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www.HartfordBusiness.com • January 30, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 7 Week in Review BRIEFS Mohegan Sun expanding with $80M convention center M ohegan Sun is planning to open a new, $80 million conference center next summer to cater to convention and meeting business. The Expo Center expansion has been authorized and is slated to open in the summer of 2018 -- "just in time for the Barrett-Jackson Northeast 2018" car collector auction, leaders of the Mohegan Sun and the Mohegan tribe said in an announcement. The Mohegan tribe plans to unveil the expansion at a Thursday press conference. The total size of the expansion, including the 131,000-square-foot Expo Center, will be 240,000 gross square feet, Mohegan Sun said. The proposed center would be located in a vacant area next to the casino's Winter Garage and link to the garage and the Earth casino and tower, a spokesman said, confirming a published report The survey of 311 employers, conducted by Harris Poll for Malta between June and October of 2016, also found that 95 percent of respondents agreed that hiring a previously incarcerated individual has the potential to turn that person into a productive member of society. 17 in CT make Forbes' top billionaires list Seventeen Connecticut billionaires populate Forbes' 31st Annual World Billionaires List, which includes 2,043 individuals earning in the 10 figures, the magazine has announced. In Connecticut, Ray Dalio, the founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Westport hedge fund Bridgewater Associ- ates, is worth the most, with a net worth of $16.8 billion. Ranked 54th on the global list, he is ranked first in Connecticut and lives in Greenwich. Second on Connecticut's list is Steven Cohen, founder of Point72 Asset Management and S.A.C. Capital Advisors, both based in Stamford. A Greenwich resident, he is ranked 92nd globally with a net worth of $13 billion. Coming in at 17th on the Connecticut list and 1,940th on the global list is William Macaulay of Greenwich, with a net worth of $1 billion. He is CEO and chairman of First Reserve Corp., a private equity fund special- izing in energy. All told, 12 of the 17 Connecticut billionaires live in Greenwich. Others reside in Branford, Darien, Danbury, Old Lyme and Southport. Debate over Millstone's fu- ture heats up Lobbyists crowded into a committee room at the General Assembly last week to watch the inevitable advance of a bill that sponsors say would simultaneously lower electric rates and stabilize profits generated by the Millstone Nuclear Power Station. Opponents say the bill would cost ratepayers and produce a windfall for the plant's owner, Dominion Resources of Virginia. The legislature's Energy and Technology Committee voted 17-7 to send the bill to the House floor without the benefit of an inde- pendent analysis of how it would impact a state energy market that is often described as a hybrid — deregulated within certain broad parameters set by the state. Standing cautiously between Dominion and a coalition opposing the bill was the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which would be given authority to determine if Millstone would be allowed to sell up to half its power in a new market under long-term contracts. It would bid against power generated by biomass and trash-to- energy plants. -- Mark Pazniokas | CT Mirror Ed Fenton named to NHMA post Connecticut's leading manufacturers' lobby has named M. Edward Fenton as its new executive director, effective July 1. Fenton, who will continue to hold his same post at the Wire & Cable Manufacturers As- sociation in East Haddam, officially assumed his duties Monday at the New Haven Manu- facturers Association (NHMA), said NHMA President Jeffrey Paz. Fenton eventually will take over from Jerry Clupper, a retired chemical engineer who began his involvement with the nonprofit lobby as a volunteer. Clupper's NHMA retirement is effective June 30. NHMA consists of most Connecticut manufacturers of varying sizes. TOP 5 MOST READ STAY CONNECTED On HartfordBusiness.com • 1. Mohegan Sun expanding with $80M convention center • 2. Nix's Hartford faces new legal pressure for unpaid rent • 3. 17 in CT make Forbes' top billionaires list • 4. UTC creating 250 jobs with $300M N.Y. digital hub • 5. N. England worker compensation costs second highest in U.S. 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 Linkedln: 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 TOP STORY Clock ticking on Hartford HealthCare, UnitedHealth- care contract negotiations Hartford HealthCare posted a letter to patients on its website last week informing those with coverage from UnitedHealthcare and its subsidiary, Oxford Health Plans, that they could face higher out-of-pocket expenses if the parties can't come to terms on a new contract. The current deal expires April 15, which is when Hartford HealthCare's hospitals and ancillary facilities, physicians and medical professionals would be considered out of Unit- edHealthcare's provider network. Both sides are haggling over rates and other issues. "We have been working for months with United/Oxford and are disappointed that we have not yet been able to reach an agree- ment," Hartford HealthCare said in a website post. "We are asking United/Oxford for rates that bring them closer to market levels and more in line with our other insurance partners." UnitedHealthcare and Hartford HealthCare went through a similar showdown two years ago. If terms aren't reached by April 15, "Unit- edHealthcare's commercial and Medicare Advantage members will be subject to higher out-of-pocket fees to use our services," Hart- ford HealthCare's announcement said. In an emailed statement, UnitedHealthcare said, "Our two organizations continue to meet regularly and our focus remains on renewing our relationship with Hartford HealthCare." CT's Savings Institute shed- ding trust division Windham's Savings Institute Bank & Trust is selling its trust and asset-management divi- sion to a pair of Massachusetts banks. Savings Institute, headquartered in the town's Willimantic section, said Plimoth Investment Advisors inked a definitive pact to acquire the division, created in 1990, which has about 300 customers and an estimated $120 million in assets under management. Financial terms and a transaction closing date weren't disclosed. Savings Institute Bank & Trust is a unit of SI Financial, a bank holding company with $1.55 billion in assets. Based in Plymouth, Mass., Plimoth serves about 450 clients in southeastern Massachu- setts and manages about $600 million in as- sets. Its joint owners are BayCoast Bank and Dedham Institution for Savings. As part of the transaction, Plimoth said it will open a Connecticut office in Stonington, initially staffed with veteran Savings Institute trust associates Teresa Prue and Nicole (Hal- lisey) Dagle. Survey: CT biz willing to hire formerly imprisoned Ninety-seven percent of more than 300 Connecticut employers surveyed by the Malta Justice Initiative support the idea of giving formerly incarcerated individuals a second chance, the organization reports. What's more, of the 55 percent of employ- ers who said they have difficulty in finding qualified candidates to fill jobs, most of those -- 76 percent -- said they would consider hiring a person with a criminal record if that individual was qualified for the job. BY THE NUMBERS The percentage of the 311 Connecticut employers recent surveyed by the Malta Justice Initiative who they support the idea of giving formerly incarcerated individuals a second chance. 97% $80M The amount of money Mohegan Sun is investing to build a new convention center The number of Connecticut residents who made it onto Forbes' Annual World Billionaires List. 17 The average hourly total compensation costs per employee in New England, which includes salary and benefits, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. $39.27 Millstone Nuclear Power Station