Five years after purchasing Rockwood Specialties, leverage buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has taken the company public. Rockwood Holdings, which has its headquarters at 100 Overlook Center, had its initial public offering of 20.4 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange on August 17. Stock is trading in the $20 range.
When it moved to Princeton, the company was based in Great Britain and operated under the name Laporte. At that point the North American headquarters was based at Palmer Square. KKR bought part of Laporte in 2000, installed Seifi Ghasemi as chairman and CEO the following year, and moved the global headquarters to Overlook.
The company is in a quiet period, but on its website Rockwood Specialties (a division of Rockwood Holdings) bills itself as a global family of world-class specialty chemicals, and advanced materials businesses. With seven segments (performance additives, specialty compounds, electronics, specialty chemicals, titanium dioxide pigments, advanced ceramics, and custom synthesis) it has 10,000 workers, 96 manufacturing facilities and operations in 30 countries, and annual sales of more than $2.5 billion.
Among its niche markets are inorganic pigments, wood surface treatment, clay additives, water treatment chemicals, specialty compounds, electronic chemicals and advanced materials. Among its 60,000 clients are Sherwin Williams, Xerox, Dupont, Corning, Motorola, and Daimler Chrysler. Its competitors include FMC (which has a laboratory on Route 1 North), Dupont Photomasks, and Mitsubishi Chemical.
Ghasemi, 60, earns $4.36 million as chairman and CEO. He is a 1967 graduate of Stanford University, where he majored in mechanical engineering. He is known for building businesses; he has been CEO of BOC Process Plants (a London-based chemical company) and CEO of the powder metallurgy business at GKN plc. Ghasemi and his family live in Gladstone.
About 25 people work in the Overlook office, including Robert J. Zatta, 55, CFO, who makes $1.23 million according to SEC filings, and Thomas J. Riordan, 55, the senior vice president of law and administration, whose salary is $970,000.
Rockwood grew by acquisition. In April, 2004, Rockwood bought four businesses of a German firm, Dynamit Nobel, to create one of the world’s largest specialty chemical companies. The German business added $1.6 billion to the $800 million in Rockwood’s revenues to make the combined revenues of the specialty chemicals businesses worth about $2.5 billion.
Last September it paid $50 million for the pigments and dispersions business of UK-based Johnson Matthey PLC. Also last September it bought Hamburger Color Company, which makes color pigments for cement and is based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
But these acquisitions left Rockwood Holdings with about $3.5 billion in debt, according to the SEC filings. The first proceeds of the IPO will go to early investors, including Credit Suisse First Boston’s DLJ Merchant Banking, which had chipped in $159.4 million to build Rockwood.
KKR was a pioneer in the leveraged buyout business, and KKR’s investment in RJR Nabisco was the subject of a book and a movie, “Barbarians at the Gate: the Fall of RJR Nabisco.”
Founded in 1976, KKR funds deals with bank loans and bonds (sometimes known as junk bonds because the bondholders are second in line behind bank creditors).
KKR bought Motel 6 for $945 million in 1985, Beatrice for $8.7 billion in 1986, Sealy for $1.7 billion in 2004. KKR also bought American Re, on College Road, and then sold it to Munich Re. KKR paid $1.18 billion for Rockwood and has invested an additional $282 million in it.
When KKR’s Henry R. Kravis revealed his buyout strategies at a 2004 industry meeting, he emphasized how he moves quickly to add value: “We need to start adding value the day after we complete the transaction and keep working at it until the day we exit. Thirty years ago, the hardest work occurred before we made the investment. Today, we work hard before we make the investment, but we work harder after we make the investment.
“The hard reality is that value creation takes as long as it takes. We must constantly ask ourselves how can we create additional value? Are we continuing to add value? When a private equity firm has completed its job, in the first year or after five years, it’s then time to move on. Knowing when to sell and managing that sale wisely comes down to the judgment of experienced professionals.”
