SUNY-Albany Obtains Grant to Promote Democracy in Lebanon
The State University at Albany has been awarded a three-year, $17 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to continue its efforts to strengthen municipal institutions in Lebanon. The grant was announced Dec. 14 in Beirut. The university has been working with USAID in Lebanon since 1993, and has previously implemented a multi-phase $25 million program that included technical assistance to Parliament, several executive agencies, and some municipalities.

Fletcher International Invests $8 Million in MTI
Fletcher International Ltd., an investment company based in Bermuda, has invested $8 million in Mechanical Technology Inc. of Albany. The proceeds of this stock sale are expected to be used primarily to support the operations of MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc., a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology, that is involved in the design and development of micro fuel cells for handheld electronic devices.

Albany Firm Expands in Singapore
Albany Molecular Research Inc. has established a wholly owned subsidiary, Albany Molecular Research Singapore Research Centre Pte Ltd., in Singapore. AMRI is a chemical research, development, and manufacturing company with customers in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.

Dutch Co. To Use AuthentiDate Software
Circle Software, one of Holland's leading document management software manufacturers, has agreed to integrate AuthentiDate International AG's signature software into its own products. AuthentiDate International AG is a subsidiary of AuthentiDate Holding Co. of Schenectady. Circle Software customers are companies who receive digital signed documents, such as electronically signed invoices.

Myomatrix Purchased by Australian Firm
Albany-based Myomatrix Therapeutics has been purchased by Cytopia Research Pty Ltd. of Melbourne, Australia. The purchase price was $625,000. The new subsidiary will be known as Cytopia Inc. Myomatrix holds a worldwide license from the State University of New York covering certain medical products for heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. Cytopia specializes in discovering new drugs that inhibit a class of enzymes known as kinases.

Vonage Provides Service to U.K.
Vonage Holdings Corp. of Edison, N. J., the leading provider of broadband phone service, has launched service to residents of the United Kingdom beginning Jan. 6. The service offers unlimited local and long distance calling along with popular features like call waiting, call forwarding, and voicemail for one flat monthly rate.

Kodak To Buy Canadian Printer
Rochester-based Eastman Kodak announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Creo Inc., a supplier of prepress systems used by commercial printers worldwide. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Creo provides workflow software used by printers to manage the movement of text, graphics and images from the computer screen to the printing press. Under the terms of the agreement, Kodak will pay approximately $980 million in cash for all outstanding shares of Creo.

Pall Corp. Acquires Euroflow
Pall Corp. of East Hills, N.Y., announced that it has acquired Euroflow (UK) of Stroud, England. The company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of pilot and production scale chromatography columns for the biotechnology industry. Pall has held exclusive global marketing and distribution rights to Euroflow chromatography columns and associated technologies since 2002. Euroflow sales are currently about $5 million a year.

Xerox and EDS Team with Barclays
Xerox Corp., Rochester, and EDS Inc. of Plano, TX., announced a $40 million contract with Barclays Plc of London to supply the latter's Workplace Management Services with office document services for print, copy, and fax on a price-per-page basis. EDS and Xerox will manage Barclays' procurement, service and maintenance, helpdesk, and user support for more than 2,250 Xerox and other devices across nearly 200 Barclays Group Office sites in the United Kingdom. The contract is for five-and-a-half-years.

International Trade Award Winners
Seven local companies in the Albany area involved in international trade were honored with an awards ceremony at a dinner held Nov. 17 by the Capital Region World Trade Center in partnership with the Global Business Network. The companies and the categories for which they were honored were Rupprecht & Patashnick (small/medium manufacturer); Fortitech Inc. (large manufacturer); Ames Goldsmith Corp. (new exporter); EYP Mission Critical Facilities (export services); Trans-border Global Freight Systems Inc. (trade partner); etransmedia Technologies Inc. (innovative global small business); and GlobalSpec (innovative global large business).

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