Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • August 24, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY 7,000 could lose Access Health coverage The state's health insurance exchange, Access Health CT, said 7 percent of its private insurance customers risk losing their Obamacare coverage and related tax credits in the next three months because they have ignored notices to submit required documentation. Access Health CEO Jim Wadleigh last week urged the 7,000 customers to submit required documentation of their income, citizenship status and other details. The exchange recorded a spike in calls in June and July from customers who discovered they didn't have health coverage. He said the exchange has hired 10 more staff members to handle phone calls regarding loss of coverage, is renegotiating its call center contract, and plans to robo-call customers who are facing imminent deadlines. Wadleigh said the exchange also faces another challenge: Xerox, which verifies the documents, has a backlog of approximately 16,000 customers. Xerox is contracted with the state Department of Social Services to verify Medicaid enrollments under Obamacare. The company doesn't have a con- tract directly with Access Health. The exchange is looking into getting its own separate vendor and con- tractor to handle enrollments in private or so-called qualified health plans, Wadleigh said. ENERGY & UTILITIES Middletown solar firm secures $165M financing deal Middletown solar integrator Greenskies Renewable Energy said it has closed on a $165 million financing package that will support 127 projects in 12 states, stretching from Maine to California. Greenskies said the 127 solar projects for corporate and municipal custom- ers will generate enough electricity to power 13,000 average New England homes for a year. The deal represents Greenskies' sixth financing round with First Niagara Fi- nancial Group since 2012. It said an unnamed tax equity provider is also a party to the package. CT Green Bank crowdfunds $1M in solar loans The Connecticut Green Bank has become the first government agency to success- fully use private crowdfunding to finance solar incentive programs. The Green Bank packaged $1 million of its loan programs and sold that bundle to solar crowdfunding platform Mosaic, which in turn offered it to its in- dividual investors. For as little as $25, investors using the Mosaic platform could then financially back the bundle for a 5.5 percent yield over a 15-year term. "The success of this initiative demonstrates … that there is a new market for residential solar financing through crowdfunding," said Bryan Garcia, Con- necticut Green Bank president and CEO. The Green Bank provided the initial $5 million in funding for those solar loans. The bank then partnered with Sungage Financial to develop a first-of-its-kind formula using projected energy savings from solar projects as a valuation to size the loans. GOVERNMENT & POLITICS 23 CT nail salons reopen after DOL wage shutdown The state Department of Labor said last week that 23 nail salons around the state were open and operating again following surprise inspections and shut- downs earlier in the month. The agency said the inspections helped recover more than $47,000 in owed wages, mainly related to employers paying less than the state's minimum wage of $9.15 per hour. The salons will pay another $79,000 in civil penalties for underreported payroll and paying employees in cash, and $21,300 for wage and hour violations, DOL said. Several salons did not have required worker's compensation insurance. Acting on complaints and recent scrutiny of salon practices spurred by a New York Times exposé published in May, DOL inspected 25 Connecticut nail salons. Of the 23 salons that were temporarily shut down, five were in Hartford. HEALTH CARE & INSURANCE DOJ's review of $37B Aetna-Humana deal extended The U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust review of Hartford health insurer Aetna's proposed acquisition of Humana will be extended another month, Aetna said. Aetna said last week that it will refile its Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Im- provements Act premerger notification with DOJ, which triggers the 30-day extension. Aetna still projects the transaction will close in the latter half of next year. Under Hart-Scott-Rodino, which applies to large deals, federal regulators must determine that combining the two companies will not have an anti-com- petitive effect on the health insurance market. BANKING & FINANCE SS&C buys Citigroup unit for $425M Windor's SS&C Technologies Holdings said it has acquired Citigroup's alter- native investor services business for $425 million. The Citigroup unit adds hedge fund and private equity fund services, as well as clients, to SS&C's existing roster of fund administration offerings. "This acquisition is solidly in line with SS&C's strategy of combining organic growth with select, high-quality acquisitions," SS&C CEO and Chairman Bill Stone said in a statement. The company hopes to close the deal, which is subject to regulatory approv- als, by March of next year. ECONOMY CT hiring lowers July jobless rate to 5.4% Connecticut employers added 4,100 workers in July, cutting the state's jobless rate to 5.4 percent, state labor authorities say. Last month was the third in a row for job gains, the state Labor Department said, citing preliminary U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The U.S. jobless rate fell to 5.3 percent in July. Connecticut has now recovered 102,000 jobs, or 86 percent, of the total jobs lost during the Great Recession, the agency said. The state's June jobless rate was 5.7 percent, and was 6.4 percent in July 2014. Hiring in professional and business services, education and health services, financial activities and government contributed to July's job gains. Conversely, construction and mining, information, leisure and hospitality, and trade, transportation and utilities shed jobs, the state labor department said. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Hartford CPA firm acquires Hamden firm Hartford's Whittlesey & Hadley said that Hamden's Weinstein & Anastasio will merge into the firm next month. Weinstein & Anastasio lists 10 employees on its website, including four part- ners. Combined under the Whittlesey & Hadley brand, the firms will have 155 employees, including 21 partners, located in Hartford, Hamden and Holyoke, Mass. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the companies said it would allow them to integrate their technical resources. The deal also fits in with Whittlesey & Hadley's plans to expand in the New England and New York markets. ECONOMIC DEVEOPLEMENT Flanagan's Landing a go for Glastonbury Four years after it was first unveiled, the 250-unit Flanagan's Landing luxury apartments in Glastonbury has hit a significant milestone. Construction will soon begin on the first phase now that Hartford developer Martin J. Kenny and his Lexington Partners LLC have finally closed their pur- chase of 31 acres that were a tannery in the center of town, officials said last week. Project funding consists of a $36.5 million construction loan from Wells Fargo Bank and $15 million in equity from a partnership consisting of Lexington, LAZ Investments, and an unidentified private institutional real estate fund. When built, Flanagan's Landing will have 47 units in the restored mill build- ings and 203 units within five new garden-style apartment buildings. BY THE NUMBERS 4,100 The number of new jobs Connecticut employers added in July, bringing the state's jobless rate down to 5.4 percent. 16.6% The percent increase of Connecticut single-family home sales in July, with 1,266 units trading hands. 23 The number of Connecticut nail salons state regulators shut down earlier this month because of minimum wage and other violations. 7,000 The number of Connecticut residents who could lose their Obamacare private health plan coverage in the next three months because they haven't submitted proper paperwork. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ Farmington ad agency closes ■ Downtown Y's fall relo to State House Sq. ■ Ambit Energy named best CT electric supplier ■ DOJ's review of $37B Aetna-Humana deal extended ■ 23 CT nail salons reopen after DOL wage shutdown 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 P H O T O | H B J F I L E Access Health CT CEO Jim Wadleigh warned 7,000 customers last week that they could lose their health insurance coverage if they don't submit proper paperwork.

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