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BANKING
• TAB Bank, Ogden, has entered into a multi-year agreement with Hammond’s Candies to provide a revolving credit facility of $7.5 million. The facility will be used to support the company’s working capital needs as it continues to grow and expand the reach of its portfolio of gourmet chocolates, hard candies, and other snacks and confections. Hammond’s Candies was founded in Denver in 1920. It sells its products under several brands, including Old Dominion Peanut Co., Hammond’s Candies and American Candy Co. Hammond’s also produces on a private-label basis and sells some product in bulk to customers that repackage it under their own brand.
CONSTRUCTION
• Jacobsen Construction recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new headquarters at 5181 W. Amelia Earhart Drive in Salt Lake City’s International Center. Designed to accommodate company growth, the 63,000-square-foot headquarters marks the first time in the firm’s 99-year history in which employees can go to work each day in an office built by Jacobsen, for Jacobsen. The company is a nearly $1 billion company with $2.1 billion of work in its pipeline.
CORPORATE
• Extra Space Storage Inc., Salt Lake City, has announced that its operating partnership, Extra Space Storage LP, has priced a public offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of 2.35 percent senior notes due 2032. The notes were priced at 99.797 percent of the principal amount and will mature on March 15, 2032. Wells Fargo Securities, PNC Capital Markets LLC, J.P. Morgan, TD Securities, BMO Capital Markets, BNP PARIBAS, BofA Securities and US Bancorp acted as the joint book-running managers for the offering. Regions Securities LLC, Truist Securities, BOK Financial Securities Inc., Citigroup, Fifth Third Securities, Ramirez & Co. Inc. and Zions Direct Inc. acted as the co-managers for the offering. The offering was expected to close by Sept. 22. The operating partnership intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to fund potential acquisition opportunities, to repay amounts outstanding from time to time under its lines of credit, and for other general corporate and working capital purposes. Extra Space Storage is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that owns and/or operates 1,973 self-storage properties.
• Qualtrics, a Provo-based company focused on experience management, has completed an exchange offer by Qualtrics to certain eligible employees of QAL Technologies Pty. Ltd., a proprietary limited company organized in Australia and a subsidiary of Qualtrics, to exchange all of their outstanding cash-settled fixed value rights and all of their outstanding cash-settled rights that are linked to the value of SAP Ordinary Shares for unvested rights to receive shares of Qualtrics Class A common stock. The exchange offer expired Sept. 10. A total of 60 eligible employees elected to tender and did not withdraw their outstanding awards in the exchange offer, and Qualtrics accepted for exchange awards representing approximately 78.3 percent of the value of all outstanding awards eligible to be tendered.
• Solaray, a Salt Lake City-based company offering multivitamins, minerals, herbs and supplement brands, has undergone a brand relaunch with reimagined visual branding, new post-consumer recycled bottles, and sustainability commitments. The relaunch is part of the company’s introduction to the direct-to-consumer market. The brand’s new campaign is called “Live Brighter.” The brand is part of The Better Being Co., previously Nutraceutical.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 4 on a list of “2021’s Best Cities for Country Music Fans,” compiled by LawnStarter. It ranked over 180 of the largest U.S. cities across five factors, including the number of country radio stations, concerts and performance venues, plus the size of the local fandom based on Google search trends and availability of museums dedicated to the genre. The top-ranked city is Nashville, Tennessee. The No. 182 city is Killeen, Texas. Details are at https://www.lawnstarter.com/blog/studies/best-cities-country-music-fans/.
• Utah is ranked No. 13 among states where upper-middle-class people are moving in, a list compiled by SmartAsset. It used data from 2018-19 IRS migration data for people earning between $100,000 and $200,000 and then calculated a net migration figure for upper-middle-class filers. Utah had 5,070 people move in and 3,942 move out, resulting in a net increase of 1,128. The top-ranked state is Florida. Details are at https://smartasset.com/data-studies/where-upper-middle-class-people-are-moving-2021.
• Salt Lake City is ranked No. 46 on a list of “Best Cities for Burger Fans,” compiled by Lawn Love. It ranked nearly 200 of the biggest U.S. cities. The top-ranked city is Washington, D.C. The No. 197 city is Midland, Texas. Details are at https://lawnlove.com/blog/best-cities-burger-fans/.
