20130107-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 1/4/2013 5:50 PM Page 1 ® www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 29, No. 1 JANUARY 7 – 13, 2013 $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2013 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved Page 3 McGraw Wentworth sells Fewer workers laid off in 2012 to Marsh & McLennan Guardian joins new family, Most cuts in health care, transportation PINK SLIPS FADE Layoff and plant closing notices led by Koch brothers BY CHAD HALCOM Development Agency, which reports Airport and whose layoffs prompted were down in Michigan in 2012. CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS 54 companies sent notices of plant a WARN notice Oct. 3. That’s be- Here are the numbers of closings and mass layoffs affecting cause Regional Elite’s parent com- employees affected: Inside Layoffs were down sharply in 3,731 employees during the year. pany, Delta Air Lines Inc., later of- Michigan last year, particularly That’s compared with 5,701 em- fered all of those employees jobs at among manufacturers, although ployees displaced from 56 compa- another Delta subsidiary. the trend in underlying employ- nies in 2011 and 5,083 employees The state workforce agency, a ment figures is more mixed and laid off from 51 companies in 2010. unit of the Michigan Economic Devel- 3,731 5,701 5,083 metro Detroit pink slips crept up- The 2012 totals do not include opment Corp., receives notices to the 2012 2011 2010 ward outside the automotive in- more than 900 employees of air- state of pending plant closings or (54 (56 (51 dustry. port ground services provider Re- plant layoffs, under the federal companies) companies) companies) It was a decidedly unapocalyp- gional Elite Airlines Services LLC who Source: Michigan Workforce Development tic 2012 for the Michigan Workforce were based at Detroit Metropolitan See Layoffs, Page 19 Agency Compuware bid becomes Newsmakers of the Year Cancer drug company looks 2012 toward possible sale, high-stakes chess match Page 11 Suitor Elliott Management known for aggressive, winning moves This Just In BY TOM HENDERSON New York law firm to advise its tled Overhaul: An Insider’s Ac- AND DUSTIN WALSH board of directors on how to react count of the Obama Administra- Novi’s ProtectCell acquired CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS to the $2.3 billion offer by New tion’s Emergency Rescue of the Auto by Florida company York-based Elliott Management Industry. Will Compuware Corp.’s measured Corp. A formal response is unlikely That description resonated in A majority share of Novi- approach to the takeover bid before Jan. 22, when Compuware October when an Elliott-controlled based ProtectCell, a cellphone launched last month work against releases its next earnings report. fund in the Cayman Islands had an protection and recovery com- a hedge fund company used to play- Elliott Management was so ag- Argentine warship seized in Ghana pany, has been acquired by ing hardball and getting its way? gressive in a 2009 deal that in- in a dispute over unpaid sovereign Jacksonville, Fla.-based Compuware engaged two New volved General Motors Co. and Del- debt by the South American coun- Fortegra Financial Corp. for an York City investment banks and a phi Corp. that Elliott and its hedge try. undisclosed amount. fund partners were described as Officials at Elliott and Com- ProtectCell, a winner of “Barbary pirates” by Steven Rat- puware have had conversations Crain’s Salute to Entrepre- tner, the so-called car czar, in his neurs in June, was founded 2010 book about the auto bailout ti- See Compuware, Page 21 in 2006 and reported $49 mil- lion in revenue last year. When it started looking for buyers, 73 companies turned in letters of interest, said Bryan Finnerty, CEO and founding partner. Fortegra will keep the same management and employees in Novi and ProtectCell’s oth- er Michigan locations. Noth- ing will change with the day- to-day operations, he said. The company has about 125 employees, 80 of which are in Novi. Finnerty and the other founding partner, Rob Emery, Big names of 2012: In a region will keep a “significant” stake of movers and shakers, these in ProtectCell through its par- are the Newsmakers. Crain’s ent company Digital Leash LLC., profiles 10 who made their mark Finnerty said. GETTY IMAGES on the business community. — Ryan Kelly Paul Singer founded Elliott Management Corp., one of the first hedge funds, in See Pages 6-7. 1977. ISTOCKPHOTO.COM Yearning for legal peace of mind? (see our ad on page 2) ‰ ATTORNEYS AT LAW A BETTER PARTNERSHIP WNJ.com NEWSPAPER 20130107-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 1/4/2013 4:51 PM Page 1 Page 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS January 7, 2013 MICHIGAN BRIEFS Ill. dredging and cleanup firm to MICH-CELLANEOUS pick up Kalamazoo firm for $20M A Snyder sit-down: Looking ahead in the aftermath Ⅲ Central Michigan University in Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp., Mt. Pleasant said the Accreditation an Oak Brook, Ill.