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Itron to Acquire Brazil Distribution Partner

Itron Inc. (NASDAQ:ITRI) has agreed to acquire the ELO Sistemas e Tecnologia Ltda. (“ELO Tecnologia”). The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2006. ELO Tecnologia sells, installs and services electric meters, automatic meter reading (AMR) equipment and related systems in Brazil and elsewhere in South America. Meter services provided by ELO Tecnologia include field investigation services, theft and inaccurate meter analysis, installation and other services. ELO Tecnologia has been Itron’s distributor in South America since November 2004 and has been manufacturing Itron’s CENTRON solid-state electricity meters in Brazil since June 2005. Together, the two companies sold more than 85,000 CENTRON meters to utilities in Brazil in 2005, and have received orders for an additional 40,000 CENTRON meters to date in 2006. There are approximately 60 million installed electricity meters in Brazil. The estimated market opportunity is approximately 3 million meters annually and is expected to grow. Once the acquisition closes, Itron will have offices and a manufacturing assembly facility in Campinas and Sao Paulo, with approximately 80 employees performing sales, manufacturing, field investigations, installations and other services, and administrative functions. “ELO Tecnologia has an excellent reputation for quality and innovation and long standing customer relationships in […]

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GreenFuel Receives $6.8M from Polaris

GreenFuel Technologies Corp, a developer of algae bioreactor systems that convert CO2 in smokestack gases into biofuels, has closed a $6.8 million Series B-1 Preferred round of funding with Polaris Venture Partners, headquartered in Waltham, MA. The new funding is a follow-on to $11 million in Series B funding secured in August 2005 from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Access Private Equity. Polaris Venture Partners will be represented on GreenFuel’s Board of Directors by Dr. Robert M. (“Bob”) Metcalfe, a General Partner. A world-renown pioneer in information technology, Dr. Metcalfe helped build the Internet and invented Ethernet — the local-area networking (LAN) standard on which he shares four patents. Dr. Metcalfe was also founder of 3Com Corporation and Publisher/CEO of IDG’s InfoWorld Publishing Company. In March 2005, Dr. Metcalfe received the National Medal of Technology from President Bush. “Polaris invests in early stage companies with exceptional entrepreneurs, disruptive technologies, the skills necessary to become market leaders, and a passion for success,” said Metcalfe. “GreenFuel Technologies Corporation meets all these criteria. GreenFuel’s Emissions-to-Biofuel(TM) system has tremendous potential to transform the global energy industry and the global environment by converting greenhouse gas emissions to clean, renewable biofuels. GreenFuel is an exceptional opportunity for […]

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Plug Power to Receive US$217M Investment

Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) has announced that Interros, a major Russian investment firm, and Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium, agreed to make a $217 million cash investment in Plug Power. The investment is being made through Smart Hydrogen, a joint venture of the principal Interros investors and Norilsk Nickel, which was formed to participate in the global hydrogen economy. “We view this as a transformational investment for Plug Power,” said Dr. Roger Saillant, president and chief executive officer of Plug Power. “After this investment closes, Plug Power will have approximately $285 million in cash and marketable securities and be well positioned to accelerate and broaden our business strategy. We are extremely grateful to our employees, investors, customers, partners and suppliers who collectively have positioned our company as a leader, enabling Plug Power to attract this ground-breaking investment.” The parties have entered into a definitive agreement for the investment and the transaction is expected to close this summer, subject to approval by Plug Power’s shareholders, regulatory approvals, including Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust clearance, and customary closing conditions. “With the aim of pursuing a significant investment, in early 2005 we began a nearly year-long review of the global […]

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Praxair China Signs 15-Year Supply Contract

Praxair China has entered into a new long-term agreement with Lianzhong (Guangzhou) Stainless Steel Corp. (Lianzhong) for the supply of oxygen, nitrogen and argon to its stainless steel works, which is under construction in the Guangzhou Economic and Technology Development Zone (GETDD). Praxair China will build, own and operate a state-of-the-art air separation plant due for commissioning in the fourth quarter of 2006 to supply high volumes of pipeline oxygen, nitrogen and argon to Lianzhong. The facility will provide a backup supply of merchant liquid products to the local market. Invested in by Taiwan-based Yieh United Steel Corp. (YUSCO), one of the largest integrated stainless steel mills in Southeast Asia and the world’s seventh-largest stainless steel producer, Lianzhong is China’s first overseas-invested integrated stainless steel company. It will be the largest stainless producer in Southern China. The first phase of the project currently produces 300,000 tons per year of cold rolled stainless steel coils. Phase II, which will begin production in late 2006, will produce 800,000 tons of stainless steel slabs and hot rolled coils. Commenting on this new development, Praxair China President David Chow said, “This agreement is of great importance for the company. It reinforces our confidence in […]

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Intermagnetics Subsidiary Wins $500K Grant

Intermagnetics General Corporation (Nasdaq: IMGC) subsidiary, Invivo Corporation, has been awarded a $500,000 Department of Defense grant to develop an integrated hardware and software system that will enable high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of traumatic brain injuries and promote substantially more effective diagnosis and treatment in many difficult cases. Invivo is partnering with the Office of Naval Research on the project. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) is scheduled to formally announce the award during an appearance at Invivo’s Gainesville, Florida facility today at 9:00 AM EDT. “Brain injury is the second leading cause of battlefield deaths, and this grant is intended to provide a means of diagnosis and treatment that, in many cases, is not totally reliable under current procedures,” Stearns said. “We owe it to our wounded military personnel returning from combat duty to have the best possible care available.” Tom Schubert, chief technology officer of Invivo, added: “We believe Invivo’s advanced MRI radio frequency coils, which enable highly detailed organ-specific imaging, combined with modifications to our innovative DynaCad computer-aided diagnostic system will provide the solution the military is seeking. “Currently,” Schubert added, “computed tomography (CT) is the main radiological tool for diagnosing traumatic brain injury patients. Yet every radiologist […]

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