ENERGY
• Energy Fuels Inc., a Colorado-based company focused on mining uranium and producing vanadium and rare earth carbonate, has established the San Juan County Clean Energy Foundation, a fund designed to contribute to the communities surrounding its White Mesa Mill in southeastern Utah. The company has deposited $1 million into the foundation and anticipates providing ongoing annual funding equal to 1 percent of the Mill’s future revenues, providing funding to support the local economy and local priorities. The foundation will focus on supporting education, the environment, health/wellness and economic advancement in Blanding, San Juan County, the White Mesa Ute Community, the Navajo Nation and other area communities. In addition to White Mesa Mill, Energy Fuels has the Nichols Ranch in-situ recovery (ISR) project in Wyoming and the Alta Mesa ISR project in Texas. The company recently business, community and industry officials in Blanding to introduce the beginning of production and shipments of an intermediate rare earth element (REE) product called mixed rare earth carbonate at the White Mesa Mill. Approximately 15 containers of the material produced at the mill is being shipped to Europe. REEs are used in the production of hundreds of everyday and specialty items with a wide range of consumer applications.
• The Salt Lake City Department of Airports (SLCDA) recently celebrated one year since opening The New SLC-Phase 1 while announcing LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The New SLC has achieved its sustainability goal of LEED Gold certification for both the Terminal Redevelopment Program project and Concourse B-west. The airport achieved this certification through efforts involving emission reduction, waste minimization, water conservation and renewable energy implementation.
HEALTHCARE
• Sera Prognostics Inc., a Salt Lake City-based company focused on improving maternal and neonatal health by providing innovative pregnancy biomarker information to doctors and patients, has appointed Dr. Michael R. Foley as chief medical officer. He takes over at the position in January. Foley initially practiced maternal-fetal medicine in private practice for more than 20 years and will retire Dec. 31 from the role of chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix/Banner Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, where he served for nearly a decade.
Xenocor, a Salt Lake City-based developer of a laparoscopic imaging system, has named Mark Foster to its board of directors. Foster has 20 years of general management and leadership experience from both venture-backed growth-stage organizations and medical device companies. He currently is CEO of Trice Medical, a venture-backed company that offers products for minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic orthopedic procedures. His experience also includes senior management positions focused on business development to include fundraising, licensing, M&A, commercialization and supply chain initiatives at Smith and Nephew and Boston Scientific.
• Nomi Health, Orem, has announced plans to hire more than 200 medical staff for the TestUtah, designed to increase residents’ access to FDA EUA-authorized antigen tests. The Utah Department of Health selected Nomi Health to coordinate COVID testing and vaccination efforts with mobile testing units throughout the state. The mobile test site locations change weekly.
INVESTMENTS
• Zonos, a St. George-based technology company for cross-border commerce, raised $69 million in a Series A funding round led by Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth equity firm. Other participants include individual investors, including Eric Rea, co-founder and CEO of Podium; Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight; Austen Allred, co-founder and CEO of Lambda School; Josh James, founder and CEO of Domo; and David Elkington, founder of InsideSales. It is Zonos’ first outside capital since its founding in 2009. The company said the investment will support it “in delivering on its mission to create trust and transparency in global trade,” including growth in product development, go-to-market and worldwide team expansion. As part of the transaction, Todd MacLean has joined the Zonos board of directors along with co-founders Clint Reid and Daniel Johnson. Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to Silversmith Capital Partners, and Goodwin Procter served as legal counsel to Zonos.
NONPROFITS
• The Utah 1033 Foundation has presented three students from across the state, all children of Utah law enforcement officers, with $5,000 each in 2021 Leadership Awards, in honor of both the individual students and Utah’s fallen law enforcement officers. High school and college students from around the State applied for the 2021 Leadership Awards by submitting an essay in response to a prompt which asked them to grapple with the definition of peaceful protests and civil disobedience versus civil rebellion. The award recipients are Anna Barfuss, whose father serves with the DSU Police Department and the FBI; Afton Beesley, whose father serves with the Utah Highway Patrol; and Savanah Higley, whose father serves with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office. The Utah 1033 Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2011 to honor Utah’s fallen officers by providing immediate financial support to their families, and to assist dependents of fallen and active Utah peace officers with education costs.
