Deals of the Year

What are the top transactions for 2018 in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado? BizWest’s fourth annual “Deals of the Year,” covering 2018, runs the gamut from the sale of the largest feedlot operation in the country to the sale of a large regional banking operation for $1 billion. You’ll find stories about expansions that will result in hundreds of new jobs.

Deals were evaluated by the BizWest editorial team, with consideration given to impact, complexity and size of the deal, both in terms of dollar volume and, when appropriate, square footage. Deals could include mergers, acquisitions, construction projects, leases, sales, venture-capital funding and expansions.

We considered both deals announced in 2018 but not yet consummated, and deals that were fully realized in 2018, even though they might have been announced previously.

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Here are the winners and finalists in each category:

AGRIBUSINESS

Deal of the Year: JBS USA sells feeding operation for $200M to pay fines in Brazil

GREELEY — Sometimes, machinations thousands of miles away can affect business at home. Such was case in 2018 when JBS USA sold its Greeley-based Five Rivers Cattle Feeding operation for $200 million in order to pay fines incurred in Brazil by owners of JBS S.A., the owner of JBS USA.

JBS S.A. CEO Wesley Batista and his brother Joesley Batista were involved in a complicated corruption and insider-trading scandal in Brazil. To pay the fines, as reported by Reuters, JBS agreed to sell its 19.2 percent stake in Vigor Alimentos SA, a dairy company based in Brazil, Moy Park Ltd of Northern Ireland and Five Rivers Cattle Feeding in North America to raise $1.8 billion.

Pinnacle Asset Management LP,  a New York-based commodities and natural-resources investment firm, bought the cattle feeding operation, which has a long-term agreement to supply cattle to JBS USA for processing. Five Rivers is the largest cattle-feeding operation in the world capable of feeding more than 900,000 head of cattle.

Runners-up:

• Ag product, services company buys two enterprises

LOVELAND and GREELEY — Canada-based Nutrien Ltd., (NYSE: NTR) which has operations in Loveland and Greeley, completed two major company acquisitions in July of 2018. It purchased Illinois-based Agrible Inc. for $63 million, and earlier bought Memphis, Tenn.-based Waypoint Analytical.

Nutrien itself was also new in 2018. In January, Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. merged to create Nutrien, a transaction valued at $36 billion.

• State ag department consolidates in Broomfield

BROOMFIELD — The Colorado Department of Agriculture continued consolidating its operations in 2018 when it announced in February that it would build labs and offices, this time for its Inspection and Consumer Services Division, in Broomfield. The division will join the CDA’s main office and will include three laboratories for metrology, animal health and biochemistry.

The project includes a 6,000-square-foot renovation of the existing building at 305 Interlocken Parkway and construction of a 27,000-square-foot-facility next door.

The ICS division regulates pet-care facilities, animal feed, fertilizer, anhydrous ammonia, compost, farm products dealers, commodity handlers/grain warehouses, scales and other measuring devices, pricing and package weight accuracy, eggs, home food service plan operators, custom meat plants and wild-game processors.

APARTMENTS

Deal of the Year:  Broomfield’s Terracina fetches $106M in sale

BROOMFIELD — The Terracina Apartment Homes community in Broomfield was bought in October by The Connor Group, an Ohio-based real estate investment firm, for $106 million. The seller was Terracina Villas LLC.

The Connor Group’s purchase of the 10-year-old,  386-unit complex at 13690 Via Varra near the intersection of U.S. Highway 36 and Northwest Parkway was part of a larger deal. The acquisition coincided with purchase of three other properties in the Chicago and Atlanta markets. The combined value of the purchase was $618 million.

Runners-up:

• Boulder apartment buildings sell for combined $95.6M

Value: $95.6M

BOULDER — A pair on neighboring apartment complexes on 28th in Boulder near the edge of the University of Colorado campus sold in October for a combined $95.6 million.

The Province — an 84-unit property at 950 28th St. with two-,three-, and four-bedroom apartments — sold for $53 million, or nearly $631,000 per unit. The Lotus — a 68-unit property at 900 28th St. also with two-,three-, and four-bedroom apartments — sold for $42,607,600, or nearly $627,000 per unit.

