Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • November 6, 2017 • Hartford Business Journal 5 PHOTO | HBJ FILE Henkel's North American headquarters is located in Rocky Hill. Eversource seeking 6.79% rate hike Electric bills would rise by an average of 6.79 percent if state regulators approve Eversource Energy's request for a three-year rate hike, the utility says. Eversource plans to le a request with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority within the next 30 days for a rate increase of $255.8 million in the rst year, $45 million in the second, and $36 million in the third, Craig Hallstrom, the company's president of electric operations in Connecticut, said in a news release. Detailed rate changes proposed for all customer groups will be included in the rate ling by the end of November, Hallstrom said. If PURA approves the full request, the average increase would go into effect May 21, 2018, he said. Rate changes might be lower than 6.79 percent in some customer categories and higher in others, Hallstrom said. Electric customers who now pay monthly bills of $140 would pay about $9.50 more with a 6.79 percent increase. PURA will schedule public hearings on the rate hike request. — Howard French | Journal Inquirer CT, 45 states, seek to expand generic drug antitrust probe State Attorney General George Jepsen led 45 other attorneys general in asking the federal court to expand an antitrust lawsuit against generic drug companies by adding 12 pharmaceutical companies, two executives and 13 drugs to the case. Jepsen and his colleagues across the U.S. are seeking to increase the number of defendants from six to 18 and the drugs involved from two to 15. In the expanded complaint, originally led in 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the states allege that the companies named in the suit have a number of illegal agreements to x prices and share customers for a number of generic drugs. The states also allege that these conspiracies were part of a much broader industry code of conduct that enabled the manufacturers to divvy up the market for speci c generic drugs. Henkel bids $485M for Darien haircare lines German consumer-products giant Henkel, with North American headquarters in Rocky Hill, has agreed to acquire a Connecticut maker of haircare brands Joico and Zotos Professional for $485 million. Henkel said it is buying Zotos International, of Darien, the North American haircare unit of Shiseido Co., a publicly- traded Japanese cosmetics company. According to Henkel, Zotos has annual sales of approximately $230 million and employs about 700 people. Henkel recently relocated its consumer- goods base to Stamford from Arizona. The state of Connecticut dangled a $20 million loan and tax credits deal under its "First Five Plus" program to lure the business unit from Arizona. St. Francis, doc group pitch $26.5M ortho surgery center A joint venture involving St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center and an orthopedic surgeon group is proposing a $26.5 million, 33,000-square-foot orthopedic and pain ambulatory surgery center in Hartford. St. Francis Hospital's proposed joint venture with Lighthouse Surgery Holdings LLC, known as Woodland Surgery Center, plans to build the facility at 129 Woodland St. It would house six operating rooms, a procedure room and rehabilitation and physician space, according to a Certi cate of Need (CON) application led with the state Of ce of Health Care Access. Work would begin once the project receives approval from the Of ce of Health Care Access, with planned occupancy in June 2019. The site, across Woodland from the main hospital campus near Ashley Street, includes a unoccupied daycare and apartment buildings that will be demolished. St. Francis will own 35 percent of the joint venture, with 65 percent held by Lighthouse Surgery Holdings, which was established by independent orthopedic surgeons, pain specialists and anesthesiologists.

• Cover