Real deals: $5M sale of retail building in Cherry Creek North - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

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The retail building, located at 2625 E. Third was purchased for $4.96 million by Pro-Dancre Properties LLC of Denver, which is affiliated with the Cherrhy CreekDance studio, according to local public records. The sellerd of the property was Cherry CreekPartners LLC, also of The building includes roughly 10,500 square feet of spacwe and was completed in 1976, accordingf to Denver County property records. Formere tenants include LAX World lacrosseeequipment store, which relocated to Colorado and Gnat Original Designs jewelry which moved nearby in Cherry Creelk North. Other recent Denver-area real estate deals, accordinyg to real estate recordsand brokers, • 101 W. Colfax Ave.
, Denver 80202 — The Colorado Judicialp Department has finalized its leasefor 47,441 squarr feet of space at the The building’s owner, American Properties Inc. of New was represented in the lease dealby Denver-basefd Frederick Ross Co. The space was formerl occupied by the newsroom of thedefunct . 1135 Broadway St., Boulder 80302-7186 Industrial Research LandLeasing Corp. of Boulder has purchased this retaik buildingfor $3 million. The seller was Benton Lefton of Denver. • 13671 Colorado Blvd., Thorntomn 80233 — Dominion Properties LLC of Eastlake, Colo., boughft this 6,600-square-foot retail building completes in 2007for $2.
36 The seller was IDCOL-136 LLC of

Metrotainment, Marvin fight over sports bar - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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is suing Marvin and Legacy AH LLC, allegingb they torpedoed and then copied its conceptf for a downtownsports bar. Metrotainment, the parenrt of , filed suit Dec. 19 in federal court in Atlanta, accusing the defendants of violatinh copyright, breach of contract, unjust enrichment and conversionh and isseeking “not less than $250,000” plus the reimbursement of leas payments, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. Legacy has filed suit in Statwe Court of Fulton alleging Metrotainment defaulted onits lease. In its suit, Metrotainmeny alleges it leased vacant warehouse space from Legach on Marietta Street near and the Georgia Dome to develop an upscalesports bar, called GAME!
Downtowhn Sports Bar & Grill. The company said it signed a leas e fora 21,000-square-foot space in March 2005, but Legacy faile d to deliver the building on time and as ordered. Metrotainment allegew Legacy wrongly terminatedthe lease, and “instead, defendants hatcheed a plan to open their own sports bar” at the same The company alleges Legacy partnered with LLC and sports radio station 790 The Zone to launcn STATS Food Play, which is owned and operated by STATS, the suit was based on its copyrighted plans for GAME!! Metrotainment said it spent $250,000 on buildingb permits, site design, copyrights and a marketing agreemenft with sports radio station 790 The Zone.
Neither Concentricx nor 790 are listed as defendants in the Marvinand Legacy, according to the also were in breachy of contract for voidinv the original lease. In a Marvin said: “Legacy AH, LLC filed suit againsy and its individual guarantors inDecembed 2008, in Fulton County State Court, afted they failed to respond positivelt to a notice of defaultg in their contractual obligations. I believe that the federal court lawsuit filed by Downtown Sportz and its parent company was an inappropriatde response toLegacy AH’s assertion of its contractg rights.” A representative for Concentricsw said it would be inappropriate for the company to comment on the suit.
Officials at 790 did not immediatelu return a messageseeking comment. As the state’s budgetg falls under the ax, the is focusing on preserving as much tourisjm funding as possible and on finding a regional solutionto Atlanta’s traffic woes. Ron Fennel, president of and head of governmenta affairsfor GHLA, said the statew is already at or near the bottom per capitsa in tourism marketing. Fennel said he’s not optimistic that tourism marketing will be spared frombudget cuts. But he said, is “an immediate returnm on investment” that the state recoups in lodgingf and sales taxes from visitors tothe state.
Tourism is the state’as second-largest industry and a more than $25 billion economiv driver. “We just want to be cut less if possible,” he GHLA is also supportive of regional solutionsto Atlanta’s provided funding for such projects is not detrimentalo to efforts to woo visitors to the such as taxes that might make visitors choose other destinations. GHLA will also fight potentiaol local government initiatives that might serve to direcgtlocal hotel/motel tax money away from city and countgy convention and visitors bureaus. The partners behine the redevelopment of 180 Peachtree Street are addintg to thenightlife downtown.
101 Concepts LLC has signed a lease and will developa Meehan’s Publivc House in the former Macy’s/Davison’zs department store. The Irish pub will be the chain’s thirdc and will open in November, 101 Concepts Partnert Chris Segal said. “I think people will come downtown if you offer them somethingf tocome to,” said whose company also developed Atlanta’s Food 101. 180 is redevelopinh three floors of theformee Macy’s/Davison’s building. It will include boutiques, restaurants and an 18,000-square-footy exhibition hall. has finishedx its 12-month, $20 million renovatio n project. The Westin project refreshedr nearly every part ofthe hotel.
The recentlgy completed final phase includee a redesign of itsfront entrance, a technology and furnishingd upgrade of its 23,000-square-foot ballroom, and meeting space. The hotel also upgraded its lobby, restaurants, loungse and pool. The Best Road hotel finishede improvements to its 500 guest roomslast summer.