“KKR has produced a string of winners,” writes Forbes.com columnist Scott Reeves, “proving that even friendly, neighborhood barbarians can earn respectability by turning large, defuse also-rans into sharply focused winners. Give the deal a long look because the company offers the prospect of slow, steady growth, but the heavy debt demands caution.”
Rockwood Holdings(ROC), 100 Overlook Center, Princeton 08540. Seifi Ghasemi, chairman and CEO. 609-514-0300; fax, 609-514-8720. Home page: www.rockwoodspecialties.com
Diddy and NewEgg at 8A
A rapper in the rag business at Exit 8A?
Sean John Combs (formerly known as Puff Daddy or P. Diddy) joined a half dozen other clothing companies near the turnpike last year when he leased space at Cranbury Business Park, owned by Prologis. Also new at this park is an Internet-based computer hardware and software company, NewEgg.com, which is opening a second east coast distribution center.
You can blame Combs for the baggy low-crotch pants affected by teenage boys. The Grammy-winning rapper, a founder of Def Jam records, started out with the Phat Farm clothing label and added Ecko, Rocawear, and Sean John. His company now sells an estimated $400 million of clpthing annually. But it ran into trouble last year, according to a July 24 article in the New York Times, when Macy’s threatened to stop carrying the line because deliveries were disorganized.
Combs responded by hiring an experienced clothing executive as CEO and leasing 84,000 square feet in the warehouse at 2 Capital Drive. He is starting a line of women’s clothes (Sean by Sean Combs), and is licensing such products as leather sneakers and wheel rims.
Meanwhile Scott Belfer, Mindy Lissner, and Lou Belfer of CB Richard Ellis put NewEgg.com into 76,968 square feet at 1 Capital Drive, part of a 200,000 square-foot warehouse on 200 acres. NewEgg will keep its current warehouse at 7B Brick Plant Road in South River but will bring an estimated 15 to 20 jobs to Cranbury. Kevin Li, the warehouse manager, expects to open the facility in September. Steven Bautz is in charge of hiring (609-722-4005). “I’m not done, not by a long shot,” says Bautz.
Headquartered in California, the four-year-old company claims more than 900 employees worldwide and claims more than 3 million registered customers. “At Newegg.com, consumers can find product information, how-to’s, customer reviews, and opportunities for community interaction,” says a press release touting the selection for Information technology and consumer electronics products.
Sean John, 2 Capital Drive, Cranbury Business Park, Suite 202, Cranbury 08512. Russ Salvatore, manager. 609-395-9601; fax, 609-395-9420. Home page: www.seanjohn.com
NewEgg.com, 1 Capital Drive, Prologis Cranbury Business Park, Cranbury 08512. Kevin Li, warehouse manager. 609-722-4005. Home page: www.newegg.com
Crime Watch: B-MS
Richard J. Lane, former president of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s worldwide medicines group on Route 206, was one of two former executives who were accused of civil fraud on August 22. Federal regulators said he helped deceive investors with “channel stuffing,” encouraging big wholesalers to inflate sales and profit figures.
Lane and Frederick S. Schiff, Bristol-Myers’s former CFO, had been indicted in June on criminal conspiracy and securities fraud charges. Schiff and Lane pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and are free on bail; their lawyers say they will contest the civil charges.
To settle the criminal charges on the accounting scandal, the company said in June it would pay $300 million to the Justice Department and about $800 to settle various civil suits. In August 2004 B-Ms said it would pay $150 million to settle the SEC’s civil charges on the matter.
Lane, 53, came to the firm in 1995 as president of the primary care business of the U.S. Pharmaceutical Group. A Temple graduate, he has a Wharton MBA.
