City to Kick Off Energy Efficiency and Infrastructure Improvements

(EVANSVILLE, IN) – December 2, 2010 – Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel announced today that the City of Evansville has selected Evansville-based Energy Systems Group (ESG), a specialized energy services and performance contracting company (ESCO), to complete comprehensive energy audits of City facilities in order to identify key energy efficiency and infrastructure improvements.

“Energy conservation is a key strategy in achieving the goals of the City of Evansville’s Sustainability Policy that I enacted in 2007; and is the most effective, most efficient way to reduce the City’s contribution to climate change and other environmental impacts,” stated Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. “Energy conservation efforts will also have a positive impact on the City’s operating budget. Energy costs will continue to increase, so it’s sensible to do what we can to reduce our energy usage. The money we save on utility bills can be redirected toward fulfilling our other responsibilities to citizens, such as providing for public safety; maintaining parks, streets and sewers; and keeping Evansville a wonderful place to live.”

The selection of ESG is the result of a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) the City issued in September. The City will consult with ESG to determine which buildings are good candidates for energy audits. The audits will be funded with Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program funds the City received from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The City will decide which specific projects to undertake based on the recommendations detailed in the audit reports. The aim will be to identify energy conservation measures that will reduce energy usage by 10 – 30 percent from pre-project levels. Project implementation will be funded by the EECBG and energy performance contracts.

“This will give the City the opportunity to implement some long-needed repairs and upgrades without raising taxes or negatively impacting the City budget,” said Dona Bergman, director of the City of Evansville Department of Sustainability, Energy and Environmental Quality, who will oversee the project. “In fact, the energy savings the City expects to realize could actually have a positive impact on the City budget.”

“ESG commends the City of Evansville’s commitment to sustainability and carbon footprint reduction,” said Jim Adams, ESG president. “As a company headquartered in Evansville since 1994, we are especially looking forward to making such an impact throughout our home community.”

Energy Systems Group (ESG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vectren Corporation (NYSE: VVC), is an award-winning energy services company that specializes in delivering sustainable energy solutions which allow building owners to maximize their energy efficiency and operational performance, while reducing their carbon footprint. Through its core business of performance contracting, ESG provides customers with innovative energy efficiency, technology, and long term financing solutions for modernization of their facilities and energy infrastructure. To learn more about ESG, visit www.energysystemsgroup.com.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Technology transfer (T2) agreements within the U.S. armed services can have significant benefits in the civilian sector, especially for small, entrepreneurial start-up companies that often are the backbone for innovation and economic growth.

That’s according to a new economic impact study done for the U.S. Department of the Navy by the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

The Navy’s Technology Transfer Program Office has 37 facilities in 14 states and the District of Columbia. From 2005 through 2009, there were more than 620 agreements with naval laboratories. They include 10 research sites in California, seven locations in Maryland, four sites in Virginia and three locations in Florida and the District of Columbia.

They also include the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, which is located 25 miles southwest of Bloomington and is home to about 4,000 researchers and technicians engaged in procuring and upgrading a wide variety of military munitions, weapons, communications and radar equipment.

Working with a subset of 103 agreements, the report found that these naval technology transfer deals were directly responsible for 670 well-paying civilian jobs at private firms, universities and non-profits nationally. When additional employment created through economic ripple effects is taken into account, naval technology transfer agreements are responsible for supporting more than 2,600 civilian jobs.

Compared to the U.S. average compensation per worker of $56,100, the direct T2 compensation per full-time job averaged $79,300 per year. Private companies accounted for 84 percent of all the agreements.

The federal, state and local taxes generated by this economic activity are estimated to total $60 million, averaging nearly $614,000 per agreement.

“This report not only shows the value of technology transfer for our military personnel in the field, such as better equipment and support, but also in the civilian environment as well,” said Timothy Slaper, director of economic analysis at the IBRC and author of the study. “These agreements often generate jobs that are linked to the lab where they have agreements.

“The product license agreements (PLAs) are for firms selling products that are based on technologies that were developed in military labs,” Slaper said, adding that some of the technology originally developed for the military also is used to benefit all Americans. “You and I are not going to hit an IED and suffer severe medical problems, but there obviously are civilian applications for medical products and procedures they the labs might develop.”

The study, “The Economic Contribution of the Department of the Navy Technology Transfer Program,” found that two-thirds of the agreement partners that participated in the survey were small, with fewer than 100 employees.

More than half of the small T2 partners reported that, on average, 12 jobs were created or retained as a result of their agreements, highlighting the effect that such deals can have on start-up companies.

“That’s really the story,” Slaper said. “Any one of these companies is not a ribbon-cutting ceremony like getting a Honda plant or having a Boeing relocate in your community, but one needs to consider that these smaller firms, which tend to be entrepreneurial and technologically cutting edge, tend to spur economic growth and generate more jobs overall.

“Cooperative research agreements between labs and partner organizations can help move technologies from early developmental stages to products that are ready for the market. These agreements can multiply the modest resources of small firms and will likely result in innovative products and processes later on down the road that will, in turn generate economy activity and jobs,” he said.

