BOCA RATON — Private investment firm Sun Capital Partners said Tuesday that it has sold Del Monte Canada to ConAgra Foods. EG Capital Group, LLC, a New York-based consumer-focused private investment firm that owns a minority stake in the company, also will sell its shares to ConAgra. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The agreement with ConAgra Foods includes the sale of all Del Monte-branded packaged fruit and vegetable products, as well as Aylmer tomato products, a manufacturing plant in Dresden, Ontario, and the company’s headquarters in Canada. Sun Capital bought Del Monte Canada in 2006 as a collection of underperforming, food businesses operated by Kraft and previously known as CanGro Foods.
BOCA RATON — Cleveland-based CBIZ Inc. said Monday that it has bought Meridian Insurance Group LLC of Boca Raton effective Jan. 1. Founded in 2004, and with offices in Boca Raton, and Atlanta, , Meridian is an established southeast regional insurance broker specializing in multiple insurance products and services including property and casualty insurance and bonding, personal lines and employee benefits. Meridian provides consultative professional insurance services to clients. Meridian has 22 employees.
BOCA RATON — 561Media Inc., announced Monday that is has launch its newly redesigned website. The revamped site provides a more comprehensive services overview, consumer-focused structure, navigation, and a more dynamic look. Some of the new offerings available include internet marketing services such as search engine optimization, logo design, merchant services integration, and e-commerce development.
BOCA RATON —Bikram Balance has retained TransMedia Group to publicize its launch of its fruit and vegetable vitality drink. TransMedia said it plans to begin publicity efforts for the drink later this month with a goal toward creating awareness Bikram's products through traditional, as well as social media reaching Bikram studios and hundreds of thousands of Bikram's yoga and hot yoga followers and enthusiasts nationwide.
BOCA RATON — Private prisons company GEO Group has signed a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to continue to manage the company-owned 1,904-bed South Texas Detention in Pearsall, Texas.
The new contract will run through Nov. 30, 2016. Under the terms of the deal, the capacity at the center will be 1,800 beds, with a 75 percent occupancy guarantee and the ability to surge to 1,900 beds. The new contract is expected to generate about $45 million in revenue annually at the full occupancy level of 1,800 beds.
MIAMI LAKES— Shareholders of New York-based Herald National Bank have approved sale of the bank to BankUnited, the two banks have announced. The deal is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2012. Herald National has three offices in metro New York that cater to small and medium businesses and high net-worth customers. BankUnited has 90 branches in 14 Florida counties.
JUNO BEACH — NextEra Energy Resources, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE) announced that has completed the sale of its staket in the 583-megawatt Rhode Island State Energy Center located in Johnston, R.I., to Entergy Corp. for about. $346 million.
MIAMI LAKES — BankUnited said it expects to have opened 17 new branches in 2011, including one in Boca Raton and one in West Palm Beach that opened Monday. BankUnited is the second largest bank institution in Florida based on assets.
"We are aggressively building BankUnited," CEO John Kanas said. "We plan to grow as Florida's economy continues to rebound and have made commercial lending a primary focus."
The Boca Raton office is at 7036 W. Palmetto Park Road; the West Palm office is at 600 N. Dixie Highway. With additional opening by the end of the year, BankUnited will have more than 90 offices in 14 Florida counties.
NORTH MIAMI BEACH — Equity One Inc. announced Tuesday that it has closed on a previously announced sale of 36 shopping centers, comprising about 3.9 million square feet, for $473.1 million to Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII.
The shopping centers sold in this transaction are predominately in the Atlanta, Tampa and Orlando markets, with additional properties located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Maryland. Proceeds from the deal will be used to reduce debt, to fund redevelopment and development projects, for future acquisitions and other corporate purposes.
JUNO BEACH — Florida Power & Light Co. announced the sale of $600 million in 30-year first mortgage bonds bearing an interest rate of 4.125 percent per year and will 4.139 percent when held to maturity in 2042. Net proceeds from the sale will be added to FPL's general fund, which the company expects to use to repay a portion of its outstanding debt and for other general purposes. The sale was underwritten by a group that included Barclays Capital Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., Mizuho Securities USA Inc., Scotia Capital (USA) Inc. and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC as joint book-running managers.
WEST PALM BEACH — Florida voters overwhelmingly support a Senate bill that would ensure that fines paid by BP stemming from last year’s massive oil spill are used to fund Gulf restoration, according to a poll released Monday by a group of environmental organizations. Pollsters for both Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, conducted the survey and found that 84 percent of Florida voters and 92 percent of Panhandle voters support the measure. The poll also showed 75 percent of Florida voters and 82 percent of Panhandle voters are more likely to support candidates who back the legislation.
"Voters haven't forgotten the BP oil spill was the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history because our ecosystem and economy are still recovering from it a year-and-a-half later," said Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward. "They recognize that the BP oil spill fines would dramatically accelerate our recovery."
The telephone poll by U.S. Senator Bill Nelson's pollster, Hamilton Campaigns, and U.S. Senator Marco Rubio's pollster, Ayres McHenry & Associates, was conducted between November 30 and December 4, 2011, and sampled 700 registered Florida voters throughout the state, including Miami and Palm Beach County.
The RESTORE the Gulf Coast States Act, written by Nelson and Rubio and approved this fall by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, would dedicate 80 percent of the $5 billion to $21 billion in fines expected to stem from the BP spill to restoring both the Gulf ecosystem and economy. The House version of the bill is co-sponsored nine Florida representatives, including Tom Rooney and Alan West. If the RESTORE act is not passed, the money will be used elsewhere in the federal budget.
