Top transactions in Boulder Valley, NoCo in 2017

What were the top transactions for 2017 in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado? Here is BizWest’s third annual “Deals of the Year” roundup.

AGRIBUSINESS

Deal of the Year: Pilgrim’s Pride/JBS SA
Value: $1 billion

GREELEY — Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq: PPC) in September acquired poultry and food supplier Moy Park from JBS S.A. for about $1 billion.

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The acquisition allows Pilgrim’s Pride to expand its geographical footprint across the pond to the United Kingdom and European markets.

The deal was funded through a combination of Pilgrim’s cash on hand, existing credit facilities and a subordinated seller financing note issued by a wholly-owned subsidiary to JBS S.A., which Pilgrim’s intends to replace with permanent financing.

Runner-up: JBS/Plumrose
Value: $230 million

GREELEY — Beef, lamb and pork processor JBS USA Food Co. in May closed the deal announced in March to acquire Plumrose USA for $230 million.

Plumrose USA was Danish Crown A/S’ U.S.-based bacon, ham and deli meat business,

Greeley-based JBS USA, a wholly owned subsidiary of JBS SA in Brazil, acquired five prepared foods facilities, including one in Elkhart, Ind., two in Council Bluffs, Iowa, one in Booneville, Miss., and one in Swanton, Vt., plus two distribution centers in South Bend, Ind., and Tupelo, Miss. Plumrose’s 1,250 employees are expected to join JBS USA.

JBS USA is also a majority shareholder of Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. in Greeley, the second-largest poultry company in the United States.

Runner-up: Pinnacle Agriculture recapitalization
Value: $125 million

LOVELAND — Pinnacle Agriculture Holdings LLC, an agricultural retail distribution business based in Loveland, in January received a $125 million cash infusion from investors and creditors to reduce the company’s overall debt.

The new capital investment was provided by funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management LLC, certain existing creditors of Pinnacle, certain members of the Pinnacle management team and other new investors. The company also has reached agreement with creditors to extend the due dates of a first-lien term loan and second-priority senior secured notes.

The recapitalization plan was expected to reduce Pinnacle’s debt by approximately $200 million and its annual debt-service costs by more than $5 million. The company did not reveal the total amount of its debt.

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BANKING & FINANCE

Deal of the Year: CityWide Banks and Centennial Bank and Trust merger

DENVER — Denver-based Centennial Bank and Trust, a subsidiary of Heartland Financial USA Inc., and Aurora-based Citywide Banks, a wholly owned subsidiary of Citywide Banks of Colorado Inc., in July merged in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $211 million.

Citywide Banks was merged into Centennial Bank and Trust, with the resulting institution operating under the Citywide Banks brand.

The final price was based on Heartland’s closing stock price of $47.45 per share as of July 7. The merger consideration is approximately $216.75 per share of Citywide common stock, with Citywide shareholders receiving $60.16 in cash and about 3.30 shares of Heartland common stock for each share of Citywide common stock.

Citywide Banks had 12 banking centers across metro Denver and Boulder. Centennial Bank and Trust had 17 locations across Colorado, including Boulder, Broomfield and Erie.

Runner-up: Clean Energy Credit Union

The Boulder-based credit union received a federal charter in September and is ramping up to serve national members of the American Solar Energy Society by using deposits that are federally insured to provide loans for clean-energy projects.

The credit union will operate solely via online and mobile-banking applications, reasoning that reduced overhead will allow the credit union to pass on the resulting savings to members in the form of better interest rates and lower service fees.

“We envision a world where everyone can participate in the clean-energy movement,” said board chairman Blake Jones and co-founder of Boulder-based Namaste Solar. “This new federally chartered credit union will make it easier for people to both invest in and use clean energy in order to help protect our environment and improve our economy.”

Runner-up: Sunflower/Strategic Bancorp merger

DENVER — The merger of Kansas-based Sunflower Financial Inc. and Texas-based Strategic Growth Bancorp Inc. closed in June.

The merger included banking entities Sunflower Bank N.A., First National Bank of Santa Fe and Capital Bank SSB, as well as Guardian Mortgage Co. Inc.

The combined holding company was named FirstSun Capital Bancorp., and is headquartered in Denver. At the time of the merger in June, it had $4.1 billion in assets and $3.2 billion in deposits, making it the third-largest banking institution by total assets headquartered in Colorado.