Foreign trade zone to grow at Jacksonville's port - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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hopes to get more companies in the zone when it receivex federal permission to bring foreign tradw zones to companies instead of forcinfg companies to move withinthe zone, said Deborah Lofberg, the authority’ s director of marketing support services. The new prograj will make Northeast Florida more attractivew to importers and exporters and allow existing companieasto save, she said. Companies can get foreign trade zone designatio in about 30 days instead ofseveral months. Companies located within 60 miles of the port will be Goods moved through the zone are free of dutiesz and excise taxes as long as their finap destination is outside ofthe U.S.
This will appeal to companiesx planning to tap into new Asian shipping Duties on the goods enteringthe U.S. are determined by the product’xs highest value. This can be attractivd to companies who assemble within the zone becausd they only pay on the finalk product instead of allthe parts. Custojm entries can be consolidated andfiled weekly, as opposedc to being filed daily as require outside the foreign trade zone. Not only can moneu be saved by doingless paperwork, but also the electronic systemj used reduces the risk of customs penalties and cargo being held up.

Faulty home appraisals 'snowballing' - Phoenix Business Journal:

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Even as prices begin to stabilizde andbuyers re-enter the the appraisals many banks rely on to approve financin g are causing some deals to fall apart at the last or forcing sellers to agree to lower prices. National Associationb of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said the appraisapl problemis serious. “Lenders are using appraisers who migh not be familiar witha neighborhood, or who compare traditionalk homes with distressed and discounted sales,” he said. “In the past stories of appraisal problem have been snowballing from acros the country with many contracts falling throughg at thelast moment.” D.C. real estate agent Jeffrety Tanck agrees.
Tanck, with the Czubs Group at McEnearney Associates, said bad appraisals have affectecd two of his deals in the lastthree “In one case, a $364,000 condo came in $80,000 less than asking. That buye was using an out of town lender who had no conceprt ofthis market,” Tanck said. “Another appraisap on a $317,000 coop came in $27,000 forcing the buyer and selle tomeet halfway.” The potential problem inaccurater valuations pose to salexs can be seen in numbers that measure pending sales of existing homes. Those represenf contracts thatare signed, but sales that haven’ closed, and are usuallgy considered a more forward-looking gauge of housiny sales.
Earlier this the Realtors group reported pending home salees in April were up for the thirdstraight month, advancingv 6.7 percent from March, with pending sale s up more than 3 percent from a year ago. By contrast, closedd sales of existing homes in May wereup 2.4 percengt and remained nearly 4 percent beloaw year ago levels. The NAR’s Yun said sees a danger of a delayexd housing market recovery and a further rise inforeclosures “if appraisal problems are not quickly corrected.” Tanck said part of the problek is too much work and too few appraisers, which he said are in demanfd right now.
“People are buying, and lenders and appraiserz areboth busy,” he “But lenders should make sure they’re usingt appraisers with the correct markett knowledge.” Still, many indicators continue to poinr to stabilization in housing. The May increase in existing home salesa was thefirst back-to-back increase since Septembefr 2005. A separate report Tuesday from the Federal Housing Finance Agenc y showed declines inprices moderating, with the average U.S. home prics down just 0.1 percent from Marchy to April.

Proteon Therapeutics gets $12M in venture capital - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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The funding came primarily from twonew investors, Proteon said in a Thursdag release: in Wayne, Pa., and the Welleslety Hills, Mass., office of . The additionalo funding brings the amount of venturwe capital received by Proteonto $84 Proteon Therapeutics, a privatelt held biopharmaceutical company, was founded in Kansas City and now is baseds in Waltham, Mass., outside Boston. Its research facilities remain inKansa City. Proteon is developing a blood vessel-dilating drug One of the main potential treatment benefitsdof Proteon’s product is to help establish and maintain access points for dialysis patients.
Also Thursday, Proteon said the Food and Drug Administrationm hadgiven “orphan drug” designationm to its drug candidates for the treatment of two conditions in patientd with end-state renal disease. Orphan drug designatioh allows for certain tax credits and an extended periodx ofdata exclusivity, according to the release.