Contract Awarded: TerraCycle
TerraCycle, 121 New York Avenue, Trenton 08638. Tom Szaky, CEO. 609-393-4252; fax, 609-393-4259. Home page: www.terracycle.net
For a trial period, Home Depot stores in New Jersey are stocking organic plant food made by TerraCycle from the organic waste produced by worm droppings. Designed for use on outdoor gardens and household plants, the product is packaged in reused 20-ounce soda bottles, many of which are collected by school children throughout Canada and the U.S.
“Rigorous tests conducted at the Rutgers University (NJ) EcoComplex document that TerraCycle Plant Food outperformed the leading synthetic plant food in many aspects of plant growth,” says the company’s press release.
Columbia Group Retreats
Steve Goldin has sold some of the Columbia Group’s development rights to its mixed-use redevelopment project on the former American Standard site in Hamilton. While Goldin’s firm will continue to develop the rental units, Lennar Corporation has bought the rights to the for-sale part of the project – 224 condominiums and 200 townhomes. No price was disclosed.
“The original intent was to build out the entire project,” says Stephanie Singer, spokesperson for the Columbia Group. “However, they had a very strong offer from Lennar, and they decided to take it.”
Lennar, the nation’s third largest homebuilder, will deliver 42,000 homes this year. Greg Snyder, division president, estimates the basic prices for the 424 homes in Hamilton will be about $350,000 for condominiums and $450,000 for townhomes.
The Columbia Group is on track to build the 256 rental units. Permits are in hand, says the spokesperson, and the environmental cleanup is nearing completion.
When the Columbia Group ran a gauntlet of objections from neighboring homeowners in Cornell Hights, Goldin had scaled down the project from a maximum of 754 homes on the site, with an additional 300 around the NJ Transit station across the tracks. He eliminated the three-bedroom units and reduced the number of units to 680.
Goldin is an alumnus of Harvard, Class of 1982, and has an MBA from Columbia. He has been the executive assistant to John Lynch (former mayor of New Brunswick), a project executive with Hovnanian Enterprises, Woodbridge’s director of planning and development, president of the Woodbridge Economic Development Corporation, and vice president of Carnegie Center-based King Interests.
“The Columbia Group continues to believe in the long-term value of Hamilton’s real estate market and, with its development of the rental units, will maintain a presence in the community,” says Goldin. “This sale enables the Columbia Group to turn its resources to other smart growth projects in the state.”
The Columbia Group, 100 Overlook Center, Second Floor, Princeton 08540. Steven E. Goldin, president. 609-375-2363; fax, 609-375-2640.
Planning Request: B-MS
Bristol-Myers Squibb (B-MS) is asking Hopewell Township to revise the approvals for its 433-acre research and development center off Pennington-Rocky Hill and Titus Mill roads. This request was scheduled to be considered at the township planning board meeting on August 23.
The new B-MS plan would extend the potential for development through 2025 and would replace one drawn up by the previous owner, Mobil Research and Development Corporation. B-MS bought the site in 1997.
Under the proposed plan, 18 new buildings could be built for a total of 2.8 million square feet of research and office space. Unlike the Mobil plan, the B-MS plan would put all the buildings within the existing loop road. Like the Mobil plan, 200 acres of farm land would be preserved.
At maximum buildout the new plan could generate from 3,500 and 4,000 new jobs over the next 20 years and about $5 million a year in tax revenues.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), 311 Pennington-Rocky Hill Road, Pennington 08534. 609-818-3000. Home page: www.bms.com
Expansions: Primafore
Primafore Inc., 3371 Route 1 South, Lawrence Commons, Lawrenceville 08648. Monish Jain, president. 609-598-4658; fax, 609-716-7331. Home page: www.primafore.com
The three-year-old firm computer consulting firm opened a three-person office at Lawrence Commons earlier this year. Jim Murray of GVA Williams helped Monish Jain, the owner, find the space.
Primafore has 15 consultants in this country, working on location for such clients as Amazon, Hallmark, Cingular, and Philadelphia Insurance Company. Primafore has seven programmers in Gujarat, India, and Jain says he is hiring programmers with these skills: Java, DotNet, ASP, SQL server, Oracle, and AS400.
