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CALCULATE
Holyoke Green Center receives $5 million for expansion
Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center member universities are investing more than $5 million to expand the capacity of the Holyoke Center to support the cutting-edge research of the sponsoring institutions. The project adds several thousand new servers in the 90,000 square foot center. University sponsors include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Boston University, Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts. The new computing infrastructure will be powered almost entirely from “clean” energy sources such as local hydroelectric and solar power plants operated by Holyoke Gas and Electric. The data center was developed through a partnership between the universities, the state of Massachusetts and technology companies Cisco and Dell EMC. —JON CHESTO
REAL ESTATE
Marcus Partners closes funds
Boston-based real estate firm Marcus Partners said Tuesday it had closed a $650 million fund. The company declined to disclose the names of the investors. However, the investor base is mainly institutional and includes endowments, endowments and pension schemes. Marcus has focused on the development of industrial, multi-family and life science properties throughout Boston, New York and Washington, DC for the past several years. Some of his local projects include the future headquarters of Gingko Bioworks in Boston’s Seaport and three industrial projects built from the ground up in Taunton, Franklin and Haverhill. The Company also recently acquired an industrial portfolio of four buildings – 192 Mansfield Ave. at Norton, 100 Adams Road in Clinton and 132 Campanelli Drive and 1010 West Chestnut St. in Brockton – sold to GCP/Modlo for US$173 million. Marcus’ recently closed fund exceeded its original $500 million fundraising goal by more than $150 million. “Amidst today’s volatile investment landscape, we continue to have a strong focus on capital preservation,” said Paul Marcus, founder and CEO of Marcus Partners, in a statement. The Company owns, operates or develops more than 6 million square feet of real estate and 1,300 residential units. — CATHERINE CARLOCK
AIRLINES
Lufthansa pilots end strike
A pilots’ union at Lufthansa called off a planned two-day strike on Tuesday after a last-minute agreement with Germany’s largest airline over a wage dispute. The union Vereinigung Cockpit had announced a strike for Wednesday and Thursday and called on the company to make a “serious” offer in talks about salary increases. It would have been the second strike in a week after pilots staged a strike on Friday that resulted in hundreds of flights being cancelled. It was not immediately clear what the agreement entailed. The Cockpit Association has called for a 5.5 percent salary increase for its members this year and an inflation-busting increase of 8.2 percent for 2023. The pilots have also sought a new salary and vacation structure. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
RETAIL TRADE
Bed Bath & Beyond appoints interim Chief Financial Officer
Bed Bath & Beyond promoted its chief accounting officer to interim chief financial officer following the death of former chief financial officer Gustavo Arnal. Laura Crossen, the company’s senior vice president of finance and chief accounting officer, has assumed the position, BedBath & Beyond said in a statement on Tuesday. She will continue to serve as chief accountant. Arnal, the former CFO, fell to his death from a Manhattan skyscraper on September 2. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
EU blocks takeover of GRAIL
The European Union’s antitrust authority said on Tuesday it was blocking the acquisition of cancer screening firm GRAIL by biotech giant Illumina in a rare move by European regulators against two US companies. Illumina is a major provider of next-generation sequencing (NGS) systems for genetic and genomic analysis, while GRAIL is a healthcare company developing blood tests to detect cancer early. Illumina announced an $8 billion acquisition of GRAIL in 2020. However, the European Commission, which oversees competition issues, said the acquisition “would have enabled and provided an incentive for Illumina to foreclose GRAIL’s competitors, who depend on Illumina’s technology, from having access to a key input they need to develop their own tests.” and market it.” — ASSOCIATED PRESS
SOCIAL MEDIA
The SPAC merger with Trump hits a snag
The future of former President Donald Trump’s social media platform remains in doubt after a well-funded company it was planning to merge with said Tuesday it still needs a few days to garner shareholder support to complete the extend the deadline for closing the deal. Digital World Acquisition held a meeting Tuesday to announce the outcome of the shareholder vote to extend the deadline for the merger to be completed by another year. But shortly after the meeting began, Patrick Orlando, Digital World’s chief executive, announced that he was adjourning the meeting to Thursday to give investors more time to vote. Unless Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) can get 65 percent of shareholders to approve the extension, it will be forced to liquidate and sell the nearly $300 million it raised in a September IPO return shareholders. The liquidation also means about three dozen hedge funds that had pledged to provide $1 billion in additional funding will not have to come up with that money. — NEW YORK TIMES
BEVERAGES
The Swiss company says it has a green substitute for coffee capsules
Swiss retailer Migros announced on Tuesday that it is launching a coffee-making system that aims to replace capsules, which produce thousands of tons of waste around the world every year. The co-op said its spherical capsules – dubbed “coffee balls” – are fully compostable, unlike the plastic and aluminum containers popularized by its rival Nestle under the Nespresso brand 36 years ago. Migros said its coffee balls are encased in a thin, tasteless, seaweed-based shell that can be disposed of with the spent coffee after use. The company said the CoffeeB system, which also features a dedicated coffee machine, will be launched first in Switzerland and France this year, followed by Germany in 2023. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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