In other news below:
-- Cytec to sell share of CYRO Industries joint venture
-- SecureWave partners with Gotham Technology Group
-- Baltimore adopts watershed protection plan for waterways
-- Three PennWorks projects to add 20,000 jobs, $670 million investment
-- Optelecom announces name change to Optelecom-NKF
Acquisition risks for utilities featured at regional conference
BOSTON, April 25, 2005 (PRNewswire) -- The threat of acquisition for public utilities, and key strategies for avoiding it, will be featured at this year's Public Utilities Risk Management Association (PURMA) Annual Membership Meeting when management consulting and engineering firm R.W. Beck presents a key address.
Roger Cotte, national director of R.W. Beck in Boston, will discuss case studies of attempted takeovers, whether external (investor-owned utilities) or internal (municipalities looking to cover revenue shortfalls), and strategies for preventing acquisitions in his presentation, "Safeguarding Utilities Against Acquisitions."
The PURMA Annual Membership Meeting will be held April 28-29 at the Equinox Resort in Manchester Village, Vt.
PURMA (www.purma.org) is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1996 to provide publicly owned utilities consistently superior and cost- effective information, education and business solutions for their risk management, insurance, financial services and business development needs. Based in Southborough, Mass., PURMA grew from a small group of municipally owned utilities that banded together to collectively purchase group liability insurance coverage. It is governed by a seven-member board of directors and currently comprises publicly owned electric, gas, water, telecommunications, cable TV and sewer utilities.
Founded more than 60 years ago, R.W. Beck (www.rwbeck.com) is a technically based management consulting and engineering firm providing services to both public and private sectors in the areas of energy and water/waste resources.
Cytec to sell share of CYRO Industries joint venture
WEST PATERSON, NJ, April 25, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cytec Industries Inc. has reached a definitive agreement to sell its 50% partnership in CYRO Industries to its joint venture partner Degussa Specialty Polymers, a company of Degussa AG, for cash consideration of $95 million. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
"This joint venture began in 1976 and has created value for both shareholders. However over the last few years the strategic interest of the partners has changed. The sale of our partnership interest in CYRO enables Cytec to focus greater attention to the growth of our core businesses, while letting our partner devote their resources to the growth of CYRO." said chairman, president and CEO David Lilley. "Our relationship as a supplier of high quality intermediate products to CYRO will not change after this transaction is completed and we wish Degussa and all the employees of CYRO well in their future endeavors."
James P. Cronin, executive vice president and chief financial officer added, "This transaction makes strategic sense for both parties and is consistent with our plan to pay down debt after the recent acquisition of the Surface Specialties business. We expect the estimated proceeds of this transaction to essentially recover the carrying value of our investment in CYRO."
Cytec Industries Inc. is a specialty chemicals and materials technology company with pro forma sales in 2004, including the Surface Specialties acquisition, of about $3.0 billion. Its growth strategies are based on developing technologically advanced customer solutions for global markets including aerospace, coatings, mining, plastics and water treatment. For more information about Cytec, go to www.cytec.com
SecureWave partners with Gotham Technology Group
Partnership the result of increased demand for stopping proliferation of USB device use on corporate endpoints...
DURHAM, NC, April 25, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- SecureWave, a leader in endpoint security software, today announced that it has partnered with Gotham Technology Group, one of the leading consulting and engineering firms, to help meet the growing demand for products that take a default/deny approach to stopping endpoint security threats. The partnership enables Gotham to offer its customers a complete end-to-end security solution to stop and prevent the use of rogue devices and applications on the desktop.
Gotham Technology provides strategic services to its customers across practices including application development, information security, infrastructure services, standards and governance, and staffing. By partnering with SecureWave, Gotham's customers will now be able to incorporate SecureWave's SanctuaryTM suite of products into their existing security infrastructure quickly and seamlessly.
SecureWave's Sanctuary product suite--with its non-traditional default/deny approach--turns blacklisting and the constant updating of signatures on its head by focusing on those devices and applications allowed on the network. Administrators can easily manage a centralized list of allowed devices and executables--everything else is denied, period. This default/deny approach shelters IT staffs from the Herculean task of maintaining blacklists and other frantic, reactionary approaches to managing device use policies.
"Corporations are investing millions of dollars into a vast array of perimeter security solutions to protect their corporate endpoints, while also stopping identify and data theft," said Robert Mehler, director of solutions architecture at Gotham Technology Group. "At the end of day, all of this technology is useless when a simple data leak to a USB device or a rouge executable, such as Spyware, can bypass the entire investment. We partnered with SecureWave because our customers are demanding systems that provide better protection against emerging device and executable-based threats."
