SBA to join Commerce
President Obama plans to consolidate six federal agencies charged with promoting business prospects into one, including the Small Business Administration.
SBA backed loans totaling $282 million in Connecticut in the fiscal year ending in October, up 40 percent from fiscal 2010.
SBA would temporarily be elevated to a cabinet-level position in the Obama administration, before being subsumed into an expanded Department of Commerce. Four agencies charged with developing international trade would also join the Department of Commerce ”“ the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
The federal government is also planning a BusinessUSA website to help companies export.
“Instead of forcing small-business owners to navigate the six departments ”¦ we”™ll have one department,” Obama said in a mid-January address. “One place where entrepreneurs can go from the day they come up with an idea and need a patent, to the day they start building a warehouse, to the day they”™re ready to ship their products overseas.”
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Easier contract process?
The Connecticut Office of Policy and Management plans to streamline and modernize the contracting process for nonprofits that deal with multiple state agencies addressing health and human services.
“Connecticut”™s nonprofits serve over three million people each year and they play a substantial role in maintaining our safety net,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. “But for too long how we work with the nonprofit community has caused unnecessary delays and wasted time on their end and on ours. We are working to change that and focus on getting services to the people who need them.”
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Outsourcing up, down
U.S. outsourcing contracts tapered significantly last year even as the global market hit record levels, according to Information Services Group, a Stamford-based company that helps other businesses assess their outsourcing opportunities.
In the United States, ISG estimated total outsourcing contract value fell by 20 percent from 2010, despite an increase in the actual number of contracts signed. ISG said while the volume of mega-deals remains steady in the past decade, those valued at less than $100 million have tripled.
Among specific industries, financial services surged on the outsourcing front, particularly in the area of business processes offloaded to other companies.
Major outsourced services providers based in Fairfield County include Xerox Corp. in Norwalk, Pitney Bowes Inc. in Stamford and Cartus Corp. in Danbury.
Forensics firm to move
Computer forensics firm Stroz Friedberg L.L.C. reportedly moved an office from Westport to Westchester County, N.Y.
Stroz Friedberg took more than 8,000 square feet of space in Purchase, according to a report in the Journal News, which identified it as Stroz Friedberg”™s headquarters. On its website, Stroz Friedberg lists an Avenue of the Americas address in New York City as its main office; it has had an office at 1175 Post Road East in Westport.
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Norwalk building sold
For $11 million, LNR Partners sold a 175,000-square-foot office building in Norwalk to KABR Real Estate Investment Partners and Blackpoint Partners.
LNR acquired the property in a foreclosure, with the previous owner having obtained loans to buy the building for $26.5 million. The building is currently 43 percent leased, according to CB Richard Ellis.
KABR and Blackpoint said they planned to take advantage of the low purchase price to offer below-market rents to prospective tenants and potentially seek a “quick turnaround,” in their words.
“We believe this could be the first of many terrific opportunities for Blackpoint and KABR in the Fairfield County office market,” Saul Scherl, cofounder of Blackpoint, said in a statement.
Blackpoint has its main office in New York City and KABR in Paramus, N.J.
SAC worker charged
The FBI arrested a trader with SAC Capital, marking the first time a current employee with the Stamford-based hedge fund will face charges in a massive and ongoing investigation of insider trading.
John Horvath was arrested in New York, where he works for SAC affiliate Sigma Capital Management.
Also arrested was Anthony Chiasson, founder of Level Global Investors whose Greenwich office was raided last year by federal investigators.
Free tax prep software
The Free File Alliance, a coalition of the Internal Revenue Service and tax software companies, launched the 2012 IRS Free File providing lower income people with free access to online commercial tax preparation software.
Any taxpayer with a 2011 adjusted gross income of $57,000 or less may prepare, and e-file their federal tax returns at no cost.
Information is available at www.irs.gov/freefile with the service also available in Spanish.
Innovation finalists
Four Fairfield County executives and three students are finalists in the Connecticut Technology Council”™s annual Women of Innovation awards.
Local finalists include:
Ӣ Jyl Camhi of Great Play in Stamford;
Ӣ Mary-Ellen Devlin of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Ridgefield;
Ӣ Elizabeth Garypie of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Stratford;
Ӣ Sigal Zarmi of GE Capital in Norwalk;
Ӣ Morgan Jordan, an Easton resident and student at Joel Barlow High School;
Ӣ Maeva Metz, a student at Brookfield High School; and
Ӣ Robyn Stanco, a Brookfield High School student.
CTC scheduled an awards event for March 1 at Aqua Turf Club in Southington. The keynote speaker is Alicia Abella, executive director of the innovative services research department at AT&T Labs.
GE Capital”™s Zarmi herself delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Women of Innovation awards.
New deal for LDH Energy
Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy L.L.C. acquired a natural gas-fired peaking facility outside Dallas from Signal Hill Power L.L.C.
Stamford-based LDH Energy said the deal marked the first time it has invested in a power generation facility, with previous investments focused on “midstream” energy assets.
Passur revenue takes off
After maintaining a holding pattern in 2010, Passur Aerospace Inc. closed out its 2011 fiscal year with a 24 percent gain in revenue.
The Stamford-based company furnishes flight departure and arrival times and other data to air carriers and private corporations, pinpointing aircraft position through broadcast signals and other “passive radar” that reflect off fuselages.
In the fiscal year ending October 2011, Passur earned $2.6 million on $13.6 million in revenue.