The estimated direct economic output associated with these 103 agreements totaled $200 million and the economic ripple effect of this output generated an estimated $345 million in additional economic activity. The total economic impact of the 103 T2 deals for the civilian economy totaled over a half billion dollars (in 2009 dollars).

Among other findings:

Of the 103 deals considered in the report, 64 percent were cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) and 30 percent were product license agreements (PLAs), with the balance consisting of limited purpose-CRADAs (LP-CRADAs). On average, a CRADA supported over eight jobs while a PLA, on average, supported 10 jobs.
Within the manufacturing sector, no one particular industry dominated. However, within the professional, scientific and technical services sector, nearly two-thirds of the partner firms are in the scientific research and development services industry. The majority of the partner firms in the scientific R&D services industry are located in California or Maryland, with their neighboring states in the West and Mideast also dominating the U.S. R&D landscape.
Medium-sized agreement partners took the shortest amount of time to develop their technology and also experienced the largest increase in the technology readiness levels.

Small deal partners had relatively minor increases in expenses associated with the agreements, yet more than half (55 percent) either expected or experienced increases in revenue averaging $2.9 million. Conversely, the expenses associated with agreements with large partners averaged $1.1 million, but they expected or experienced relatively modest increases in average annual gross revenue, little over a half million dollars.

The estimated economic impact presented in the report applies only to the agreement partners that participated in the study. The economic footprint of the 103 deals cannot be considered averages for all Department of Defense T2 agreements or agreement partners.

The Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information, contact:
Shannon Hurt 812/422-2111
November 30, 2010
PRESS RELEASE

THE ARTS COUNCIL OF SOUTHWESTERN INDIANA IS PREPARING FOR AN ART EXHIBITION OF THE WORK OF SIX KENTUCKY ARTISTS IN THE BOWER-SUHRHEINRICH FOUNDATION GALLERY.

“Six Painted Ladies,” aka: Iris Gentry, Susie Rideout, Marka Kroeger and Cathe Hedgespeth of Henderson, Sandy Barry of Clay and Jan Frazier of Owensboro have been painting together for quite some time. They meet regularly in their homes and studios to drink coffee, paint, and share what they know about art as well as comment on what they like and what they don’t like about one another’s work. Harrowing? Yes, but always productive and always a pleasure. They work in a variety of media but oil and watercolor dominates and their subject matter ranges from abstract, still life, landscapes and plein air paintings to an occasional portrait.

The result of these work sessions has been some interesting area art exhibits, such as the one, titled “Six Painted Ladies,” that opens Tuesday, December 7, from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. in the Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery in downtown Evansville.

Each artist will have several pieces in the exhibit at 318 Main Street, which will be on display through January 12, 2011. The Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

I returned this week from the Indiana Trade Mission to Japan headed by Governor Mitch Daniels, where Governor Daniels and I met with key partner companies including Toyota, Aisin Seiki, Toyota Boshoku, and Toyota Industries. In addition to the above meetings, I was fortunate to participate with Governor Daniels in a private luncheon with Tomikazu Fukuda, Governor of Tochigi Prefecture – Indiana’s sister Japanese state.

During the meetings, Governor Daniels delivered a powerful message about how Indiana and Southwest Indiana are the perfect business locations. Demonstrating to Japanese business how Southwest Indiana works as one economic region opened their eyes to the investment possibilities.

Over the next three weeks, the Coalition will be engaged in discussions on some of the most important economic development projects we’ve worked on since our formation. The tenor of these discussions will tell us a great deal about which direction the economy is pointing. Our sincere hope is that an announcement or two will come from those talks. Stay tuned.

By Don Counts

President Joe Vezzoso expressed disappointment that the Vanderburgh County Council could not be convinced that the ball field project at the Robert’s Stadium site was worth going forward with. The Bureau needs to move on and transfer their deposits of into accounts where they can earn the greatest return. A Recommendation was made to deposit the money into Trust Indiana which is a State program that allows local units of government (e.g. counties, municipalities, school corporations, townships, and other units of local government) as well as the State of Indiana to invest in a common pool of investment assets that preserves the principal of the public’s funds, remains highly liquid, and maximizes the return on the investment. A second recommendation was to keep the deposits local. Currently deposits are at Integra, Fifth Third and Old National Bank. The board decided to keep the money local and to add the Bank of Evansville to their roster, which currently has the highest rate of return. The trustee will do this, insuring that the deposits will not exceed the maximum federally insured amounts.

David Dunn reported that the Bureau was on the Vanderburgh County Council Agenda in error and he will withdraw the project from Council till they have more support and will evaluate that level of support after the first of the year. He reported that by the failure to pursue the bond issue for the ball field project during 2010, they lost $4.8 to $6.2 million in reduced interest charges over a 25 year period and that the Build America stimulus money that will expire at the end of this year. He reported that they had worked on this project for seven years and countless hours. He said that the ball fields would have brought money in to the hospitality business but was caught up in politics.