SecureWave's relationship with Gotham comes on the heels of a successful partner program launch. In November of 2004, SecureWave announced that it had seen more than a tenfold increase in its North American channel program. The company expanded its channel program to include two levels of support, Gold and Premium, each with varying requirements, commitments and benefits ranging from discounts on solutions and maintenance to sales and technical training to a wide variety of marketing programs and promotions. Additionally, all channel partners benefit from My Sanctuary, a dedicated Extranet for partners that provides privileged access to an online support knowledgebase, marketing and sales resources and a powerful online license management solution.
"In the past year, we have had tremendous success growing our partner program," said Ken Wilson, director of Channel Sales, North America, for SecureWave. "By partnering with top resellers like Gotham Technology, we are able to reach a broader base of potential customers who can benefit from the Sanctuary product suite. Gotham Technology is one of the largest and most well-known resellers in the security industry and with their help, we'll be able to continue to fuel our growth and expand our global footprint."
A complete list of authorized Sanctuary resellers can be found at: www.securewave.com/indexPartners.jsp.
SecureWave is a leader in a new generation of endpoint security solutions vital to protecting desktops, laptops, servers and terminals. SecureWave provides Sanctuary to more than 600 enterprises worldwide in the financial, government, military, manufacturing and healthcare sectors, including CSC, Anglian Water Services, DaimlerChrysler, MTU, Commerzbank and Royal Bank of Scotland. SecureWave, recently named a Red Herring Top 100 Innovator, is headquartered in Luxembourg and services its global customer base via offices in the U.K., Washington, D.C., and Research Triangle Park, N.C., as well as a network of reseller and service provider partners worldwide.
Baltimore adopts watershed protection plan for waterways
City celebrates formal launch of Adopt-A-Waterway Campaign. Revenue generated will be used to protect Baltimore waterways from stormwater runoff...
BALTIMORE, April 22, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley has marked today -- Earth Day -- as an occasion to celebrate the launch of Adopt-A-Waterway®, a public-private partnership that brings together local government and corporations to raise funds for urban runoff and storm water cleanup - at no expense to local taxpayers. Educational signage located in exclusive high traffic locations in Baltimore was unveiled today during an Earth Day greening project at Gilmor Elementary School.
The Mayor was joined by Paul Polizzotto, founder, president and CEO, Adopt-A-Waterway; Jacqueline M. Carrera, executive director of the Parks & People Foundation; and Jay Sakai, head of the Bureau of Water and Wastewater at the Baltimore City Department of Public Works.
The agreement between the city and Adopt-A-Waterway(R) which was announced last December could potentially provide Baltimore with more than $1 million over the next five years to fund debris collectors, greening projects, stream bank restoration, storm water management, and other new technologies designed to reduce trash, debris and pollutants from the city's critical waterways. In addition, Baltimore will benefit from a comprehensive community outreach campaign potentially valued at up to $5 million. The community outreach campaign consists of television public service commercials, exclusive out-of-home signage, custom magazine, event marketing and online media. Adopt-A-Waterway targets all of Baltimore's major waterways, including Gwynns Falls, Jones Falls, Herring Run and Harbor watersheds including the Middle Branch and Inner Harbor.
"Every day, the City of Baltimore is becoming a cleaner, healthier, and safer place for our children to grow up," said Mayor O'Malley. "Our efforts to improve our school grounds mean better learning environments for our children, but also a healthier natural environment as we reduce runoff into our local streams and the Chesapeake Bay."
Inaugural sponsors and environmental partners of Baltimore's Adopt-A-Waterway program include BP America Inc.; Bank of America; Chesapeake Bay Program of the U.S. EPA; NOAA; Streuer Bros. Eccles & Rouse, Inc.; Henrietta Development Corporation; Chesapeake Bay Roasting; Phillips Foods, Inc. and Seafood Restaurants.
"As a responsible business striving for sustainable growth, BP understands that water is a critical resource, one we all must work hard to protect," said Terry Wallace, BP regional manager. "That's why BP is proud to partner with Adopt-a-Waterway, a program that provides for the sustainable improvement in water quality both by cleaning up the quality of water flowing to the Bay and by educating the public about things they can do to help."