The name of the firm, says Jain, represents foresight and vision. “We are the company with a vision,” he says. “I always wanted to start my own business. It’s a dream coming true.”
Jain grew up in the city of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, where his father was a company vice president. After graduating from Gujarat University in 1987 he worked as a programmer in India at such companies as Ambuja Simmons, Gujarat Lease Financing, and Mahindra British Telecom. In United States he worked for Pittsburgh-based iGate on the payment system for a video-on-demand company in South Dakota, a foreign exchange firm in Miami, and a Danish cement plant engineering firm in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He and his biochemist wife, Mona, have two school-age daughters and live in East Windsor.
The long list of services that Primafore offices includes project management, business process modeling, data modeling, application development, database administration, ERP implementation, and corporate training. The practices include ERP/CRM implementation, application development, databases, networking, and data warehousing.
Expansion: Novatia
Novatia LLC, 11 Deer Park Drive, Suite 202, Monmouth Junction 0885. Mark E. Hail, president. 732-274-9933; fax, 732-274-9935. Home page: www.enovatia.com
A five-year-old analytical chemistry service company more than doubled in size with an August move from 301A College Road East to 2,400 square feet at Princeton Corporate Plaza. Phone and fax are new.
Founded by Jeff Whitney, Mark Hail, Dave Detlefsen, and Paul Taylor, the firm works with research scientists and managers to do consulting, contract analysis, product development, and research collaborations. It can work with mass spectrometry, separations technology, nuclear magnetic resonance, and data management in any of these industries: pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and chemical.
Taylor remains in an advisory capacity with Novatia since he has his own company, formerly called Taylor Technology, now part of SFBC. In addition to the partners there are two employees. Novatia had been sharing space with SFBC on College Road but both companies needed more room.
“We added another full LCMS (liquid chromatography mass spectrometer) system,” says Detlefsen, “and we are close to adding an NMF (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectrometer. Princeton University has a nice program that allows small companies to buy time on their equipment, but we seem to need more time closer to us.”
Hail went to the University of Kentucky, Class of 1984, and has a PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Florida. He worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb before co-founding the firm.
Detlefsen went to Nebraska Wesleyan University (Class of 1983) and has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Michigan. He did postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School and went to Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he developed NMR-based methods for the structure analysis of biomolecules.
Whitney majored in molecular and cell biology at the University of Massachusetts (Class of 1990) and joined B-MS in Connecticut, coming to Princeton to work for Coelacanth (now Lexicon).
Jerry Fennelly of NAI Fennelly helped Novatia find the space. “It’s hard for small companies,” says Detlefsen. “Build out costs are incredibly high. This Deer Park Drive space was the only solution, because this had already been built for a lab.
Mactec, 240 Princeton Avenue, Suite 238, Hamilton 08619. Deborah A. Barsotti, principal scientist. 609-936-0700; fax, 609-936-1020. Home page: www.mactec.com
Mactec, which provides environmental and consulting services to commercial, industrial, and government clients, has moved from 14 Washington Road in Princeton Junction to 12,000 square feet in American Metro Center in Hamilton. The company employs 25 consultants and continues to hire. Both phone and fax numbers have changed.
“This location at the Hamilton train station serves both our employees and our clients better by eliminating the need to travel the congested Route 1 corridor,” says Deborah Barsotti, senior principal scientist and operations manager. “In addition, this is a Brownfield site, where older buildings have been renovated to provide useful service once more. As environmental consultants, that’s exactly what we help our clients do.”
This office is Mactec’s environmental engineering arm for site remediation, air permitting, risk assessment, and other general engineering projects. Its clients include PSE&G and chemical companies in the three-state area. Formerly known as Harding Lawson and then as Harding ESE, it was bought by Mactec.
