REGIONAL BUSINESS
United Airlines adds flights
United Airlines on Thursday said it would launch daily nonstop service from its Cleveland hub at Hopkins International Airport to Nashville and Oklahoma City, Okla. At the same time, the airline said it would be discontinuing service to Green Bay, Wis., beginning Dec. 18. Customers can connect via Chicago.
New United Express flights will be operated by ExpressJet using 50-seat regional jet aircraft, with the Nashville service beginning on Dec. 19 and Oklahoma City beginning on Feb. 14.
Jim Ferea, United’s managing director for domestic planning, said, “Nashville has the largest number of travelers among cities that United doesn’t currently serve from Cleveland, and the Oklahoma City flights will support Northeast Ohio’s growing energy sector.”
Ron DeBarr leads U.S. board
Ron DeBarr, head of the local group that oversees the region’s foreign trade zones, has been elected to a one-year term as vice chairman of the board of directors of the National Association of Foreign Trade Zones.
The zones — dubbed FTZs — allow companies who locate in them to defer, reduce or avoid customs duties. DeBarr is president and CEO of the Kent-based Northeast Ohio Trade & Economic Consortium (NEOTEC), a multicounty economic development group that oversees the zone called FTZ 181, which is anchored by Summit County and is spread over a 10-county region. NEOTEC also oversees FTZ 40 in Cuyahoga, Lorain and Ashtabula counties.
DeBarr has served in a leadership role with the Washington, D.C.-headquartered National Association of Foreign Trade Zones since 2008. The national association works to promote the zones, and respond to the needs of zone users.
Cardinal celebrates 50 years
The Cardinal Group, a building maintenance, roofing and environmental services company in Akron today will celebrate its 50th year of business. A reception will be held at its offices on East Miller Avenue, south of downtown.
The company was founded in 1962 by Andrew G. Pohl, who died in 1994. Dan Pohl, Andrew Pohl’s son, remains CEO of the corporation. Ray Brophy is president. Dan Pohl’s daughter, Andrea, is director of operations.
The company began as a commercial cleaning operation and branched into its first environmental services work — asbestos removal — in the early 1980s. Eventually, the company entered the commercial roofing business. Cardinal’s payroll includes 75 full-time employees. Overall employment numbers 200, including part-time and seasonal workers.
ACQUISITION
BASF to buy Iowa firm
German chemical maker BASF SE agreed to buy Becker Underwood Inc. for $1.02 billion as Kurt Bock makes his first major acquisition as chief executive officer with a move into biological seed treatments.
BASF, which has a Northeast Ohio operation in Beachwood, will create a business unit called Functional Crop Care to encompass the Ames, Iowa, business, which is forecast to generate $240 million in sales in the year through September. Norwest Equity Partners is exiting the asset after eight years.
Becker will feed BASF’s plans to grow in biological crop care as well as animal nutrition as the Ludwigshafen-based company moves away from commoditized products such as plastics. Demand for seed treatment is “rapidly growing” as farmers look to science to improve yields and fight pests, BASF said.
“This will strengthen BASF’s own seed treatment activities and create a global leader,” Laurent Favre, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a note. The “valuation is punchy, but in line with previous deals.”
The price is equal to 4.25 times sales. Novozymes A/S paid 4.6 times sales for its purchase of EMD/Merck Crop BioScience, according to Bank of America.
Compiled from staff and wire reports