"The formal launch of the Adopt-A-Waterway program demonstrates the success of this public-private partnership," said Polizzotto. "The program is now fully underway as we unveil our signage and implement the educational media campaign. This is a direct benefit of the Mayor's office working in tandem with the corporate community -- both parties determined to clean up the area's waterways."
"We are so pleased that Adopt-A-Waterway has chosen to participate in the Gilmor Elementary School greening project on Earth Day, recognizing the value to water quality and the impression it will have on the next generation of leaders. It is critical to bring together the public and private sectors including non-profits to work toward improving urban watersheds and restoring the Chesapeake Bay," said Parks & People Foundation director Carrera.
"At NOAA, we are proud to celebrate Earth Day as part of Environmental Communications' Adopt-A-Waterway program," said Jim Walpole, NOAA general counsel. "Today's hands on project will help students enrich their school yard in Baltimore City, become stewards of their environment and improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay and beyond to the Atlantic Ocean."
Adopt-A-Waterway's pioneering program enables cities such as Baltimore to fund vital cleanup efforts through the sale of media sponsorships to corporations. Cities receive a critical infusion of revenue -- at no cost to taxpayers -- and in exchange corporations benefit from an integrated media sponsorship encompassing:
-- Innovative public service commercials on cable television;
-- Compelling exclusive out of home signage located along high traffic public right of ways;
-- Memorable radio public service commercials, and
-- Feature articles in Pure Waterways magazine, the first quarterly publication of its kind in the country to present environmental articles and information targeted to local areas and supported by local and national businesses.
Environmental Communication® specializes in integrated media products that leverage corporate advertising and sponsorship investments to generate a greater return in building brands and capturing market share. Environmental Communication's flagship product, Adopt-a-Waterway, is a pioneering media sponsorship encompassing TV, exclusive out-of-home signage, custom magazine, event marketing and online media. In addition to direct funding, Adopt-A-Waterway offers local governments a comprehensive community outreach program that includes educational signage, television and radio public service commercials; communicating important environmental messages at no additional expense to local taxpayers.
Three PennWorks projects to add 20,000 jobs, $670 million investment
HARRISBURG, PA, April 20, 2005 (PRNewswire) -- Penn. Gov. Edward G. Rendell announced that the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA) has approved three PennWorks projects totaling more than $11.14 million that will create 20,165 new jobs in Pennsylvania and provide a significant boost to the economy by leveraging more than $670 million in private investments.
"Together with other economic stimulus programs, our communities are armed with the tools they need to improve infrastructure and boost economic development throughout Pennsylvania," Gov. Rendell said. "By investing in such development, we are attracting new businesses and partnerships that will create thousands of family-sustaining jobs while improving the environmental quality of our state."
The $200 million Water Supply and Wastewater Infrastructure Program, or PennWorks, was established in 2004 and provides single-year or multi-year grants and loans to municipalities and municipal authorities, industrial development corporations and investor-owned water or wastewater enterprises for projects that construct, expand or improve water and wastewater infrastructure related to economic development. The CFA approved the following three projects:
Altoona-Blair County Development Corp.
The CFA approved $2.04 million for the extension of sewer and water lines of the Bush Run receptor to the Logan Town Center in Logan Township, Blair County. The Logan Town Center is located in the I-99 - 17th Street development area and will consist of an 825,000-square-foot regional retail complex that is under construction and will create 4,000 permanent jobs and leverage $100 million in private investment. This site is located in a Keystone Opportunity Zone.
Bedford Township Municipal Authority
The CFA approved $2.2 for the construction of sewer and water infrastructure to support the rehabilitation of the Bedford Springs Hotel in the city of Bedford. These funds will be used to replace 13,000 feet of sewer lines, 15,000 feet of water lines, two water wells, one 500,000-gallon water tank and one chlorine disinfectant facility. The Bedford Springs Hotel National Historic District is one of the most endangered National Historic District Landmarks. Sewer lines along Business Route 220 will be replaced and include service to the Hotel, which will allow for the redevelopment of 186 rooms and suites, 16,000-square-feet of meeting space and a 12,000-square-foot spa with indoor and outdoor swimming pools. The project is expected to create 300 new jobs and leverage $70 million in private investment.
