Daily Business Report-May 2, 2014
PrAna, which is a Sanskrit word for breath, life and vitality of the spirit, was founded in 1992 by Scott Kerslake and his wife.
Carlsbad’s PrAna Brand Sold to Columbia Sportswear
Price: $190 Million in Cash Transaction
Portland-based Columbia Sportswear Co. announced it will acquire Carlsbad’s prAna clothing brand for $190 million in a cash transaction. PrAna will remain headquartered in Carlsbad, and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbia Sportswear, with CEO Scott Kerslake continuing to serve as chief executive officer reporting directly to Columbia president and CEO Tim Boyle.
“We are thrilled at the prospect of joining Columbia’s portfolio of distinct outdoors brands,” said Kerslake. “PrAna is a brand founded on designing stylish, functional, active apparel made in an environmentally sustainable way. With Columbia’s financial strength, operational expertise, and global market platform, we now will be able to reach a much broader audience of socially conscious consumers worldwide.”
PrAna, which is a Sanskrit word for breath, life and vitality of the spirit, was founded in 1992 by Kerslake and his wife to make clothing for yoga, rock-climbing and fitness. It is expected to surpass $100 million in sales in 2014.
“We are very excited to welcome prAna to Columbia’s brand portfolio,” said Boyle. “PrAna is a rapidly growing lifestyle apparel brand positioned at the intersection of today’s healthy, active lifestyles and socially conscious consumerism. A growing number of women and men are embracing prAna’s versatile products that are designed and manufactured with sustainability as a core value.”
The brand is being acquired from majority owner Steelpoint Capital Partners
and all other minority members. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter.
— Times of San Diego
San Diego North Chamber to Disclose New Name
The San Diego North Chamber of Commerce is changing its name to better reflect its mission and to eliminate confusion on what area it represents. The chamber has planned a “launch party” from 5 to 7 p.m. at Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Rancho Bernardo facilities. It will unveil its new name, logo and brand.
Although the launch party is open to the public, each guest must
register individually on the chamber website (www.sdncc.com) and an exact location will then be e-mailed to each registered attendee. That’s for security purposes. Northrop Grumman is a defense contractor.
The chamber retained BottomLine Marketing, a consulting firm, to survey businesses and to come up with suggested names.
“We were impressed by the rigor of the branding process and the insight we received about our service area,” said Debra Rosen, president and CEO of the chamber.
The San Diego North Chamber is the only chamber in San Diego County that is accredited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It serves a large percentage of the San Diego region, ranging from Interstate 8 north to southwest Riverside County.
For more information, call (858) 487-1767.
Inogen Completes Successful IPO
Inogen, a medical device company co-founded by Byron Myers, an alumnus of the UC San Diego Rady School of Management, completed a successful IPO in February, raising $52.5 million for the company. This is the first time a company founded by a Rady School alum has gone public. It was the culmination of 13 years of work by Myers, who is the vice president of marketing for the company, and his co-founders, who founded Inogen in 2001.
Myers noted that the experience of taking Inogen public was an exciting and rewarding experience. “This capital will enable us to continue to realize our commitment of delivering innovative and efficacious respiratory products by executing on our strategy and achieving the many milestones that we have ahead of us,” Myers said. “I was amazed at the amount of time and number of people, both internally and externally, that it took to complete the offering.”
The inspiration to start Inogen came from the grandmother of one of the founders, Mae, who was prescribed oxygen therapy. Using compressed oxygen tanks was a challenge for Mae, who worried about running out of oxygen and found the therapy limited her travel. Inogen developed a portable, tankless oxygen concentrator to increase patient mobility and eliminate oxygen supply concerns.
“One of our first milestones was giving Mae the first product that we manufactured and now really our mission is to give the millions of people just like Mae more independence in their everyday lives,” said Myers.
San Diego’s Bike Sharing Program Delayed Again
San Diego’s bike sharing program was supposed to start between January and March of this year, but it was pushed back by a few months. Now the program has been delayed again, this time until June.
The bike sharing program lets people rent a bike from a checkout station, ride it wherever they please, and then return it to any other station.
