Tag: Business

Aerospace and Defense Supplier Uses Patented Method to Produce 3D-printed Manifold Valve

MONTVILLE, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #3Dprinting—Marotta Controls, a rapidly growing aerospace and defense supplier based in New Jersey, today announced the successful integration of additive manufacturing (AM) into its portfolio of services. The company validated the capability’s viability by using its now patented method to create internal features of an advanced manifold valve. The selective laser sintering (SLS) design technique generated nuanced radial passages in various geometries not possible to achieve via traditional machine boring methods. Given this, the new manifold valve delivered increased velocity pressure control.

Marotta also confirmed that it is incorporating AM to reduce parts, simplify assembly and shorten lead times to deliver lower cost, higher performing products.

“We have a near 80-year culture of creative thinking, of challenging the status quo,” said Brian Fly, Vice President Marine Systems, Marotta Controls. “And we’re proud to confirm that that mindset resulted in a remarkable evolution to a tried and true part used for generations. Additive manufacturing offers some very interesting opportunities that we’re inherently designed to embrace on behalf of our customers. We anticipate more unique, disruptive innovations to come out of this capability as we continue to apply it.”

Additive manufacturing has long been touted across many industries as a smart way to accelerate the supply chain, initially used as a rapid tooling solution for custom injection mold creation and the like. Notably, a 2020 market report by Mordor Intelligence forecasted that the aerospace and defense market’s use of 3D printing will experience a 20 percent CAGR by 2025. This trend will only likely increase as military standards continue to adapt not just to the manufacturing process itself, but to the use of the necessary composite materials, too.

Proof of Concept: The Manifold Valve

Marotta Controls first came into existence troubleshooting valve designs that, despite being accepted as proven parts, continued to leak in end applications. The company ultimately fixed these issue and others, establishing itself as a go-to engineering shop capable of solving difficult problems. Which is why the company took on the challenge of improving the manifold’s performance in high pressure applications—a problem that required re-evaluating how and where best to apply Bernoulli’s equation within the system’s design.

Early manifold iterations saw performance increases driven by the introduction of new materials, chamber reconfigurations, and other mechanical adaptations. These solutions launched new product lines for Marotta that were customizable to a wide range of standards for military as well as commercial applications. However, the company still saw additional areas for innovation.

Valves and manifolds are historically produced via subtractive machining, with boring tools removing unwanted material to construct their radial passages within a single metal block. The radial passages are typically cylindrical or slightly frustoconical in nature. This design approach allows for passages that expand in two dimensions. By introducing a third dimension through AM, however, Marotta has improved those passage features to achieve desired performance.

Marotta’s patented approach starts with a 3D CAD model of choice that can meet varying ranges of end application specifications. Via the SLS machine, powdered metal is fused together layer by layer to construct a solid, single-pieced component with three-dimensional passage structures that can vary in shape—diamond, horizontal dome, spindle, branch-like, and others.

Marotta has evaluated its 3D valve concept in more than a dozen design configurations, with the passage structures varying. Velocity improvements are notable as is the part’s impact on the overall manifold’s production and performance.

For more information on how Marotta can help solve design challenges, visit www.marotta.com.

About Marotta Controls

Founded in 1943, Marotta Controls is a fully-integrated solutions provider which designs, develops, qualifies and manufactures innovative systems and sub-systems for the aerospace and defense sectors. Our portfolio includes pressure, power, motion, fluid, and electronic controls for tactical systems, shipboard and sub-sea applications, satellites, launch vehicles, and aircraft systems. With over 200 patents, Marotta Controls continues to build on its legacy as a highly respected, family-owned small business based in the state of New Jersey. Twitter: @marottacontrols LinkedIn: Marotta Controls, Inc.

Contacts

Heather Ailara

211 Communications

+1.973.567.6040

heather@211comms.com

Katee Glass

Marotta Controls, Inc.

kglass@marotta.com

OLDWICK, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Private equity holdings by the U.S. insurance industry grew by 14.8% in 2020, with the life/annuity insurance industry seeing its highest value in five years, at $71.7 billion, according to a new AM Best report.

The Best’s Special Report, “Private Equity Investments Still Attractive to US Insurers,” states that U.S. property/casualty insurers also increased the book-adjusted/carrying value of their holdings by 11.3% in 2020, to $18.7 billion. Health insurers’ private equity investments declined slightly, but these insurers account for only 3% of the industry’s total holdings. Overall, the total number of private equity investments among the overall U.S. insurance industry grew for a seventh straight year, with insurers seeing the market value of those investments rising to a total of $93.3 billion, a 15% year-over-year increase. Given the high levels of unpredictability in public markets, private equity investments give investors the opportunity to achieve higher returns and diversify their portfolios.