Princeton Symphony Orchestra, 575 Ewing Street, Box 250, Princeton 08542-0250. Joshua Worby, executive director. 609-497-0020; fax, 609-497-0904. Home page: www.princetonsymphony.org
The orchestra has moved to a new street address, but its mailing address is still a post office box, and phone and fax are the same. Mark Laycock is the music director.
The Nielsen-Wurster Group Inc., 1060 State Road, Princeton 08540. Patricia D. Galloway, CEO. 609-497-7300; fax, 609-497-3412. Home page: www.nielsen-wurster.com
The engineering, management, and construction consulting firm expanded from just over 8,000 square feet at 345 Wall Street to 12,300 feet. The new location is just across the street and is in offices formerly occupied by Bloomberg. Phone and fax are the same.
Quantum Management Group Inc., 3705 Quakerbridge Road, University Office Plaza, Suite 102, Lawrenceville 08648. Gail Helfrick, principal. 609-586-4071. Home page: www.qmg-inc.com
The environmental consulting firm moved to Quakerbridge Road from a converted barn on Route 33 in Robbinsville. Phone and fax are new. The firm does project management for environmental liabilities – acquisitions, divestitures, decontamination, contract management, ISRA, Superfund, and petroleum retail facilities.
Tyco International Ltd. (TYC), 9 Roszel Road, Princeton 08540. Edward Breen, CEO. 609-720-4200; fax, 609-720-4208. www.tyco.com
Tyco International is leasing 23,000 square feet at 212 Carnegie Center and is moving the headquarters for the Tyco Engineered Products and Services (TEPS) division into that space. Initially about 50 people will make the move but ultimately up to 90 employees will be there.
Some members of the 50-person staff are coming from the headquarters at 7 Roszel Road, and other are moving from Exeter, New Hampshire, the previous headquarters of the division.
“Housing the headquarters staff of TEPS in one location is intended to help in achieving the overarching goal of transforming the business into a world-class operating company by focusing resources, finding synergies and fostering collaboration,” says a spokesperson.
Tyco occupies all of 9 Roszel Road and part of 7 Roszel Road.
New in Town
Aerotek, 101 Grovers Mill Road, Quakerbridge Executive Center, Suite 103, Lawrenceville 08648. Tom Hinman. 609-378-4000; fax, 609-378-4030. Home page: www.aerotek.com
If you have a good big account, open an office to concentrate on that account. That seems to be the strategy for Baltimore-based Aerotek, which has the contract to supply temporary workers to a major pharmaceutical company with offices in Princeton.
Six full-time recruiters work from this office to hire administrative, light industrial, and technical positions, everything from an administrative assistant to a research scientist. Aerotek requested that the pharmaceutical company not be named.
Tom Hinman, who is in charge of this office, grew up in Spring Lake, where his father was a police detective and his mother a nurse. After graduating from Loyola College in Baltimore in 1994 he joined Aerotek and most recently managed large accounts in the King of Prussia office. He and his wife have two preschool daughters and live in Exton, Pennsylvania.
Aerotek has about 200 offices nationwide and three others in the state – Parsippany, Cherry Hill, and Piscataway.
Apply for a pharmaceutical temporary job by calling Aerotek directly. “We focus our attention on giving the candidates the chance to speak to a recruiter and get a response, not fax and wait for a response,” says Hinman. “Based on your geographic preference, your level of interest, and what we have on the board, we will set up an in-person appointment to meet with you.”
ComData Consulting Inc., 3490 Route 1 North, Princeton 08540. Mohan Cherukuri, director. 609-897-1314; fax, 609-897-1336. Home page: www.comdataus.com
ComData Consulting, a Chicago-based software consulting company, has opened an office at 3490 Route 1 North. The company provides onsite consulting services on a temporary and contract basis, via local, difficult-to-find contractors, consultants, and employee candidates. Technical personnel specialize in hardware and software, Internet and web development, E-business, project management, and outsourcing services.
