Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • October 5, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY NY insurer to buy The Phoenix Cos. for $217M Long-time Harford insurer The Phoenix Cos. Inc. is being sold for $217.2 million cash to fledgling New York insurance provider Nassau Reinsurance Group Holdings L.P. The deal is due to close early next year, both companies announced last week. Afterwards, The Phoenix becomes a private company, but corporate headquarters will stay in Hartford. Phoenix and Nassau said the $37.50 a share offer represents a 188 per- cent premium over Phoenix's Sept. 28 closing price of $13.03. As part of the deal, Nassau will pump another $100 million of fresh equity capital into Phoenix to bolster its balance sheet, the parties said. Founded as a Hartford life insurer in 1851, Phoenix has a pair of insurance subsidiaries — Phoenix Life Insurance, based in East Greenbush, N.Y.; and PHL Variable Life insurance, based in Hartford. It also owns Saybrus Partners Inc., which markets insurance and other financial products to professionals for business, estate and other financial- planning purposes. The deal comes less than 18 months after The Phoenix appeared to have wrapped the last of its accounting restatements for prior periods due to an accounting snafu. However, earlier this year Phoenix announced more changes were due after more errors were found for the quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2013, and quarter ended June 30, 2014. Nassau is backed by Golden Gate Capital, a private San Francisco invest- ment firm founded in 2000 with more than $15 billion of committed capital. LEGAL & COURTS Simsbury tech firm sues Facebook over targeted ads A Simsbury company that offers businesses a way to target advertising to nearby smart phones has filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging the social networking giant is offering an infringing product. ConnectQuest filed suit in U.S. District Court on Sept. 17, alleging infringe- ment of its patent covering its close proximity notification system, which allows users to advertise and provide discounts and loyalty bonuses to nearby custom- ers who have the ConnectQuest app on their phones. Facebook began offering a targeting advertising product called Facebook Beacon in June, including to retailers in Connecticut, the complaint says. ConnectQuest argues that Facebook Beacon infringes on its patent. ConnectQuest, represented by Cantor Colburn, has asked the court for a jury trial, permanent injunction and damages. REAL ESTATE Members, investors buy Hartford Club out of foreclosure Two Hartford businessmen and a group of Hartford Club members have pur- chased the club's mortgage from Berkshire Bank, which had previously fore- closed on the debt, the club announced. Alan Lazowski, chairman and CEO of Laz Parking, and Henry M. Zachs, a local realty investor and CEO of Message Center Management, joined with about 40 club members in paying off Hartford's Club's approximately $1.1 million mort- gage debt and back taxes. Berkshire Bank foreclosed on the club in 2013 and in June won the approval of a foreclosure sale. But the sale never occurred. ECONOMY & LABOR CT lands seven billionaires on Forbes richest list The state of Connecticut is home to seven of the top 400 richest Americans, according to Forbes magazine. Ray Dalio, the Greenwich founder of the investment firm Bridgewater As- sociates, is the richest Connecticut resident, with a final worth of $15.3 billion, according to Forbes. Dalio is the 29th richest American. The other top six richest Connecticut residents include: Stamford hedge fund manager Steve Cohen ($12 billion, 37th richest American); Greenwich investor Paul Tudor Jones ($4.7 billion, 114th); Branford heiress Karen Pritzker ($4.3 billion, 128th); Subway co-founder Peter Buck of Danbury ($3.5 billion, 171st); Greenwich hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel ($2.4 billion, 279th); and Greenwich investor and brewer C. Dean Metropoulos ($2.4 billion, 279th). ENERGY & UTILITIES Study: CT solar has $6.2B in untapped potential A study released last week by a California research firm says Connecticut's mid-sized commercial solar market has $6.2 billion in untapped potential. Santa Barbara-based Wiser Capital calculated that Connecticut has 5,802 commercial rooftops with no renewable energy that could host suitable solar systems of at least 350 kilowatts. Based on Wiser's calculation of an average cost of $3.07 per watt to install a solar system, the state has $6.2 billion in solar potential. Wiser's study actually showed 25,357 commercial rooftops in Connecticut had solar potential, but it discounted a large portion of those for not being suit- able due to ownership and business viability. HEALTH CARE Middlesex Hospital joins Mayo network Middletown's Middlesex Hospital has joined the network of one of the world's foremost patient-care providers and researchers, the Mayo Clinic. Middlesex CEO Vincent Capece Jr. announced the partnership last week, hail- ing it as an opportunity for the 111-year-old hospital "to elevate the delivery of care to our communities." The partnership does not impact Middlesex Hospital's independence, officials said. "We see this as a long-term collaboration that will enable us to bring premier care to the patients we serve and jointly address the challenges we all face in health care," he said in a statement. Middlesex Hospital is the first healthcare organization in Connecticut to join the Mayo Care Clinic Network that launched in 2011, Capece said. The network consists of more than 30 member organizations across the U.S., and in Mexico and Singapore. The nonprofit Mayo Clinic is based in Rochester, Minn. St. Francis officially merges with Trinity Health One month after receiving official regulatory approval, the parent of St. Fran- cis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford last week officially completed its merger with Michigan-based Trinity Health. "This is an historic day for St. Francis, our patients, employees, physicians, and community," said Christopher Dadlez, president and CEO of St. Francis Care. The move by St. Francis Care will have short- and long-term impacts for the hospital, particularly its finances, as Trinity has agreed to commit $275 million in capital over five years for infrastructure development, new health services lines, mergers and acquisitions, and doctor recruitment. Trinity has also agreed to help St. Francis restructure its long-term debt, pay down its pension liability, and complete a conversion of its electronic medical record system. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. St. Francis Hospital and Medi- cal Center, Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital and other St. Francis entities are under the new Trinity Health regional umbrella in New England. BY THE NUMBERS $6.2B The untapped potential of Connecticut's solar energy market, according to a study by Wiser Capital. 9.7% The drop in violent crime in Connecticut last year, according to the FBI. $37.50 The per-share price a fledgling New York insurance group has offered to acquire The Phoenix Cos. $5.1M The amount approved last week by the state Bond Commission to build a missing link in a bike trail from New Haven to Northampton, Mass. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ CT lands seven billionaires on Forbes richest list ■ The Phoenix's buyer to invest $317M ■ N. Britain baker gets 1 day, fines for fraud ■ Simsbury tech firm sues Facebook over targeted ads ■ Wayback anticipates 2016 IPO 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 Phoenix Cos.' boat-building headquarters in downtown Hartford. P H O T O | H B J F I L E

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