Briefcase – Oct. 17, 2014

CLOSINGS

Ingredient, a salad-oriented restaurant at 101 S. College Ave. in Fort Collins, closed and will be replaced by Rare Italian, owned by the group that owns Rio Grande Mexican Restaurants along the Front Range. Rare is expected to open in mid-December.

CONTRACTS

AdvoCharge Merchant Services partnered with Boulder-based Elevations Credit Union to provide credit-card processing and all related business service solutions to Elevations members.

Boulder-based Spectralink Corp. named Sarasota, Fla.-based Voalte to its Application Integration & Management Solvers partner program and its select reseller program. Voalte will integrate its Voalte One solution onto Spectralink’s Pivot WorkSmart device, and will sell and support the new offering.

DEADLINES

The U.S Small Business Administration has extended a fee-waiver on 7(a) loans of $150,000 and less and also extended and enhanced fee relief for SBA Veterans Advantage loans through Sept. 30, 2015. The fee relief for 7(a) loans that began Oct. 1, 2013, were set to expire Sept. 30 of this year. Fees are based on the amount and maturity of each loan. For SBA Veterans Advantage loans, the zero upfront guaranty fee on SBA Express loans to veterans of $150,000 up to $350,000 will remain unchanged. Also, the upfront guaranty fee for non SBA Express loans $150,000 up to $5 million will be reduced by 50 percent.

EARNINGS

Zayo Group LLC reported a $180.5 million net loss for its fiscal year 2014 that ended June 30 as the Boulder-based broadband infrastructure provider marches toward an initial public offering. The loss for the fast-growing company, which has been on an acquisition spree since its inception in 2007, came despite revenue increasing about 12 percent to more than $1.1 billion, according to a regulatory filing. The net loss rose from $142.8 million last year. Revenue for the 2013 fiscal year was $988 million. The company had $292.6 million in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30 and total assets of more than $5 billion.

KUDOS

Daryl Smith, a real estate agent with Re/Max of Boulder, was ranked third in Colorado and 64th in the nation among individual Re/Max agents. Smith has more than 39 years of experience in real estate.

Troy McWhinney, chief investment officer and co-founder of Loveland-based McWhinney, was named Real Estate Entrepreneur of the Year by the Everitt Real Estate Center at the College of Business at Colorado State University. The award was presented Oct. 1 during the 18th annual Northern Colorado Real Estate Conference at the Embassy Suites in Loveland.

Twitter, Boulder County Farmers Markets and the owners of the Eight Days a Week business-services company are winners of the 2014 Esprit Entrepreneur awards. The Boulder Chamber each year recognizes exceptional local businesses, celebrating the success of their entrepreneurial endeavors and their contributions to the community’s economic vitality. The awards will be presented Oct. 23 during an event at the St Julien Hotel and Spa in Boulder. BizWest Media LLC is a co-sponsor of this year’s Esprit awards.

Boulder-based Orbotix Inc. and Fort Collins’ New Belgium Brewing Co. were ranked third and seventh respectively on Outside Magazine’s 2014 Best Places to Work list to lead a host of companies from the region. Orbotix, which does business as Sphero, came in just behind Seeley Lake Elementary in Montana at No. 1 and Ergodyne in St. Paul, Minn. Four other Boulder companies made the top 20, including Global Works at 14, RoundPegg at 15, Cloud 9 Living at 16 and TDA_Boulder at 18. Other Boulder companies recognized included SolidFire at 36, Pellucid Analytics at 38, Crestone Capital Advisors at 39, Sterling-Rice Group at 40, Training Peaks at 41, Slice of Lime at 55, Ship Compliant at 70 and Namaste Solar at 73.

Remarkable Foods LLC, maker of the Appleooz brand of dried apple chips, won Naturally Boulder’s pitch slam Oct. 1. The event was held as part of the annual awards ceremony for Naturally Boulder, an economic development organization geared toward nurturing Colorado’s natural products industry. Twenty-five natural products companies battled it out, giving two-minute pitches in front of a panel of judges composed of past pitch slam winners. Grab-and-go Paleo meal maker took second place in the event, while Zaza Raw took third for its line of vegan, gluten-free desserts. Naturally Boulder’s Lifetime Achievement Award went to Joan Boykin, a founding member of Naturally Boulder and the former executive director of The Organic Center. Boulder Brands won Company of the Year, Noosa Yoghurt won the Best Young Business award and Quinn Popcorn won the Lance Gentry Breakthrough Innovation Award.

Fort Collins-based Otter Products LLC, maker of OtterBox cases for smartphones and other mobile devices, was honored at an appreciation ceremony for the Governor’s Summer Job Hunt program, which promotes entry into the workforce for young people through education and workplace experience. The program, along with Workforce Centers from across the state, presented awards to employers and teens at the Governor’s Executive Residence in Denver. OtterBox was honored for sponsoring the Young Entrepreneur Tournament in Larimer County and for opening its doors to students participating in the Larimer County Workforce Center’s Career Road Trips.

Allison Barto, program manager at Boulder-based Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., will receive the Women in Aerospace Achievement Award for her outstanding contributions as Ball’s program manager for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on Oct. 29 at the annual Women in Aerospace Awards ceremony. Ball Aerospace is a subsidiary of Broomfield-based Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL).

