St. Louis Corporate Mergers, Acquisitions & Relocations

sc4mayor · PostJun 28, 2019#9012019-06-28T20:27+00:00

From the BJ: Why this Boston-based biotech startup is moving to St. Louis

In an effort to boost its plant science capabilities, a Boston-based biotechnology startup has plans to relocate its headquarters to St. Louis by the end of the year. Zea BioSciences chose St. Louis after evaluating eight cities for relocation, with CEO Jim Wilson saying the region’s strength in plant science propelled its decision to move to St. Louis. The talent pool for plant science is approximately six times as large in St. Louis as in Boston, Wilson said. Zea, which was founded in 2015 and has raised about $6 million, focuses on plant cell replication. The company’s plant products are grown, harvested and packed in a confined “clean room” environment using its technology platform.

The startup said its technology can produce plants cleaner, faster and more cost-effectively. Zea has 15 full-time and 10 part-time employees. Wilson said he expects about 10 current employees to relocate from Boston to St. Louis, with plans to eventually bolster its St. Louis team to about 60 employees. The company will continue to operate its technology team in Boston. “Really, it comes down to the plants now,” Wilson said. “We have no sales force and we already have a pipeline of customers wanting us to start production.”

The company is looking to secure 100,000 square feet in St. Louis for operations, ideally hoping to find a location within proximity of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur. Wilson said the company is eyeing a permanent relocation to St. Louis sometime in the fourth quarter of 2019. Wilson visited St. Louis this week, meeting with members of St. Louis’ startup ecosystem, including BioSTL President and CEO Donn Rubin, Danforth Center Chief Operating Officer Sam Fiorello and agtech accelerator The Yield Lab.

Zea already has one key connection to St. Louis as one of its board members is Jim Holbrook, a former executive at Post Holdings. As Zea prepares to relocate to St. Louis, the startup plans to make frequent visits to the city in the upcoming weeks. Wilson said the startup’s department heads currently have scheduled visits every week in St. Louis until September.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... s_headline

walker · PostJun 28, 2019#9022019-06-28T21:33+00:00

https://qz.com/1642153/planets-purchase ... isclosure/

Boundless had a local presence of about 15 employees and its CEO, Andy Dearing, is appreciated by the folks from TRex for pushing Geospatial (NGA) in STL.

...a somewhat ignominious end to the co., though.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

sc4mayor · PostJul 02, 2019#9032019-07-02T16:02+00:00

Not sure if this belongs here as Creve Coeur Camera isn't really a big corporate player in St. Louis, but a sad day nonetheless. They will be closing their last store in St. Louis, largely due to online competition from the likes of Amazon.

Over here in KC we had Crick which was also basically killed by similar competition. I bought my first Rebel T3 and eventually my T5i at Crick. Losing them was a gut punch. Losing Creve Coeur is like a kick in the balls, at least for a photographer like me. Lots of good people there. Sounds like classes and photo trips will continue though.

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... cb443.html

gone corporate · PostJul 02, 2019#9042019-07-02T20:18+00:00

Merger and integration are done at Stifel, as its April acquisition of Mooreland Partners (tech-centric M&A practice) has led to the creation of the Stifel Global Technology Group. Offices are in Silicon Valley, NYC, London, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Frankfurt. The now-combined companies had previously led the financial services industry since 2010 on technology M&A work under $1BB.

Ebsy · PostJul 03, 2019#9052019-07-03T08:50+00:00

walker wrote: https://qz.com/1642153/planets-purchase ... isclosure/

Boundless had a local presence of about 15 employees and its CEO, Andy Dearing, is appreciated by the folks from TRex for pushing Geospatial (NGA) in STL.

...a somewhat ignominious end to the co., though.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Really disappointing to see.

dredger · PostJul 03, 2019#9062019-07-03T14:18+00:00

Ebsy wrote:
walker wrote: https://qz.com/1642153/planets-purchase ... isclosure/

Boundless had a local presence of about 15 employees and its CEO, Andy Dearing, is appreciated by the folks from TRex for pushing Geospatial (NGA) in STL.

...a somewhat ignominious end to the co., though.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Really disappointing to see.

^ curious, disappointing in terms of what? From the article it appears that someone misstated or maybe overstated its relationship with Feds to make the company more valuable than it seems. As investor, I would call it out from what little is known or reported as the implied actions to get a higher buyout price is borderline fraud in my opinion... maybe the facts one day will tell the whole story.

