Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 11 S E P T E M B E R 1 8 , 2 0 1 7 over years has been withdrawn and is being reworked for re-sub- mission. e amendment, sent by commissioners last October to the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development for review, adds new targets for the revenue from the TIF, county Clerk Julie Magoon told the Lewiston Sun Journal. e county expects to have a pub- lic hearing on changes by the end of September. e -turbine wind farm is in northern Franklin county, Kibby and Skinner townships, on Kibby Ridge, near the Canada border. N O T E W O R T H Y C E N T R A L & W E S T E R N AVANGRID Inc., parent company of Central Maine Power Co., made a $50,000 contribution to American Red Cross Disaster Relief through the Avangrid Foundation to help the Red Cross provide food, emergency shelter, relief supplies and comfort to those affected by disasters like Hurricane Harvey and other crises. SeniorsPlus, an agency on aging lo- cated in Lewiston, received a $10,000 grant from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation to continue to develop a dining site and cooking classes, with interpretation and written translation, for older adult refugees in downtown Lewiston. The Maine College of Health Professions in Lewiston received a do- nation of two portable X-ray units from Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport and Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast. The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded Bates College in Lewiston a total of $249,760 through its National Leadership Grants for Libraries program. This award will support the expansion of the Diverse Book Finder, a repository for children's books, and further the development of its analysis and search engine capa- bilities to identify racial representation gaps in children's library collections. Restaurateur opens three businesses in Camden Restaurateur Matt Haskell is opening a microbrewery, restaurant and Japanese pub in one building in Camden. e PenBay Pilot reported that Haskell has renovated a historic clapboard building overlooking the harbor that previously housed a restaurant called Atlantica. He's opening a casual ne dining restaurant named Hoxbill rst, along with Blaze Brewery, and will later open a Japanese-style pub called Kurafuto. Haskell owns Blaze, a wood- red gas- tropub and Giacomo's, a cafe and deli, both in Bangor; and Finback Alehouse in Bar Harbor. "I think the midcoast has an excellent culinary scene going on," Haskell told the paper. Camden has been undergoing a small-business resurgence that's been breathing new life into familiar locations over the past couple of years. It's been a dismal season for soft-shell lobsters As the soft-shell lobster harvesting season is winding down, lobstermen are saying landings have been dismal. "I'd say we've caught about half the lob- sters [than in recent years]," Stonington lobsterman Tony Bray told Island Advantages. e Stonington Lobster Co-op reported a to drop in volume compared with . Lack of lobster might be "re ective of a habitat shift as to where the lobsters are, and a behavior shift as a reaction to the colder water," Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries scientist Carla Guenther told the paper. Price per pound has also dropped, by about . e Stonington co-op is paying . per pound, com- pared with . this time last year. e high cost of bait has also convinced some shermen to scale back operations. N O T E W O R T H Y M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T Cheney Financial Group, which in- cludes Cheney Insurance, Newcastle CashStar acquisition highlights recent M&A activity M aine-based companies are luring out-of-state M&A buyers with a hearty appetite that shows no signs of slowing. So far this year, $640 million worth of Maine- targeted mergers and acquisitions have been announced — already more than double the $300 million recorded for the whole of 2016 — according to data compiled for Mainebiz by Dealogic. The $640 mil- lion gure takes into account just the six deals whose values were disclosed, out of 25 total transactions. The total includes the $175 million cash purchase of CashStar Inc., a Portland-based provider of gift card commerce solutions, by Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: HAWK) of Pleasanton, Calif., completed Aug. 30. Strategic and nancial buyers from out of state have been snapping up Maine targets across a broad spectrum of sectors from agribusiness and food to professional services and energy. Other recent deals include Bob Evans Farms Inc. (NASDAQ: BOBE) gulping down Pineland Farms Potato Co. in Mars Hill for $115 million, though the nal price tag may rise by $25 million if certain nancial metrics are achieved within the rst 24 months after closing; and Gray Television Inc. (NYSE: GTN), of Atlanta, Ga., buying two television stations, including WABI TV5 in Bangor, from Portland's Diversi ed Communications Inc. for $85 million. "My sense is that we're going to continue to see activity in the consumer products sector," Pierce Atwood partner Christopher Howard told Mainebiz. "We're going to continue to see a lot of activity there because Maine has built a lot of great brands that have wide market acceptance but are probably still affordable." Yummy bars I: Bixby & Co. opens Rockland store Bixby & Co., a Rockland-based maker of organic choco- late bars, opened a store next to its headquarters and manufacturing site. The company, founded in 2011 by Kate McAleer with her mother, Donna McAleer, has been adept at nding nancing — in part by winning grants and pitch contests. In 2014, McAleer won Gorham Savings Bank's LaunchPad pitch competition, a $30,000 prize. In 2016, she was again a winner in a pitch contest, held by the Tory Burch Foundation in New York City; that grant was $100,000. Over a three-year period, Bixby was the recipient of three grants from the Maine Technology Institute, for a total of $53,500, according to the MTI website. (McAleer was also the recipient of the Small Business Administration's "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" award and the Mainebiz NEXT Award, but they do not come with prize money.) Bixby bars are sold at Whole Foods Markets and other supermarkets, convenience stores and online through Amazon and other retailers. Yummy bars II: Redd Bar raises in excess of $1.5M Portland-based protein and energy bar company Redd Bar closed a second round of investments last week higher than expected, exceeding its $1.5 million goal by 30%. In 2016, the company raised $1 million. Alden Blease, founder and chief creative of cer, said the company was raising money "because we've had such an incredible increase in business." Proceeds will be used to increase distribution and support the increased business. The company recently announced new distribution in Sprouts, Gelson's, New Seasons and California Whole Foods markets. The vegan protein bar is now found in more than 1,000 stores, including locally in Hannaford supermarkets, Blease said. This round of investors, led by Dan Nordstrom of Redd Investors LLC, includes Fresh Tracks Capital and CEI Ventures, as well as Chris Licata, former CEO and president of Blake's All Natural; Scott Case, former managing partner of VMG partners; and Tyler Ricks, president of Noah's Bagels. B I Z M O N E Y My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're My sense is that we're going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the going to see activity in the consumer products sector. — Christopher Howard Pierce Atwood M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T

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