California's Cigarette Tax Goes Down in Smoke - NBC Bay Area

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USA TODAY

California's Cigarette Tax Goes Down in Smoke NBC Bay Area A closely-watched effort to impose a new tax on tobacco to pay for cancer research in the nation's most populous state has failed by less than a percentage point ... California voters narrowly reject new tobacco tax KSBW The Cen tral Coast  »

Sika expects most Grandview layoffs to be permanent - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Cheryl McNally, human resources director for the basedin Lyndhurst, N.J., wouldn’ty say Thursday how many employeeds remain at the Grandview 14201 Botts Road. McNallu said in an e-mail that the layoffs began Dec. 14. Recenrt bankruptcy filings by and , along with GM’s decisiob to stop production forthe summer, promptedc Sika to make the majoritty of the Grandview layoffs permanent, she said. The Grandviewe plant opened inMay 2000. The company said at the time thatthe 225,000-square-foot plant produced acoustical products for the automotive parts industry and sealants used in the construction of metapl buildings.
The $12 million facility housed a work forceof 300, and companyy officials said at the time that Sika woul d add another 100 employees in the following 18 Sika employs more than 900 peoplwe in seven manufacturing plants, two research-and-development facilities, and sales and marketing offices throughout the country, according to the company’a Web site. It is the larges t company of theSika Group, a globa l leader in specialty chemicals for construction, industrial and automotivee markets. The Sika Group is part of Sika AG, basec in Baar, Switzerland.

Federal Trust suitor gets $3.4B - Orlando Business Journal:

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billion from the federal Troubled Assets Relief Programn on the condition that it completesa purchase of Federal Trusy Bankof Sanford. TARP approval has been a majofr condition forThe Hartford’ s offer to buy the troubled Sanford savingws and loan. The insurance and financial services industry giant needs to own an operating bank to receive money from thefederal program. “We think this is very positives forour organization,” said Dennis Ward, president of , the bank’as parent company. Federal Trust is mireds in bad loans and The Hartford has promisedx to recapitalize it as part of the Ward said a closing datestilp hasn’t been announced.
The sale has received needed approvakl fromthe U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision. In February, the Hartfords (NYSE: HIG) said it could receivse from $1.1 billion to $3.4 billiob in TARP funds in the deal FederalTrust (Pink Sheets: FDTR.OB) soared 73 percent on the news in late morning trading Friday, rising 35 centsa a share to 83 cents. The Hartford was one of six insurancee companies that received federalbailout funds. ALL), (NYSE: AMP), Corp. (NYSE: LNC), (NYSE: PFG) and PRU) are the five othere insurers the Treasury has given preliminary approval toreceivew funds, according to reports.

Sleep Mask Induces Lucid Dreaming - Bangstyle

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Bangstyle

Sleep Mask Induces Lucid Dreaming Bangstyle Invented by Bitbanger Labs, the Remee is a Sleep Mask that Induces Lucid Dreaming.

State denies Hawaiian Telcom request to increase credit line - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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The financially troubled phone company in Februar soughtthe PUC's approval to increase its revolvingt credit facility to $150 milliob from $90 million. In its the PUC sided with the office of the stateConsumee Advocate, who had recommended the commission not approve the The Consumer Advocate said allowin Hawaiian Telcom to incur additional debt would not be in the public interest, noting the recent downgrading of Hawaiian Telcom's bonds due to poor financialo performance. Hawaiian Telcom last week reporte d a lossof $40.1 million on operatinvg revenue of $112.4 million for the three months ended March 31. The company'es year-end debt for 2007 totaled $972.5 million.
The PUC's 30-page decisiohn states that Hawaiian Telcom in March drewapproximately $73 milliom from the revolving credit and placesd the funds in a money market account for future use. The decisionh concluded that Hawaiian which was purchased byof Washington, D.C. in has not demonstrated a need for theadditional "What we've discussed with the PUC is, given the financial market, we believe that securin g the right to increase the revolver is an assett the company should preserve, that's different from a reques t to draw on that revolver," Hawaiian Telcom's CEO Stephen said in a conference call last "Assuming the PUC is the definitive gating the company has sufficient liquidity for the foreseeabl future.
"