In terms of St. Louis and the opportunities in geospatial offers is not going away as NGA is on its way to build a pretty impressive campus and only add to the region as geospatial powerhouse just as the region is a powerhouse in plant science. Undoubtly you will see gains and a few failures as well

gone corporate · PostJul 03, 2019#9072019-07-03T16:25+00:00

Acquired: Center Oil Company, the 15th largest private company in STL (2018). The wholesaler of gasoline, diesel, and ethanol is being bought by Houston-based BioUrja Trading, a commodity trading and supply company.

The buyout price isn't known right now.

This acquisition isn't that surprising, actually. The company was founded by Gary Parker, who died in a ski accident in 2014. Afterwards, the company just wasn't the same, according to friends who worked there. That Gary's son was receptive to a Houston buyer's offer makes sense.

sc4mayor · PostJul 03, 2019#9082019-07-03T16:53+00:00

My company has a very close relationship with Center Oil, I've heard some rumors about this for a while now. Not surprising at all, hopefully they'll keep a presence here.

As of 2018 they employed a total of 40 people in St. Louis.

Edit: Here is the link from the PD, for those that don't have access to the BJ.
https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... the-latest

"After the acquisition, Center Oil will be headquartered in Houston, Texas, where BioUrja is based, but its primary business operations will remain in the St. Louis region."

dredger · PostJul 03, 2019#9092019-07-03T18:39+00:00

The Mayor wrote: From the BJ: Why this Boston-based biotech startup is moving to St. Louis

The company is looking to secure 100,000 square feet in St. Louis for operations, ideally hoping to find a location within proximity of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Creve Coeur. Wilson said the company is eyeing a permanent relocation to St. Louis sometime in the fourth quarter of 2019. Wilson visited St. Louis this week, meeting with members of St. Louis’ startup ecosystem, including BioSTL President and CEO Donn Rubin, Danforth Center Chief Operating Officer Sam Fiorello and agtech accelerator The Yield Lab.

Zea already has one key connection to St. Louis as one of its board members is Jim Holbrook, a former executive at Post Holdings. As Zea prepares to relocate to St. Louis, the startup plans to make frequent visits to the city in the upcoming weeks. Wilson said the startup’s department heads currently have scheduled visits every week in St. Louis until September.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... s_headline

Any thoughts, groundwork for next 39 North building or maybe additional tenant for new Benson Hills HQ that recently got tax abatement approved? or will they also take a hard look at city mid town developments whether it be with Wexford/Koman/Lawrence Group?

Not sure what else they can look at in the immediate 39 North Agtech District other than 39 North itself.

sc4mayor · PostJul 04, 2019#9102019-07-04T02:03+00:00

^ All good suggestions, and quite frankly I'm not sure. I think Helix or Danforth is about to undergo a major expansion, they could be a good fit there. Or in Benson Hill's building providing they're allowing multiple tenants. Good problem to have though.

chaifetz10 · PostJul 04, 2019#9112019-07-04T11:10+00:00

There plenty of space at 39 N for new construction. Plus many of the office buildings nearby have some space available for companies that need something temporary or smaller for the time being.

sc4mayor · PostJul 04, 2019#9122019-07-04T13:21+00:00

Couple articles from the BJ here. First one is about a Webster Groves company acquiring a tech company in the Seattle area:

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... e=facebook

This second one is about a Portuguese health care start up considering St. Louis for an expansion:

"I think because of GlobalSTL's event, we’re seeing the benefits in terms of follow-up meetings, and we’re looking to make St. Louis a much bigger part of our growth story than we originally imagined,” Kar said. “I had no idea what a titan St. Louis was in the health care field. All health care technology companies should pay attention to this city.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... e=facebook

sc4mayor · PostJul 15, 2019#9132019-07-15T17:53+00:00

From the PD:

"Missouri governor says ag company planning 'significant' expansion in St. Louis"

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... a73a5.html

Any scuttlebutt anywhere? Maybe a Bayer expansion?

