Business Digest December 6, 2013

BRIEFS

The city of Boulder reported a 12.9 percent increase in sales- and use-tax revenue from September transactions. Collections in October, representing September sales, were $10,035,006, up from $8,882,987 a year ago. Construction use-tax revenue contributed significantly to the increase, going from $422,866 a year ago to $1,196,147 this year. September marked the second month in a row that construction use-tax revenue reached nearly $1.2 million. The retail sales-tax component, meanwhile, decreased 0.03 percent in September, from $7,502,227 a year ago to $7,500,133 this year. Year to date, overall sales- and use-tax revenue is up 7.7 percent to $74,459,236 for the first nine months of the year versus the same period last year. Retail sales-tax revenue, while down for September year over year, remains 4.94 percent ahead of last year on a year to date basis at $59,033,481. Construction use tax year to date is up 41.5 percent.

Boulder-based telecom Zayo Group LLC received $150 million in cash and expects to save $2 million annually in interest after refinancing a company loan and a credit agreement. Zayo said it would use the loan money for general corporate purposes, according to a press release. The company provides Internet bandwidth infrastructure and related services. Zayo’s previous $1.6 billion loan was increased to $1.75 billion in the transaction, according to the release. Zayo is expected to pay interest on the loan of 3 percent, instead of the previous 3.5 percent, according to the release. Financial companies Morgan Stanley, Barclays Investment Bank and RBC Capital Markets served as joint bookrunners in the transaction. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, SunTrust and UBS AG served as co-managers on the loan re-pricing. SunTrust acted as the agent on the revolving credit facility, according to the press statement.

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A $26 million satellite made by Boulder-based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. was launched Nov. 19 from Wallops Island, Virginia. The STPSat-3 satellite is carrying five research instruments that will collect space data for five government science projects. One of the instruments is a $5 million sensor built by workers at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, or LASP, at the University of Colorado-Boulder, to monitor changes in solar irradiance at the top of Earth’s atmosphere.

Almost all of Backcountry Access Inc.’s avalanche airbag products are being recalled, according to the company and to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. As part of the recall, Boulder-based Backcountry Access is giving customers a free trigger mechanism upgrade that they can install themselves on their avalanche airbags, said Dane Olson, an inside sales and technical service representative at the company. The avalanche airbag models Float 18, 22, 30, 32, 36 and Throttle all are affected by the recall, Olson said. Only the company’s original avalanche airbag product – which had a different opening mechanism than the other products – is not affected by the recall, Olson said. He estimated the company’s recall cost in the “double digits,” without discussing specifics.For more information about the recall, customers can contact Backcountry Access at 1-800-670-8735 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, Monday through Friday, or by email at warranty@backcountryaccess.com.

CONTRACTS

Rock Resorts, a subsidiary of Broomfield-based Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN), and developer JMA Ventures LLC have signed a management agreement for Constellation Residences at Northstar. Rock Resorts will manage the ski-in/ski-out boutique residences located mid-mountain at Northstar California Resort adjacent to The Ritz-Carlton at Lake Tahoe. JMA Ventures announced plans for the final phase of development at Constellation, which includes building and selling 50 new mid-mountain residences over the next three years.

Boulder-based Elevations Credit Union entered into a contract with CU Direct Corp. to provide members auto loans. Members will have access to new online vehicle buying tools as well as mobile applications that will provide resources 24/7. Members will be able to access inventories real-time throughout the Front Range. Elevations anticipates $30 million in vehicle loan financing in 2014 through CU Direct programs. As part of its Dec. 1, rollout, Elevations will be offering vehicle loan financing at 2.99 APR.

Longmont-based Dot Hill Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: HILL), a provider of SAN storage solutions, announced that Northwest Missouri State University has selected Dot Hill AssuredSAN Pro 5000 real-time, autonomic tiered storage to support campus backup systems and to support virtualization and exchange servers across the university network.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Colorado Health Brokers, a health-insurance brokerage, has acquired Boulder-based health-insurance brokerage Colorado Affordable Health from Charley Mallon. Mallon, who founded Colorado Affordable Health in Boulder in 2002, sold Colorado Affordable Health to Eric Smith, president of Colorado Health Brokers. The acquisition consisted of Smith buying Mallon’s list of clients for an undisclosed amount. Colorado Health Brokers will now serve 1,100 clients and take over Mallon’s office space at 2222 14th St. in Boulder. Smith will man the office himself, and he has one employee who will work remotely, he said. Smith previously had his headquarters in Wheat Ridge.

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