-based dredging, Gov. Rick Snyder sat down with Editor and Pub- We’re around 9 percent (unemployment). At the Council for Graduate Medical Educa- demolition and remediation busi- lisher Brian Edwards and Managing Editor Joe same time, if you go to MiTalent.org, it shows we tion granted five-year institutional ness, plans to acquire the assets of Boomgaard of the Grand Rapids-based publication have over 50,000 open jobs. It really illustrates this in- accreditation to the new medical Kalamazoo-based Terra Contracting MiBiz to talk about his legislative accomplishments ability of our society to do a good matching between school’s residency programs asso- LLC for about $20 million. Great and his vision for the rest of his term. Some excerpts: supply and demand of talent. … We could drop our ciated with Covenant HealthCare Lakes Dredge announced the Why the involvement in divisive issues such as right-to- unemployment rate by a couple of percentage points and St. Mary’s of Michigan. The agreement last week, The Associ- work and abortion? My main agenda hasn’t changed. just by filling those jobs, and they’re good jobs. CMU College of Medicine said it re- ated Press reported. It’s jobs and kids. In some ways, I have to respond to What about the end of the personal property tax, which ceived 2,765 applications for its in- Terra provides environmental, what the legislators are doing and what other people will require the public to approve a municipal authority for augural class, of which 60 will be maintenance and infrastructure- are doing. Again, as governor, you don’t decide the the cut to take effect? The message that should come accepted, by the Dec. 15 deadline. related services. It employs about whole agenda. (Laughs.) out in terms of asking the voters to support this: It Ⅲ Midland-based Dow Chemical 200 engineering, operations and What tops your 2013 agenda for business and the doesn’t cost additional dollars to citizens. What it Co. has restarted an ethylene plant administrative staff and serves economy? Talent. … There’s really three C’s to it. It’s does is really get rid of a really obnoxious tax. in Louisiana after almost four years customers in more than 30 states. about collaborating with the private sector because Do you fear retribution from the right-to-work vote? because natural gas from shale for- it’s about the demand side: Where are jobs today and You’re going to find some in the shorter term. … If mations has made U.S. production Lansing’s Neogen acquires where are jobs in the future? The second C is about you’re a public servant, particularly if you’re an more competitive and the fuel creating talent. That’s really partnering with the ed- elected official, to say you’re not going to work with cheaper. Ethylene and propylene Calif. firm Scidera Genomics ucation sector to say, “What are we doing to make someone because they have a difference of opinion are used to make plastics for pack- aging, auto parts and carpets. Lansing-based Neogen Corp. has sure people are getting the right preparation?” The is not a good answer. Ⅲ purchased Davis, Calif.-based last C is connecting talent, which is taking demand What to look for in the next year? A lot of it is watch- Come fall, Alma College will pay Scidera Genomics LLC, formerly and supply and putting them both together. ing the full implementation of what we’ve done. the cost of completing a degree for known as MetaMorphix Inc. and any student who meets the school’s MMI Genomics Inc. Financial to spend $45 million to acquire Grocer Al Kessel, a brand name in 1982 and added to them in 1991 requirements but fails to graduate terms were not disclosed. The deal Chicago-based Cobrek Pharmaceuti- when he acquired 13 Hamady within four years, the Detroit Free took effect Jan. 1, the Lansing cals Inc., a privately held drug de- in Flint food, dies at age 74 stores in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Press reported. The private college, State Journal reported. veloper, MLive.com reported. Kessel also had his encounters about 50 miles north of Lansing, Al Kessel, whose Flint-based also will make all students eligible Scidera specializes in animal ge- Perrigo, which makes pharma- Kessel Food Markets once encom- with unions. In April 1998, United nomics and studies genetics in cat- ceuticals and nutritional products Food and Commercial Workers Local for a $2,500 stipend to pursue an in- passed more than 20 stores and ternship, summer research project tle, poultry, swine and dogs, Neogen sold under the labels of major retail- 951 tried to organize employees.