People can pay $7 an hour or $15 a day for a bike, or buy a membership for between $20 and $30 a month. The Miami-based company DecoBike is running the program and will pay $7.2 million to install San Diego’s bikes and stations. The city pays nothing for the program and will get a chunk of its profits — between $1 million and $2.6 million over 10 years.
Bill Harris, a spokesman for the city’s storm water and transportation department, said stations will begin being installed in June and that the program will be fully set up by the end of the summer. He said he wouldn’t call the program delayed.
“The intention had been to start out in spring and issue the station locations and get the community feedback,” he said. “We started doing that a few months ago and accelerated that a month ago. So that’s not too far off track, if off track at all.”
Jennifer Kearns, the city’s director of corporate partnerships, said in January that the station location list would be released by mid-February and that the
program would begin in late April or early May. — KPBS
Porter Novelli Promotion
Porter Novelli, a public relations agency, has promoted Tricia Whittemore to vice president at the San Diego office. With 10 years at the agency, Whittemore specializes in media relations, community outreach and writing communications. She currently manages the firm’s award-winning work for a large, local public outreach program. The campaign won a Silver Anvil, the industry’s highest honor.
In addition to the Silver Anvil, Whittemore’s work has earned national and local awards from PRWeek, Bulldog Reporter and SABRE, as well as several Edward L. Bernays Mark of Excellence Awards from the local Public Relations Society of America chapter. She is a board member and immediate past president of PRSA San Diego/Imperial Counties and volunteers her time with Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County.
Hughes Marino Announces New Staff
Hughes Marino announced new staff members Joe Birdsong, front desk manager, Stacy Haskell, marketing coordinator, and Margaret Chiu, special projects coordinator.
Birdsong formerly worked for Apple Retail and Disney. He holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton. Haskell earned a bachelor’s degree from the Art Institute of California – San Diego. She manages the Hughes Marino blog and social media accounts. Chiu recently graduated from UC San Diego with a bachelor’s degree. She was previously with Madewell, a division of J. Crew Company.
Tracy Judge Joins Cadence Travel
Tracy Judge has been named director of business development, meetings and incentives, at Cadence Travel Management in La Jolla. Judge previously spent eight years at Maritz Travel Co., where she was manager of proposal development and sourcing.
Judge was awarded the California Lodging Industry Association 2013 scholarship for her accomplishments and superior performance in the hospitality field.
After earning her bachelor’s degree from Drexel University, Judge is currently pursuing a master’s degree in hospitality and tourism management at San Diego State University.
Lee & Associates Adds 3 Vice Presidents
Lee & Associates has hired three new brokers for its San Diego office. Erik Faucett, Stephen Willmore and Karen Johnson have more than 50 years of commercial real estate experience between them. They join the firm as vice presidents.
Faucett, a graduate of University of Pacific, was previously with Colliers International and Private Capital Investments Advisors. He specializes in retail leasing and sales with an emphasis on leasing and sales of strip and neighborhood centers.
Willmore has 30 years of experience in commercial real estate and specializes in commercial leasing, investment sales and asset property management. He previously was with Colliers International and Private Capital Investments Advisors.
Johnson, a specialist in industrial and office sales and leasing and tenant/buyer representation, will be focused on central and south San Diego County. Formerly with Colliers International, where she was an associates VP, she was also with BRE/NAI, Grubb & Ellis and a purser with Norwegian Cruise Lines. She was the recipient of San Diego Metro’s “Women Who Rock Award” in 2012 and she was also recognized as the 2008 Industrial Deal Maker of the Year by the Commercial Realtors Association.
Arianna Huffington Featured at Luncheon
Arianna Huffington, chair, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group and the author of 14 books, will be a guest of the San Diego North Chamber of Commerce at a May 21 luncheon at the Sony Corp., 16535 Esprillo, in San Diego. The event is from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Huffington launched The Huffington Post in May 2005, a news and blog site. In 2012, the site won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting and in 2013 she was named to the Forbes Most Powerful Women list.
Each guest will receive an autographed copy of Huffington’s latest book, “Thrive.”
The luncheon cost is $59 for chamber members and $89 for nonmembers. To order tickets, call (858) 487-1767.
