Zest high for Unilever brands
Months after creating High Ridge Brands in Stamford with the acquisition of Procter & Gamble”™s Zest soap, Brynwood Partners is adding to its new portfolio company by acquiring Unilever”™s Alberto VO5 and Rave hair-care products.
The companies did not disclose financial terms, but Brynwood said High Ridge Brands revenue totals about $200 million from Alberto V05, Rave and Zest.
It marks the second time in recent years Unilever has spun off brands to a local company; in 2007, Sun Products Corp. was created in Wilton following the acquisition of Unilever”™s laundry brands.
Report: Stamford fined UBS $2M
The city of Stamford reportedly fined UBS AG $1 million on two separate occasions for failing to make good on a promise to construct additional offices within the city limits.
UBS never fulfilled an agreement to construct two additional office buildings in addition to its primary office and trading floor on Washington Boulevard, according to a report in the Stamford Advocate citing Rachel Goldberg, interim director of the Stamford Urban Redevelopment Commission; and Michael Freimuth, Stamford”™s former head of economic development.
UBS last month agreed to maintain a workforce of 2,000 workers in Connecticut in exchange for $20 million in incentives for technology upgrades and other capital expenses.
Redeker remains DOT chief
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made James Redeker commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, with Redeker having held the post five months on an interim basis.
“The right person for the job was right in our backyard,” Malloy said in a statement. “I”™ve been impressed with Jim”™s confidence, his vision and his ability to manage the department during a period of great uncertainty due to budget negotiations and union ratification issues. This may have been the longest, most intense interview of Jim”™s career, but he aced it.”
Redeker previously managed DOT”™s rail and bus programs and spent the bulk of his career with the New Jersey Department of Transportation and NJ Transit.
Malloy to woo hedgies
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is the keynote speaker at a hedge fund summit scheduled for Sept. 14 and sponsored by Finforums.
Days after Malloy”™s address, the Connecticut General Assembly is expected to convene in special session to consider proposals to rekindle job growth in Connecticut. This summer, Westport-based Bridgewater Associates took nearly 250,000 square feet of space in Wilton.
BI drug in clinical trial
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. plans to undertake a phase II clinical trial of a drug to prevent blood from clotting in patients with mechanical heart valves.
Boehringer Ingelheim has its U.S. headquarters in Ridgefield, with 2,500 workers there and at offices nearby in Danbury.
Boehringer Ingelheim hopes to market its dabigatran etexilate drug as an alternative to warfarin, a commonly prescribed drug to prevent blood clots. The company won approval from the Food and Drug Administration last October to sell its Pradaxa formulation of the drug to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation; in the first eight months, doctors prescribed Pradaxa to some 300,000 patients.
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”˜Best places”™ list shutout
Fairfield County was shut out of Money Magazine”™s 2011 list of the best small towns in America in which to live, even as neighboring Westchester County, N.Y. saw two of its towns included.
Tolland led five Connecticut towns on the list at 37th overall, followed by South Windsor, Simsbury, Cheshire and Portland.
Connecticut is the smallest of the 13 states to land five towns on the list, with New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts also doing so. In Westchester, Mamaroneck and Harrison ranked 60th and 70th respectively; Montville, N.J. led the tristate area at 17th.
Housing permits up
Through July, housing permits in Fairfield County are running 30 percent ahead of their pace a year ago, thanks to big increases in Bridgeport and Norwalk.
Statewide, however, builders lost more ground in July in pushing housing permits through, with permits off 27 percent through the first seven months of the year, according to the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.
Champion relocates
Champion Maintenance Services L.L.C. relocated within Fairfield, leasing nearly 4,000 square feet of space at 301 Commerce Drive, in a deal brokered by Angel Commercial L.L.C.
CMS provides commercial cleaning, facility maintenance and remodeling services in Connecticut and New York.
Weston man sentenced
Weston resident Craig Drimal received a five-and-a-half year prison sentence for insider trading, and was ordered to forfeit $11 million.
Drimal pleaded guilty in April to passing on tips on pending corporate mergers while working as an attorney for Ropes & Gray.
Survey: China tops for half of multinationals
China is the top emerging markets assignment for corporate employees, according to a new report from Cartus Corp., followed by India, Brazil and Russia.
Danbury-based Cartus assists companies in relocating families and selling their homes. In its “Mobility Challenges in Emerging Markets” report, Cartus included only “tier two” and smaller cities in the study, omitting sophisticated business centers like Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Among non-BRIC emerging markets, United Arab Emirates led all others ranking fifth on the Cartus report, ahead of South Africa, Mexico, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
More than six in 10 companies indicated they have reinforced security precautions of late for their expatriate employees.
