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Mon. Jul. 30, 2012 AFL-CIO trust invests $90 million in two Boston housing developments The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust announced Monday that it is providing $90 million towards rehabilitating and preserving the Blackstone Apartments and Franklin Square House Apartments in Boston. Work on the two important affordable housing options for elderly and handicapped residents will generate approximately 150 union construction jobs.	Advertisement
Two federally-chartered banks convert to Massachusetts state charters Two Massachusetts banks have converted to state charters, putting the banks under the regulation of the Masschusetts Division of Banks. Brookline Bank has converted from a federally-chartered savings bank to a state-chartered savings bank. The First National Bank of Ipswich has converted from a national bank to a Massachusetts-chartered trust company. These are the first conversions of this type since 2001.
Mass. gas prices down a penny BOSTON (AP) — The average price of a gallon of gas in Massachusetts has dropped a penny in the past week.
Sequoia Capital leads new investment in Bit9 security firm Bit9, an Internet security firm based in Waltham, announced Monday that it recently closed $34.5 million in funding, led by new investment partner Sequoia Capital. Existing investors Atlas Venture, Highland Capital Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and .406 Ventures also participated in the round. Bit9 will use this capital to fund new product development efforts and expand sales and marketing capabilities to address the demand for endpoint and server security technology.
Alnylam earns milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Cambridge-based RNAi therapeutics company, announced Monday that it has earned a development milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline totaling $3.2 million. The milestone payment is related to progress in the companies’ collaboration on the use of VaxiRNA technology for the production of GSK influenza vaccine.
Bain said to be in advanced talks for $1.6 billion Genpact stake Bain Capital Partners LLC is in advanced talks to buy a $1.6 billion stake in Genpact Ltd. from General Atlantic LLC and Oak Hill Capital Partners LP, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Bain Capital, the private-equity firm that manages nearly $65 billion, may announce an agreement for the 40 percent stake as soon as this week.
Babson Capital launches lending group Babson Capital Management LLC, an investment manager with $149 billion in assets under management that is based in Boston, Springfield, and Charlotte, N.C., today announced it has formed a new Chicago-based Middle Market Lending Group to provide senior secured financing solutions to middle-market companies.
Eastern Bank will merge with Brockton-based Community Bank Eastern Bank of Boston and the Community Bank of Brockton said Friday that they plan to merge by year’s end. Eastern Bank is a mutual bank and the Community Bank is a cooperative bank, and no premium was paid. With only five branches, the Community Bank said the merger will help it to better serve the needs of its customers. With 94 branches, Eastern Bank said the merger will help it to better serve Southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod.
General Dynamics Taunton plant spared budget cut A General Dynamics military plant in Taunton dodged a huge bullet when the Pentagon this week backed off a plan to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from a communications projects being developed there. The Defense Department’s proposal to cut $334.6 million from the project--a mobile communications system for military units in the field--met with stiff opposition in Congress, particularly from Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.). General Dynamics had said the cut would have led to layoffs at the Taunton plant.
Mass Insight: Consumer confidence drops a bit in the Bay State A Massachusetts consumer confidence index posted a slight drop in its latest quarterly reading, as consumers fret about the job market and uncertain economic conditions. The index is maintained by Mass Insight Global Partnerships. The index is scaled to a 1985 base of 100, with a reading of less than 100 indicating a negative outlook. The index reading for the third quarter was 81, down from the previous quarter’s reading of 85.
Charter airline that stranded Worcester passengers gets hit with $180k fine A carrier that operated public charter flights for Direct Air, the sole airline with scheduled service at Worcester Regional Airport until Direct Air shut down in March, has been fined $180,000 by the US Department of Transportation. World Atlantic Airlines, based in Miami, stopped flying for Direct Air a week after Direct Air stopped paying the carrier, leaving many passengers stranded. The parent company of Direct Air declared bankruptcy a few days later, leaving Worcester without scheduled service.
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