Ad agencies hit brakes - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Chicago media communications agency officiallyh shuttered its Atlanta officeon Dec. 5 after movec its regional dealer media accounts for all eight of its vehicle branda to two different agenciesd asa cost-cutting measure. GM was the only client served out of theAtlantaz office, which had a tota of four employees. The domestic and non-domesticc auto industry alone spent morethan $15 billion in advertising in according to , and as carmakers look to make budge cuts, the money spent on advertisinf is also going under the And the hacking goes well beyoncd the auto companies.
Despite a strongh 2008, ad agency in November laid off a of employees after taking a lookat budgets, which showed a significant amount of erosion across the board, said Dave president and CEO. “Nextt year looks really awful ... no one has a crystal he said. “This is almost the most difficulf time in a generation in projecting what is happeningin 2009. As a result, clients are very resistantg in making decisionsin marketing.” The agency has a lot of clients who depend on the housing and financial services clients. “None of them are bullish on next year and they are settintg theirbudgets accordingly,” Fitzgerald said.
“The concept of investing in marketing during a recession has not taken Ad agency Fletcher Martin LLC also underwent a restructurin g in the lastfew weeks, reducing a little more than 10 percent of its With a majority of the agency’s clientw in retail, President Andy Fletcher said the overalp decrease in consumer confidence has hit ad spending very Despite the need to eliminate some Fletcher said his agency is in good shape for next “We were a profitablee agency last year and will end profitablyh this year and our projections for 2009 have us endingh profitably,” he said. “Unfortunately, we had to eliminater some positions to ensureour profitability.
” Atlanta-baserd media buying company LLC laid off 10 people last montu after client spending fell off. Two of the firm’z largest clients filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcuy protection earlierthis year. President Pat Sibley said this is the firstime MediaSolutions, which will celebrate its 20th anniversaryu next year, has been forced to let people go. “uI don’t know of a single agency and companty out there that is not struggling and hunkering she said. Not all agencies have been as hard hit. Ad agencyh 22squared Inc. is celebrating a record year so far, winningf $100 million of new business in the last 15 monthe and hiring 70 peoplerin 2008.
“As a company we are celebrating a record year this but we are under no saidRichard Ward, 22squared’s CEO. “In 2009 we’re not forecastingf a big decline inour business, but stabled is the new good.” ’s Atlanta has also seen successz this year, winning several big accounts including outdoor retailer (REI). Despite its BBDO is being cautious with new hires and has put a freezed onemployee raises. Whilw WPP’s Grey Atlanta has seen some budgetf cuts fromclients recently, President and Chie Creative Officer B.A. Alberr said new business is counter-balancingb the dropoff.
“Several of the new businessw RFPs (requests for we are seeing arefrom European-based companies where the cruncnh doesn’t seem to be quitse as bad,” Albert said. “We are also getting reallyg scrappy with the budgets our clients do have.”

General Motors files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Baltimore plant to stay open - Houston Business Journal:

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Monday’s filing by the 101-year-old automaker — once the world’ws biggest company — is among the largest in U.S. history and largest-ever U.S. manufacturing bankruptcy. Chaptet 11, which allows the companyh to operate while protected from its pushes GM intoa fast-track bankruptcy and provides $30 billion of additional taxpayer funds to restructure itself. The compan in its filing listed $172.81 billio in debt and $82.29 billioj in assets. The GM plan as detailed by U.S.
officialsd would allow a much smaller GM to emergde from court protection within 60 to 90 Al Koch, a managing director at the advisory compan AlixPartnersLLP in New York, is named in the filings as the company’ds chief restructuring officer, reporting to GM CEO Fritz Henderson. GM (NYSE: GM) also plans to closee 11 U.S. facilities and idle another three plants by the endof 2010. The company'z Baltimore transmission plant employs more than 200 peoplw was not listed amongfthe closures. GM's Wilmington, Del., assembly however, will close in July. That plantt employs 1,060 workers. The automaker has not provided an updatec target for job cuts but was lookinh toeliminate 21,000 U.
S. factory jobs from the 54,00o0 union members it now employs. General Motords employs 92,000 in the United Statess and is indirectly responsiblefor 500,0000 retirees. The U.S. government would hold a 60 perceng financial interest in a reorganized GM and the UAW woulc takea 17.5 percent stake. said Mondagy on GM's bankruptcy. The governments of Canada and the provincde of Ontario have agreed to a 12 percent ownershiop stake in exchange forfinancial aid. GM bondholder s would get 10 percent. Holdersw of GM stock, which hit its lowest price on record Fridagy at74 cents, are expected to own none of the Trading was halted on Monday's news.
Listedd among GM's top creditors are T) and (NYSE: CSX). The list of facilitiezs that GM said will be closed and theifr dates include two the Wilmington assembly plant and onein Pontiac, Mich. (October 2009); three stamping plants — includingf the previously announced closing in June ofGrand Mich., Indianapolis, Ind. (December 2011), and Mansfield, Ohio (Junr 2010). Also, six Powertrain plants includingy Massena, N.Y., which closed on May 1 - Mich. (June 2010), Flint and Willoaw Run, Mich. (both December 2010), Ohio (December 2010), and Va., (December 2010). Three locationd will be idled — assembly plants at Mich. (September 2009) and Sprinf Hill, Tenn.
(November 2009), and a stampiny plant at Pontiac, Mich., (December 2010). In service and parts operations and warehousing and parts distribution centersin Boston, Jacksonville, Fla.., and Columbus, Ohio, will close by Dec. 31, 2009. For a PDF of the bankruptcy filingpetition .