Findlay Township Municipal Authority
The CFA approved $6.9 million for the expansion of the water and sewer system servicing more than 4,500 acres surrounding Pittsburgh International Airport in Allegheny County. The township has partnered with Imperial Land Corporation to reclaim and develop the former strip mine land surrounding the airport, which will allow for the development of three industrial sites. The Clinton Industrial Park, a 100-acre site, will primarily focus on distribution and logistics of markets. The Route 30 Industrial Park, to be situated on 120- acres, will target a variety of industrial/flex buildings. The Imperial Land Industrial Park, a 1,260-acre site, will target industrial, warehousing, flex, technology and some commercial use. The development is expected to leverage $500 million in private investment and create 15,865 jobs between the three industrial parks. The Clinton site was previously awarded $7.5 million in Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP) funds and the Route 30 site was awarded $4 million in RACP funds.
PennWorks will supplement other stimulus programs like Business in Our Sites by providing assistance for offsite improvements as well as significant site-specific projects. Together, Governor Rendell's Economic Stimulus Package targets $2.3 billion in public investments to leverage at least $5 billion worth of private sector investments in economic and community development projects.
The Commonwealth Financing Authority is a seven-member board, created to administer and fund projects from programs that are part of the Economic Stimulus Package. In addition to PennWorks, the CFA oversees Business in Our Sites, the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Guarantee, First Industries Fund, New PA Venture Capital Investment, New Pennsylvania Venture Guarantee, Building PA, and the Second Stage Loan programs.
For more information on PennWorks and other stimulus programs, visit www.newpa.com or call 1-866-466-3972.
Optelecom announces name change to Optelecom-NKF
GERMANTOWN, MD, April 18, 2005 (PRNewswire-FirstCall) -- Optelecom Inc., a global leader in the video surveillance and intelligent transportation markets, has changed its corporate name to Optelecom-NKF Inc. to strengthen the company's corporate identity by aligning its name with its two strong brands: Optelecom and NKF Electronics.
"We combined two strong product lines and two sales units with little geographic overlap when we acquired NKF Electronics B.V. last month," commented Edmund Ludwig, Optelecom-NKF's president and CEO. "Our new name underscores our global market reach and reflects our commitment to support and enhance both well-known brands with superior customer service and a new product stream built from superior technology."
Shares of Optelecom-NKF Inc., will continue to trade under the ticker symbol "OPTC." The change of the company's name will not affect, in any way, the validity of currently outstanding stock certificates, nor will it be necessary for the Company's stockholders to surrender or exchange any stock certificates that they currently hold as a result of the name change.
Optelecom-NKF offers integrated multimedia products for communicating video, audio, and other data over both copper wire and optical network systems. Taking a client-centric approach to its business through a proactive, flexible, and value-driven philosophy, it supplies industry and governments worldwide with best-of-class solutions for highway traffic management, air traffic control, border surveillance, facilities security, and business video systems.
The company (www.optelecom-nkf.com) has accumulated extensive expertise in fiber optic and IP/Ethernet network technologies. This expertise has enabled Optelecom-NKF to build a broad range of communications products ranging from fiber optic video modems and multiplexers to complete Video-over-IP network solutions. All its products are designed and tested for Local, Metropolitan, and Wide Area Network (LAN, MAN, and WAN) applications, especially those characterized by harsh environmental conditions and by large distances between the individual transmission locations.
For additional news briefs, see:
-- "WaterBriefs: PICO to supply water for new community in Lincoln County, Nev.": ALSO in this report (April 22, 2005): CarteGraph heads to Florida, Arizona for user groups; Unico mining approval includes extensive water treatment; and New Jersey American Water to host ceremony for new Springfield facilities...
-- "WaterBriefs: Antibacterial research should focus on facts, not fear": ALSO in this report (April 15, 2005): Cytec hikes prices on water treatment chemicals; Beverage reports out for France, East Asia; U.S.-Russia filter in Space Technology Hall of Fame; MWD authorizes groundwater recovery projects; ACWA enters solar energy partnership; PennFuture lauds $625M environmental bond; Home Depot, Lowe's asked to sell non-toxic lawn pesticides; Citect wins Cincinnati Water Works project; Ecolab's quat sanitizer offers disinfection solution; Calif. to offer desalination, groundwater grants...
-- "WaterBriefs: Aqua America unit builds wastewater business with two acquisitions": ALSO in this report (April 1, 2005): Pirnie-McGuire Environmental merger done; Ohio county wins biosolids EMS certification; Koch Industries sponsors DC watershed cleanup; Judge scraps Nestle deal to buy half-billion gallons of spring water; Insituform pipeline tunneling unit honored; UK aids P&G clean water effort in Haiti; AchemAmerica focuses on process technologies at Mexico City event; Aqua-Aerobic breaks ground to expand; WEF, others commemorate World Water Day...
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