The banks are operating as Sunflower Bank in Colorado, Kansas and Missouri, and as First National 1870, a division of Sunflower Bank, in New Mexico and Texas.

In Colorado, Sunflower has locations in Longmont, Boulder, Denver, Monte Vista, Pueblo, Canon City and Greenwood Village.

Strategic Growth Bancorp had been operating in Colorado as First National Denver, which has two branches in Longmont, and one each in Boulder and Loveland.

Guardian Mortgage and Logia Portfolio Management retained their trade names.

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BIOSCIENCE

Deal of the Year: Clovis Oncology Inc.
Value: $300 million

BOULDER — In June, Boulder-based bioscience firm Clovis Oncology Inc., raised $300 million through a  public offering of common stock.

The sale of 3,409,091 shares was priced at $88 per share.

Net proceeds from the sale are being used for corporate purposes, including sales and marketing of Rubraca, a drug that recently had excellent clinical results. The drug is intended to treat women with platinum sensitive ovarian cancer. Clovis is seeking approval for the drug with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the company is planning to expand that drug to Europe if it is approved.

TJP Morgan Securities LLC and BofA Merrill Lynch are the joint book-running managers for the offering, while Stifel and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey are co-managers.

Runner-up: MiRagen Inc. goes public

BOULDER — Bioscience firm MiRagen Therapeutics Inc. in February completed a merger with a California-based publicly traded company and began trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol MGEN.

Boulder-based MiRagen announced late in 2016 that it was consummating a sort of reverse merger with Signal Genetics Inc. (Nasdaq: SGNL). That deal was to include $40 million in concurrent financing from both existing and new MiRagen investors to help the company advance clinical trials for a pair of drug candidates.

Signal Genetics stockholders on Feb. 10 voted to approve the merger with MiRagen.

MiRagen had raised $40.7 million in private-equity financing prior to the deal. The new equity financing came from current and new miRagen investors, including Fidelity Management and Research Co., Brace Pharma Capital, Atlas Venture, Boulder Ventures, JAFCO Co. Ltd., MP Healthcare Venture Management, MRL Ventures (a venture fund of Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada), Remeditex Ventures and others.

Runner-up: SomaLogic Inc.
Value: $162 million VC deal

BOULDER — In May, Bioscience firm SomaLogic Inc., a diagnostics company in Boulder that analyzes individual protein information rather than genomes, raised $162 million in venture capital to bring its diagnostic exam to market.

The bulk of the investment — $161 million — came from China-based iCarbonX.

The investment is allowing SomaLogic to bring the exam, called SomaScan, to customers.

SomaLogic is a proteomics company, which means it studies the thousands of proteins that are in the blood system and use them to draw insights on a person’s health. By studying and analyzing proteins, SomaLogic is able to identify what is going on in a body in real-time. 

The company was founded in 2000 by Larry Gold, professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

In January of this year, SomaLogic received another $44 million bringing the round to $200 million.

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CONSTRUCTION

Deal of the Year: The Foundry in Loveland
Value: $76 million

LOVELAND — The city of Loveland and Fort Collins-based Brinkman Shared Services Inc. in 2017 began redevelopment of  2½ blocks of southern downtown Loveland as a multi-use project called The Foundry.

The $76 million project is transforming the area bounded by Lincoln and Cleveland avenues on the east and west, Opera Alley in the mid-block between Third and Fourth streets on the north, and First Street on the south.

Elements of The Foundry include a 460-space, five-level parking garage, 155 rental apartments in three buildings, 14,000 square feet of retail space,  a five-screen, 625-seat movie theater, a large public plaza for community events and activities, and a 53,000-square-foot TownPlace Suites by Marriott hotel.

The city agreed to provide the land for the project, waivers of use-tax and development fees, and the investment of $17.6 million in public improvements, including the parking garage, which it will own.

Runner-up: 76 Commerce Center
1.8 million square feet

BRIGHTON — Minneapolis-based Hyde Development and the Denver operations of Minneapolis-based M.A. Mortenson Co. are developing a six-building, 1.8 million-square-foot Class A industrial park in Brighton called 76 Commerce Center.

The 122-acre site in Bromley Industrial Park is located near the intersection of Interstate 76 and Colorado Highway 7.

The center, in an enterprise zone, will have bulk and office warehouses, flexible building size options and state-of-the-art building features.