Leveraged buyout funds remain the most common type of insurers’ private equity investments, making up over half of the industry’s holdings. Venture capital funds, which make up slightly over 25% of the industry’s exposure, increased in all three market segments, with mezzanine financing making up the remainder.

Although the private equity market performed favorably in 2020, it was not spared the challenges the year brought due to the pandemic. “Fund managers likely struggled to accurately value companies because of instability in the market, especially in the second quarter when the pandemic first hit,” said Jason Hopper, associate director, industry research and analytics, AM Best. “Second-half 2020 results were more encouraging, but large investment deals were still influenced by the loss.”

The 20 insurers with the largest valuations in private equity investments—a majority of them life/annuity insurers—account for approximately 72% of the industry’s holdings. These 20 insurers increased their exposure by 15%, or $10 billion, in 2020 from the prior year. Private equity investment exposure to capital and surplus for these 20 insurers varies, but averaged 24% of capital and surplus.

Signs supporting continued growth in the private equity market over the long term are positive, owing to low interest rates, mild inflationary environments and the prospects for higher investment yields. However, AM Best notes that financial stress in the markets or severe public market corrections remain a risk.

To access the full copy of this report, please visit http://www3.ambest.com/bestweek/purchase.asp?record_code=309905.

For a video discussion about this report with Hopper and Lauren Magro, associate analyst, industry research and analytics, please go to http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=ambprivateequity621.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright © 2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Contacts

Lauren Magro
Associate Analyst, Industry Research
and Analytics
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5181
lauren.magro@ambest.com

Jason Hopper
Associate Director, Industry Research
and Analytics
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5016
jason.hopper@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey
Manager, Public Relations
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Jim Peavy
Director, Communications
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644
james.peavy@ambest.com

Company backed by Jeff Bezos, Drake and 25+ NBA stars will leverage Ruby Has for apparel and consumer products

 

 

BAY SHORE, N.Y. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Ruby Has Fulfillment, the leading international hyper-growth e-commerce fulfillment company, announced today that it will provide logistics and fulfillment services for the apparel and consumer products division of Overtime, the next generation sports brand. Overtime has a community of more than 50 million followers that generates 1.5 billion video views each month.

Earlier this year, Overtime launched Overtime Elite (OTE), a transformative new sports league that offers a year-round development program for high-school basketball players. The company recently raised $80 million in Series C funding from a diverse group of investors. Overtime plans to further fuel its fast growing commerce business and deepen its connection with young consumers with the launch of OTE’s inaugural season this September.

“In just four years, Overtime has become synonymous with sports and culture for a new generation of athletes and fans, with an audience of more than 50 million social media followers,” said Tyler Rutstein, Overtime’s Vice President and General Merchandise Manager.

Rutstein added, “Overtime’s apparel is bold, approachable and highly connected through our content to what our audience loves. We’ve been empowering young athletes both digitally and through our lifestyle and apparel offerings. We are thrilled to work with Ruby Has as our fulfillment provider to bring these products to sports enthusiasts everywhere.”

“We are proud to provide e-commerce fulfillment solutions for Overtime’s innovative DTC apparel and consumer products brand,” says Esther Kestenbaum Prozan, president of Ruby Has. “Supporting premium brands that are scaling through hyper-growth while delivering on their brand promises with precision are the hallmarks of Ruby Has.”

About Ruby Has Fulfillment

Ruby Has is one of the fastest growing e-commerce fulfillment providers (ranked by Crain’s Fast 50 since 2018 and Inc. 5000 for five consecutive years) for direct-to-consumer brands and retailers. Ruby Has Fulfillment leads the 3PL industry with cutting-edge technology, seamless integration, and an uncompromising commitment to quality. With distribution center locations in New York, New Jersey, California, Nevada, Kentucky and Ontario, Canada, Ruby Has provides a strategically located international footprint of fulfillment solutions, with faster shipments and reduced costs. For more information, visit rubyhas.com.

About Overtime

Overtime is the leading brand for the next generation of sports fans. In just four years, Overtime has built a community of over 50 million followers. The brand spans multiple verticals including basketball, football, soccer, gaming, sneakers, and business units including content, e-commerce, and owned leagues.

Based in NYC, Overtime is funded by top VC firms, industry leaders, and athletes, including Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital, Sapphire Sport, Bezos Expeditions (the personal investment company of Jeff Bezos), Micromanagement Ventures (the family of the late David Stern), Black Capital, Morgan Stanley Counterpoint Global, Blackstone Strategic Partners, PROOF, Gaingels, Alexis Ohanian, Drake, and 30+ NBA stars including Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant.

