Business news in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I am very satisfied that it was possible to reach a solution last night, that is to avoid the country’s insolvency.”

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, on a deal to fund a bailout of Cyprus’ banks. Article, 1D

NanoMach to launch brands with funds

Springdale-based NanoMech said Monday it recently raised $5 million in investment capital and is launching two of its brands commercially in April.

During a visit Monday by Republican U.S. Sen. John Boozman, James Phillips, chairman and chief executive officer of NanoMech, said the funds would be used to further commercialize the company’s products. Phillips said the company’s nGlide and TuffTek brands will be advertised in major industry publications next month.

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the atomic and molecular scale. NanoMech was founded in 2002, and under several brands, it develops nanotechnology for use in machining and manufacturing, lubrication, packaging, biomedical implant coatings and military applications.

A nano-based enhanced lubricant, nGlide is so efficient, it’s virtually frictionless, according to the company.

TuffTek coatings enhance the performance of cutting tools and can protect key components from wear.

Phillips said plans for an 8,000-square-foot addition to NanoMech’s Springdale manufacturing facility were on track and the company expects to break ground in April.

NanoMech also operates from the University of Arkansas affiliated Research and Technology Park in Fayetteville. It employs 30 people.

FBI nabs Galleon founder’s brother

Rengan Rajaratnam, the younger brother of imprisoned hedge-fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, was taken into custody by FBI agents Sunday when he arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport on a flight from Brazil, a person familiar with the matter said.

Rajaratnam was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges he took part in an insider-trading scheme tied to his brother’s fund, Galleon Group LLC. Rengan Rajaratnam, 42, is accused of conspiring with his brother Raj to trade in 2008 on material nonpublic information about Clearwire Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

Rengan Rajaratnam was accompanied on the flight by FBI agents who arrested him once on U.S. soil, said the person, who asked not to be identified because of a lack of authorization to speak publicly on the matter. Rajaratnam appeared Monday for an initial hearing in Manhattan federal court.

Prosecutors alleged that Rengan, while working as a fund manager at Galleon, made almost $1.2 million from trades that occurred on March 24 and March 25, 2008, based on tips provided by his brother and his Rolodex of insiders. He was implicated during his brother’s trial, where wiretapped conversations between the two men were played in court.

  • The Associated Press

Pharmacy recalls compounding drugs

BOSTON - A Massachusetts pharmacy has issued a voluntary recall of some sterile compounding products after an inspection by state and federal officials.

Pallimed Solutions Inc. of Woburn said Monday the recall is a precautionary measure involving certain items that had been dispensed since the beginning of the year.

The company said there are no reports of any illnesses or injuries. It said it issued the recall after a recent unannounced inspection by the state Board of Pharmacy and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The state issued a cease-and-desist order after the inspection.

The company said the recall does not involve its nonsterile compounding products.

The state stepped up inspections of compounding pharmacies after a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak was linked to a steroid produced at another Massachusetts company, the New England Compounding Center.

EU-U.S. pact supported, France says

Most French companies favor a proposed free-trade pact between the European Union and the U.S., with carmakers and some farm sectors opposed, French trade minister Nicole Bricq said Monday.

Any accord would require complicated negotiations, Bricq said in Paris as she presented results from a survey of 287 companies and trade associations and 122 other associations.

“One can only favor a trade pact when you look at U.S.

growth rates when compared with Europe,” Bricq said. “We have an interest in attaching ourselves to a growing zone.”

With duties and quotas already low or nonexistent between the two sides of the Atlantic, talks would focus more on farm subsidies, food labeling, health protections, industrial standards, and environmental guarantees, as well as trade barriers such as the U.S. “Buy American Act” for public procurement.

The European Union plans to present draft plans this month to kick-start the negotiations. The U.S. and the European Union have given themselves two years to complete the talks. European trade ministers will discuss the proposed pact at an April 19 meeting in Dublin.

French President Francois Hollande on March 15 presented his red lines, saying France wouldn’t give up its bans on genetically modified food nor its “cultural exception” - code for French insistence on laws mandating a certain level of French content on television and radio.

Bricq confirmed that “cultural identity” and European rejection of genetically modified foods are not negotiable.

  • Bloomberg News

Eagle Ford crude output jumps 50%

Oil production in Texas’s Eagle Ford shale formation climbed 50 percent in January from a year earlier, helped by drilling from companies including ConocoPhillips and Chesapeake Energy Corp.

The nine geographic fields that make up the majority of the Eagle Ford yielded 373,303 barrels of crude a day in January, according to preliminary data released by the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees oil and gas drilling in the state. In January 2012, those fields produced 248,403 barrels a day.

Railroad Commission production totals typically increase in subsequent months as the state receives revised, corrected or late reports. December output was revised to 417,879 barrels a day from the preliminary report of 384,964.

Production of condensates, or natural gas liquids, was 52,703 barrels a day in January, down from 105,861 a year earlier, as drillers moved away from less profitable gas.

EOG Resources Inc. is the largest leaseholder in the Eagle Ford play, with 644,000 net acres. Chesapeake is next with 490,000, followed by companies including ConocoPhillips, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Business, Pages 24 on 03/26/2013

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