Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • June 27, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com TOP STORY Phoenix sale complete, CEO steps down Hartford insurer The Phoenix Cos. Inc. and Nassau Reinsurance Group Holdings have completed their $217.2 million merger that includes a senior- management shakeup. The 165-year-old Phoenix Cos. is now a privately held, wholly owned subsidiary of Nassau Re, serving as its U.S. life and annuity arm. In addition, Saybrus Partners Inc., Phoenix's distribution subsidiary, has become a sub- sidiary of Nassau Re, held outside of Phoenix. As part of the deal, Phillip J. Gass, Nassau Re's chief executive officer, will also serve as Phoenix's CEO, effective immediately. James D. Wehr, who has served as Phoenix's president and CEO since 2009, is retiring effective July 1. Wehr joined Phoenix in 1981 and was chief investment officer prior to being named chief executive officer. Phoenix also announced that Kostas Cheliotis, Nassau Re's chief operating officer and general counsel, will also serve as Phoenix's general counsel, effective immediately. John T. Mulrain, who has served as Phoenix's general counsel and secretary since 2009, is retiring effective July 1. As previously announced, Ernest McNeill, Jr., was named chief financial offi- cer upon closing, succeeding Bonnie J. Malley, who is set to become chief oper- ating officer of the city of Hartford. McNeil will also serve as Phoenix's treasurer. At deal closing Nassau Re contributed $100 million of new equity capital into Phoenix. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Bradley to open 'escape lounge' with amenities The Connecticut Airport Authority announced that it awarded a contract to an overseas company to design, build and operate an "escape lounge" at Bradley International Airport to open in the fall. The contractor, MAG USA, a subsidiary of MAG, which owns four airports in the United Kingdom, says any passenger at the airport can pay a fee to use the lounge, which will be similar to those airlines offer to their best customers. The cost is $45 for adults and $38 per child, with discounts if you book in advance, the contractor said. The lounge will offer unlimited hot and cold food and drinks, private rest- rooms, flight-information screens, free high-speed Wi-Fi, and a selection of newspapers and magazines "in a relaxed, comfortable and contemporary envi- ronment," the contractor said. The 2,000-square-foot lounge will be located in the east concourse, at the entrance to gates 1 to 12. Bradley will be the first airport on the east coast to have an escape lounge. – HARLAN LEVY, JOURNAL INQUIRER ECONOMY & LABOR State's personal income growth lags slightly Connecticut's personal income grew eight-tenths of a percent in the first quarter of 2016, lagging slightly behind the national growth rate. Nationally, state personal income grew 1 percent, the same pace as in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to estimates released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Eco- nomic Analysis. Connecticut's personal income growth was 1.4 percent in that quarter. Personal income grew in every state except Wyoming and North Dakota with first-quarter personal income growth rates ranging from -1.3 percent in North Dakota to 1.5 percent in Washington. Cromwell's BI, Corning to co-brand stem-cell media Biological Industries USA, an Israeli bioscience firm with Cromwell opera- tions, says it signed a co-branding agreement with giant Corning Inc. to market BI's proprietary medium for growing stem cells. Financial terms between BI and Corning's Mediatech Inc. unit weren't dis- closed. Once best known among consumers for its Corning brand dishware, the New York company is now a diverse maker/supplier of specialty glass, ceramics and optical physics to the scientific-research sector. According to a joint statement from both firms, before the end of this year BI and Corning will launch a jointly-branded product – NutriStem hPSC XF Medium. GOVERNMENT & POLITICS Legislature overrides small- business regulation bill veto Both chambers of the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly last week to override the veto of a bill that seeks to analyze the fiscal impact of new regulations on business. The bill requires the legislature's Office of Fiscal Analysis to include an esti- mate of the number of businesses that would be affected by proposed legisla- tion and an estimated fiscal impact on those businesses. The legislation also requires regulatory flexibility analyses of proposed regulations, to redefine small business to include any business with 250 or fewer employees, and to require additional information in such analyses. Malloy vetoed the legislation, which originally passed without opposition in the Senate and House, because the language in the bill was overly broad. He cited the requirement that agencies identify small businesses "potentially af- fected" without defining what that meant. Worsening deficit means state will raid rainy-day fund The state is expected to end the current fiscal year $316 million in the red, forcing Connecticut to tap its rainy-day fund to balance the budget, state officials said last week. State Budget Director Ben Barnes sent a letter informing Comptroller Kevin Lembo that the state's estimated budget deficit for fiscal 2016, which ends June 30, is $315.8 million, up from $56.7 million a month earlier. The worsening budget deficit is largely a result of lower-than-expected in- come tax receipts, Barnes said. The deficit will force the state to tap into its $406 million rainy-day fund, leav- ing less than $100 million in the reserve. LAW Berlin's CzepigaDalyPope expands westward Berlin law firm CzepigaDalyPope has expanded into western Connecticut by merging with a New Milford practice, its second merger in as many years, of- ficials say. CzepigaDalyPope's merger with the Law Offices of Barbara W. Reynolds and Lynda Lee Arnold, which primarily served Litchfield and Fairfield counties, is effective July 1. Financial terms weren't disclosed. CzepigaDalyPope, with offices in Hartford, Simsbury and South Windsor, and the firm it acquired specialize in estate and long-term care planning and elder law. REAL ESTATE Title insurer plans downtown Hartford office Rocky Hill-based realty title insurer CATIC National Commercial Services is opening its first downtown Hartford office in CityPlace II, authorities say. Mayor Luke Bronin and CATIC officials announced that its title agents/under- writers will occupy an unspecified amount of office space on the 15th floor of the office tower at 185 Asylum St. CATIC President and CEO James Czapiga said in a statement the Hartford of- fice will service the title needs of commercial real estate lawyers and law firms throughout the country, on transactions in the $5 million to $500 million range. BY THE NUMBERS $315.8M Connecticut's projected deficit to end fiscal 2016, forcing policymakers to balance the books by tapping the state's $406 million rainy-day fund. $100M The capital Nassau Reinsurance Group Holdings infused into Hartford insurer The Phoenix Cos. following the completion last week of the duo's merger. 11,058 The number of medical-marijuana users registered with the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection as of June 19, up 44 percent since December. $66,972 Connecticut's per-capita personal income in 2015, which ranked No. 1 in the nation and 140 percent of the national average of $47,669. TOP 5 MOST READ on HartfordBusiness.com ■ Phoenix sale complete; CEO steps down ■ Bradley to open 'escape lounge' with amenities ■ UConn gets first in nation gunshot detection ■ Worsening deficits means state will raid Rainy Day Fund ■ Total Wine opens Fri. in WH 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, CT Health Care Weekly www.HartfordBusiness.com/subscribe WEEK IN REVIEW James D. Wehr, retiring president and CEO, The Phoenix Cos. Inc. Phoenix Cos.' iconic "Boat-Building" headquarters in downtown Hartford. P H O T O | H B J F I L E

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