The first of six buildings is expected to come online in summer 2018. The first building is 266,000 square feet, and the remaining five will range in size from 66,000 to 600,000 square feet.

Ware Malcomb is the project designer, and Newmark Knight Frank is listing the space.

Runner-up: Etkin Johnson at CTC
400,000 square feet

LOUISVILLE — Denver-based Etkin Johnson Real Estate Partners in March acquired 33 acres of land adjacent to the Colorado Technology Center in Louisville, where it’s constructing a three-building, 400,000-square-foot office/industrial/flex campus — dubbed the Louisville Corporate Campus at CTC.

Etkin Johnson paid $3.6 million for the land north of Dillon Road near the CTC from the estate of Richard Hoyle. The land, historically used as a tree farm, will be annexed into the tech center, where Etkin Johnson has been active for nearly 20 years and owns nearly 1.2 million square feet of space. The company owns nearly 5 million square feet total in Colorado.

The site is one of the last remaining pieces of land in or around CTC that can accommodate 24-foot clear flex buildings, a staple feature of Etkin Johnson’s buildings.

Like other Etkin Johnson properties in the area, the Louisville Corporate Campus at CTC will include integrated technology, roll-up glass garage doors that create open-air workspaces and environmentally friendly amenities.

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Deal of the Year: Brands at the Ranch to break ground
Value: $572 million

LOVELAND — Developers of The Brands at the Ranch announced in November that it will break ground on the large multi-use development by summer 2018.

The site is located on both sides of Interstate 25 near the Ranch and Centerra in east Loveland. It will include a movie theater, restaurants, apartments, ice rinks, swimming pool, retail shopping, hotels and offices in the $572 million development under the direction of Martin Lind and his Water Valley Land Co.

The project benefits from $258 million in fee waivers and sales tax waivers extended by the City of Loveland.

Runner-up: Innosphere expands in Denver, Fort Collins
Value: $18 million

FORT COLLINS — Innosphere announced late last year a three phase program to scale up its operation. It said it would build a $15 million Denver facility and $3 million Fort Collins expansion.

The Denver facility will be complete in two years, according to Innosphere CEO Mike Freeman. In Fort Collins, an 8,000 square-foot wet lab building will be built adjacent to Innosphere’s 320 E. Vine Drive headquarters, on property it owns.

The third phase of its scale up will be a focus on increasing access to capital. In addition to launching the Innosphere Fund and Israel-Colorado Innovation Network, Freeman said he wants to grow Colorado’s angel investor network.

Runner-up: Smuckers to build plant at Longmont
Value: $340 million

LONGMONT — The J.M. Smucker Co. announced early last year that it would build a $340 million manufacturing plant in east Longmont. It received incentives from the City of Longmont in February, closed on its land in May and began to talk to future employees in November.

Smucker will employ up to 500 people if its plans are fully executed. Wages are expected to be at least 105 percent of the Weld County average annual wage, which is almost $49,000.

The plant will be located on Colorado Highway 119 on the Weld County side of the county line. The company paid $4.65 million for the land.

Runner-up: Partners Group to move North American headquarters

BROOMFIELD — Partners Group AG, a Swiss company, plans to build a multi-building campus in the Interlocken business park in Broomfield and move its North American hub from San Francisco.

Partners Group is a global private markets investment manager, serving more than 850 institutional investors worldwide. It has $57 billion in assets under management and more than 900 professionals across 19 offices worldwide. The Broomfield facility will be three buildings on 12.5 acres at 1200 Eldorado Blvd.

Partners Group showed the Broomfield City Council plans to build a three-building complex on 12.5 acres at 1200 Eldorado Blvd., part of 22 acres it purchased in June.

The Chalet Project’s largest building — 50,000 square feet for offices — would be along the southern property line. The building to the east of the office building is an 18,000 square foot amenities building for employees and visitors. The third building — 12,000 square feet —  is separated from the headquarters building by a visitor parking area and a pedestrian plaza and will serve conference and training functions, according to documents filed with the city.

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ENERGY

Deal of the Year: Anadarko to make investments
Value: $950 million

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) announced in November it expects to make capital investments in the range of $4.2 billion to $4.6 billion, including $950 million in the Denver-Julesburg Basin of northeast Colorado.

