Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • July 6, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY CT Inc. coolly cheers revised budget The state's largest business lobby last week voiced reserved support for lawmaker's revised budget agreement that rolled back $178 million in tax increases approved by the legislature just a few weeks earlier. "As originally adopted by the General Assembly, the budget hurt companies' ability to compete," said Joe Brennan, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. "By reopening the budget and making modifi- cations to tax increases, lawmakers have begun undoing some of the damage." Last week, the House and Senate held a special session and approved a revised two-year, $40 billion budget. Brennan said that even in its revised form, the spending plan still in- creases taxes by about $1.3 billion, including higher levies on employers, and reductions in the value of tax credits and operating loss provisions. Lawmakers rolled back tax hikes on data processing and web development services and delayed for a year the shift to unitary reporting for corporations. "Make no mistake about it, taken as a whole, this budget does not help Connecticut's overall competitiveness," he said. "Policymakers now must aggressively follow up on the special session with structural reforms that more efficiently deliver services, reduce long-term costs, and stabilize our economy to benefit everyone who lives in Connecticut." During the special budget session, lawmakers also approved a new eco- nomic competitiveness commission to help develop policies promoting eco- nomic growth, Brennan said. ADVERTISING, MEDIA & MARKETING HBJ wins two biz-pub awards The Hartford Business Journal's editorial staff has won two Editorial Excellence awards from the Alliance of Area Business Publishers, an industry association. HBJ received silver in the Best Print Scoop: Small Tabloids category for Edi- tor Greg Bordonaro's story "Hartford Healthcare Eyes Aggressive Capital Invest- ments," which detailed the health system's $1.2 billion plan to reshape its flag- ship Hartford campus. "HBJ's editorial team works hard every day to keep our readers up-to-date in print and online on the latest business news from around the region," Bordonaro said. "These awards affirm our team's commitment to delivering high-quality journalism." HBJ also received bronze in the Best Specialty E-Newsletter category for its CT Green Guide Weekly newsletter, which is overseen and created by Managing Editor Brad Kane. "Green Guide enjoys strong support from a very loyal niche audience," Kane said. "While we are extremely pleased AABP recognizes the hard work we do for our readers, we will constantly innovate to provide much-needed news and data for the sustainable business-to-business market." ENERGY & UTILITIES CT preliminarily rejects $3B Spanish utility takeover The Connecticut Public Utilities Authority in a draft decision last week re- jected Spanish energy giant Iberdrola's proposed $3 billion acquisition of New Haven utility parent UIL Holdings. The PURA commissioners said in their draft decision that they didn't know enough about how Iberdrola would operate UIL's three Connecticut utilities — United Illumi- nating, Connecticut Natural Gas and Southern Connecticut Gas — and wouldn't ask ratepayers to venture into the unknown. The commissioners said Iberdrola's history of mergers and acquisitions didn't give them confidence moving forward. The draft decision is not the final say and Iberdrola and UIL still could secure approval of the deal before PURA renders its final decision, which would come after a July 17 special meeting between the parties involved. "Clearly we were disappointed with the Connecticut Public Utilities Regu- latory Authority's draft decision regarding the Iberdrola-UIL Change of Control proceeding," said UIL CEO James Torgerson, who would lead the new company. "While the current draft language would, if adopted as final, deny the change of control of UIL, the draft decision also provides an opportunity to UIL and Iber- drola to address the concerns that PURA expresses in the draft decision. We look forward to providing clarification and additional information to PURA quickly." PURA said in its ruling UIL and Iberdrola still must prove that: the transaction would be in the public interest, the managerial structure would remain effective, the new company would have the financial wherewithal to continue operating the utilities, and the new company would provide safe and reliable energy to customers. Iberdrola and UIL hoped to have the transaction completed by the end of the year. They have achieved the majority of their regulatory approvals, except for those from Connecticut, Massachusetts, the U .S. Securities & Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S. N. England power prices drop to 4th lowest in 12 years The average price for wholesale power in New