DogtownBnR · PostJul 15, 2019#9142019-07-15T18:24+00:00

This is great news! I am surprised considering Bayer/Monsanto has been spending a fortune on the Round-up litigation.
Does anyone know if Bayer let go any significant amount of Monsanto employees after the buy-out? I was thinking, if so, maybe a lot of these jobs are just refilling some of those positions (and adding some), now that Bayer has fully absorbed Monsanto.

sc4mayor · PostJul 15, 2019#9152019-07-15T18:34+00:00

DogtownBnR wrote: This is great news! I am surprised considering Bayer/Monsanto has been spending a fortune on the Round-up litigation.
Does anyone know if Bayer let go any significant amount of Monsanto employees after the buy-out? I was thinking, if so, maybe a lot of these jobs are just refilling some of those positions (and adding some), now that Bayer has fully absorbed Monsanto.

Well we don't know that it's Bayer. The PD simply mentioned that Bayer was one of the companies that Parson met while on his overseas trip. I'm not sure who else it could be though from an ag perspective.
I'm not aware of any large layoffs at Monsanto as of yet. In fact, I think Bayer moved a sizable chunk of jobs from the Research Triangle to St. Louis after the merger.

dmelsh · PostJul 15, 2019#9162019-07-15T18:44+00:00

The Mayor wrote:
DogtownBnR wrote: This is great news! I am surprised considering Bayer/Monsanto has been spending a fortune on the Round-up litigation.
Does anyone know if Bayer let go any significant amount of Monsanto employees after the buy-out? I was thinking, if so, maybe a lot of these jobs are just refilling some of those positions (and adding some), now that Bayer has fully absorbed Monsanto.
Well we don't know that it's Bayer. The PD simply mentioned that Bayer was one of the companies that Parson met while on his overseas trip. I'm not sure who else it could be though from an ag perspective.
I'm not aware of any large layoffs at Monsanto as of yet. In fact, I think Bayer moved a sizable chunk of jobs from the Research Triangle to St. Louis after the merger.

It is Bayer.

Bayer said to be adding 'significant number' of jobs in St. Louis

Gov. Parson expected to make announcement Tuesday afternoon.

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2019/07/15/bayer-said-to-be-adding-significant-number-of-jobs.html?iana=hpmvp_stl_news_headline

sc4mayor · PostJul 15, 2019#9172019-07-15T18:50+00:00

^ Good deal, I hadn't seen the BJ reporting yet.

gone corporate · PostJul 15, 2019#9182019-07-15T18:53+00:00

^ Indeed. That article also notes how Bayer's already relocated its Seeds & Traits division from the North Carolina Research Triangle to STL. Also, Bayer recently let go of 569 staff positions in Pittsburgh; perhaps those declines are leading to STL's gains. Either way, here's hoping for continued buildup of the Bayer North American HQ, hopefully leading to regular international flights to Germany at Lambert Airport.

dmelsh · PostJul 15, 2019#9192019-07-15T19:24+00:00

Elanco Animal Health And Bayer In Early Talks To Combine Animal Health Units

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joecornell/2019/07/12/elanco-animal-health-and-bayer-in-early-talks-to-combine-animal-health-units/#6736eea83ba0

RockChalkSTL · PostJul 15, 2019#9202019-07-15T19:34+00:00

St. Louis has a big pet food scene.

Does it have a big animal health scene?

DogtownBnR · PostJul 15, 2019#9212019-07-15T19:37+00:00

From what I’ve read, Bayer is looking to divest its animal health division, not necessarily take over Elanco’s. Maybe I’m reading into this incorrectly.

sc4mayor · PostJul 15, 2019#9222019-07-15T19:45+00:00

KansasCitian wrote: St. Louis has a big pet food scene.

Does it have a big animal health scene?

No, but Kansas City does, which is actually where Bayer's Animal Health Division is HQed currently. About 500-600 jobs in that division over here.

And yes, Dogtown is correct, Bayer wants to divest from Animal Health to satisfy some requirements from the Monsanto merger.

framer · PostJul 15, 2019#9232019-07-15T20:44+00:00

Bayer had said that they were planning a multi-billion dollar investment to essentially find alternatives to Roundup. This could be part of that.

sc4mayor · PostJul 16, 2019#9242019-07-16T17:35+00:00

500 new jobs is the number.

framer · PostJul 16, 2019#9252019-07-16T17:41+00:00

I'm very pleased. Sure, we always want more, but come on. This is good news.

St. Louis Corporate Mergers, Acquisitions & Relocations

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