Woodlands, Texas-based Anadarko, an oil and natural-gas producer with an office in Evans, plans to average five operated rigs and three completions crews in the basin, where it has more than 2 billion BOE of net resources within its development area. BOE stands for barrel of oil equivalent,  a unit of energy based on the approximate energy released by burning one barrel, or 42 gallons of crude oil.  Typically 5,800 cubic feet of natural gas or 58 CCF is equivalent to one BOE.

The company expects to increase year-over-year oil sales volume from the D-J Basin by about 30 percent.

Runner-up: Boulder moves away from Xcel

BOULDER — Boulder voters have given the city authorization to continue with plans to create an electrical utility, and the Colorado Public Utilities Commissions has provided direction on steps that the city needs to take. If plans stay on course in 2018, the city will move away from the incumbent utility, Xcel.

Many details remain to be worked out, including which assets the city will need to buy from Xcel, which will be shared and which will remain with Xcel, but the two major steps in 2017 are among the biggest deals in the region.

Runner-up: PRPA announces new campus
Value: $44 million

FORT COLLINS — Platte River Power Authority announced late last year that it would build a new headquarters. It submitted its construction proposal for regulatory review in November. The utility that supplies the member cities of Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont and Estes Park with wholesale  electricity plans to build a 54,000 square foot headquarters building on two stories at Horsetooth and Timberline. Space under roof on the new campus, when maintenance buildings are included, will total between 80,000 and 90,000 square feet.

The facility will be a modern, highly secure building meant to provide the means to operate a 21st Century electrical generation and transmission utility. The project will be financed with a bond issue to be repaid with an estimated 2 percent wholesale electric rate increase. Groundbreaking is planned spring 2018 with completion anticipated November 2019.

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HEALTH CARE

Deal of the Year: UCHealth Greeley Hospital
Value: $135 million

 

GREELEY —  Aurora-based UCHealth in July broke ground on the $185 million UCHealth Greeley Campus that will include a hospital and a medical center.

The $135 million, 153,000-square-foot UCHealth Greeley Hospital, and the $50 million, 112-square-foot UCHealth Medical Center, are being built in phases southwest of U.S. Highway 34 Bypass and 65th Avenue.

The hospital and medical center are expected to be completed in late 2018.

The four-story hospital will provide 53 beds with room to grow and will include an intensive-care unit, an emergency department, operating rooms, advanced cardiology services, a birth center and a pharmacy. It will have a heliport for emergency transfers to other acute-care hospitals.

The three-story medical center will have 192 exam rooms to start with and be the new home for many UCHealth physicians who already provide primary and specialty care to patients across the region. Outpatient services will include cancer care, dermatology, ear, nose and throat, general surgery, imaging, labs, neurology, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedics, pediatrics, physical therapy, primary care, pulmonology, rehabilitation, rheumatology, urology and a pharmacy.

Runner-up: Banner/Centura Health provider network

CENTENNIAL — Banner Network Colorado in September joined Centura Health’s Colorado Health Neighborhoods.

The provider-network agreement, of which financial details were not disclosed,  became effective Jan 1.

BNC’s 60 primary-care providers, 246 specialists and three Banner Health hospitals in Northern Colorado — North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, McKee Medical Center in Loveland and Banner Fort Collins Medical Center in Fort Collins —  joined Colorado Health Neighborhoods, the region’s largest physician-led network. It has more than 1,400 primary-care providers and more than 2,800 specialists who are coordinating care for more than 220,000 patients.

Banner Network Colorado gained access to FullWell, a corporation wholly owned by Centura Health focusing on health management. BNC now works closely with Centura Health Employer Solutions, which offers direct-to-employer agreements for self-insured employers.

Runner-up: BCH/Ernest Health Inc. rehab hospital

LAFAYETTE — Boulder Community Health in June announced a partnership with Albuquerque-based Ernest Health Inc., to build a $24 million freestanding 40-bed rehabilitation hospital in Lafayette.

The new hospital will offer rehabilitative services to patients recovering from or living with disabilities caused by injuries, illnesses or chronic medical conditions, including strokes, brain injuries, orthopedic injuries, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis.

The partnership will enable BCH and Earnest Health to jointly increase inpatient capacity by 300 percent, providing 40 private rooms for patients rather than the 10 rooms BCH was intending to provide in the future, according to a prepared statement. The new hospital will feature private rooms, a 6,000-square foot gym and an outdoor therapeutic courtyard.

