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Thu. Jul. 19, 2012 Ikea pulls plan for Somerville store in Assembly Square Furniture giant Ikea is canceling plans to build a second Massachusetts store at Assembly Square in Somerville, punching a hole in the city’s efforts to redevelop a huge swath of former industrial property near its border with Boston.	Advertisement
Fidelity Investments loses a state cash account The state treasurer’s office said it has awarded its $9.5 billion cash contract to Federated Investors Inc, moving the business away from Boston’s Fidelity Investments, which has had the business for 35 years. Treasurer Steven Grossman said the state would save $8.2 million over three years, or 34 percent of the current cost, by moving the Massachusetts Municipal Depository Trust contract to Pittsburgh-based Federated. Fidelity had no immediate comment.
A123 will supply additional batteries for BAE Systems’ city bus program A123 Systems, a Waltham company that makes lithium ion phosphate batteries, announced an agreement Thursday with BAE Systems to supply the company with additional battery packs for a propulsion system designed for city bus systems around the world. A123 has been supplying BAE with battery packs for about five years. Currently, about 3,000 buses using BAE’s propulsion system are in operation in various cities around the world. The new agreement calls for A123 to provide BAE with additional battery packs.
Harvest Power raises an additional $15m in Series C financing Harvest Power announced Thursday a $15 million extension to its Series C financing round. The Waltham company focuses on harnessing the maximum value from organic materials through the production of renewable energy and soils, mulches, and natural fertilizers. Piper Jaffray led the extension with Tur Partners and Industry Ventures also participating.
Mass. unemployment rate remains at 6 percent, but state loses jobs for first time in 7 months The Massachusetts economy posted its first job losses in seven months as the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 6 percent in June, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported Thursday morning. Preliminary estimates showed that Massachusetts lost 2,600 jobs in June, the first monthly job loss since November. The current national unemployment rate is 8.2 percent.
Harvard’s Joint Center of Housing Studies: Remodeling activity poised for growth Home remodeling activity is in a position to see accelerated growth by the end of this year and into 2013, according to a forecast issued Thursday by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. “Warm weather in the first quarter temporarily bumped up remodeling activity in many areas,” Eric S. Belsky, the center’s managing director, said in a statement. “By the end of the year, however, positive market fundamentals are expected to kick in, moving the industry out of this ebb and flow period and into a new growth phase.”
Warren Group: June foreclosure petitions drop to lowest monthly level so far in 2012 In June, the monthly total of foreclosure petitions in Massachusetts fell below 1,300 for the first time this year, the Warren Group said Thursday morning, and completed foreclosures also dropped. The Warren Group, a Boston firm that tracks local real estate, cited an improving economy and an active housing market as the reasons for the slower pace of foreclosure petitions. Foreclosure petitions mark the first step in the foreclosure process in Massachusetts.
Top off ceremony is set for Thursday morning at Fan Pier Fallon Co. has scheduled a “top off” ceremony for Thursday morning for its new office tower at Fan Pier in Boston. According to Fallon, the project is the country’s largest privately-funded development site. Among those expected to attend the ceremony are Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino; Joseph F. Fallon, chief executive of Fallon Co.; and Jeff Leiden, chief executive of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Parexel announces alliance that seeks to develop drugs in S. Korea Parexel International Corp., a contract research organization headquartered in Waltham, said Thursday that it has been chosen by the Korea Drug Development Fund to help Korean biopharmaceutical companies develop and commercialize health care products for the global market. The fund is a consortium of three health-related Korean ministries: the Ministry of Knowledge Economy; the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology; and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Beige Book: New England economy continues to grow moderately The New England economy continues to grow at moderate pace, according to the latest survey of businesses by the Federal Reserve. The report, known as the “Beige Book,” found that companies generally are hiring cautiously, in part because of worries about the future of the US economy, which has been struggling to recover from the last recession. Half of firms reported no change in the size of their workforces, while the other half reported slow growth.
Cogeco Cable to buy Atlantic Broadband for $1.36b Cogeco Cable Inc., a Montreal-based cable-television company, agreed to buy Atlantic Broadband for $1.36 billion, letting it expand into the US after a failed attempt to gain a foothold in Europe. Cogeco is purchasing the company from private-equity firms Abry Partners and Oak Hill Capital Partners in a deal that’s expected to be completed by year-end, the Canadian company said today in a statement. Quincy-based Atlantic Broadband operates cable systems in Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland, Delaware, and South Carolina.
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