Hartford Business Journal

2 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | AUGUST 21, 2023 Biz Briefs Tel: (860) 236-9998 | Fax: (860) 570-2493 Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O Box 330 Congers, NY 10920-9894 Peter Stanton | CEO, pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Tom Curtin | President, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Subscriptions Annual subscriptions are $132.00. To subscribe, visit HartfordBusiness.com, email circulation@ hartfordbusiness.com, or call (845) 267-3008. Advertising For advertising information, please call (860) 236-9998. Please address all correspondence to: Hartford Business Journal, 100 Allyn Street, Suite 3, Hartford, CT 06103 Stay Connected For breaking and daily Greater Hartford business news go to: www.HartfordBusiness.com HBJ on Twitter: @HartfordBiz HBJ on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HartfordBiz HBJ on Linkedln:www.linkedin.com/company/the-Hart- ford-Business-Journal Daily e-newsletters: HBJ Today, CT Morning Blend: www.hartfordbusiness.com/enewsletters Hartford Business Journal (ISSN 1083-5245) is published bi-weekly, 27x per year — including two special issues in November and December — by New England Business Media, LLC, 100 Allyn Street, Suite 3, Hartford, CT 06103. Periodicals postage paid at Hartford, CT and at additional entry points. Editorial Greg Bordonaro | Editor, ext. 139 gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com Michelle Tuccitto Sullo | Managing Editor, ext. 127 msullo@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Health Care, Higher Education Drew Larson | Web Editor, ext. 121 alarson@hartfordbusiness.com Michael Puffer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 mpuffer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Real Estate, Economic Development, Banking & Finance Hanna Snyder Gambini | Staff Writer hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Economic Development, Arts, Culture & Tourism Skyler Frazer | Staff Writer, ext. 145 sfrazer@hartfordbusiness.com Beats: Manufacturing, Cannabis, Technology, Transportation Stephanie R. Meagher | Lead Researcher Heide Martin | Research Assistant Steve Laschever | Photographer Business Tom Curtin | Publisher, ext. 124, tcurtin@hartfordbusiness.com Jessica M. Quinn | General Manager, ext. 137 jquinn@hartfordbusiness.com David Hartley | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 130, dhartley@HartfordBusiness.com Daniel Schilke | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 135, dschilke@HartfordBusiness.com Emily Paskind | Senior Accounts Manager, ext. 133, epaskind@hartfordbusiness.com Tracy Rodwill | Human Resources Manager trodwill@nebusinessmedia.com Production Bartosz Zinowko | Production Director, ext. 147 bzinowko@hartfordbusiness.com Hartford City Hall at 550 Main St. Moody's upgrades Hartford's bond rating M oody's Investors Service has upgraded the city of Hartford's bond issuer rating. The rating agency said it has upgraded the city's rating from Baa3 from Ba2. It also upgraded Hartford's outlook from stable to positive. An improved bond rating would allow the city to access cheaper debt in the future. The city has approximately $540 million in debt, according to Moody's, which said Hartford's "sizable capitol economy" and contract assistance agreement with the state are positive indicators. Under that assistance agreement, the city's general obligation bonds are paid by the state of Connecticut, Moody's said. The agreement was hatched in 2018 as part of a bailout plan for the city, which was facing severe financial challenges and the threat of bankruptcy at the time. The ratings agency said the upgrade reflects the "city's continued financial improvement" and "significantly stronger budget management practices." However, Moody's did say challenges remain for Hartford, including "well below average resident wealth and outsized poverty," that will persist as a long-term issue. UI, which provides elec- tricity to 341,000 customers in 17 towns, is a subsidiary of Orange-based Avangrid. UI says the revenue approved in PURA's draft decision is "utterly insufficient" to cover operating costs, including staffing levels and capital costs, to attract needed capital to maintain its financial integrity. State to spend $315M on 60 new rail cars The state is making a more than $300 million investment to modernize its transit system by purchasing 60 new rail cars for the Hartford and New Haven Lines, the first of which are expected to be delivered in 2026. Gov. Ned Lamont announced the state Department of Transportation has entered into a contract with French transportation company Alstom for the new 85-foot-long, single-level rail coach cars, valued at $315 million. The purchases are part of the state's ongoing rail car renewal program. The contract includes options to build an additional 313 cars for the state as part of the program, according to Alstom. The 60 new cars will be more modern and sustainable than those currently in use, the state said, with Wi-Fi, real-time informational displays and USB ports. CT Lottery CEO Smith to retire The Connecticut Lottery Corp. is beginning a search for a new chief executive in a time of tumult: A new point-of-sales system has wrongly invalidated a few winning tickets, its sports-betting vendor is quitting in the second year of a 10-year deal, and an iLottery promised years ago has yet to launch. Greg Smith, who has been seen as a stabilizing presence since being hired as the lottery's External rendering of new rail car. Cred HBJ FILE PHOTO Keegan Bradley at the Travelers Championship. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED 2024 Travelers Championship will be signature event for PGA Tour Just a few weeks after the conclu- sion of the 2023 Travelers Champion- ship, event organizers already have the news they wanted to hear: next year's tournament will continue to be a signature event for the PGA Tour. Travelers Championship officials announced that 2024's event will once again feature an elevated purse of $20 million and a guar- antee of top golfers. Last year, the PGA called such tournaments "designated" events. Next year's championship is sched- uled for June 17 to June 23, at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell. The field will include up to 80 top players, who will each play all four days; there will be no player cuts after the second round, a change in format. In rate hike denial protest, United Illuminating calls CT utility regulatory environment 'one of the worst in the U.S.' United Illuminating Co. has filed a response in opposition to a proposed rate cut by the Public Utilities Regu- latory Authority, calling the regulatory environment in Connecticut "one of the worst in the U.S." In July, PURA released a draft decision cutting about 99% of UI's proposed three-year rate increase of $130.7 million. PURA reduced UI's increase to just $2 million. According to UI's response, the decision would harm the company and require an immediate write-off of $37.3 million in regulatory assets. UI is asking PURA to "moderate" its decision. The draft decision is "designed with the singular objective of distressing the company because it is a public utility company," the filing states. The Connecticut headquarters of United Illuminating. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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