Contacts

Ali Finer

Ruby Has

ali@rubyhas.com
612-209-4575

The NICE SURVEIL-X cloud-based surveillance solution was recognized for its strengths in managing regulatory alerts and its ability to analyze and correlate data

 

HOBOKEN, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #NICE—NICE Actimize (Nasdaq: NICE) was named the category winner for “Best Regulatory Alert Management Solution” in A-Team Group’s 2021 Europe RegTech Insight Awards marking its fourth consecutive yearly win across this awards competition. Following its shortlisting by a panel of judges, NICE Actimize and its SURVEIL-X Holistic Conduct Surveillance solutions suite, and the recently announced NICE NTR-X Communication Recording and Compliance Assurance solution, were the recipients of the most online votes in the category derived from reader/online nominations from within the RegTech Insight community and verified by A-Team Group editors and its RegTech advisory board.

The NICE SURVEIL-X Holistic Conduct Surveillance platform analyzes and correlates all trade related data, and provides comprehensive surveillance coverage for all regulatory needs. Additionally, the platform breaks down barriers between data silos enabling deeper analysis and true risk detection. SURVEIL-X also can connect to, ingest and analyze data from many real-time data sources, including all forms of communications.

 

Joining NICE SURVEIL-X and expanding on its capabilities, is the recently launched NTR-X communication recording solution which offers built-in compliance assurance capabilities to help firms reduce compliance risk and improve responsiveness to regulators by automating the complete lifecycle management of data. NTR-X automates recording checks and provisioning of users (moves, adds and changes); transcription (offered as a cloud-based service); bulk call extraction; system management and administration; compliance assurance reporting; tracking and managing legal holds; and the requirement to provide evidence of compliance to regulators.

 

Chris Wooten, Executive Vice President, NICE, stated, “As we continue to innovate with expanded cloud delivery, automated compliance assurance and further automation throughout the complete lifecycle management of data, NICE will continue to work closely with our customers to optimize operations and lower costs while meeting the demands of the changing regulatory landscape.”

 

Continued Wooten, “By voting for our capabilities, the industry has demonstrated confidence in our ability to support a wide range of regulatory demands with the industry’s most complete end-to-end compliance capabilities from capture and archive functionality through to our true holistic, cloud-native markets surveillance portfolio. We thank the readers of A-Team Group’s RegTech Insight, along with our customers, for their support.”

 

“We are delighted that our cross-platform readership of more than 20,000 senior technology officers and data specialists selected NICE’s SURVEIL-X Holistic Surveillance solution suite as the Best Regulatory Alert Management solution within a competitive field. Once again, we congratulate NICE on its prestigious RegTech Insight Award win,” said Angela Wilbraham, CEO of A-Team Group, which manages the RegTech Insight Awards competition.

 

With this year’s competition, the 2021 RegTech Insight Awards acknowledged leading technologies and vendors in an expanded range of regulatory technology categories. The RegTech Awards evaluation criteria for shortlisting considered the depth of involvement in capital markets, relevance of a solution or service to a selected award category, and the potential interest of a solution or service to the publications’ RegTech community.

 

To learn more about NICE SURVEIL-X and its complete holistic compliance platform, please click here.

 

For more information on NTR-X, NICE’s next-generation communication recording and compliance assurance, please click here.

 

About NICE Actimize

NICE Actimize is the largest and broadest provider of financial crime, risk and compliance solutions for regional and global financial institutions, as well as government regulators. Consistently ranked as number one in the space, NICE Actimize experts apply innovative technology to protect institutions and safeguard consumers’ and investors’ assets by identifying financial crime, preventing fraud and providing regulatory compliance. The company provides real-time, cross-channel fraud prevention, anti-money laundering detection, and trading surveillance solutions that address such concerns as payment fraud, cybercrime, sanctions monitoring, market abuse, customer due diligence and insider trading. Find us at www.niceactimize.com, @NICE_Actimize or Nasdaq: NICE.

 

About NICE

NICE (Nasdaq: NICE) is the world’s leading provider of both cloud and on-premises enterprise software solutions that empower organizations to make smarter decisions based on advanced analytics of structured and unstructured data. NICE helps organizations of all sizes deliver better customer service, ensure compliance, combat fraud and safeguard citizens. Over 25,000 organizations in more than 150 countries, including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies, are using NICE solutions. www.nice.com.

