Houston's economic diversity Thread .. (Spring, Center: budget, bike, park)

[atadytic19]

Originally Posted by SanJac

Ok I'll say it. I'm super disappointed the first major tenant is a Chinese company. It just doesn't feel right to me.

I'm not disappointed that it's a Chinese company. That is a good sign. What I'm disappointed at is the 10K sq ft rental. That doesn't seem like a lot of space.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by atadytic19

I'm not disappointed that it's a Chinese company. That is a good sign. What I'm disappointed at is the 10K sq ft rental. That doesn't seem like a lot of space.

That’s not Sino’s only Houston location. That will simply be used as their lab space. A lot of bio companies split their lab space from their office space as well as their manufacturing. That’s also why you’re seeing some set up in the Woodlands while having labs in the TMC projects.

I agree that it being a Chinese tenant is a good thing. TMC area could definitely use more foreign tenants. TMC as a whole has American companies for days. Hope to see more.

On a side note, the Blossom Hotel is a Chinese brand and that hotel project was particularly made in response to the biotech campuses. Maybe they know something we don’t and we will see more to come. Hopefully

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by SanJac

HPE never really had a growth spurt. They froze hiring for a while, so I would hope they are protecting their earnings. They announce next week so we will find out.

I don’t know if it was directly in response to the high amount of layoffs happening in the information technology industry, but they definitely began hiring a few months ago again. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was on purpose. When the talent is available and in oversupply, there’s no better time to hire from a business standpoint.

[Jack Lance]

Today we have another potpourri of firms that are delivering economic diversity to the Greater Houston economy. From Water pumps to personal finance, to Airlines to biofuels.

First

More than a year after starting operations and two years after breaking ground, Danish water pump technology company Grundfos celebrated the opening of its new U.S. headquarters in Brookshire.

The 48,670-square-foot building at 856 Koomey Road houses both the global headquarters for water utility and the main office for Grundfos Americas Corp.

The company delayed the grand opening to make sure guests could attend safely in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Ansell Sims, Grundfos country president for the United States.

Among those who attended the ceremony on Nov. 2 were Grundfos Group President and CEO Poul Due Jensen, Danish Ambassador to the United States Christina Markus Lassen and Consul General of Denmark Morten Siem Lynge.

Construction began in April 2020 and was completed in September 2021. The initial plan was for the building to be Grundfos’ Americas Regional Center and include offices for sales, operations, engineering, human resources, finance and other support functions, but the company decided to make it its U.S. headquarters as well as the newly established headquarters for its water utility division.

The U.S. headquarters was previously located in Downers Grove, Illinois.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...rookshire.html

second

California-based personal finance company Achieve has hired about 100 employees in Houston for a remote hub and plans to hire at least 100 more by the end of 2023.

Achieve chose to establish a hub in Houston because the region has a robust talent pipeline of employees in sectors the company is looking to hire in, such as service and technology, Marcom said. Additionally, Houston was the logical next city to move into after seeing the success the company had in North Texas, she said.

The company does not have plans to open a physical office in the Houston area at this time, she said.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...b-houston.html

Third

Houston-based Avelo Airlines has picked Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) for its fifth base, a move that adds six new routes and at least 50 jobs.

The new routes will launch in February and all are to destinations in Florida: Tampa, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Orlando, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

Avelo CEO Andrew Levy said the low-cost startup airline initially is adding one airplane at RDU, with about 50 new crew members on its payroll. The plan is to add a second airplane in the spring and grow to a fleet of between five and seven airplanes within the next five to seven years.

“As we add more airplanes, we’ll be adding more local employment,” he said, noting that Avelo, unlike some other airlines, has not had trouble staffing up.

“We have not had that issue at all — not even one little bit,” he said.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...a-orlando.html

finally

A Houston-based renewable fuels company aims to go public through a combination with a local special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

Next Renewable Fuels signed an agreement to combine with Industrial Tech Acquisitions II Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAQ), the Houston-based companies announced Nov. 21. The combination, which has been approved by the boards at both firms, will result in a new public company called NXTCLEAN Fuels Inc.

Next Renewable Fuels is developing a biofuels refinery in Port Westward, Oregon, with deepwater access along the Columbia River. The more than $2 billion project is intended to produce sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel to meet demand for low-carbon fuels in West Coast markets.

"Renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel are the most desired liquid fuels in the world, and there is an urgent global need for more," Crist said in the Nov. 21 announcement.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...-biofuels.html

[Jack Lance]

A Houston agriculture firm with a history of over 50 years of providing innovative biologicals to farmers and economic diversity to the Greater Houston economy is acquired by an out of state suitor.

DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- Biologicals are big business these days and the announcement that Corteva, Inc., has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Houston-based Stoller for $1.2 billion is big news.

With operations and sales in more than 60 countries and 2022 forecasted revenues of more than $400 million, Stoller brings immediate scale and profitability in the biologicals arena.

Stoller is a well-known brand to U.S. farmers. The company was founded in 1970 by Jerry Stoller at a time when the concept of biologicals was new. Those first products focused on the production of chelated micronutrients. Company research and development in the 1980s focused on nutrition deficiency and precise timing of supplying nutrients to influence plant production. Yield contest winners exploring the limits of what the crop plant can do took the Stoller message more mainstream. The company is widely viewed as a pioneer in marketing products that include physiological-signaling compounds, such as plant hormones, high-technology nutrients, and microorganisms that can be used alone or in combination to improve plant efficiency and promote plant resilience to stress.

https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/we...cquire-stoller

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

A Houston agriculture firm with a history of over 50 years of providing innovative biologicals to farmers and economic diversity to the Greater Houston economy is acquired by an out of state suitor.

DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- Biologicals are big business these days and the announcement that Corteva, Inc., has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Houston-based Stoller for $1.2 billion is big news.

With operations and sales in more than 60 countries and 2022 forecasted revenues of more than $400 million, Stoller brings immediate scale and profitability in the biologicals arena.

Stoller is a well-known brand to U.S. farmers. The company was founded in 1970 by Jerry Stoller at a time when the concept of biologicals was new. Those first products focused on the production of chelated micronutrients. Company research and development in the 1980s focused on nutrition deficiency and precise timing of supplying nutrients to influence plant production. Yield contest winners exploring the limits of what the crop plant can do took the Stoller message more mainstream. The company is widely viewed as a pioneer in marketing products that include physiological-signaling compounds, such as plant hormones, high-technology nutrients, and microorganisms that can be used alone or in combination to improve plant efficiency and promote plant resilience to stress.

https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/we...cquire-stoller

If a Houston based company is being acquired by a company from Indianapolis, how is that good news?

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

If a Houston based company is being acquired by a company from Indianapolis, how is that good news?

I have no clue about this news article. I didn’t read it and I’m probably not going to. But companies being acquired can absolutely be good news locally to the town where the company got acquired in. A small company being acquired by a giant allows it to grow. The Silicon Valley is basically that except on steroids.

Look where Academy Sports + Outdoors was before being acquired by KKR. Look where it is today. And see how much they expanded their headcount in the process. (ASO is independent now but their largest growth spurt in employment happened post acquisition.

Now a mega corporate merger is a different story. But a small company (which I suppose is what this article is about) being acquired by a larger company is usually a capital infusion that allows their subsidiaries to grow.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

If a Houston based company is being acquired by a company from Indianapolis, how is that good news?

It's not necessarily good news in the long term for Houston's economic diversity we will see, however in the short term it is good news for the shareholders of Stoller who probably received a nice premium for their shares and a lot of them have realized a huge long term capital gain.

My guess is the acquiring company plans to keep Stoller operating pretty much as it has been since it is a profitable company and in the long term this could be a exciting development for the Houston area simply because many times the company being acquired influences the acquirer's determination of where to locate the company headquarters. This of course may just be wishful thinking on my part, again we will see.

My criterion for posting a story in this thread is does this either create one additional job that's not directly connected to the oil and gas industry, or does it bring at least one dollar into the local economy that's not O & G related. This doesn't create any new jobs in Greater Houston at least not on the face of it, but it would seem to bring a onetime infusion of cash into the local economy that's not O & G related.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Now this is more of an acquisition that I’d post here

NRG acquiring smart doorbell company Vivint.

https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/ne...135903035.html

An electricity company buying a smart doorbell/home security camera technology company though? Not sure how they compliment eachother.

[oil capital]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Now this is more of an acquisition that I’d post here

NRG acquiring smart doorbell company Vivint.

https://finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/ne...135903035.html

An electricity company buying a smart doorbell/home security camera technology company though? Not sure how they compliment eachother.

Per the linked article: "Last year at our investor day, we presented our strategic roadmap to becoming the leading provider of essential services for homes and businesses, . . . "