Staff photo by Doug Strickland / Helen Burns Sharp poses for a portrait on the top floor of a parking garage adjacent to the Chattanooga Choo Choo on Thursday, May 5, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.Chattanooga panel OKs proposed $6 million settlement by GE Power
A Chattanooga panel on Tuesday approved a proposed settlement by GE Power and the city and Hamilton County related to tax breaks earlier awarded for the company’s soon-to-close Alstom manufacturing operations.
The city’s Industrial Development Board OK’ed the agreement in which GE Power is to pay $6 million plus attorneys fees. The agreement is to go before the City Council next week.
Helen Burns Sharp, founder of the citizen group Accountability for Taxpayer Money, said the feeling is the agreement was “a done deal,” but that the city and county could have negotiated for more money.
James Miller, the board’s chairman, said the agreement is “a win-win for all of us” and “something we all can live with.”
GE is slated to pay $3.3 million to the city and $2.7 million to the county, about half the amount that was initially sought from the company, officials said.
Bond sale cuts TVA interest rates
The Tennessee Valley Authority Tuesday sold $1 billion of 10-year bonds at the second lowest rate ever for such debt.
TVA priced the bonds today at 2.875 percent, which will refinance some of TVA’s existing debt at a lower rate than what TVA previously paid on different debt instruments in the past.
TVA’s newest bond issue, which gained a top rating by bond rating agencies because of the implied backing of the federal government for TVA debt, drew demand from money managers, central banks, insurance companies, and investors around the world.
“Having the global market for TVA bonds is beneficial to us and our investor base,” TVA Treasurer Tammy Wilson said. “This week’s offering shows the confidence investors around the world place in TVA.”
Proceeds from the offering will be used to refinance existing debt at a lower rate, TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said. TVA’s current debt totals more than $26 billion in statutory and other long-term borrowing obligations.
TVA last issued bonds with a 10-year maturity in 2014.
SmileDirectClub adds 440 Tennessee jobs
SmileDirectClub, LLC put a smile on Tennessee’s business recruiters Tuesday by announcing it will add 440 jobs in Davidson County over the next five years with a $4.5 million investment in new facilities in downtown Nashville and the suburb of Antioch.
The Nashville-based orthodontics company is expanding both its office and manufacturing and distribution facilities in Tennessee as it continues to grow its remote dental treatment.
Founded in 2014, SmileDirectClub is a teledentistry. company that uses cloud-based technology to connect patients with a network of state-licensed dental professionals who provide ongoing, remote orthodontic treatment. SmileDirectClub works with an orthodontic lab to custom-make a series of clear plastic aligners that gradually shift patients’ teeth into the desired position without in-office visits.
“Nashville is growing exponentially, and we’re happy to be growing right alongside it,” SmileDirectClub CEO Doug Hudson said. “We put our new office in the heart of downtown because we want to be in the middle of all the energy, growth and fun this city has to offer.”
Honda, Hitachi agree to make electric cars
Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. has signed a deal with Hitachi Automotive Systems to jointly develop, make and sell motors for electric vehicles, as the industry adapts to concerns over global warming and the environment.
The companies announced the agreement Tuesday.
Honda, which also makes its own electric motors, has a fuel-cell vehicle and hybrids in its lineup. It’s planning an electric vehicle for sale later this year, mostly abroad.
The wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Hitachi has supplied electric motors to other automakers in the past, including General Motors Co. of the U.S. and Nissan Motor Co., which makes the Leaf electric car.
The deal, signed last week, is part of a big push by Honda into electric cars. The joint venture, which has yet to be named, will be 51 percent owned by Hitachi and will have manufacturing and sales operations in the U.S. and China, the companies said.
Lawsuit claims MetLife failed to pay overtime
A lawsuit alleges MetLife Inc. failed to pay $50 million in overtime to claim specialists across the country for the past three years.
The complaint was filed Tuesday in federal court in Hartford, Connecticut, by former claim specialist Stephanie McKinney, of Charleston, South Carolina. She previously worked at the insurance company’s offices in Bloomfield, Connecticut.
The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of claim specialists nationwide who worked on long-term disability insurance claims for MetLife and two subsidiaries.
A spokesman for New York-based MetLife says company officials haven’t seen the lawsuit so they cannot comment.
McKinney alleges she and other specialists worked up to 60 hours a week without overtime pay and often had to gather claims information outside of office hours.