Both communities were purchased by affiliates of Chicago-based Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust. The transactions were part of Blackstone’s takeover of a $1.2-billion student housing portfolio previously owned by Memphis, Tenn.-based Education Realty Trust (EdR).

• San Francisco investors pay $50M for Willow Run

Value: $50 million

BROOMFIELD — Last year was a big one for large apartment community sales in Broomfield. While only half the value of the Terracina sale, the April acquisition of Willow Run Village apartments was enough to secure a place as one of the deals of the year.

San Francisco-based Hamilton Zanze Investments purchased the 10-building, 216-unit apartment complex at 12621 Zuni St. from Griffis/Blessing of Colorado Springs.

Griffis/Blessing made approximately $2.7 million in capital improvements to the roughly 20-year-old property, which included refurbishing the building exteriors, remodeling the clubhouse and fitness center, enhancing the pool area and other shared amenities, and upgrading unit interiors.

 

BANKING & FINANCE

Deal of the Year: Guaranty Bank bought for $1B

While the deal didn’t officially close until Jan. 1, 2018, Texas-based Independent Bank Group Inc.’s $1-billion acquisition of Guaranty Bancorp was announced in May 2018 and approved by shareholders in September, qualifying it for the Deal of the Year in banking.

Denver-based Guaranty has more than 30 branches in Colorado, with locations in Berthoud, Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland.

Following the acquisition, Guaranty stockholders received 0.45 shares of Independent Bank Group stock in exchange for each share of Guaranty Bancorp stock held immediately prior to the merger, according to SEC documents. Five Guaranty executives received golden parachute compensation packages totaling more than $14.2 million as part of the deal.

Runners-up:

• EKS&H merges with Plante Moran

EKS&H, a Denver-based accounting firm with operations in Fort Collins and Boulder, completed a merger with Detroit-based Plante Moran in October, creating the 11th largest accounting, tax, consulting and wealth management firm in the nation.

EKS&H — branded as EKS&H Now Part of Plante Moran following the merger — has offices at 1155 Canyon Blvd. in Boulder and 1321 Oakridge Drive in Fort Collins. Each office has roughly 40 employees. Plante Moran has about 2,300 employees in offices in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Japan, India and Mexico.

In 2017, the two companies had combined revenues of $626 million.

• CoBiz Financial, Colorado State Bank and Trust parent firm merge

CoBiz Financial Inc., which operates bank locations throughout the area including in Boulder, Louisville and Fort Collins, was acquired in October by BOK Financial Corp..

BOK is the Oklahoma-based parent company of Colorado State Bank and Trust, which has a presence in Boulder.

The deal was estimated to be worth about $1 billion and would be in stock and cash.

 

Bioscience

Deal of the Year: A public offering, investor spats highlight Clovis’ year

Value: $300 million

BOULDER — A $300 million public offering is enough to get anyone’s attention, and it was certainly enough for Boulder-based Clovis Oncology Inc. (Nasdaq: CLVS) to top last year’s Deals of the Year in the bioscience sector.

Clovis last year announced that it would offer $200 million in convertible senior notes due in 2025 in an underwritten registered public offering. Separately, Clovis announced plans to offer $100 million shares of its common stock.

But not everything was rosy for the company: Clovis’ CEO, Patrick Mahaffy, and former CFO, Erle Mast, agreed last year to pay more than $20 million in penalties to settle charges of misleading investors about the efficacy of the lung cancer drug, rociletinib.

And, in December, an activist investor began pushing the company to pursue a sale. The investor, Armistice Capital LLC, owns about 9.8 percent of Clovis.

Runners-up:

• SomaLogic caps $200M funding round

Value: $200 million

BOULDER — SomaLogic Inc. capped its $200 million funding round, led by iCarbonX, Nan Fung Life Sciences and Madryn Asset Management. The bioscience company filed a Form D with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for $44 million in January 2018, marking the end of the investment round launched the prior year.

SomaLogic has developed the “SomaScan,” a test that can analyze 5,000 proteins in a blood sample and use them to determine what medical issues a patient might have and why they’re having symptoms.