Trademark Note: NICE and the NICE logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of NICE Ltd. All other marks are trademarks of their respective owners. For a full list of NICE’s marks, please see: www.nice.com/nice-trademarks.

 

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, including the statements by Mr. Wooten, are based on the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of NICE Ltd. (the “Company”). In some cases, such forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as “believe,” “expect,” “seek,” “may,” “will,” “intend,” “should,” “project,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “estimate,” or similar words. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results or performance of the Company to differ materially from those described herein, including but not limited to the impact of changes in economic and business conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; competition; successful execution of the Company’s growth strategy; success and growth of the Company’s cloud Software-as-a-Service business; changes in technology and market requirements; decline in demand for the Company’s products; inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications; difficulties or delays in absorbing and integrating acquired operations, products, technologies and personnel; loss of market share; an inability to maintain certain marketing and distribution arrangements; the Company’s dependency on third-party cloud computing platform providers, hosting facilities and service partners; cyber security attacks or other security breaches against the Company; the effect of newly enacted or modified laws, regulation or standards on the Company and our products and various other factors and uncertainties discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company, refer to the Company’s reports filed from time to time with the SEC, including the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise them, except as required by law.

Contacts

Corporate Media Contact:

Cindy Morgan-Olson, +1-646-408-5896, ET

cindy.morgan-olson@niceactimize.com

Investors:

Marty Cohen, +1 551 256 5354, ET

ir@nice.com

Omri Arens, +972 3 763 0127, CET

ir@nice.com

OLDWICK, N.J. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #insurance—AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of “a” (Excellent) of Energy Insurance Mutual Limited (EIM) (Bridgetown, Barbados). The outlook of the Long-Term ICR has been revised to stable from positive, while the outlook of the FSR is stable.

The Credit Ratings (ratings) reflect EIM’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strongest, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

The stable Long-Term ICR outlook reflects EIM’s overall favorable operating performance, which AM Best expects to continue to enhance the company’s already solid balance sheet strength, despite the volatile nature of the business it writes. These rating factors are derived from EIM’s specialized expertise in providing insurance and risk management information and services to its members from the energy utility sector, as well as its ability to generate business opportunities through its niche market strategy. As a result of its strategy, EIM has strong member retention. The company remains committed to growth in capital and surplus, a well-diversified investment portfolio, and a focus on the long-term stability of the organization for its members.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best’s website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office

responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best’s Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best’s Credit Ratings. For information on the proper media use of Best’s Credit Ratings and AM Best press releases, please view Guide for Media – Proper Use of Best’s Credit Ratings and AM Best Rating Action Press Releases.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright © 2021 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Contacts

Fred Eslami

Associate Director

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5406

fred.eslami@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey
Manager, Public Relations
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159
christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Daniel Ryan
Senior Director
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5325

daniel.ryan@ambest.com

Jim Peavy
Director, Communications
+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644
james.peavy@ambest.com

PASADENA, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #Acquisitions—JRW Realty has sourced the all-cash acquisition of over $49 million in net-leased essential properties in May on behalf of its clients. The 11 properties acquired are tenanted by companies with strong corporate credit ratings, each of which remained open and operational throughout the pandemic, including Kroger, Giant Eagle, Walgreens, and Fresenius Medical Care.

The properties sourced by JRW Realty collectively span over 416,000 square feet and are located across eight states, including Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, and New Jersey. For each of the properties, JRW Realty’s buyers closed at contract price without a financing contingency. From inception to date, JRW Realty has closed over $2.4 billion in transaction volume on behalf of its clients.

JRW Realty is exclusively engaged by large, all-cash buyers that are actively seeking to acquire additional grocery-anchored shopping centers and net-leased properties that are leased to investment-grade and essential businesses. The clarity of JRW Realty’s clients’ strict acquisition criteria, the firm’s streamlined transaction processes, and its clients’ accessible balance sheet capital enable JRW Realty’s buyers to close transactions in 20 to 30 days after going under contract.

About JRW Realty

JRW Realty is a commercial real estate brokerage firm that has closed over $2.4 billion in transactions across over 575 properties on behalf of its clients. JRW Realty’s team places special focus on due diligence, reviewing over 100 properties each week and only choosing to source for clients the best 3-4% according to their rigorous acquisition criteria. For more information, visit www.jrwrealty.com.

Contacts

Multi-Tenant Retail Acquisitions Contact
Joel Staffilino

jstaffilino@jrwrealty.com
(513) 227-4502

Single-Tenant Net-Leased Acquisitions Contact
Melinda Marston

melinda@jrwrealty.com
(626) 696-2910

Media Inquiries
press@jrwrealty.com