Hartford Business Journal

4 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | AUGUST 10, 2026 What's Trending Growing through acquisition West Hartford-based New Silver, a financial technology company that provides financing to residential real estate developers, is using an acqui- sition to accelerate its expansion. The company announced in late July it acquired Mayflower Venture Partners, a Quincy, Massachu- setts-based firm specializing in fix-and-flip and new construction loans for single-family and small multifamily properties throughout New England. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. New Silver said the purchase expands its geographic reach and broadens its loan offerings. Company officials said the combined business will have greater capacity to finance exploration drilling later this year, with commercial production targeted for 2029. Capitalizing on a milestone For Danbury-based MannKind Corp., the need for capital followed a significant achievement. The biopharmaceutical company announced last month that it raised $50 million from institutional inves- tors after receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for Furoscix ReadyFlow, a treatment for adults with heart failure or chronic kidney disease. The financing will fund a $45 million milestone payment tied to MannKind's 2025 acquisition of scPharmaceuticals, which devel- oped the treatment. The payment was triggered by the FDA's approval of Furoscix ReadyFlow, while the remaining proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes as the company prepares for the product's commercial launch. MannKind, which reported 592 employees at the end of 2025, expects to begin U.S. sales of Furoscix ReadyFlow by the end of August. The treatment allows patients to administer the medica- tion at home in about 10 seconds instead of receiving intravenous diuretic therapy in a hospital or other healthcare setting. HBJ Staff Writer David Krechevsky contributed to this story. By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com B usinesses rarely finance growth the same way. Some companies borrow to expand. Others raise money from investors, acquire competitors or tap the public markets to fund the next stage of development. The strategy often depends on where a company is in its life cycle and what it's trying to accomplish. Three Connecticut companies recently illustrated those differences. Their financing decisions — an acqui- sition, a public stock offering and an institutional investment — illustrate distinct approaches to funding expansion, advancing a long-term project and commercializing a newly approved product. larger and more complex real estate projects, and Mayflower's customers will gain access to additional lending products. The Mayflower team will remain with the company following the acquisition. Funding a project before it produces revenue American Battery Materials faces a different challenge. The Greenwich-based company is seeking to become a U.S. producer of lithium and magnesium by devel- oping mineral resources in Utah that could supply battery manufacturers and other industries. Its first project, in Utah's Lisbon Valley, remains in the exploration stage as the company works to determine whether the minerals can be extracted economi- cally from underground brine. To help finance that work, Amer- ican Battery Materials has filed plans to raise about $16.3 million through a public stock offering. According to its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, most of the proceeds would fund drilling, permitting and geological work. The company also said some of the money could be used to acquire addi- tional mineral rights and for general corporate purposes. American Battery has not yet begun mining operations or gener- ated mining revenue. According to its prospectus, it expects to begin • Danbury-based Ethan Allen Inte- riors, a furniture manufacturer and retailer, said it received $5 million in tariff refunds through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection claims process, boosting its fourth-quarter gross and operating margins. • Shelton-based Pitney Bowes, which provides shipping, mailing and financial services, reported a $5 million tariff refund. • Stamford-based Lovesac, a furniture retailer, said it received $3.6 million in tariff refunds that will be recognized in its second-quarter results. • New Britain-based Stanley Black & Decker, a manufacturer of power tools and industrial equipment, said tariff refunds added about 17 cents per share to its adjusted second-quarter earnings but did not disclose the dollar value. The refunds stem from the Supreme Court's February ruling that tariffs imposed under IEEPA were unlawful because the law does not authorize a president to impose tariffs in response to trade deficits. Bigelow Tea said the tariffs had cost the company millions, while Oxford importer B. United Interna- tional sought to recover more than $518,000. Other Connecticut companies that pursued claims included Timex Group, RBC Bearings, Breitling USA, Q-Tran and Engineering Services and Products Co. The Supreme Court ruling applies only to tariffs imposed under IEEPA. Separate tariffs on products such as steel and aluminum remain in effect, and the Trump administra- tion recently imposed a new round of tariffs under different legal authority. By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com M ore Connecticut compa- nies are beginning to collect refunds on tariffs invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court, signaling that a federal reim- bursement process businesses waited months to access is now delivering payments. Wallingford-based Amphenol Corp., a manufacturer of electronic and fiber-optic connectors, reported an $80 million net benefit from recov- ering tariff payments made under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The company said the recoveries helped lift its second-quarter profits, which totaled $1.8 billion, up from $1.1 billion a year earlier. Other Connecticut companies have also disclosed tariff refunds through the federal reimbursement process: • Shelton-based Hubbell Inc., which manufactures electrical and utility infrastructure products, disclosed in a quarterly filing that it received about $30 million in IEEPA tariff refunds in July. The decision overturned a key part of the Trump administration's trade policy but initially left businesses uncertain about how they would recover billions of dollars in duties already paid. U.S. Customs and Border Protec- tion later established an admin- istrative claims process, though many businesses also filed lawsuits in the U.S. Court of International Trade to preserve their refund rights while the government developed its reimbursement system. Earlier this year, numerous Connecticut companies said they planned to seek refunds worth millions of dollars. Fairfield-based CT companies take different paths to finance growth More CT companies collect tariff refunds after Supreme Court ruling New Silver Chief Risk Officer Alex Shvayetsky (left) and CEO Kirill Bensonoff in the fintech company's West Hartford boardroom. The company is growing through a recent acquisition. HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever Stanley Black & Decker, whose New Britain headquarters is shown above, said tariff refunds benefited its second-quarter results. Contributed Photo

• Cover