• Array signs exclusive drug deal for $129M

Value: $129 million

BOULDER — Array BioPharma Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRY), a Boulder biotech company, signed a deal with an old partner, Singapore-based ASLAN Pharmaceuticals Pte Ltd., raising $129 million.

Array granted ASLAN full global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize its cancer drug, varlitinib. The new licensing agreement replaces one initially signed in 2011 that did not grant commercial rights.

ASLAN agreed to pay $12 million upfront, $12 million within a year, up to $30 million for development milestones and up $75 million for commercial milestones.

 

Cannabis

Deal of the Year: Canopy launches venture fund

Value: $50 million

BOULDER — One of the biggest names in cannabis got bigger in 2018, when Canopy — the accelerator for ancillary companies in the cannabis industry — announced its $50 million venture fund for growth-stage companies. The fund, launched at the beginning of the year, focuses on bridge and Series A capital for companies providing value in the cannabis supply chain. CanopyVentures made its first investment in May to BDS Analytics with a $750,000 Series B round.

Runners-up:

• Mile High Labs closes on record-breaking Series A

Value: $35 million

BOULDER — Cannabinoid extractor Mile High Labs made news in October when it raised the largest Series A in the legal cannabis industry, with a $35 million fund-raise. The capital will be used to expand the capacity of its CBD extracts and to expand internationally. “We believe the CBD market is in the early stages of a 20-year secular growth trend,” Jon Hilley, the company’s chief financial officer, said at the time of the deal.

• Front Range Biosciences closes on Series A

Value: $10 million

LAFAYETTE — Front Range Biosciences raised $10 million through a Series A, the largest by a cannabis biotech company at the time. The funds were to build out its production capacity, expand the team and go after more market share in different crops. Front Range is also planning new initiatives beyond its tissue culture production.

 

Construction

Deal of the Year: South Maddie redevelopment project begins in Greeley

GREELEY — South Maddie, a multi-use redevelopment project along Eighth Avenue in Greeley, broke ground in October.

Richmark Real Estate Partners, the Greeley-based developer behind South Maddie, has begun construction of an 83-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail at 16th Street and Eighth Avenue. That will be followed by an 80-unit building and 57-unit building on adjacent blocks.

Ultimately, Richmark intends to redevelop the Eighth Avenue corridor from 14th to 10th streets. The first apartments are expected to be delivered in the fall.

Runners-up:

• Macy’s to redevelop in Boulder

While shovels have yet to pierce dirt and Macy’s continued to operate into the new year, a 2018 announcement set the stage for what could be a major Boulder redevelopment project in the future.

Macy’s Inc. submitted plans to the city in December that called for transforming the aging 29th Street department store into a 158,000-square-foot office complex.

This redevelopment project, which would result in the closure of the store, has drawn the ire of some in Boulder, including elected officials, who argue the city needs more housing and retail options rather than office space.

• Colorado Tech Center nears build-out

Undeveloped space within Louisville’s’ Colorado Technology Center became more scarce in 2018 as the office and industrial complex crept closer to build-out.

Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners, a Denver-based commercial real estate investment and development company, completed two new buildings in the center during the second half of the year: a nearly 110,000-square-foot FedEx distribution center and 136,610-square-foot speculative industrial and flexible-use building.

That flex space is the first of the three-building development Etkin Johnson has planned for the center.

Freeman Capital Management, which has been active in CTC development for years, purchased a parcel in late 2018 where a roughly 82,000-square-foot flexible-use space will be built.

 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Deal of the Year: Apple to add hundreds of jobs in Boulder

BOULDER — When it comes to long-term impact in the economic development world, little does more for a community or region than the addition of jobs.

Apple Inc.’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) decision to add hundreds of jobs to multiple communities around the country, including Boulder, tops the list of economic development deals for 2018.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said it plans to build a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, and establish new or larger sites in Seattle, San Diego, Culver City, Calif., Boulder, Pittsburgh and New York.

The company already employs 90,000 people and will add 20,000 more. Of those, “hundreds” will be added in Boulder, the company said.

Clif Harald, economic development director in Boulder, said he expects the jobs to be in the high-tech space and unlikely to be additional retail jobs. Apple has a retail store at the Twenty Ninth Street Mall.

