Corporate report

Impulse Creative moves to expanded headquarters
Impulse Creative Inc., a Fort Myers-based marketing and branding agency, has relocated to a new larger headquarters at 5260 Summerlin Commons Way, Suite 304, Fort Myers. The firm says its move to the 3,200-square-foot space was necessary after two consecutive years of triple-digit growth. Impulse Creative now has seven full-time employees and plans to add another three over the next 60 days.

“We're on track to grow three times the size of the previous year again, and we really needed more meeting rooms,” Remington Begg, who founded the agency in 2010 with his wife, Rachel, says in a press release.

The new headquarters includes seven meeting rooms with a combined 1,000 square feet of whiteboard space for brainstorming and outlining marketing campaigns.

Garb Oil & Power buying Colorado's Chubby Glass
Largo-based waste recycler Garb Oil & Power Corp. has agreed to buy Chubby Glass LLC in Boulder, Colo., for $189,000.

Founded in 2001, Chubby Glass primarily produces glass pipes that are sold in the marijuana industry. The sale is scheduled to close by the end of the year, and Chubby Glass will become part of Garb Oil & Power's medical marijuana division.

Garb Oil & Power has also entered into a five-year employment agreement with Chubby Glass's founder and managing partner, Eric Ernst, to help maintain that company after the closing.
During 2013, Chubby Glass generated nearly $400,000 in sales revenue.

“The Chubby Glass company purchase gives Garb the production capability required to begin utilizing recycled glass to produce useful and artistic products,” Tammy Taylor, CEO and president of Garb Oil & Power, says in a press release. “With its location in Colorado, the Chubby Glass company acquisition will also give Garb the ability to begin its medical marijuana division's manufacturing processes utilizing recyclable materials other than glass for sales available throughout the United States whether or not next month's Nov. 4 Medical Marijuana Amendment 2 vote is passed by Florida's voters.”

SUNZ Insurance promotes CFO, director of risk management
Sarasota-based SUNZ Insurance Co. promoted Linda Bishop to chief financial officer and named Chris Sullivan its director of risk management.

Bishop has been serving as the controller for SUNZ since 2008. As the chief financial officer, she will be overseeing the company's finance department and will be responsible for financial reporting, investment oversight and serve as the financial liaison to the Departments of Insurance in the states in which SUNZ operates.

Prior to joining SUNZ, Bishop spent six years at Kforce Inc. in Tampa, as a senior analyst in the corporate planning department.

Sullivan joined SUNZ in 2013 as loss control manager. In this newly created role, he will continue covering loss control while also supervising risk management and underwriting. Sullivan came to SUNZ from The SCI Cos., where he was the director of risk management for more than 22 years. Prior to SCI, Sullivan worked with FCCI and the Hardaway Co.

Rogers Behavioral Health brings OCD, anxiety treatment to Tampa
Rogers Behavioral Health System, Wisconsin's largest nonprofit mental health and addiction services provider, has opened its first treatment center outside of Wisconsin in Tampa. The new Rogers facility, at 2002 Lois Ave., Suite 400, South Tampa, will encompass 12,000 square feet of treatment space.

“Our goal is to expand the types of OCD and anxiety treatment programs we offer within 30 days of our opening,” Dr. Stephanie Eken, Rogers' regional medical director for partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs, “For children, adolescents and adults with more severe symptoms, we're planning to add partial hospitalization programs which offer a more intensive level of care, operating six hours a day, five days a week.”

The firm also plans to offer an eating disorders treatment program in the next several months.

Lincoln Park Capital Fund signs deal to buy xG Technology stock
xG Technology Inc. has agreed to sell up to $16 million worth of stock to Chicago-based institutional investor Lincoln Park Capital Fund LLC. The Sarasota company has already sold $1 million worth of its common stock to Lincoln Park Capital Fund for $2 per share and agreed to sell another $15 million in stock over the next two years.

xG Technology, which provides private mobile broadband wireless networks, will control the timing and amount of any sale to Lincoln Park Capital, which also has no right to require the Sarasota firm to sell its stock.

“We are pleased that [Lincoln Park Capital] has shown, by way of this agreement, strong confidence in the capabilities of our technology, our management team and our business plan,” George Schmitt, executive chairman of the board of xG Technology, says in a press release. “This agreement will assist us in the event we require additional capital to execute our strategic objectives.”

Tampa's TECO Energy selling off coal subsidiary
TECO Energy Inc. signed an agreement to sell its coal mining subsidiary, TECO Coal, to Cambrian Coal Corp., a member of the Booth Energy Group. The total sales price of $170 million includes $50 million in future contingent payments if certain benchmarks and coal prices are reached over the next five years. The $120 million cash base purchase price is also subject to post-closing adjustments.

The sale is expected to close by the end of the year.

TECO Energy plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt and for general corporate purposes.

“This transaction will result in a complete exit from the coal mining business,” TECO Energy CEO John Ramil says in a press release. “When this transaction closes, it will complete a long journey returning TECO Energy to its core utility businesses.”

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as TECO Energy's financial adviser, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP was its legal adviser.

Shaw Development LLC buying Aerox's assets
Bonita Springs-based Shaw Development LLC completed an asset purchase agreement for the products manufactured and distributed by Limington, Maine-based Aerox Aviation Oxygen Systems.
Shaw Development officials describe the purchase as beneficial because it was a related product line that will expand the firm's offerings beyond the heavy-duty ground vehicle markets.

This announcement says the acquisition will provide Aerox with immediate access to an enhanced sales force, a fully developed business process system and resources to grow organically.

Fintech adds more than 6,000 customers in month of September
Tampa-based Fintech announced it added 6,237 new customer relationships in September. That expansion included 23 new locations for CVS/Revco Pharmacies, 55 locations for Ruby Tuesday, 17 for Smashburger, 45 for Walgreens and 457 stores in eight states for Walmart.

The company, which provides electronic data and payments to the alcohol industry, has relationships with more than 300,000 retailers and distributors nationwide.

Dieter's Sod & Landscaping CFO, co-founder retiring
Carole Zoellner, chief financial officer of Bradenton-based Dieter's Sod & Landscaping, is retiring after 20 years in the business. She and her husband, Dieter Zoellner, started the company in 1994 with five employees, and it has grown to 34 employees and expanded into landscaping.