With the nearest rehabilitation hospitals in Denver and Loveland, the new rehabilitation hospital will treat patients primarily from Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, Longmont, Broomfield, Westminster, and Thornton.  It is expected to treat more than 900 patients every year and create about 120 jobs.

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NATURAL AND ORGANIC

Deal of the Year: Danone acquires WhiteWave

Value: $12.5 billion

BROOMFIELD — French dairy company Danone officially acquired WhiteWave in April for $12.5 billion.

To finalize the deal, Danone was required by the Department of Justice to divest of organic milk manufacturer Stonyfield Farms.

The proposed merger was first announced in July 2016, but faced opposition because of antitrust concerns. The decision to divest of Stonyfield Farms was a way to avoid monopolization of the market.

Denver-based WhiteWave also has a major operation in Broomfield.

The company will operate under the name DanoneWave. In October, the company announced a $60 million expansion in Virginia.

Runner-up: Alfalfa’s Market founders sell

BOULDER — The two co-founders of Boulder-based Alfalfa’s Market, one of the earliest natural food stores, sold their majority shares to investors in Denver.

In November, Mark Retzloff and Barney Feinblum sold to Mark Homlish, vice president of Lincoln Property Co., and William “Tripp” Wall, vice president of wealth management company Alliance Bernstein.

The new investors said they plan to revamp Alfalfa’s, which was founded in 1979, and expand across the Front Range. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Alfalfa’s was one of the first natural food grocers and a leader in making the Front Range one of the key hubs for the organic industry. Alfalfa’s had been purchased in 1996 by Boulder-based Wild Oats before Retzloff and Feinblum purchased it back in 2011.

Runner-up: Conagra buys Thanasi

BOULDER — Thanasi Foods LLC, based in Boulder, was acquired by Conagra Brands in March.

Thanasi makes Duke’s meat snacks and BIGS seeds. Both products are made in small batches.

Although financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the purchase marked the merger of a local natural food company with a major manufacturer. Chicago-based Conagra makes brands like SlimJim, Hunt’s and Marie Callender’s. But acquiring Thanasi was part of a strategic investment the food giant is making in premium quality food: Conagra also acquired Frontera, a Chicago-based gourmet Mexican food brand.

Thanasi’s brands — Duke’s and BIGS — both continue to operate in Boulder.

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REAL ESTATE

Deal of the Year: Flatiron Park
Value: $170 million

GREELEY —  Aurora-based UCHealth in July broke ground on the $185 million UCHealth Greeley Campus that will include a hospital and a medical center.

The $135 million, 153,000-square-foot UCHealth Greeley Hospital, and the $50 million, 112-square-foot UCHealth Medical Center, are being built in phases southwest of U.S. Highway 34 Bypass and 65th Avenue.

The hospital and medical center are expected to be completed in late 2018.

The four-story hospital will provide 53 beds with room to grow and will include an intensive-care unit, an emergency department, operating rooms, advanced cardiology services, a birth center and a pharmacy. It will have a heliport for emergency transfers to other acute-care hospitals.

The three-story medical center will have 192 exam rooms to start with and be the new home for many UCHealth physicians who already provide primary and specialty care to patients across the region. Outpatient services will include cancer care, dermatology, ear, nose and throat, general surgery, imaging, labs, neurology, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedics, pediatrics, physical therapy, primary care, pulmonology, rehabilitation, rheumatology, urology and a pharmacy.

Runner-up: Fort Collins portfolio
Value: $50.1 million

FORT COLLINS — Real estate investment firm Cress Capital LLC acquired several commercial properties in Fort Collins that were part of a blockbuster deal in 2015 between Boulder-based W.W. Reynolds Cos. and Seattle-based Unico Properties Inc.

Newport Beach, Calif.-based Cress Capital, with an office in Denver, paid $50.1 million to Denver-based Pauls Corp., for 23 office, flex and industrial buildings totaling approximately 500,000 square feet located between East Prospect Road, Midpoint Drive and Sharp Point Drive.

Six days after Unico Properties made the purchase in 2015, Unico sold the properties in Fort Collins to Pauls Corp., which used the entity Prospect Development Partners II LLC in the transaction.

The portfolio includes buildings at Midpoint Park, $25.8 million; Plum Tree Plaza, $7.7 million; One Prospect, $7.6 million; River Center, $5.5 million; Lake Center One, $4.5 million; Spring Creek, $2.6 million and Sharp Point, $1.8 million.