Runners-up:

• Swiss company buys Avoka for $245 million

BROOMFIELD — Avoka, an Australian banking-software company whose U.S. headquarters is based in Broomfield, has sold to a Swiss company for $245 million.

Temenos (SIX: TEMN), based in Geneva, has agreed to purchase Avoka, including the Avoka (USA) Inc. Broomfield subsidiary. Avoka provides customer-acquisition and onboarding software to financial-services, government and other clients.

Avoka has more than 85 clients that are mainly served through a software-as-a-service model, serving the retail, corporate and wealth-management sectors of the banking industry. The company has 270 employees in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

• Woodward moves 350 jobs from California to Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS — Woodward Inc. (Nasdaq: WWD) moved one of its operations from California to Fort Collins. The move adds about 350 jobs to the regional workforce.

The company decided to move the Airframe Systems division because new business couldn’t be accommodated at the Duarte, Calif., site while space was available in Fort Collins at the renovated 250,000-square-foot former headquarters and manufacturing facility at Drake Road and Lemay Avenue.

Andy Montgomery, former chief executive of the Northern Colorado Economic Alliance, helped Woodward evaluate the move. He said they evaluated labor and real estate costs, taxation, workforce housing and energy costs in Northern Colorado, and concluded that it was a good fit.

“I think this equation becomes even more compelling with the passage of the 2018 tax-reform bill and California’s very high personal-income tax, which is no longer deductible on federal returns.”

The move resulted in a $17 million charge to the company’s financials, the company reported.

 

ENERGY

Deal of the Year: Voters turn down effort to increase setbacks

Some deals just don’t end. And that will likely be the case in the wake of Proposition 112, the ballot measure that would have required 2,500-foot setbacks from structures and waterways when oil and gas companies drill new wells.

The industry spent $30 million to defeat the measure. Proponents spent $2 million. Voters said no, 55.12 percent against and 44.88 percent in favor.

The defeat while decisive will not likely end the debate. The state subsequently changed its rules to require 1,000-foot setbacks from school property lines, instead of from school buildings. And those favoring larger setbacks have been lobbying the new Democratic Party-controlled Legislature and Democratic governor for legislative or administrative solutions.

Runners-up:

• Texas firm buys 27 square miles of Weld County

WELD COUNTY —  Black Mountain Land Co. LP, a Texas oil and gas company, acquired 17,000 acres, or 27 square miles, of agricultural land in eastern Weld County in the summer of 2018. The land had been owned by the Lost Creek Land and Cattle Co. LLC. Black Mountain paid $29 million for the ranch.

While Black Mountain’s intentions for the land were uncertain at time of the transaction, the company in January of this year signaled its plans to build a natural gas compressor station on a 20-acre site within that parcel. Cureton Midstream LLC, a Denver oil and gas transportation and processing infrastructure firm, will build the facility on behalf of Black Mountain.

• Energy company frees up $1.17B to invest in NoCo

An energy transportation company with pipeline assets around the country sold its assets in the Four Corners area of New Mexico and Southwest Colorado in order to ramp of activity in the Denver-Julesburg basin of Weld County and Northern Colorado.

Williams Corp. (NYSE: WMB), an energy infrastructure company with 33,000 miles of pipelines that touch 30 percent of all U.S. natural gas, has joined with KKR & Co. (NYSE: KKR) to buy Discovery DJ Services from TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity platform of alternative asset firm TPG, for $1.173 billion.

 

Health Care

Deal of the Year: UCHealth hiring 375+ for new Greeley hospital

Value: $185 million

GREELEY — Many significant health-care stories occurred in the region during 2018, but UCHealth’s plans to hire at least 375 people to staff the new UCHealth Greeley Hospital ranks at the top.

The 200,000-square-foot hospital will include 53 inpatient beds, a birth center, intensive-care unit, operating and endoscopy rooms, a Level III trauma center and an emergency department.

Additionally, the UCHealth Greeley Medical Center will encompass 112,500 square feet, including an outpatient facility with primary-care services, specialty clinics, diagnostics, pharmacy, endoscopy, oncology services, imaging and laboratory services.