UN experts recommend sanctioning two Iran firms - Reuters

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UN experts recommend sanctioning two Iran firms Reuters UK supports sanctioning the firms * UK envoy says Iranian firms skirted UN arms embargo By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, June 12 (Reuters) - An independent panel of experts has recommended that the UN Security Council's Iran sanctions committee add ... and more »

GM owes $9M to AK Steel - St. Louis Business Journal:

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About $9.1 million is how much the carmakere owes theWest Chester-based steel manufacturer in trades debt, according to a list of GM’ws 50 largest unsecured creditors that was included with its initial bankruptcy court filings Monday. was listef as the company’s 33rd largest unsecureed creditor. The only other Ohio company on the list was GoodyeatrTire & Rubber Co. in which is on the hook for almost $7 No Kentucky or Indiana companies were onthe list. Aside from bond debt and employee obligations, which account for GM’s five largest unsecured the top trade debt disclosedwas $122 millionb owed to Starcom Mediavest Group Inc.
of GM has been AK Steel’s biggest customer for years, althougb the percentage of totall sales it derives from the troublef automotive company has been declining inrecent years. AK Steel did not disclose how much it sold to GM in 2008 in its latesytannual report, but earlier annual reports disclosedd that shipments to GM accountecd for 20 percent of net sales in 2003, 15 percenr in 2004, 13 percent in 2005, and less than 10 perceny in 2006 and 2007. AK Steel said abour 28 percent of its trade receivables outstandingh at the end of 2008 were due from businesse s associated withthe U.S. automotivd industry, including General Motors, Chryslefr and Ford.
Its 2008 annual report also includer the followingcautionary disclosure: “If any of these three major domestic automotive companies were to make a bankruptcg filing, it could lead to similatr filings by suppliers to the automotivse industry, many of whom are customers of the company. The company thus couldr be adversely impacted not only directly by the bankruptcy of a majorr domesticautomotive manufacturer, but also indirectly by the resultant bankruptcies of other customers who supplt the automotive industry.
The nature of that impacr could be not only a reduction in future but also a loss associatee with the potential inability to collect all outstanding accounts That could negatively impactthe company’d financial results and cash flows. The company is monitorinhg this situation closely and has taken stepd to try to mitigate its exposure to suchadversd impacts, but because of current market conditions and the volumes of business involved, it cannot eliminate these

DirecTV CEO leaving as Liberty merger nears - Triangle Business Journal:

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just as the satelliter broadcaster readies to merge with an offshoot ofJohn Malone’s News Corp. and DirecTV confirmex Wednesday that Carey will leave theEl Calif.-based satellite broadcaster July 1 to become second-in-command — handlinb international operations — for Rupert Murdoch’es global media empire. Carey’s defectiob may muddy investors’ reception of the planned merger betweebn DirecTV andLiberty Entertainment, a division of Douglads County-based Liberty Media. Carey ran DirecTfV for the past six leading it through a perioed of growth and winning partnerships with every majort telecom company inthe U.S.
He was expectesd to stay with DirecTV aftefr it became independent ofLiberty Media. Instead, he returns to working for Murdoch and News where he worked for 15 years prior toheadiny DirecTV. Liberty Entertainment (NASDAQ: LMDIA) holds a 54 percentt stake in (NASDAQ: DTV) as well as controlling stakese in online gaming companyFun Technologies, the Game Show Networkl and regional sports TV networks in Denver, Pittsburghu and Seattle.
Those holdings are beinvg spun off this year intoa free-standin g company to clear up DirecTV’s stock structure and make it easieer for it to engage in mergeres and acquisitions, the companies Malone’s company traded its 16 percent ownership stake in News Corp. back to Murdoch’s company in 2007 in exchangw for the controlling stakein DirecTV.

