With capital in hand, STARC hires CEOWithin weeks of securing $3.5 million in financing from Blue Heron Capital, STARC Systems hired a CEO with extensive merchandising experience.Chris Vickers, a native of Caribou and Colby College grad, was previously president and CEO of Vermont Country Store in Manchester, Vt. Starting in 2010, he served as chief […]
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With capital in hand, STARC hires CEO
Within weeks of securing $3.5 million in financing from Blue Heron Capital, STARC Systems hired a CEO with extensive merchandising experience.
Chris Vickers, a native of Caribou and Colby College grad, was previously president and CEO of Vermont Country Store in Manchester, Vt. Starting in 2010, he served as chief merchandising and marketing officer, then took over as president and CEO in February 2013. Previously, Vickers served as vice president of merchandising at L.L.Bean Inc.
STARC, which is based at TechPlace in Brunswick Landing, creates temporary wall containment for renovations within health care, education and commercial construction projects.
P&G invests $4.6M at Auburn plant
Two major safety upgrades at Procter & Gamble's Tambrands factory, at a cost of $4.6 million, are the latest of a total $11 million in upgrades at the Auburn site.
The factory, which produces 9 million tampons a day, completed a 33,000-square-foot, $6.2 million addition earlier this year at the 530,000-square-foot plant at 2879 Hotel Road, the Sun Journal reported. The plant is the leading North American producer of the Tampax Pearl product, which generated $288.7 million in sales in 2016, more than twice its leading competitor. The site has 400 workers. A 50,000-square-foot expansion in 2012 added three production lines. Since P&G bought the site in 1997, it has invested $400 million there.
Venture capital firm withdraws $5M loan offer
Boston-based Arctaris Royalty Ventures Co-Investment LP withdrew its offer to lend $5 million to Stored Solar LLC, owner of biomass power plants in West Enfield and Jonesboro. Most of the proposed loan was to have been backed by Finance Authority of Maine. The Bangor Daily News reported that FAME spokesman Bill Norbert confirmed that Arctaris rescinded its request for the state agency to insure 90% of its proposed loan to Stored Solar, a subsidiary of the French energy firm Capergy, which purchased the two plants from Covanta Energy in October 2016.
Kestrel woes mount in Wisconsin
Kestrel Aircraft, which recently was evicted from Brunswick Landing for failing to pay rent for at least a year, faces possible legal action by the state of Wisconsin and the city of Superior, Wisc., over millions in defaulted loans.
Fox21 in Superior, Wisc., reported that Kestrel owes roughly $4 million to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and another $2 million to the city of Superior, funds that were supposed help pay for an as-yet-unbuilt aircraft manufacturing plant that would lead to 650 jobs.
The station also reported that Kestrel founder Alan Klapmeier, who is now CEO of Kestrel's parent company, One Aviation, says the state didn't follow through on promises that he says were essential to Kestrel's ability to build the plant.
Klapmeier said he still wants to build a plant in Superior but wasn't sure it was possible.
“Obviously we're very disappointed with this entire project and the way it came about,” he told Fox21. “We still tried in good faith to keep the jobs here and have this result in a successful project, obviously Superior could benefit greatly from these types of jobs. But at this point, we'd have to say we don't know.”
