LED Innovator Relume Technologies Closes $7M Financing Round

OXFORD — Relume Technologies, a manufacturer of light-emitting diode (LED) products and smart grid control systems for outdoor lighting, has closed its $7 million Series D financing round.
Farmington Hills-based Beringea, which led the round, invested $3.2 million. San Jose, Calif.-based Western Technology Investment and other existing investors comprised the remainder of the round.
“Relume has seen tremendous growth over the past year, as evidenced by recent sales in multiple municipalities, new product launches and several key additions to our engineering team,” said Crawford Lipsey, CEO for Relume. “These funds will allow us to build up our sales and manufacturing infrastructure and further expand our team.”
Relume’s LED products and lighting control systems are used in street and area lighting, commercial signage, outdoor advertising, transportation and U.S. military applications and improve a city’s operating costs, commerce and resident safety. Relume’s LED luminaries feature superior thermal management and low LED junction temperatures — key to long LED life — and enabling Relume to offer a market-leading 7-year product warranty.
“Relume is growing rapidly — it roughly doubled its revenue in 2011 — and through its innovative technology and world-class management team, Relume is poised to secure a dominant position in the outdoor LED lighting market,” said Jeff Bocan, managing director for Beringea.
“Given the company’s marquee customer base and accelerating sales traction, WTI is pleased to support Relume’s impressive ongoing growth,” said Maurice Werdegar, partner of Western Technology Investment.
Relume has installed outdoor lighting solutions in more than 1,000 outdoor facilities, producing up to a 50 percent energy savings per product. The company’s customers include Starbucks Coffee, US Cellular, McDonalds, Chase, Best Buy, and Lexus, among others. In addition, Relume has re-lit many cities across the country, including Ann Arbor; Arlington, Va.; Canton, Ohio, and West Nottingham Township, Pennsylvania.
Relume’s products are also American-made and ISO 9001:2008 certified.
Relume is a founding member of the Michigan Solid State Lighting Association, and supports the organization’s mission of ensuring that Michigan is a global leader in solid-state lighting, research and development, and manufacturing. Relume was recently recognized as one of Michigan’s 50 Companies to Watch by the Edward Lowe Foundation. For more information, visit www.relume.com.
More about Beringea, Michigan’s largest private capital company, at http://www.beringea.com/.

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Tuesday morning headlines

Stocks slump: Discouraging news out of Europe isn’t helping. Dow is down about 60 points.
Romney’s taxes: He reported income of $21.7 million in 2010 and paid $3 million in taxes – an effective rate of 14 percent. He also made $3 million in tax-deductible charitable donations. (Washington Post).
Dodgers receive opening bids: More than a dozen investment groups are interested, and several of the bids were in excess of $1 billion, the WSJ reports.

Bankers didn’t require the bids to be binding or ask for bidders to submit a deposit with their offers. Bidders also didn’t have to provide firm promises of financing. As a result, several bidders said, there was little reason for them to not submit high offers with hopes of surviving to a second round.

Academy Award nominees: “The Artist,” “Hugo,” and “The Descendants” lead the way. (NYT)
Greece update: Eurozone officials rejected a final offer from bondholders, which is a big blow to resolving the nation’s debt crisis. From Reuters:

Greece’s top official at the Brussels meeting remained stoic, saying the country had the euro zone’s support to complete the debt swap talks in the “coming days.” “In reality, we are now entering the final stretch,” , Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said in a statement. “I believe everyone has now realized that Greece must be supported in its effort, which is of vital importance not only for us but for the euro zone as a whole and the global economy.”

Calpers returns just 1.1% in 2011: That’s a fraction of the projected 7.75 percent annual returns by California’s pension fund giant. Last year, Calpers earned 12.5 percent. From the LAT:

Calendar-year results, however, are used only as indicators, a CalPERS spokesman said. The fiscal year returns, posted as of June 30 each year, are the legal basis for annual decisions by the CalPERS board to raise or lower the contributions it gets from 3,100 participating government agencies, including the state of California.