Fort Collins-based Advanced Media Services, a video production and media marketing studio, was named Best of Industry by Company Week for Media/Software companies.  It was recognized for a video it produced for Way to Grow, an agricultural supply company. The video highlighted local nonprofit and for-profit organizations supporting urban farming development in Colorado.

Melton Design Build in Boulder was awarded a 2014 Qualified Remodeler Master Design Award for design and remodeling excellence. The competition honors outstanding remodeling projects in more than 20 categories. Melton received an honorable mention for a whole-home remodel with an addition in Boulder County. The project included a complete update and remodel of an existing residence built in the 1970s.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Encana Corp. (NYSE: ECA) (TSX: ECA) reached a deal to buy Athlon Energy Inc. (NYSE: ATHL) for a cash tender offer of nearly $6 billion. Calgary, Alberta,-based Encana, which drills oil and natural-gas wells in Weld County, will buy the outstanding shares of common stock of Texas-based Athlon for $5.93 billion. Encana also will assume Athlon’s $1.5 billion in senior notes for a total deal value of $7.1 billion. The acquisition follows the sale of Encana’s 54 percent stake in PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. (TSX: PSK) for $2.6 billion.

Impact Angel Group, a Boulder-based investment group geared toward early-stage startups with the potential to make positive social and environmental impacts, became the Colorado division of Durham, N.C.-based Investors’ Circle, a national funding network with similar goals. Founded in 2011 by Elizabeth Kraus, Impact will change its name to Investors’ Circle Colorado.

Trailer manufacturer Maxey Cos. Inc., a staple of the Fort Collins business community since 1969, is merging with Denver, Pa.-based MGS Inc., as retired Maxey founder Loren Maxey and his longtime business partner Fred Urben cash out their ownership stakes. MGS purchased the operating assets of Maxey although Maxey’s former owners retain the company’s real estate. Loren Maxey’s son Carl Maxey, meanwhile, has taken his proceeds from the sale to buy shares and become a partner in MGS along with that company’s president and owner Andy Gehman. Terms of the cash deal were not disclosed. Maxey Cos. will become a division of MGS but still operate under the Maxey branding. The company will remain in Fort Collins and likely grow from its employee count of 37.

Boulder-based Dynamic Materials Corp. (Nasdaq: BOOM) sold its AMK Technical Services division for $6.8 million to New York-based Air Industries Group (NYSE: AIRI). The AMK division provides welding services to the aircraft engine, power turbine and oil and gas industries. Dynamic Materials had acquired the South Windsor, Conn.-based company in 1998. It has been generating about 4 percent of Dynamic Materials’ consolidated sales.

Longmont-based Circle Graphics Inc., a producer of large digital graphics, acquired Mammoth Media, a large-format printing company based in Massachusetts. The privately held companies did not disclose financial terms of the deal. Circle Graphics produces large images for billboards, wall murals, banners and transit advertising in a 200,000-square-foot plant on Ninth Street in Longmont. Mammoth Media focuses on the transit market. The acquisition provides Circle Graphics with added transit expertise it can provide to its more than 12,000 customers nationwide.

Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises Investors and one of its clients acquired The Boulders, a 161-unit apartment complex at 2850 Kalmia Ave. in Boulder. Lowe would not divulge the sale price. Lowe purchased the property from Boulders Apartments Colorado LLC, an entity of California-based DiNapoli Capital Partners, which purchased the complex for $33.5 million in 2011, according to public records. Built in 1993, the nine-building apartment complex is on 10.25 acres.

OPENINGS

Colorado State University’s Animal Sciences Building in Fort Collins reopened after a major $11 million renovation over the past year, which was completed by Greenwood Village-based GH Phipps.

PRODUCT UPDATE

A novel dental restorative material designed to make life easier for dentists and their patients, which is based on technology developed by a team of University of Colorado Boulder engineers, was unveiled by the Maplewood, Minn.-based 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM). Based on work by a team led by Professor Christopher Bowman of CU Boulder’s chemical and biological engineering department, a team from 3M Health’s dental-products division developed the new polymer, which makes it possible for dentists to fill cavities with a single application that is then cured with light to achieve the desired strength and shape. The development effort included financial support from the National Institutes of Health. The new restorative material, primarily for posterior teeth where about 70 percent of restoratives are placed, is known as “Filtek Bulk Fill.”

Sierra Nevada Corp. has designed a scale version of its Dream Chaser spacecraft that can launch into orbit using Stratolaunch System’s air-launch system. SNC, which has its Space Systems Division in Louisville, has been developing Dream Chaser for the past four years as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Despite being passed over by NASA for the next round of commercial crew funding, SNC has charged forward in recent days with other plans for the versatile spacecraft, which could be used to haul crew or cargo to low-Earth orbit and return to Earth with a runway landing. The latest announcement includes a three-passenger version of Dream Chaser.

Fort Collins-based New Belgium Brewing and Perennial Artisan Ales collaborated to unveil Salted Belgian Chocolate Stout, available through Dec. 31. This collaboration is the result of a friendship between Lauren Salazar, New Belgium’s wood beer czar and specialty brands manager, and the team at Perennial. The stout combines roasted barley and caramel malts to create a stout with a dark pour and tan head atop.

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