The hospital and medical center are scheduled to open early in 2019.

“We get to build a team and a culture from the ground up, which is exciting,” hospital president Marilyn Schock said late last year. “The type of person we want to join this team is someone who has an intense passion to improve lives and provide an excellent experience for our patients and visitors.”

Runners-up:

• Region’s hospitals lay off workers

Even as a new hospital takes form in Greeley, other hospitals in the region spent part of 2018 laying off workers.

From Boulder to Longmont, Greeley to Loveland, hospitals announced employee cuts, responding to continued upheaval in the health-insurance market, as well as facility-specific patient data.

Both Longmont United Hospital and Boulder Community Health announced staff layoffs in April, with cuts of 30 and 25 people, respectively.

Banner Health, which operates hospitals in Fort Collins, Greeley and Loveland, laid off what it described as “a handful” of employees early last year.

Hospitals are seeing more outpatient visits, versus inpatient stays, helping to drive lower profit margins.

• Children’s Hospital launches $70M Broomfield expansion

Value: $70 million

BROOMFIELD — Children’s Hospital last year announced a major expansion to its North Campus facility in Broomfield. The $70 million expansion will quadruple the size of the facility to 200,000 square feet and will include addition of an emergency department.

The expansion will enable clinical-team members to triage patients into the care they need, whether it be urgent care or emergency care.

Other new services will include infusion therapy; outpatient behavioral health services; pharmacy and laboratory services; an outdoor sports-therapy field; an optical shop; food services, including a cafeteria and coffee shop; and volunteer services, including a gift shop and creative play center.

 

NATURAL/ORGANIC

Deal of the Year: Conagra to acquire Boulder Brands’ parent company for $10.9B

Value: $10.9 billion

BOULDER — A 2018 deal valued at $10.9 billion only serves to enhance Boulder’s reputation as a mecca for the natural and organics sector.

This particular deal — Conagra Brands’ acquisition of Pinnacle Foods, parent company of Boulder Brands, was a cash and stock transaction and included Conagra acquiring all of Pinnacle Foods’ outstanding shares and net debt. Under the terms of the transaction, Pinnacle Foods shareholders received $43.11 per share and about 0.65 shares of Conagra Brands common stock for each share of Pinnacle Foods. The combined value was about $68 per share.

“The acquisition of Pinnacle Foods is an exciting next step for Conagra Brands. After three years of transformative work to create a pure-play, branded food company, we are well-positioned to accelerate the next wave of change,” Sean Connolly, president and chief executive officer of Conagra Brands, said in a prepared statement at the time.

The transaction closed late last year.

In 2016, Pinnacle acquired Boulder Brands, which makes gluten-free products.

Runners-up:

• California firm acquires Noosa Yoghurt

BERKELEY, Calif. and BELLVUE — Northern Colorado’s growing natural and organic sector saw two of its biggest deals ever late last year. In one, Berkeley, Calif.-based Sovos Brands completed its acquisition of Bellvue-based Noosa Yoghurt LLC, a fast-growing premium yogurt manufacturer. The acquisition was first announced in October.

Sovos is a food-and-beverage company backed by Advent International. Noosa is the third addition to the Sovos portfolio in less than two years. The company acquired Michael Angelo’s Gourmet Foods, a leading producer of premium, authentic frozen Italian entrees, and Rao’s Specialty Foods, which produces the leading super premium pasta sauce and other Italian specialty foods, in 2017.

Noosa was co-founded in 2009 by Koel Thomae, an Australian expat, and Rob Graves, a Colorado dairy farmer, who set out to bring the Aussie-style yogurt with a creamy texture and sweet-tart flavor profile to the U.S. market.

• Canyon Bakehouse inks $205M deal to sell

Value: $205 million

JOHNSTOWN — Round two of Northern Colorado’s natural and organic deals occurred when Flowers Foods Inc. (NYSE: FLO) of Thomasville, Ga., signed an agreement to buy Johnstown-based Canyon Bakehouse LLC, a gluten-free baking company.

The deal was valued at $205 million and closed in the fourth quarter of last year.

