Corporate Report: August 10

Baseball Factory inks deal to rent Bradenton's Pirate City
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Baseball Factory signed a three-year contract extending the use of the Pirate City facility in Bradenton. The new contract calls for 24 Baseball Factory events to be held at Pirate City from 2012-2014, making the facility the Southern Home of Baseball Factory.

Baseball Factory helps to develop amateur baseball talent and educate players on the college recruiting process.

“Pirate City is a tremendous facility that will continue to serve as an ideal venue for our events,” CEO and founder Steve Sclafani says in a press release. “Making this connection with the Pirates is right for our organization, and we look forward to holding numerous events in Bradenton over the next few years.”

Pirate City is the Pittsburgh Pirates' minor league training complex. The facility includes dormitories, weight-training facilities, on-site dining, conference rooms and Major League-level baseball facilities. The property features four full baseball fields, one half field and a utility field with two infields.

SRI/Surgical Express Inc. sold to Synergy Health
Synergy Health PLC has completed its purchase of Tampa's SRI/Surgical Express Inc. for $25 million in cash. Following the purchase, SRI/Surgical Express has been merged with Synergy Health PLC's U.S. subsidiary, SHM Acquisition Inc.

As a result of the merger, SRI shares were delisted and cease to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Synergy Health PLC is a global leader in outsourced sterilization services.

JMX International makes top 1,000 e-retailers list
Internet Retailer Magazine ranked JMX International, a Sarasota company that started with just two employees in 2003, as one of the top 1,000 e-retailers in the United States. The company was listed as 944th among the nation's top 1,000 Internet retailers in 2012.

The company had a 2011 growth rate of 12.91% and 80,000 monthly visitors to DutchCrafters.com.

Comprehensive Care Corp. hired by CHRISTUS Health
Tampa-based Comprehensive Care Corp. has been retained by Christus Health Plan to provide managed behavioral health services to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) participants in 14 counties in the Gulf Coast region of Texas.

CompCare is a provider of behavioral health services to Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP programs throughout the United States.

Christus Spohn Health System is the region's largest charity care provider and nonprofit health care system consisting of six hospital campuses.

Comprehensive Care also announced it has hired Ramon Martinez, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and a well-known figure in public management. He was retained as senior adviser to the company's management with the focus of helping the company integrate its behavioral health operations with its pharmacy cost containment program.

Martinez served a 20-year military career in the U.S. Air Force, becoming combat crew commander, test director and program manager of Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles; assistant professor of philosophy at the U.S. Air Force Academy; deputy secretary of the Inter-American Defense Board; U.S. National Defense Fellow; chief of Latin American strategy of U.S. Southern Command; and interim director of the U.S. Southern Command Washington Field Office.

He entered the private sector as vice president at Genetics & IVF Institute in Fairfax, Va., later served as assistant director of strategic planning at the South Florida Workforce Board, adjunct professor of philosophy at Miami-Dade Community College, and as a consultant working on homeland security issues. He also served as president and CEO of Progreso Latino Inc., Rhode Island's Latino community agency.

Yippy British subsidiary buys Canadian company for NeoBar
Yippy Labs Inc., the Fort Myers-based Yippy Inc.'s wholly owned British Columbian subsidiary, acquired Macte! Labs Inc., a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, developer of toolbars and applications for Internet search and communication applications.

“The Macte! Labs acquisition adds to the existing advantages of our company's business plan with custom-designed browser extensions,” Rich Granville, CEO of Yippy, says in a press release. “We rigorously tested the Macte applications over the last 30 days in order to verify the desired functionality and believe we secured the next vital piece for Yippy's growth.”

Macte! Labs' NeoBar, which is now known as the Yippy Bar, can filter search engine results for content and malicious websites containing Trojan and other malware viruses.

RockPort Global Advisors hires First Brokerage America manager
RockPort Global Advisors, a Tampa financial services firm, has hired Bradenton resident Aaron Knoll as its managing director and branch sales manager. Knoll has worked in production and management with financial firms such as Fifth Third Bank, JP Morgan Chase and American Express.

Knoll was regional manager of First Brokerage America since 2006, responsible for supervision, management and business development for 19 Florida locations.

RockPort Global Advisors offers securities, advisory, and insurance services through International Assets Advisory and its affiliated companies.

General Motors testing MagneGas
MagneGas Corp. is now supplying General Motors with its MagneGas fuel as part of a trial run of the fuel for maintenance and metal working at GM's Grand Blanc Weld & Tool Center in Flint, Mich.

GM is assessing the gas' environmental, health and safety impacts.

“We are always in pursuit of technologies that enhance quality and efficiency while also performing well on a holistic business case,” John Bradburn, manager of waste-reduction efforts at GM, says in a press release. “In its current state, this technology does just that. We're working closely with MagneGas to discuss possible future applications with potential to reduce our environmental impact.”

MagneGas Corp. converts liquid-based materials into hydrogen-based fuel, removing acetylene from the process.