Currently, approximately 30 SAP and Java software consultants serve customers in the pharmaceutical and other industries. ComData is hiring.
Scottrade, 425 Nassau Park Boulevard, Nassau Park, Suite 4E, Princeton 08540-5936. Gerald M. Olcsvary, branch manager. 609-987-0429; fax, 609-987-0463. Home page: www.scottrade.com
Scottrade, the St. Louis-based online trading company, opened a new Princeton office in July, as a result of increased business at its Lansdale, Pennsylvania location. Established in 1980, Scottrade began offering online trading to its customer base in 1996. Today the company has 200 branch offices and offers a flat rate commission of $7 for all online market and limit orders. In 2004 J.D. Power and Associates ranked it highest in investor satisfaction with online trading services, for the fifth consecutive year.
Although approximately 85 percent of Scottrade customers interact with the company via the Internet, online investors may use the new walk-in location to open accounts.
Crosstown Moves
Sapnar Insurance Agency, 2561 Yardville-Hamilton Square Road, Suite 2, Hamilton Square 08690-1743. Mary Ann Brokofsky, account executive. 609-586-6991; fax, 609-586-3813.
Sapnar Insurance moved in July from 2133 Lexington Square Commons to 2561 Yardville-Hamilton Square Road in Hamilton. The firm, which employs three people, had been at the prior location for eight years. All contact information remains unchanged.
Washington Township Board of Education, 155 Robbinsville-Edinburg Road, Robbinsville 08691. John J. Szabo, superintendent. 609-426-1846; fax, 609-371-7964. Home page: www.wtpsmercer.k12.nj.us
The township board of education moved after five years at Foxmoor Shopping Center (1079 Washington Boulevard) to the premises of the new Robbinsville High School. Phone and fax are new.
Stock News
Edison Venture Fund announced a $1.8 million follow-on investment in Voxware Inc., part of a $6 million financing and stock conversion.
“Voxware is expanding rapidly,” says Joe Allegra, a general partner at Edison and chairman of Voxware’s board. “Voxware offers a powerful tool for optimizing picking, put-away and replenishment in large distribution centers.”
For the 12 months ending June 30, Voxware’s revenue passed the $5 million mark, an increase of 50 percent, a result of the successful deployment of its VoiceLogistics solution at additional sites.
On August 11, Voxware issued and sold more 188,860,967 shares, worth $6.04 million, not counting expenses and commissions. All preferred stock has been converted to a single class of publicly traded common stock. On September 9 the company plans to register shares of common stock for resale.
Among the 16 logistics companies that Edison has financed and guided are Descartes, E-Transport, Log-Net, Mapics, Maptuit, Munics, Portable Internet and True Commerce. Established in 1986, Edison currently has $420 million under management and is actively making new investments.
Cross Atlantic Capital Partners and UK investors also participated in the $6 million Voxware round.
Edison Venture Fund, 1009 Lenox Drive, Building 4, Suite 200, Lawrenceville 08648. John H. Martinson, managing partner. 609-896-1900; fax, 609-896-0066. Home page: www.edisonventure.com
Voxware Inc. (VOXW.OB), 168 Franklin Corner Road, Suite 3, Lawrenceville 08648. Tom Drury, CEO. 609-514-4100; fax, 609-514-4101. Home page: www.voxware.com
New Law Firm
Thompson & Pollock LLC, 112 West Franklin Avenue, Straube Center, Pennington 08534. 609-818-1555; fax, 609-818-1556. Home page: www.thompsonpollock
Kevin A. Pollock and John R. Thompson have opened a law firm in Pennington at the Straube Center. Pollock does estate planning work in New Jersey and New York, and Thompson does business law and commercial real estate.
Pollock grew up near Asbury Park, the son of a gynecologist. He majored in history at Rutgers, Class of 1996. He met his future wife at Tulane, where he earned a law degree, and he has a master’s degree in taxation from New York University. He worked for various firms and had his own firm before joining Thompson.
