Mass. Electric breaks ground in Brockton
BROCKTON – Massachusetts Electric Co. executives joined city officials last week at a groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s $1.7 million headquarters building. The single story 12,500 square-foot building will be the company’s South Shore Operating Area headquarters serving more than 200,000 customers in 22 communities from Quincy to West Bridgewater and including Nantucket. The facility will contain 54 employees in its local management, business services, engineering and operations functions, according to the MassElectric release. The company now employs 37 Brockton residents, some of whom will be employed in the new building. The building will be built on a vacant lot at East Ashland and Mulberry streets from a plan produced by J.K. Holmgren & Associates, Inc. of Brockton. MassElectric is a subsidiary of National Grid USA, based in Westboro, Mass. It in turn is a subsidiary of The National Grid Group plc, based in London, England.
Palm paying $80 million for Cambridge firm
CAMBRIDGE – AnyDay.com Inc., based here, which offers an Internet calendar and appointment service is being acquired by Palm, Inc., which makes the Palm Pilots, hand-held computer devices. Palm is paying $80 million in cash and stock for AnyDay, according to the Boston Globe. The Globe reported that Palm will use AnyDay as the base for a range of Internet information management services. Palm is reportedly upgrading its Palm Pilots to permit wireless Internet access.
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Red Sox agree to look for more private money
BOSTON – Under pressure from city and state politicians, the Boston Red Sox announced they would review their financing plans for their new ballpark and look for more private money to help them build a replacement for Fenway Park. After months of speculation, the Red Sox announced recently they would seek $275 million in combined city and state assistance to finance their proposed $627 million stadium. After examining their proposal, political leaders expressed shock at the Red Sox’ plan, demanded a “revenue stream” sufficient to service the debt the city and state would incur in loaning the club money, and urged the team owners to “sharpen their pencils” to produce a more acceptable proposal. In response, a Sox spokesperson said team officials were “hard at work with our now sharp stubby pencils” looking for a new financing plan.
Stone & Webster files for bankruptcy
BOSTON – Stone & Webster, Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors as it proceeds with its effort to sell the construction and engineering business to Jacobs Engineering group, Inc., the company announced. The Chapter 11 filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court is intended to ease the sale for $150 million in cash and stock and assumption of debt to Jacobs, the sixth largest engineering firm in the country. S&W had taken a $27.5 million charge after construction of a power plant in Tiverton, R.I. was delayed and sought a buyer for the firm as its shares plummeted
.Harvard Pilgrim to sell mental health services
BOSTON – Harvard Pilgrim Health Care will sell its mental health business to Value Options, a private, for-profit company, the Boston Globe reported. Having received approval from the state insurance regulator, Harvard Pilgrim agreed to hire Value Options for an undisclosed sum to manage its mental health benefits for the HMO’s 1 million customers as of January 1. Harvard Pilgrim is coming out of receivership into which it was forced on January 4 after losing $226 million last year. The Massachusetts associations for both the psychiatrists and psychologists have objected to the sale, asserting that it will make the jobs of primary care physicians more difficult in trying to coordinate care
IMAX building theater at aquarium
BOSTON – City and state officials joined representatives of the New England Aquarium recently to celebrate the start of construction of another IMAX theater for Boston. The $12.5 million project is scheduled for completion in 2001, according to the Boston Globe. The theater will seat 400 and be a site for lectures, films, programs, aquatic programs. It was designed by E. Verner Johnson & Associates of Boston.
Thomson to buy Primark for $1.08 billion
WALTHAM – Thomson Corp., a Toronto-based publisher and financial information company, has agreed to buy Primark, Inc., based here, for $1.08 billion in cash and assumption of $235 million of the company’s debt. As a result of the purchase, Primark’s IBES International Inc. and Thomson’s First Call, two major providers of earnings estimates, would be combined in one company. Thomson has been selling its newspapers -it owns about 130 in Canada and the United States–and concentrating on is financial information business. Primark has been for sale for more than two years, according to the Boston Globe.
Hemagen Diagnostics to close plant
WALTHAM – Hemagen Diagnostics, Inc. announced that it was closing its manufacturing plant here and moving some of its activities to its Columbia, Md. Plant. Hemagen is a maker of diagnostic test kits. In a release the company said the closing of the plant would reduce its annual expenses.
Telica gets Silicon Valley investor
MARLBORO – Telica, Inc. announced that Redback Networks, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., the heart of Silicon Valley, has bought a multimillion dollar stake in the company. Telica, only two years old, sells switches and software for companies to handle voice and data traffic reliably. In making the investment, Redback, as a minority stockholder, has agreed to become a strategic partner, Telica announced.
(Compiled from news reports and releases, print and electronic.)