Runner-up: Downtown Boulder buildings
Value: $101 million

BOULDER — In June, the real-estate arm of New York private-equity firm Blackstone Group sold three office buildings in downtown Boulder for $101.3 million, six months after it purchased them for $92.6 million.

Three entities registered to New York-based JP Morgan & Co., acquired the buildings at 1900 15th St., 1881 Ninth St. and 1050 Walnut St., according to the records. The three buildings total roughly 221,000 square feet of office space, plus a pair of parking garages.

JP Morgan paid $48.37 million for 1050 Walnut St., $39.41 million for 1818 Ninth St., and $13.47 million for 1900 15th St. on May 24.

In November 2016, Blackstone paid Swedish pension manager Alecta $46.4 million for 1050 Walnut, $32.9 million for 1881 Ninth and $13.27 million for 1900 15th.

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SPORTS AND OUTDOORS

Deal of the Year: Windsor Sports Park breaks ground
Value: $225 million

WINDSOR — Developers of a 69-field, 413-acre sports park in Windsor broke ground in 2017 with a anticipated completion date of 2019.

The park, located at the northwest corner of Colorado Highway 257 and Harmony Road (Weld County Road 74). Anticipated cost of the park will be $225 million.

Described by developers as “the world’s largest of its kind,” the park will include 207 acres of land for commercial development. In addition to fields suitable for numerous outdoor sports, the complex will include an indoor-training facility that could be used year-round, and a “Miracle Field” for players with disabilities.

Runner-up: Outdoor Retailer Show opens in Denver
Value: $100 million

DENVER — Colorado, the state’s Office of Outdoor Industries and the Outdoor Industry Association headquartered in Boulder landed the Outdoor Retailer trade shows, a deal that could have an annual $100 million economic impact on the state of Colorado. The first of those shows, in January, was the largest trade show in the city’s history.

Securing the shows came about when show sponsors witnessed a pullback in Utah, the trade shows’ previous home, of support for the outdoor industry’s public lands political stances.

In addition to the monetary impact on Denver and Colorado, the shows’ move to the state also has been seen as a boon to regional outdoor companies, which will have easier access to the people who attend such shows to conduct business.

Runner-up: Xero Shoes raises capital
Value: $1 million

BROOMFIELD — Feel the World Inc., which does business as Xero Shoes, has raised $1 million through its equity crowdfunding campaign.

The minimalist shoe company hit its goal at the end of August after beginning the campaign in April. Xero has been growing rapidly in the last few years — the company was recently on the BizWest Mercury 100 list. CEO Steven Sashen said the funding raised would go to expanding the company’s product line and inventory.

Rather than use one of the more popular equity crowdfunding platforms, Xero used a system called Crowd Engine, which meant Xero had no broker dealer network to help them. Still, the company was able to get approval to raise in all 50 states.

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STARTUPS

Deal of the Year: Congruex forms, raises capital
Value: $20 million

Congruex was founded in May 2017 by Level 3 co-founder Kevin O’Hara and telecom veteran Bill Beans. It’s existed for less than a year, but the company has already made significant deals, included raising $20 million in capital in November.

The Boulder-based company acquired Georgia-based CCLD Technologies. (It also acquired another firm in January 2018.)

Congruex, which provides design, engineering and construction management to broadband providers, partnered with New York-based private equity firm Crestview Partners, which committed to $200 million of equity in the company.

With the deals its made, the new company has become the fourth-largest telecom engineering firm in the U.S.

Runner-up: Kindara embarks on crowdfunding round
Value: $3 million

In June, a Boulder-based fertility app became one of the first companies in the area to take advantage of equity crowdfunding. Kindara, a startup that provides health and fertility data to women, announced its Series A round for $3 million.

The company chose to use equity crowdfunding because it wanted to allow its community members to be shareholders, COO Tia Newcomer told BizWest.

After making its announcement in the summer, Kindara was cleared to officially start accepting investments in October. Minimum investments started at $1,000.

“With so many exciting new opportunities and the proven passion of our existing and still growing community,”  CEO Ira Hernowitz told BizWest at the time, “we expect this investment round to fuel the growth that we are so excited about.”

Runner-up: Sphero launches subsidiary Misty Robotics
Value: $11.5 million

Sphero Inc. started 2018 with a layoff, but 2017 had more positive news, with the launch of the company’s first subsidiary.