His wife, Asako Yoshino, makes bilingual DVDs for children with her separate company, International Baby Company. They have a preschool child.
Thompson was born and raised in Wayne. He majored in English at Rutgers, Class of 1984, and has an MBA in finance from Rutgers Graduate School of Management. He spent 16 years in corporate jobs for companies like Merrill Lynch and Allstate, before going to law school at New York University.
Among his business, corporate, and commercial law areas: business formation/dissolution/purchase & sale/venture capital/finance; general corporate counsel; commercial transactions; business succession planning; and entertainment law. The firm also does commercial and residential real estate transactions and leasing.
The pair plan to hold free monthly seminars on such subjects as the IRA Stretch Trust. “That’s for older people with a good amount in their IRAs, and they don’t need all of it to live on,” says Pollock. “If you name a beneficiary of your IRA, that person would incur tax by taking it all out at once. Or the beneficiary could take out the minimum required distribution over his or her own life expectancy.”
“But if the beneficiary is a young grandchild,” Pollock points out, “what’s to stop them from taking out more than the minimum, thereby foiling the plan of the grandparent? The trust ensures that only the minimum required amount would be taken out (absent an emergency) and allows the IRA to grow tax free for many years.”
Down-Sizing
Ness Global Services Inc., 300 Alexander Park, Princeton. Naveen Arora, national accounts manager, enterprise technology solutions. 609-799-5708; fax, 609-419-1117. www.ness.com
Ness Global Services, an IT services and solutions consulting firm with offices all over the world, has closed its Princeton office. Specializing in IT outsourcing and offshore software development and maintenance, two employees now work out of home offices. Inquiries should be directed to the Pittsburgh office at 724-745-7100.
Witherspoon Art & Bookstore, 12 Nassau Street, Princeton. Pat McConahay, owner. 609-924-3582; fax, 609-924-1386. www.witherspoonbooks.com
After 40 years at 12 Nassau Street, Pat McConahay has closed his bookstore to do sales of print, rare, and second-hand books from a home office.
“We continue to acquire new stock, and we sell through a variety of ways, including online via Biblio.com, ABEbooks.com, Alibris.com, all of which are networked through to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders, and of course, via our own website, www.witherspoonbooks.com,” says McConahay.
Leaving Town
Princeton Remote Encoding Center, 707 Alexander Road, Suite 302, Princeton 08540-0006. Bob Kacerowsky, acting manager. 609-520-2020; fax, 609-734-0337.
The postal service’s Remote Encoding Center, which at one time employed 700 people, closed in July. Once there were 50 such centers around the country, but most of the centers are closing now.
The workers in these centers see the image of a “problem” envelope, and they keystroke a code, which sprays on an 11 digit barcode that will route the letter to its destination (U.S. 1, November 12, 1995). But as the postal service’s optical character readers get more efficient, not as many “fixes” are needed.
Nationwide, remote encoding center closings will result in layoffs of about 18,000 people (or about 20 percent of the workforce). “These centers were merely a stepping stone to the next generation in the automation process for the Postal Service,” wrote Charles J. Denson Jr., vice president, in a prepared statement.
Synergy Pharmaceuticals (KAL), 700 East Butler Avenue, Suite 238, Doylestown, PA 18901. Kunwar Shailubhai, senior vice president. 215-489-2942; fax, 215-489-4956.www.callistopharma.com
After just over a year at Princeton Corporate Plaza, Synergy Pharmaceuticals moved to Doylestown, where Kunwar Shailubhai is on the faculty at Drexel Institute of Biotechnology and Viral Research. It is a subsidiary of Manhattan-based Callisto Pharmaceuticals.
Deaths
John Norris Bahcall, 70, on August 17. He was a professor of astrophysics at the Institute for Advanced Study and president of the American Astronomical Society.