Happy hours at Starbucks: The coffee giant will be offering beer and wine in four to six L.A.-area locations by the end of the year. From the LAT:

Starbucks is looking to differentiate itself from competitors as varied as Dunkin’ Donuts, fast-food behemoth McDonald’s Corp. and the fast-casual Panera Bread Co. chain, analysts said. It’s a “natural extension” for Starbucks to move into specialty beverages, said Jason Moser, an analyst with Motley Fool. The coffee chain in November bought San Bernardino natural juice company Evolution Fresh Inc. for $30 million, promising to launch a series of “wholesome” juice shops.

Downtown theater to become hotel: The historic United Artists building at Broadway and 9th Street will be transformed by a chain of boutique inns. The 180-room hotel will have a pool, restaurant, bar and 1,600-seat theater. From the LAT:

The complex at 927 S. Broadway was built in 1927 in part to provide a theater for the movie production company founded by film luminaries Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith. The Spanish Gothic theater was designed by C. Howard Crane and the office tower by Walker & Eisen, the team behind other local landmarks including the Fine Arts Building downtown and the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills.

LAX contract awarded: Westfield Concession Management has received a 17-year lease for the Theme Building, Terminal 2 and the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Westfield will be charged with bringing in restaurants and retailers. (Daily Breeze)
Burkle buys stake in Relativity Media: It’s the billionaire’s second investment this month in the film and television studio led by Ryan Kavanaugh. No terms disclosed. (Bloomberg)
Silicon Valley salary is 100K: Software and other engineering employees made, on average, $104,195 last year, according to a survey, a 5.2 percent increase from a year earlier. (WSJ)
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Loans likely for downtown Crandall building, Broadway Park lofts

Salt Lake City’s oldest “skyscraper,” the seven-story 1892-era Crandall Building, has watched quietly as City Creek Center — it’s flashy, $2 billion neighbor — moves in next door.
Now, the slumping staple on the northwest corner of 100 South and Main is getting a financial leg up from City Hall so it remains relevant under downtown’s retail renaissance.
By unanimous vote Tuesday, the City Council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency Board, approved a $337,500 loan to Crandall Properties so the owner can renovate the space for a Starbucks, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit franchise and a JMR clothier.
At the same time, the RDA punted for one week a decision to loan Broadway Park Lofts’ Ken Milo $2.3 million to complete the second condominium building fronting 300 South across the street from Pioneer Park. Council members want more time to vet the terms of the loan, which, if issued, would deplete the RDA’s central business district coffer.
Crandall did not get all the terms requested. A push to defer interest for one year was denied. So was a petition to exempt the owners from adding showers and lockers — a requirement of all RDA projects with 25 or more employees.
But the loan would allow the 120-year-old office building to add fresh retail and restaurant tenants this spring, the same time the LDS Church’s massive mall is set to open.
Councilwoman Jill Remington Love called the new retail tenants “critical.”
“This really is a gem of a building in our downtown,” Love said. “I’m just so glad it’s in the shape it is in.”
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Crandall Building has roughly 10,000 square feet of unoccupied retail space. Crandall has signed leases from the clothing store and barbecue restaurant, city documents show, and expects to receive a signed lease from the coffee shop this month.
For his part, Milo made an emotional appeal, with his voice cracking briefly, for his Broadway Park Lofts loan.
“There’s a lot at stake,” he told the RDA board. “I’m 16 years into a 10-year plan to create an urban, walkable neighborhood around Pioneer Park. It was a war zone 16 years ago,” he added, insisting it is now one of downtown’s best residential environments. “We’re done if this loan isn’t approved.”
In November, Milo’s team held a successful auction for the discounted units in phase one of the lofts at 300 S. 360 West. All 34 units are under contract but not all have closed. The loan’s terms call for the units to close before any money can be released.
The RDA’s loan committee recommended rejecting the request, even though it was restructured Tuesday to reduce the city’s risk to $450,000. But questions remain about the project’s primary lender and whether the city’s money would be immediately reimbursed once the new units sell.
“I’m just not comfortable moving forward with it as squishy as it seems,” said Councilman Charlie Luke. At the same time, Luke says he is not opposed to lending the money so long as the financial review checks out.
“It appears to be a much-improved risk position for the RDA to be in,” explained RDA deputy director Justin Belliveau.
Milo says he’s been working on the funding strategy for six months, agreeing with city officials that the building shell fronting 300 South needs to look finished to attract buyers. He says he owns other properties in the area that he would have to abandon if the city loan is denied.
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