Misty Robotics Inc. was spun-off from Sphero as its creator of personal robots for the home and office.

Misty received $11.5 million in Series A funding from Venrock, Foundry Group and others. Ian Bernstein, former Sphero co-founder and chief technology officer, became head of product.

Misty Robotics’ goal is to put a personal robot in every home, which will provide helpful tasks and interact with humans.

Although operating separately, the two companies remain in close partnership, with co-marketing and co-development deals.

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TECHNOLOGY

Deal of the Year: CenturyLink acquires Level 3
Value: $34 billion

On Oct. 30, the Federal Communications Commission approved CenturyLink’s acquisition of Level 3 Communications Inc. for $34 billion.

Almost a year to the day after the acquisition was announced, it was officially announced that Broomfield-based Level 3 would be folded into CenturyLink’s brand.

During that year, the deal was approved by shareholders, state government, the Department of Justice and the FCC. At one point the close date was pushed back from September to October.

When it was completed, however, the deal marked the acquisition of one of the Front Range’s largest telecom companies by a national broadband juggernaut.

Runner-up: Zayo Group buys Spread Networks
Value: $127 million

Zayo Group acquired Chicago-based Spread Networks at the end of November for $127 million in cash.

The deal added 825 route miles of fiber optic cable between New York and Chicago to Zayo’s arsenal, a significant amount of which is still unutilized. The route also connects to Zayo’s existing hubs in Seattle and San Francisco.

In addition to the acquisition, Zayo offered $500 million in senior notes in April and $300 million in senior notes in June.

The company also made smaller deals: a new data center in Atlanta, a colocation center in Westminster and the acquisition of Electric Lightwave, among others.

Runner-up: Datavail acquires Navantis, Accelatis

Datavail made two major acquisitions in 2017.

In January, the Broomfield-based provider of managed data services acquired Navantis Inc., a 200-person firm in Toronto. Through the deal, Navantis became Broomfield-based Datavail’s Microsoft Solutions Division.

In July, Datavail made another acquisition — what would be its fourth in just 12 months. Accelatis, a management-software firm in Wilton, Conn., was acquired. Four months prior, the company had also purchased Advanced EPM, an Oracle Platinum Partner.

The financial terms for the deals were not disclosed, but they marked a clear growth plan for Datavail as it continued to manage data services for hundreds of clients.

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TRANSPORTATION

Deal of the Year:  Interstate 25 expansion moves forward
Value: $248 million

DENVER — After a year of maneuvering, the Colorado Department of Transportation reached the contract stage by the end of 2017 and issued a contract in the first business days of 2018 to begin the expansion of expand Interstate 25 in Northern Colorado.

Kraemer/IHC will add express lanes in each direction on Interstate 25 from Johnstown to Fort Collins. The contract includes replacing aging bridges and widening others, creating new pedestrian and bicycle access under I-25 at Kendall Parkway, and connecting the Cache la Poudre River Regional Trail under I-25. Construction will begin in 2018 and be completed in late 2021.

Local partners and elected officials have been heavily involved in the planning, implementation and funding of the project. Partners include Larimer and Weld counties, the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland, the towns of Berthoud, Johnstown, Windsor and Timnath, Loveland-based real estate developer McWhinney and the Prospect Interchange Task Force. Those partners have contributed a total of $55 million to the project.

U.S. Highway 34 in canyon nears completion

Work on U.S. Highway 34 through the Big Thompson Canyon, damaged in the September 2013 flood, began in 2015, continued all last year and is expected to be complete by December 2018.

The massive engineering and construction project is intended to make the critical connection between Loveland and Estes Park flood proof.

The roadway was rebuilt after the 1976 Big Thompson Flood but didn’t survive the 2013 deluge. This time, the Colorado Department of Transportation hopes it has discovered the technology to permanently shore it up.

Runner-up: Weld County Road 49
Value: $109.6 million

GREELEY – Weld County completed work on the long-envisioned Weld County Road 49 corridor in 2017. The $109.6 million expansion serves as an alternative north/south route through the county to supplement the capacity of U.S. Highway 85 and Interstate 25.

The roadway also improves local traffic along the route from Hudson to Kersey, which sees significant heavy truck numbers because of the oil and gas industry.

The 20-mile project was begun in 2014. It was expanded from two narrow lanes to five lanes.

While improvements to WCR 49 had been on the county’s project list for years, the 2013 flood prompted its completion now.

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