England dropped in May to the fourth-lowest monthly price in 12 years, according to regional electric grid administrator ISO New England. The $26.12 per megawatt hour paid for May was only higher than the $25.88 paid in April, the $25.41 paid in April 2012, and the $25.39 paid in March 2012. Wholesale power prices benefitted from the lowest monthly price since 2003 for natural gas — which generates more than half of New England electricity — that more than offset the warm weather for the month, which increased demand particularly for air conditioners. Wholesale power prices are just one aspect that make up what ratepayers ultimately pay to their utilities. While wholesale provides a base, other factors like transmission, distribution, taxes, government fees, and ratepayers' supply contacts influence the retail price. BIOSCIENCE CI gives bioscience $1M to bridge valley of death Quasi-public investment agency Connecticut Innovations said it will provide $1 million in funding over two years for startups in the bioscience industry to traverse the so-called valley of death. The new program — to be led by Yale's Center for Biomedical & Interven- tional Technology — is designed to help early-stage companies develop their products until private investors are willing to provide capital. This fills a hole in the bioscience funding community called the valley of death, where startups are too far along for government-sponsored funding but don't have a developed enough business to entice private capital. The focus of the $1 million, which comes from the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund, will be on the medical technology sector. Companies can apply for funding twice per year, with the strongest proposals receiving up to $30,000. The pipeline project is being led by Chris Loose, executive director of CBIT at Yale, and supported at Quinnipiac University by Richard Stahl, senior associate dean for strategic relationships at the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, and at UConn by Mei Wei, associate dean for research and graduate education. MANUFACTURING CT printer Integrity buys Mass. rival Windsor's Integrity Graphics has purchased the assets of a Massachusetts printer to expand its New England region market share. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Based in North Adams, Mass., Excelsior's office there will remain open with its sales team. Integrity provides digital and offset printing, finishing and binding services through its 115 workers, CEO and co-founder Joseph E. La Valla said in a state- ment. This is Integrity's third buyout in the last four years: Colonial Printing in War- wick, R.I., was bought in 2011; and Newport's PDQ Graphics in 2012. TECHNOLOGY Hartford ranked fifth best for growing tech industry Greater Hartford last week was named to the top five in the Up-and-Coming Cities for Tech Jobs ranking by California talent firm ZipRecruiter. The Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford metropolitan area received the high ranking for its diversification of industries with insurance, health care, and tech, as well as being the headquarters of United Technologies Corp. and having nearby local universities and a high quality of life. The top five tech jobs ZipRecruiter said are in Greater Hartford are appli- cations engineer, systems analyst, infrastructure engineer, Java developer and data architect. The top city in the ranking is Austin, Texas, followed by Raleigh, N.C.; Provo, Utah; Fort Collins, Colo.; Hartford; and Indianapolis. BY THE NUMBERS 97 The number of state legislators, mostly Democrats, who last week voted in favor of Connecticut's revised two-year, $40 billion budget. $1.5M The amount of charity money raised by this year's Travelers Championship, which will help fund various nonprofits including The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford. 67 The number of electric vehicles sold in Connecticut since the state began offering cash rebates up to $3,000 for residents purchasing or leasing such cars. $26.12 The average per megawatt hour price of New England wholesale power in May, which was the fourth lowest monthly price in 12 years, according to ISO New England. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ Poland out at yearend as library CEO ■ Winstanley reaps $35.2M in Rocky Hill sales ■ CT preliminarily rejects $3B Spanish utility takeover ■ ' Engineer' hire costs Garg $390K ■ Carhatt to dress up Evergreen Walk 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 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ the-Hartford-Business-Journal Daily e-newsletters: HBJ Today, CT Morning Blend www.HartfordBusiness.com/subscribe Weekly e-newsletters: CT Green Guide Weekly www.HartfordBusiness.com/subscribe WEEK IN REVIEW The state House of Representatives met last week during special session. P H O T O | P A B L O R O B L E S

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