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Thu. Aug. 09, 2012 Secretary of State William F. Galvin charges Lowell man for ‘crowd-funding fraud’ Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin has charged a Lowell man with “crowd-funding fraud,” his office said Thursday. According to Galvin’s complaint, Christopher Melville of Lowell sold unregistered securities through a “crowd-funding social media-facilitated general solicitation” for his company, Tabletop Arena LLC. Attempts to reach Melville were not immediately successful. Galvin also sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission urging the SEC to adopt strong investor protection in rules for crowd-funding securities offerings.	Advertisement
Heywood Hospital of Gardner strikes a strategic alliance with Athol Memorial Hospital A pair of community hospitals in North Central Massachusetts have agreed to form a strategic alliance, accelerating the state’s trend toward health care industry consolidation. Heywood Hospital, a 153-bed community hospital in Gardner, said it signed a letter of intent to align with Athol Memorial Hospital, a 25-bed facility serving the North Quabbin area. Under the agreement, the two hospitals will continue to operate independently but be governed by a common board of trustees drawn from the current Heywood and Athol boards.
Rockland Trust’s Investment Management Group reaches $2b in assets Rockland Trust said that its Investment Management Group has reached $2 billion in assets under administration. The group’s assets increased by nearly 21 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011 through the second quarter of 2012 and have doubled since 2006, said Rockland Trust, a full-service commercial bank. Rockland Trust’s network is made up of 67 retail branches, 10 commercial lending centers, four investment management, and four residential lending centers that are located throughout Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Ex-Intel worker gets 3 years for stealing secrets A former Intel Corp. worker in Massachusetts has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of computer chip manufacturing and design secrets while working for a rival company. Biswamohan Pani was also sentenced Wednesday in Boston to two years of probation and fined $17,500. He pleaded guilty in April to five counts of wire fraud. Prosecutors say Pani downloaded secret documents from Intel in May 2008, shortly after he announced he was leaving his job in Hudson.
Arnold Worldwide taps Robert LePlae to be global president Boston-based ad agency Arnold Worldwide said that Robert LePlae will join the firm as global president, starting Sept. 15. In recent years, Arnold said it has grown by 70 percent, due partly to steady growth among such global clients as Dell, the Hershey Co., Jack Daniel’s, Unilever, and Volvo. LePlae’s appointment is part of an effort to advance Arnold’s international expansion. LePlae most recently served as North American president at McCann Erickson. Previously, he spent 11 years at TBWA/Chiat Day.
Constant Contact survey: Many small businesses expect higher revenue, but still don’t plan to hire A majority of small businesses are experiencing revenue growth in 2012, but are still not planning to hire additional employees, according to a new survey from Constant Contact Inc., a Waltham-based provider of e-mail marketing services. While nearly 90 percent of small businesses surveyed said that they expected their 2012 revenues either to increase or hold steady, 66 percent of survey respondents said they have no plans to hire additional full-time employees in the next six months.
Arbor Networks is planning to relocate to Burlington Arbor Networks Inc., a Chelmsford-based provider of network security and management services, said Wednesday that it plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to Burlington later this year. At 40,000 square feet, the new Burlington space is roughly the same size as the company’s existing facilities in Chelmsford, but the new space is better customized to meet Arbor’s needs for a research lab and equipment testing. Currently, 98 employees work at Arbor’s headquarters location, and there are plans to add nine more.
Boston-Power signs up a Chinese customer for its electric-vehicle batteries Boston-Power Inc., a Westborough company that makes batteries for electric vehicles, announced an agreement Wednesday to provide its batteries to Beijing Electric Vehicle Co. In a press release, Boston-Power said it is projected that its battery systems will be used in hundreds of electric vehicles starting in 2012 and thousands of electric vehicles by 2014. t one time, Boston-Power had hoped to expand in Massachusetts, but abandoned those plans in favor of China after losing out on $100 million in federal stimulus money a few years ago.
PTC agrees to buy Servigistics for $220m Parametric Technology Corp., a Needham company specializing in product lifecycle management software, said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Servigistics Inc. for about $220 million in cash. Parametric Technology, which refers to itself as PTC, said the acquisition will “greatly enhance” its existing portfolio of service lifecycle management solutions. On its website, Servigistics describes itself as a privately-held company headquartered in Atlanta.
Chinese company could invest up to $450m in battery maker A123 A123 Systems, a Waltham company that makes lithium batteries, said Wednesday that it has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Wanxiang Group Corp. that establishes the framework for a strategic investment through which Wanxiang would invest up to $450 million in A123. A123 has been struggling, and this investment has the potential to remove the uncertainty regarding the company’s financial situation. A123 also reported Wednesday a second-quarter net loss of $82.9 million on revenues of $17 million.
Waltham-based Care.com raises $50 million in new round of venture capital funding Care.com Inc., a Waltham company that aims to connect families with caregivers, said Tuesday that it has raised $50 million in new funding, the largest amount it has generated since being founded in 2006. The company offers a suite of online tools that list and sort providers of childcare, senior care, pet care, housekeeping, tutoring, and other services. It has approximately 7 million users in more than 15 countries.
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