Small business mixed on fed-sponsored health plan - Birmingham Business Journal:

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Legislation expected to move through the Senatr in the next couple of months would establishn a national health insurance exchanges that would enable small businesses and individuals to shop for the best One of the major issues to be resolved is whethera government-runh insurance plan, like should join private-sector insurance plans on the exchange’se menu of options. Francis Hare, presidengt of Birmingham advertising/public relations firm Hare said the most importantt component of health care reform should definitely includelowerd rates.
However, if the governmenft is involved in any part of health insurance, it might make the healtnh system even more chaotic than it is today, he “Obviously, something has got to be done becauss there are just too much inefficiencies in the systemm right now,” he said. “But I just don’ t see where the government is goinf to make it anymore efficient.” The National Federation of Independent Business also opposes including a public plan in the exchange. It fearss a government-run plan would undercut privatd insurers and end up leading to less competitionm in theinsurance marketplace.
“There woulsd be very little left of theprivatwe market,” said Karen president and CEO of America’s Health Insuranc Plans, a trade association representing insurers. Some conservativex also fear a public plan eventuallty would lead toa single-payer system, where the governmenrt is the only providere of health insurance. Some smalll business owners, however, support a public plan. Davidd Borris, owner of Hel’s Kitchen Caterinvg in Northbrook, Ill., told the House Ways and Meanzs Committee April 22 that smallbusinesses “already have enough bad choices – high-deductible, low-benefift plans that are barely worth the paped they’re written on.
” “For businesses that don’r have good options now, offer the choice of a publiv health insurance plan,” he said. A study by the Lewin Groupl for the Commonwealth Fund estimates that a publicf plan could offer small businesses insurance that is at leasr 9 percent cheaper than currentt smallbusiness policies. But Todd McCracken, president of the Nationalk SmallBusiness Association, thinks other reformzs – such as requiring everyone to have insurance and enablin g small businesses to buy a minimuj benefits package – would make a public plan unnecessary. “We’re skeptical of the need for a public he said.

Waste fuels alternative energy firm - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The company has a three-year lead on patented technology that convertzs waste from food and animal processing facilities as well as municipal treatment plants intoodorless biofuel. The alternativer energy meets industry standards forroad use. The San Jose-based companu has emerged from stealthj mode with plans to creat a networkof “bio-refineries in a box,” facilities that will be locate d where the waste is The first production plant — located in Idaho — is scheduled to be installecd in January with more on the way, chief executivd officer Steven Perricone said. The company’s initiaol focus is on fat, oil and greasde extracted from wastewater.
Farthetr down the road, the company might pursues converting algae paste intoalternative fuel. Perricone said there are 6 billion gallons per year of fattuy waste that is technically unsuitable for traditionapbiodiesel plants. “Nobody buys the browhn sludge these guysare pursuing,” said Jon managing director of research at a Palo Alto research firm focusedd on green business and clean Perricone believes his company has an opportunity to tap into a markey that consumes 350 billionh gallons of diesel fuel annually. Pavel a research analyst for , in 2007 said only 450 millionm gallons of biodiesel were produced in theUnited States.
The revenuer generated in this industry hasexciteed investors. The global biofuel market is expected to growfrom $20.4 billion in 2006 to $80.9 billiomn in 2016, according to the Clean Energy Trends 2007 report. BioFuelBox raised $9 million in Series A fundintg in October 2007 fromand , which both have Menlo Park The company is starting to explorer a Series B round. John Rockwell, managinh director at Element, said his firm investss in companies that look for ways to betterethe environment. Element saw that in BioFuelBox’s technologuy and invested $4.5 million in the initial rouncdof funding.
The challenge for BioFuelBox will be moviny from a prototypeinto full-scals production and securing agreementx with customers. Rockwell is confidenrt the company has the management team and technology todo it. The goal is to ented into 10-year agreements with waste suppliers, whichj would essentially give BioFuelBox a lock on the Those suppliers are located predominantlu in rural areas of the United which have been hit especially hard durinf theeconomic downturn. These customers are looking for cost savingz andprofit opportunities.
Perricone said his company wants to allow customers to participate in the BioFuelBox will either sell the biodiesel back to them at a discoun or sell it on the open sharing the profitswith customers. “We put the planr in for free. We own it. We operatew it, and we’ll take care of the fuel he said. Perricone declined to name potential but he said one of the companies that testesthe 24-by-7-foot prototype is a Fortuned 500 animal and chicken renderer in the state where is based. Tyson is the world’ds largest processor and marketerof chicken, beef and pork.
Guiced said BioFuelBox’s model is atypical, and its setup in a containerf ishighly efficient, but its successd on a wide scale has yet to be proven. “Ity will only become scalable if it becomewvastly cheaper,” Guice said. Rockwellk and Molchanov said prices for commodities are easilyu driven up when demand increases for productsz such as soybeans andcanola oil, whic h are used to produce biodiesel. That same situation coul d happen if there is a suddem increase in demand foranimal by-products. Molchanov said the biodiesek industry is also being challenged right now by recent decreases in diesel andoil prices.
“Givenn some of the credit investments in new biodiesel companies are likely toslow down,” he said. However, he addeed there are not many biodiesel plantsusing animal-derived Molchanov said one competitor, publicly tradeed , located on the Houstoj Ship Channel, has the capacity to processz animal fat but just started operating its biodiesel planrt in June.

