PURA to review merger
The Connecticut Public Utility Regulatory Authority is asserting jurisdiction in Northeast Utilities”™ proposed merger with Massachusetts-based NStar, as the companies hit the homestretch in finalizing the deal.
PURA had previously ruled it did not have authority to review the proposed merger, an assessment Hartford-based Northeast Utilities also reached.
PURA said it would complete a decision by mid-January.
“While this new draft decision is a very positive step, I will ask the PURA to incorporate a critical further protection in its final decision ”“ an order that the merger may not occur before PURA completes its full review and issues a final decision,” Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said in a statement. “It is important that the review look not only at how the new company will be structured and how it will operate, but also determine what conditions need to be in place to ensure NU”™s Connecticut customers share in any benefits.”
Mohegan Sun in the red
Failing to refinance more than $800 million in debt coming due, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority said further delays in obtaining new financing could threaten its ability to continue as a “going concern.”
Mohegan Sun reported having 6,800 full-time employees at its resort in eastern Connecticut as of September, 350 fewer than a year earlier, along with another 1,625 jobs classified as seasonal, part-time dipping only slightly.
Mohegan Sun”™s CEO told the Associated Press that the warning was required by its auditors and that lenders have agreed to extensions of the organization”™s existing debt.
Mohegan Sun and the nearby Foxwoods casino resorts face new competition in the form of a racino at New York”™s Aqueduct Raceway and up to three casinos authorized for construction in Massachusetts.
Societe Generale bids adieu
Societe Generale Energy Co. set a June closing date for its Stamford office at a cost of some 130 jobs, a year after buying the operation from RBS Sempra Commodities.
In January 2011, Reuters reported plans to close the office and move the jobs to New York City. This month, Societe Generale said it is cutting nearly 900 jobs in France where it is based as it faces a tougher economy and regulatory environment.
Wage hike opposed
A key New York legislator wants to up that state”™s minimum wage, with business groups immediately voicing opposition.
Connecticut”™s minimum wage of $8.25 an hour, versus the $7.25 rate currently in New York and New Jersey. Vermont has the highest minimum wage in the Northeast at $8.46 an hour, and Washington state in the country at $9.04. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver made the pitch for the increase.
“Considering the economy, I couldn”™t think of a more poorly timed idea,” Mike Durant, New York state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said in a statement. “If you want more jobs then you need more employers. Passing a law that makes New York the most expensive place in the region to hire new employees would be counterproductive.”
IT spending slows
Information technology spending will increase 3.7 percent this year from 2011, according to a revised forecast from Gartner Inc., an IT market research company based in Stamford.
That is down from an earlier 4.6 percent growth rate predicted by Gartner; and less than half the 6.9 percent growth in IT spending in 2011, when companies began reinvesting in the wake of the recession in 2008 and 2009.
Factors impacting growth include the Europe debt crisis and massive flooding in Thailand.
“Thailand has been a major hub for hard-drive manufacturing, both for finished goods and components,” Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner, said in a statement. “We estimate the supply of hard drives will be reduced by as much as 25 percent and possibly more during the next six to nine months. Rebuilding the destroyed manufacturing facilities will also take time.”
Economy on ”˜thin ice”™
A state official said Connecticut”™s economy should grow at about a 3.5 percent rate in 2012, slightly ahead of last year”™s estimated 3.1 percent growth rate.
Despite the increasing state gross domestic product, Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development economist Stan McMillen noted the New England Economic Partnership predicts Connecticut will shed 6,400 jobs this year on a net basis, without saying whether he agreed with that assessment.
“This year will be much like 2011 with sluggish employment growth and little improvement in the unemployment rate,” McMillen wrote, in the January edition of The Connecticut Economy. “Unlike previous recessions in which Connecticut lagged the nation in its entry into and exit from those recessions, the state is now in lock step with the nation. Given the potential slide of Europe into deeper recession and the lack of U.S. fiscal resolve in 2012, the nation and Connecticut are on thin ice.”
Congress re-ups SBIR
Congress reauthorized the federal Small Business Innovation Research and companion Small Business Technology Transfer programs, even as Connecticut pushed ahead with a new law allowing the state to fast-track additional funding for SBIR participants.
Under SBIR and STTR, respectively, small businesses and labs win grants to develop products that address government agency needs, with an eye on later commercialization. In 2010, the Pentagon alone awarded $16.5 million to about 50 Connecticut entities; a dozen federal agencies in all participate in SBIR and STTR.
Richman raises $257M
The Richman Group of Cos. Inc. completed fundraising for a $257 million fund to invest in affordable housing.
Greenwich-based Richman says it is the eighth-largest owner of affordable and market-rate rental properties in the United States.
A gem of a find
Forevermark US Inc., a marketing unit of the De Beers”™ diamond company, is leasing 6,000 square feet of space at 300 First Stamford Place through 2017.
De Beers launched the Forevermark brand in the United States last year, with worldwide sales totaling $200 million.
$51M for storm repairs
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded Connecticut $51 million to aid in road repair from damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene and the October nor”™easter.
