management expert, will speak on finding a job, recession-proofing your career, and transitioning to a new industry on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Doral Arrowwood in Rye Brook. Admission is free.
BusinessWeek named Bishop to its list of World’s Top Recruiters. She has been featured on CNBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Crain’s, and Money Magazine.

The Westchester County Association will host a networking reception for young professionals on Tuesday, July 28 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Elements Bar at 161 Mamaroneck Ave. in White Plains.
Other sponsoring groups include the Young CPA/Westchester chapter of the New York State Society of CPAs and the New Lawyers Section of the Westchester County Bar Association. For more information, contact Julia Salem at the Westchester County Association at (914) 948-6740.

Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. of Somers said that it has completed its acquisition of Pepsi-Cola Bottlers for the Merrimack Valley Inc. The Haverhill, Mass.-based company is a Pepsi-Cola franchised bottler serving northeastern Massachusetts. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition was originally announced on May 14.

Job openings for technology workers continued to weaken in Westchester County during the second quarter, although hiring conditions have improved since the start of the year, according to a report.

The Pace/SkillPROOF IT Index, which tracks the regional employment outlook for technology jobs, fell from 45 to 41 in Westchester.

The 8.9 percent drop in the index was an improvement from the first three months of the year when the index fell 30 percent. While the weakening economy hurts companies that sell everything from software to computers, some analysts have said a recent rally in technology stocks may indicate that the outlook is improving.

Manhattan showed a slight increase in tech job listings during the second quarter.

The report’s researchers said it is too early to conclude from the improved data that the slump in tech jobs of recent quarters is over. But they added added that the recent stablization is “significant in its implications.”

In Westchester, computer support specialists was the job category with the best hiring prospects, followed information technology managers and data base administrators. The weakest job category was software engineers (applications).

The index is a joint project of Pace University and SkillPROOF Inc., a Bridgeport, Conn., technology firm specializing in job market research.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biotech company based in Eastview, said that it has received a $20 million payment after enrolling the first patient in a study that looks at the effectiveness of its its VEGF Trap-Eye as a potential treatment for central retinal vein occlusion, a leading cause of blindness.

Regeneron received the payment as part of an agreement with Bayer HealthCare AG, its partner in developing VEGF Trap-Eye as a treatment for various eye diseases. The latest testing program includes patients from multiple countries participating in two one-year studies.

Fifth Street Finance Corp., a White Plains-based specialty finance company that lends to and invests in small and midsized businesses, said that it has completed a public offering of nearly 9.5 million shares of common stock. Fifth Street said it expects to use $16.5 million of the net proceeds from the offering to repay outstanding debt and make investments in companies.

ITT Corp. executives are hoping that the $787 billion economic stimulus plan that was signed into law earlier this year will mean new orders for its water, wastewater and energy management systems.

ITT said it also is able to meet the “Buy American” provisions in the stimulus act. Those provisions, which mandate the use of U.S. iron, steel, and other products in stimulus projects, have been criticized as a setback to free trade by other countries.

The Reader’s Digest Association Inc. in Chappaqua named Karol Nickell as vice president and editor-in-chief for its Home & Garden publishing business.

Weakness in fertilizer markets contributed to sharply lower earnings at Bunge Ltd., the White Plains-based agribusiness giant that is major fertilizer supplier to Brazilian farmers.

Bunge reported net income of $313 million, or $2.28 a share, during the second quarter. That was down 58 percent from net income of $751 million, or $5.45 a share, a year earlier. Sales fell 23 percent to $11 billion.

Farmers cut back on their harvests last year after commodity prices plunged in response to the credit crisis and one of the worst economic crises since the Great Depression. With farmers planting less, that ate into the demand for the fertilizers and other agricutural products that Bunge sells to farmers.

Lower fertilizer prices contributed to a $53 million loss in Bunge’s fertilizer business during the quarter, a sharp reversal from the profit of $393 million a year earlier.

Other Bunge businesses also have suffered. Profits fell 33 percent in the company’s edible oil products unit, 75 percent in its milling products business and 27 percent in its agribusiness unit.

Alberto Weisser, Bunge’s chairman and chief executive officer, said that he is optimistic that business conditions in the agricultural markets will improve in the second half of the year.

“A large North American (soybean) harvest, which according to early indicators is likely, should provide us with ample volumes for our agribusiness operations in that region,” Weisser said in a written statement.

Tompkins Financial Corp. reported net income of $7.4 million for the second quarter, up from $7.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share totaled 76 cents, up from 73 cents a year earlier.

Visant Corp., an Armonk-based marketer of class rings and high school graduation products, said that it has completed an acquisition of Rennoc Corp.’s team outerwear business. The deal gives Visant an expanded product lineup that will include school award letter jackets and team apparel. The Rennoc products will be marketed and sold primarily through sporting goods dealers. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Verizon Wireless has expanded its presence in the region by opening a new store inside BJ’s Wholesale Club in Pelham Manor at 820 Pelham Parkway. The store offers wireless phones, devices and accessories from Verizon.

Volunteers from banks, credit unions, financial industry associations and nonprofit agencies will answer financial questions from area residents during a special two-day financial help line at the United Way’s 211 Call Center.