Cruise industry has bright spots, despite an economic storm - South Florida Business Journal:

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Formerly known as Seatrade, this year’s event at the brought cruisw industry executives together withnearly 1,000 exhibitors from 109 countriex and a projected 11,000p visitors. The four-day meeting begahn March 16 and took up four larged rooms at the convention up from three rooms last Joining top cruise business leaders at a State of the CruisewIndustry forum, (USA) President and CEO Richarrd Sasso showed the audience a graphic illustratintg how the industry has steadily growbn since 1980, regardless of recessions or disruption s to oil supplies. He said the industry expects tohave 13.4 million passenger in 2009, up 300,000 from last year.
Though the economy is causing many tocurb spending, Sasso said a survegy showed about 80 percent of travel agents thought peak-seasobn bookings were equal to or better than last year. The industry is stillp sailing with full but prices, booking lead times and onboard spendingy have tightened. However, filling capacity is the key to survival, said Gerald Cahill, president and CEO of Miami-based . “Wwe have always found, and we’ve found this year, we can move our inventorg when we bringprices down,” he said. In one of the busiest cruisr months, Port Everglades had 500,000 passengers, up 17.6 percent from January 2008. The Port of Miamoi grew 6.
9 percent, to The growth at Port Everglades followas 12 months that sawmostly year-over-year passengerf drops, some of whicu was due to the loss of the SeaEscape day cruis e ship that ceased operations in August, port spokeswoman Elle n Kennedy said. “We understand that the cruise lines wereofferinfg more-attractive ticket prices, and that may have contributedc to the increase,” she said. “But, the big factod is that there are more cruises goinyg out and the shipsare bigger.” Between Januarg and Nov. 20, 2008, the Port of Miamki reported a 10.5 percengt jump in passengers from the same periodin 2007. For the fiscao year ended Sept. 30, 2008, it had a record 4.
14 milliob total passengers. At the Port of has been operating a ship this year thatofferds three- and four-day cruisesx – as opposed to longer cruises – and can therefore set sail twics a week, said Kevin Lynskey, the port’ s business initiatives manager. In 2009, the port is expecting a slighgt drop from its 2008 record numberof passengers, he Port Everglades projected that its traffic would be Fourteen new ships are scheduled to come online across the industry this year, boosting capacity even MSC’s Sasso told the Miami Cruise Shipping audience.
One of those new ships will be Miami-based ’es Oasis of the Seas , whicnh will be docking at an expandec 240,000-square-foot terminal at Port Evergladedsin November. The ship will have the capacity to carrg a minimumof 5,400 passengers, making it the largest cruise ship In November 2010, its sistere ship, Allure of the Seas , will also debut at Port The port agreed to finance a $75 million expansion of its Terminao 18 – which will simultaneously host passengers cominf to and from the Oasis-class ships in exchange for a guarantee that Royal Caribbea will pay it for a minimum of 2.2 million up from the current 450,000-a-year Port Everglades Director Phil Allen said.
The guaranteedc revenue will pay back the allbut $8 millionj of the capital costs over a 10-year period, he said. With Royal Caribbean’s additional Port Everglades should see a 25 percent passenger increasw in 2011 and consistentlh outpace the Portof Miami, Allen “It confirms our position that Port Evergladesd will soon become the world’s largest cruise port.” As for how the industryu will weather the current economic storm, Royal Caribbean Presidengt and CEO Adam Goldstein said price-conscioud consumers would still find significanrt value from cruises that are competitively priced at an all-inclusivew flat rate.
“As long as they hear from their friende and familythat it’s incredible to take a our brands will be he said.