Joe Vezzoso said that the money in the budget could be used to reduce the Inn Keepers tax. If nothing is done it will cost the City $400,000 per year to maintain Roberts Stadium, he would like to see a strip mall go in there. He said he doesn’t know if he will be in the Bureau next year but doesn’t think they should go out for a project like this unless they have the support of the public and the Vanderburgh County Commissioner and Council.

Bob Whitehouse reported that the hotels have had an extremely good year. He said he has met with the Jehovah Witnesses and that they are coming to town to talk about their convention, and they have some concerns.

The first draft of a four page brochure for the Arena has been completed. Members recommended that pictures be included showing configurations for basketball, concerts, and conventions. The bureau will seek the approval of John Kish, Evansville Arena Project Manager, before going forward with publication.

The Evansville Tennis Association appeared seeking support for improvements of the tennis courts at Wesselman Park. Currently there are three courts there. They have estimated the cost of adding new courts would be $630,000 for the courts and $150,000 for lighting. They have a five year lease with the Parks Department for 7.2 acres which gives them permission to build and improve. This project would create a shortfall of 35 parking spaces which could be added elsewhere later. None of the new courts would be enclosed at this time. There are nine indoor courts in the Evansville area. Major tournaments require indoor courts. The Women’s Circuit sponsored by the Women’s Hospital has been the best tournament in the region. The Tennis Association has invested three quarter of a million dollars over the past five years. At this time they do not have the full support of the County Council but want the full support of the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau. Deaconess has agreed to sponsor the upcoming Tournament again.

Joe Vezzoso warned the Tennis Association that they will face the same resistance that the ECVB did with the ball fields, from the neighbors, the community, and the County Council. Currently there is a tender situation at Wesselman Park. The Bureau needs to bring tourism and they have the Inn Keepers support to put heads in beds.

After the meeting when asked by the City County Observer what balances were still outstanding from the ball field project, Bob Whitehouse said they do not share that information with him. David Dunn said there are outstanding bills for legal, design, etc., and that he doesn’t know what the balances are at present but hopes to have that at the next meeting on December 13 at 4 PM.

A City County Observer Mole has been told that the total of the balances are significant. We want to know how much is owed and to whom. Is it for architects, lay out, soil testing, landscape designs, attorney fees etc. We will continue to follow this story.

November 29, 2010

News Release

Today, UCI International, Inc. ( “UCI”) entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) by and among UCI, Rank Group Limited (“Rank Group”), and a newly formed affiliate of Rank Group, which affiliate will be merged with and into UCI (the “Merger”), with UCI continuing as the surviving corporation and an affiliate of Rank Group.

Subject to the terms and conditions of the Merger Agreement, Rank Group or its affiliate will acquire all of the outstanding shares of capital stock and other equity interests in UCI for a payment of $375 million. In addition, the acquirer will assume the net indebtedness of UCI and its subsidiaries, estimated to be approximately $605 million. In connection with the closing of the Merger, if requested by Rank Group, UCI may issue a notice of redemption for the Floating Rate Senior PIK Notes of UCI Due 2013 (the “Floating Rate Notes”) in accordance with the terms of the Floating Rate Notes and Section 3.01 of the indenture for the Floating Rate Notes. The Merger Agreement does not include any post-closing indemnification obligations or any provision for adjusting the amount payable to stockholders (whether for working capital or otherwise). The Merger and the Merger Agreement have been approved by the Board of Directors of UCI and stockholders of UCI holding a majority of total shares entitled to vote by all holders of Common Stock of UCI.

The parties to the Merger Agreement have made customary representations, warranties and covenants in the Merger Agreement, including, among others, covenants by UCI to conduct its business in the ordinary course during the interim period between the execution of the Merger Agreement and consummation of the Merger. Consummation of the Merger is subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals. The Merger Agreement contains certain termination rights for both Rank Group and UCI. In the event of termination of the Merger Agreement under certain circumstances, Rank Group may be required to pay UCI a termination fee of $100 million.

The transaction is subject to certain regulatory approvals but is anticipated to close in Q1 2011.

About Rank Group

Rank Group is a New Zealand based private company which invests across a variety of industries and aims to build and grow leading global businesses, including Reynolds Group Holdings, one of the largest packaging companies in the world.

About UCI International, Inc.

UCI International, Inc. is among North America’s largest and most diversified companies servicing the vehicle replacement parts market. We supply a broad range of products to the automotive, trucking, marine, mining, construction, agricultural and industrial vehicle markets. Our customer base includes leading aftermarket companies as well as a diverse group of original equipment manufacturers.

Source: UCI International, Inc.

The University of Florida today announced that it is embarking on a 1 Million square foot business incubation and business acceleration complex on a 40 acre site. The complex will be called Innovation Square and is projected to be instrumental in the creation of 3,000 plus jobs in the fields of research, health care, and green energy.

For a link to the University of Florida Innovation Square project please click the following.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20101129/ARTICLES/101129553/-1/entertainment?Title=UF-envisions-Innovation-Square-as-site-to-give-birth-to-companies-