Canyon Bakehouse was founded in Loveland in 2009 by Christi and Josh Skow and their baker partner, Ed Miknevicius. The company grew out of Christi’s Celiac disease diagnosis in 2007.

The company moved its operations to 3600 Ronald Reagan Blvd. in Johnstown in 2017 and consolidated operations in a 165,625-square-foot bakery building, where it runs two production lines. Flowers Foods is one of the largest producers of fresh packaged bakery foods in the United States with 2017 sales of $3.9 billion.

 

OUTDOOR

Deal of the Year: Outdoor Retailer debuts

Value: $100 million

DENVER — The year 2018 saw the first three Outdoor Retailer shows in Denver. The outdoor industry showcase was hailed in 2017 as a major win for Colorado economic development and retailers in the space. The event was previously held in Utah, but following some controversy regarding Utah politicians not supporting the protection of national land, the contract was put up for bid and Colorado was able to nab the three annual events for several years. The shows are expected to have a $100 million economic impact in the region as well as solidify the state as a leader in the outdoor industry, making it a significant accomplishment for Colorado. Outdoor Retailer has already begun tweaking and perfecting itself since launching in Denver: the show has altered its schedule to start in November rather than January, optimizing the show experience. Luis Benitez, director of Colorado’s Office of Outdoor Recreation Industry, said his goal for 2019 is to engage the general public around the Outdoor Retailer show.

Runners-up:

• TPC golf course opens

Value: $15 million

BERTHOUD — The new decade-in-the-making Tournament Players Club golf course in Berthoud is expected to bring an economic boost to the local economy and to Colorado. TPC Colorado, licensed by the Professional Golfers Association, will host professional tournaments and appeal to a national market, increasing the number of people drawn to the area. A Web.com Tour is already in the works for 2019 through 2023.

• VF Corp. moves to Colorado

DENVER — VF Corp., the maker of brands like JanSport, The North Face and Vans, announced it was moving its headquarters to Denver, bringing 800 jobs to the state and securing household outdoor names for Colorado. In 2017, VF had global revenues of $11.8 billion.

 

REAL ESTATE

Deal of the year: Louisville’s Phillips 66 land sale/Amazon HQ2

Sometimes the deal of the year isn’t actually a deal as much as it’s the potential for a deal. Had Amazon decided to build a portion of its second headquarters, Amazon HQ2, on a parcel of land in Louisville, it would have been so game-changing that even a failed deal finds a spot on this list.

Bancroft Capital entered into a contract in 2017 to buy the long-dormant, 432-acre Phillips 66 property in Louisville. The deal was expected to close in the first quarter of 2018.

The property was included as one of the eight sites in Colorado’s Amazon HQ2 bid, which was expected to bring 50,000 new jobs to the state. New York and Virginia won the race for HQ2 and the first quarter of the year came and went without Bancroft closing on the Phillips 66 land.

As of early January, Phillips 66 was still actively marketing the property, according to a company spokesman.

Runners-up:

• IRES, REColorado’s would-be merger

In another example of a major deal that fell through in 2018, Information and Real Estate Services LLC in Loveland and REcolorado flirted with the possibility of forming a major regional multiple-listing service, but ultimately backed away from merger talks.

REcolorado terminated negotiations in May, putting an end to an 18-month merger effort.

There was some speculation that talks could resume during the summer, but as of the end of 2018 negotiations had yet to pick back up.

• Kentwood expands to NoCo with Fort Collins office

The Northern Colorado luxury residential real estate market got a high profile new player in 2018 when Kentwood Northern Properties opened an office in October.

The new office is the Berkshire Hathaway affiliate’s fourth operation in Colorado. The Kentwood Northern Properties operates throughout Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley.

 

STARTUPS

Deal of the Year: Honey opens Boulder location

BOULDER — You may have seen Honey pop up in the top right corner of your browser while shopping on Amazon, but thanks to a May announcement, the L.A.-based tech company can also be seen in Boulder. The startup, which aims to help online shoppers get the lowest price on products, opened its second location in Boulder. That site — leased on Pearl Street – hosts back-end engineers working on new Honey initiatives. The location, which plans to hire 20 people over a year-and-a-half, is headed by Jud Valeski. Valeski, a longtime Boulder resident, previously worked as technical director of AOL, chief technology officer of Techstars and headed his own startup.

