Briefcase, Jan. 22, 2016

CLOSINGS

Two restaurants in Fort Collins have closed: 900 Degrees Wood Fired Pizza, 111 W. Prospect Road, and Rustic Oven, 2350 E. Harmony Road.

CONTRACTS

Evans-based Turn Key Builders was awarded the contract to construct a building for the Greeley Stampede and the city of Greeley in Island Grove Regional Park. The estimated cost of the project is $965,000, and it is expected to be completed by June 1. The 5,000-square-foot building will feature restrooms on the ground floor that can accommodate people with disabilities, including two family restrooms, two multiuse concession stands and a 1,500-square-foot banquet room with a covered patio on the second floor. The building replaces the existing outdated round restrooms located in the middle of the park. The Buckle Club banquet room will be available to rent year-round through the city of Greeley for meetings, private parties and family gatherings. During the annual Greeley Stampede event, the Buckle Club will be an exclusive hospitality area for major event sponsors and VIPs.

Colorado State University was awarded a 10-month, $4.6 million contract to help develop and manufacture new vaccines to fight encephalitic viruses that cause inflammation of the brain. The contract, funded by the Department of Defense, is an extension of the successful work already performed on Ebola and Marburg vaccines at CSU’s Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing and Academic Resource Center. The new funding will be used to develop vaccines for Western, Eastern and Venezuelan equine encephalitis viruses.

KUDOS

Fort Collins-based design firm [au]workshop architects+urbanists, led by Randy Shortridge and Jason Kersley, was named Firm of the Year by the American Institute of Architects Colorado North. The award recognizes an AIA-member firm that has contributed to the profession and has set an example in design, service and leadership to AIA Colorado North, a region that includes Boulder and Fort Collins.

For the ninth year in a row, the town of Firestone was awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for its comprehensive annual financial report. The certificate of achievement is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting.

Mike Warne, a financial adviser in RBC Wealth Management’s office in Fort Collins, was selected as a member of the firm’s Portfolio Focus – Senior Portfolio Manager Group, an exclusive group of financial advisers recognized for their success in building fee-based, discretionary portfolio-management practices.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Wholly Bites, a Longmont-based company that produces gluten-free, paleo-friendly snack clusters, was been acquired by 1908 Brands, which manufactures sustainable and natural brands. Financial terms of the transaction, which was completed Dec. 22, were not available. Wholly Bites leases kitchen space at Renewable Energy Manufacturing, 1820 Industrial Circle in Longmont. It has five employees, all of whom will remain.

New Jersey-based Pinnacle Foods Inc. (NYSE: PF) completed its $710 million acquisition of Boulder Brands Inc. (Nasdaq: BDBD) and completed its tender offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Boulder Brands. Pinnacle announced in November that it had struck a deal to acquire Boulder Brands — owner of the Glutino, Udi’s Gluten Free, Earth Balance, Level Life and Smart Balance brands — for $710 million, or $11 per share. Completion of the deal makes Boulder Brands a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle, which owns brands such as Duncan Hines, Vlasic, Mrs. Butterworth’s and several others. Boulder Brands’ stock will no longer be listed on the Nasdaq exchange. Pinnacle officials stated last fall that they plan to keep Boulder Brands’ 43,000-square-foot downtown Boulder headquarters.

Zayo Group Holdings Inc.  (NYSE: ZAYO), a communications infrastructure firm based in Boulder, closed its acquisition of Toronto-based Allstream Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., for $320.1 million. Zayo is funding the transaction with net proceeds from a new $400 million loan it took out through a current credit agreement. The acquisition establishes Zayo as the only Pan-U.S./Canada fiber network provider and adds five metro networks to Zayo’s portfolio.

Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) received conditional regulatory clearance from the European Commission of its pending acquisition of rival metal beverage can maker Rexam PLC. The approval moves Broomfield-based Ball one step closer to completing a $6.64 billion acquisition first announced almost a year ago. Last month, Ball received similar approval in Brazil, and the company expects to earn the remaining regulatory clearances needed to close the deal in the first half of this year.

Pivotal Software Inc., a software-development company based in Palo Alto, Calif., has acquired Boulder-based Slice of Lime LLC for an undisclosed amount. Slice of Lime specializes in Web design and mobile apps using UX Design, a method that focuses on making the user’s experience as easy as possible. Slice of Lime’s 20 employees will become employees of Pivotal Labs, the product design and development consultancy part of Pivotal Software, which spun out of EMC and VMware two years ago. Pivotal Labs and Slice of Lime each operated offices in Denver and Boulder. Slice of Lime’s offices in Boulder and Denver will be shuttered.

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