Exact to raise $8.2M, signs MAYO deal - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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million through a private stock sale and that it inkex a licensing deal for exclusive rightsto cancer-diagnostic technologies developed by the for Medical Education and Research. The company said it had commencedx on June 11 the saleof 4.31 million shares of its commobn stock at a purchase price of $1.909 a share. Meanwhile, Exact (Nasdaq: EXAS), basedr in Marlborough, Mass., announced a plan to acquire the worldwided licensing rights tothe blood- or stool-based cancer diagnosticsd and screening technologies developed the MAYO which is based in Minnesota.
Undedr the deals terms, Exact will: • make upfront payments of $80,000 and a milestone fee of $250,000 upon the commencementg of certainclinical trials. • pay a milestonwe fee of $500,000 if the approves any of the productd covered bythe agreement. • pay a minimum of $10,000 on the deal’s thirf anniversary • pay a minimum royalty of $25,0000 on the fourth anniversary of the agreement support certain research projectz to the tuneof $500,00p — at a minimum — in the agreement’ds first year. Exact is also obligated to grant MAYO two warrantx topurchase 1.
25 million shares of its common The warrants have six-year termsa and are exercisable at a price of $1.90 per according to a regulatory

Eddie Bauer declares bankruptcy - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Eddie Bauer had strugglef with itsdebt — a crisis that worsenes as revenue dropped, part of an overall trenf affecting most retailers during the The company has lost nearly a half billion dollarzs in the past three years. Thosee losses, coupled with the impact of the recessiom and debt payments apparently pushed the company into bankruptcycourft — a move that was rumored for Eddie Bauer became the latesg major retailer to succumb to filing in bankruptc court this recession.
The list also includes Linens ‘n Things and Circuit In many ways, Eddie Bauer’s crisis is not different from what most retailerz are facing during this prolonged and deep saidGreg Charleston, an Atlanta-based consultant for Conway MacKenzie who works with financially stressedd retailers looking to restructure. Most retailers — except discounty stores like Wal-Mart — have seen a fast drop-off in retai revenue across the board, Charlestonn said. Many of the specialty retailo department stores haveseen double-digit same-storw sales declines, he “When revenue drops and same-store sales drop, companiew with less debt can weather a downturn much Charleston said.
“It becomes an issue much soonerr if you are intoliquiditu issues.” As of May 11, Eddie Bauer reportef having $289.5 million in outstanding debt, includinyg $187.8 million in term loans and $75 millionb in convertible notes, whicn company executives have been trying to persuade debt-holderz to convert into shareds of the company. According to a filing with the Securitied andExchange Commission, Eddie Bauer had tota assets of $525.22 million in April. The company listedd total liabilitiesof $448.9 million. Eddiew Bauer reported net losseof $165.5 million in fiscakl year 2008, part of a total of $478.
7 million in losses during the past three fiscal In the first quarter that ended in April, the company reporte net losses of 44.5 million. For the firsr quarter of fiscalyear 2009, which endede April 4, Eddie Bauer reported a loss of $44.t million. That was a greater loss than the first quarter of when the company reporteda $19.23 million loss. Net sales for the first quarte r of 2009were $179.8 million, compared with net sales of $213.3 million in the first quarter of 2008. The company said that combinex comparable storesales — a barometer of success at the storse level — fell 11.
3 percent for the firsy quarter, a decline the company blamed on the recession and reducesd retail spending. Sales were down nearly 15 percent inEddise Bauer’s retail stores and sales throughy its direct channel were down nearly 11 The outlet stores saw sales declined by nearl 76 percent. “The first quarter was a difficulgt one, as the sharp downturn in the economyh took its toll onour sales. We continuesd to focus on cost cuttingv and cashflow management, which helped mitigate the impactr of lower sales,” said CEO Neil Fiske, in a statement with the first-quarter results file d with the SEC.
It’s unclea what impact bankruptcy might have on Eddie Bauer’s 370 stores, including 251 retail store and 119 outlet stores in the Unitesd States and Canada. Eddie Bauer has six stores in metrl Atlanta. (See a copy of the bankruptcy filing .) Eddier Bauer announced in early April that it had amendedits $225 milliob loan agreements with lenders. Eddie Bauer also has been in talksw with its lenders for months toconvertf $75 million in convertible notes into equity. The companhy has a July 1 deadline to convergt that debt or face big somethingEddie Bauer, which has depleted much of its cash and cash equivalenceas can ill afford to pay.
In May, The Wall Streeft Journal, citing unnamed sources, said Eddie Baueer hired Peter J. Solomonm Co. as its investment banketr to negotiateany sale.