Runners-up:

• Techstars, The Nature Conservancy launch sustainability accelerator

DENVER — Two Front Range entities decided to partner together to look toward the future. Techstars and The Nature Conservancy announced that, starting in 2018, they would host a series of accelerator programs focused on bringing together the tech and the environmental communities to promote businesses solving the world’s problems and making it more sustainable.

• PivotDesk closes

BOULDER — PivotDesk, the online marketplace for office sharing, announced it would close after five years of operation. The company had previously been purchased by the co-working space Industrious, which has a Denver location.

 

TECHNOLOGY

Deal of the Year: Zayo splits into two companies

BOULDER — Zayo Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) announced it would split into two different companies: InfraCo and EnterpriseCo.

The company — which has revenue of $641 million — said in November it would separate its two core businesses. Zayo Infrastructure, or InfraCo, would focus on fiber infrastructure in North America and Europe. EnterpriseCo will be a high-bandwidth-focused enterprise service provider. The Boulder-based telecom company hasn’t shared much more information regarding the logistics of the split, but as one of the Front Range’s largest public companies, the decision to break up into two entities will certainly be one to watch in 2019.

Runners-up:

• Woodward acquires L’Orange from Rolls Royce

Value: $811 million

FORT COLLINS — This deal was significant because of its price tag and the name recognition of Rolls Freakin’ Royce. Woodward (Nasdaq: WWD)  has acquired fuel-injection systems supplier L’Orange GmbH for $811 million. The announcement came at the same time the Fort Collins-based aerospace and industrial supplier was charged $17 million for relocating employees from California to Northern Colorado.

• San Francisco’s Splunk acquires VictorOps

Value: $120 million

BOULDER — Splunk Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLK) announced in June it was acquiring Boulder-based tech company VictorOps Inc. for $120 million. VictorOps has about 100 employees in Boulder and had raised more than $35 million in private funding before being acquired.

 

TRANSPORTATION

Deal of the Year: State lets contract to start North I-25 expansion

In January a year ago, the Colorado Department of Transportation let a $248 million contract to Kraemer/IHC to build express lanes in each direction on north Interstate 25 between Fort Collins and Colorado Highway 402 at Loveland and Johnstown.

And thus began the project that governments and industry officials had been working for years to accomplish — namely building additional capacity on I-25 in Northern Colorado.

The project includes additional lanes, replacement and expansion of bridges, relocation of roadways, interchange improvements, and new trail and pedestrian connections along the way. Earthwork actually began in September 2018 and is expected to be complete in late 2021.

• Voters reject measures to fix highways

Chalk it up to confusion over competing ballot issues or simply a distaste for additional taxes, but voters spoke loudly in November about plans to jump start construction and restoration of the state’s highway system. That means it is now up to the legislature if the state is to have a solution to its highway maintenance and capacity problems.

Voters came out against both Propositions 109 and 110. Both propositions lost with about 60 percent opposed to both. 

Proposition 109, called “Fix Our Damn Roads,” would have authorized the state Legislature to sell $3.5 billion in bonds to expand state highways and require it to repay those bonds with $350 million a year from the state’s general fund.

Meanwhile, Proposition 110 would have raised the statewide sales and use tax by 0.62 cents for the next 20 years — that’s 6 cents on a $10 purchase — to pay for a $6 billion bond sale for highways, generate $9.8 billion for local roads and $3.3 billion for multi-modal projects including public transit, sidewalks and bike paths.

• BNSF to build major rail-served industrial park

HUDSON — The BNSF Railway Co. (NYSE: BNI) will spend about $100 million over the next few years to develop a 430-acre site in Hudson for a rail-connected industrial park. The park will serve Northern Colorado and Denver markets.

Included will be the railway’s loading and warehouse facilities and 16 parcels ready for industries to develop rail-served properties to their specifications. The park is just east of Interstate 76 and is accessed by Weld County Roads 49 and 52.

Upstate Colorado, an economic development organization serving Northern Colorado based in Greeley, will help publicize the center to prospective tenants.