Fairfield County Business Journal 11/19/2012 Issue

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FAIRFIELD COUNTY

BUSINESS JOURNAL

YOUR only SOURCE FOR regional BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com

Signs of life at Bridgeport shipyard BY JENNIFER BISSELL

jbissell@westfairinc.com

A new chapter is underway at the Bridgeport

shipyard, where operator J. Goodison Company Inc. is seeking to resurrect the site after its previous operator was evicted earlier in 2012. Selected by the Bridgeport Port Authority to operate the regional maritime center, J. Goodison secured two competitive contracts this month with the U.S. Coast Guard, worth more than $3 million over 5 years. “The future is very promising for us,” said CEO Jack Goodison, who predicted

November 19, 2012 | VOL. 48, No. 47

Insurance exchange ‘on track’ Cost of plans

PR I CE L I NE TO ACQU I RE T KAYAK

remains a concern

BY PATRICK GALLAGHER

pgallagher@westfairinc.com

Shipyard, page 6

FCBJ TODAY Compliance starts with top-down ethics, former federal prosecutor urges … 5

No word on planned Stamford HQ BY PATRICK GALLAGHER

From Stamford to Transylvania, businesses seek to boost international ties ... 7

pgallagher@westfairinc.com

Gold Coast Property: Extensive renovations underway at Merritt 7 in Norwalk, and more ... 10

Eight years after its formation and four

Home-builder urges compliance with FEMA design standards in Sandy’s wake ... 15 Also … Merits of federal risk management standards examined

MEDIA PARTNER

months after a strong debut as a public company, Kayak Software Corp. will be acquired by Norwalk neighbor Priceline. com Inc. for $1.8 billion, the companies announced Nov. 8. The deal, which was greeted favorably by investors, represents one of the largest mergers of online travel companies to date. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Kayak will continue to operate as an independent company, Priceline Group President and CEO Jeffrey H. Boyd

said in a conference call with investors. Neither company offered a hint as to the status of Kayak’s plans to relocate its headquarters from Norwalk to a 17,600-square-foot facility in Stamford’s Harbor Point district. The two companies are headquartered less than two miles apart from each other. The transaction, which will be financed through approximately $500 million in cash and $1.3 billion in Priceline equity and assumed stock options, is valued at about $40 a share, representing a 29 percent premium over Kayak’s closing price of $31.04 a Priceline, page 6

Seaweed survives Sandy

9

he Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange is moving forward despite delays at the federal level in distributing key guidance to states and carriers on how to structure exchanges and plans and which health benefits should be deemed “essential.” The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as of last week had yet to issue key regulations and informal instructions to guide states in carrying out the provision of the Affordable Care Act requiring them to institute their own insurance exchanges or to partner with a federally backed exchange. Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange (HIX) CEO Kevin Counihan said the state is ahead of the curve, having agreed to a set of minimum standards for plans participating in the exchange during the summer and having submitted a blueprint of its exchange to HHS in October. With the election out of the way, Counihan said he expects to see “a torrent of guidance come out between now and Thanksgiving.” “We’re highly dependent on a lot of federal agencies and a lot of state agencies to make this work,” he said. However, Insurance, page 6

2 Mixed­-use touted


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Fairfield County Business Journal 11/19/2012 Issue by Westfair Business Journal - Issuu