PHILANTHROPY
• DoTerra, a Pleasant Grove-based company focused on aromatherapy and essential oils, has announced the support of several events across the country that will benefit the American Cancer Society (ACS) and its work in funding cancer research. The company will be a participating sponsor of nine ACS community events in September, October and November, including “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer in Denver, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Phoenix. “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” features local celebrations and walks that raise funds for breast cancer research and programs. DoTerra also is sponsoring Cattle Baron’s Ball in Denver and Dallas; CEOs Against Cancer Champions of Hope Gala in Denver; and The Big Gig in Salt Lake City, which benefits the Hope Lodge.
• Lee’s Marketplace, a Logan-based, family-owned grocery business, is helping stock local food banks with its support of the campaign “Curds+Kindness Dairy Drive,” which launched Sept. 22. For over 10 years, Lee’s Marketplace has partnered with Dairy West, Dairy Farmers of America and Gossner’s in the Great American Milk Drive, which supplies local communities with much-needed dairy products. This year’s campaign runs through Oct. 13. Guests can make monetary donations at check stands, either by selecting a dollar amount or rounding up their purchase to the nearest dollar.
REAL ESTATE
• Wood Partners has broken ground on its newest luxury residential community, currently named Alta Gateway II, at West 100 South in Salt Lake City. The community is scheduled to open in 2023. Alta Gateway II will offer 288 apartment homes complete with one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans. Atlanta-based Wood Partners owns 70 properties in 14 states, representing more than 20,000 homes.
• Nitya Capital, based in Houston, has sold Downtown 360, a 151-unit apartment development at 360 S. 400 W., Salt Lake City, to Redhill Realty Investors. Financial terms were not disclosed. The sale was announced by CBRE’s Salt Lake City office. Eli Mills and Patrick Bodnar represented Nitya Capital in the transaction. Rocco Mandala of CBRE Debt & Structured Finance arranged the financing for Redhill. Downtown 360 was constructed in 2017.
RETAIL
• Burn Boot Camp, a national boutique fitness franchise, has announced plans to expand in Utah. After success at its gym in Orem, which opened in 2018, a 8,000-square-foot gym at 10467 S. Redwood Road, South Jordan, opened Sept. 20. Locations are planned to open this year in Highland, Bountiful, Herriman, American Fork and Layton, with more to open in 2022.
• Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum, 444 W. 100 S., Salt Lake City, has announced that The Red Balloon Toy Store will open a location inside the museum. Red Balloon will be providing toys based on the museum exhibits as well as toys that further their focus on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) learning.
SERVICES
• Ancestry, a Lehi-based family history and consumer genomics company, has hired Brian Donnelly as senior vice president and general manager of Ancestry DNA and Ashish Nayyar as chief data officer, and promoted Heather Friedland to chief product officer. Donnelly most recently was head of diagnostics and genomics at Amazon. Prior to Amazon, Donnelly held a variety of global leadership roles at genomics companies, including Sequenom; Illumina; and Codex DNA, where he was the chief commercial officer. Nayyar will lead analytics, data science and data engineering at Ancestry. He previously was senior director of data science at Facebook, where he led the Entertainment and Commerce Data Science teams for the Facebook app. Friedland joined Ancestry in 2019 and served as vice president of product for AncestryHealth and, most recently, as senior vice president of new products and growth. She has more than two decades of product management experience, previously serving as chief product officer at Glassdoor.
TECHNOLOGY
• Code Corp., a Salt Lake City-based company focused on barcode scanning and data capture technologies, has named Hilde De Bisschop as a senior channel marketing manager to expand EMEA channel partner growth. De Bisschop has spent the majority of her career working with barcode scanning technology companies. Prior to Code, De Bisschop was at Honeywell, where she was responsible for the EMEA channel program and integrations of programs following multiple acquisitions. She also served as group senior channel marketing manager at Datalogic. De Bisschop is based in Luxembourg.
• MX, a Lehi-based financial data platform and connectivity company, has announced a partnership with Mahalo Technologies, a Michigan-based provider of online and mobile banking solutions for credit unions. The partnership is designed to provide financial institutions an elite, seamless experience from the two companies’ combined technology platforms through deep integrations into core banking through Mahalo and data enhancement through MX, allowing for insights to drive credit union growth and member engagement. PrimeWay Federal Credit Union, founded in 1937 and with eight locations in the Houston area, will be the first mutual client of MX and Mahalo.