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July 27, 2011 Kudos To George Paz And His Team On Medco Acquisition: Express Script’s acquisition of Medco Health Solutions Inc. for $29.1 billion in the largest deal in at least a decade among U.S. companies that manage prescription-drug benefits, and certainly the largest in the history of their industry, positioning St. Louis to be a global leader in this important sector.
The Medco transaction gives St. Louis-based Express Scripts the scale to become dominant among companies that handle drug benefits for corporate and government clients. Together, they would handle the prescriptions of about 135 million people, more than one in three Americans. The deal would double Express Script’s market share to 30%, leapfrogging ahead of rival CVS Caremark Corp., at 15%. The annual sales of the combined new company exceeds $110 billion. This past year Express broke in the Fortune 100 at #55. July 26, 2011 St. Louis Greenprint 2011 Kicks Off: The RCGA convened business, civic, education and government leaders on Friday, July 15th to begin the development of St. Louis Greenprint 2011, a strategic game plan to help grow sustainability and economic development opportunities associated with sustainability and environmental enhancement for the St. Louis region. The St. Louis Greenprint 2011 is a key element of the RCGA's 2-year-old St. Louis Climate Prosperity Project, whose mission is to advance the idea that innovation, efficiency and conservation in the use and reuse of resources can increase jobs, incomes, productivity, investment, and competitiveness of a region. The St. Louis region was selected, along with Silicon Valley, Denver and Portland back in 2009 by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, as one of 4 national Pilots for the Climate Prosperity Project. Initial products of the St. Louis Pilot have been the completion of the St. Louis Region Green Economy Profile, and a partnership with regional workforce boards and community colleges on green talent, the St. Louis Green Jobs Report.
The Greenprint aims to strengthen regional climate prosperity activities that will improve the St. Louis region's vitality, economic health and community wealth by focusing on these objectives:
The strategies arising from the St. Louis Greenprint 2011 also will be integrated with the economic development goals of the RCGA targeted industry sectors, with emphasis on the Sustainable Technologies cluster (advanced energy technologies, plant science/ag tech, sustainable building design and materials). At the July 15th meeting, the group received an overview of the St. Louis Climate Prosperity Project and began a discussion on the Greenprint objectives and metrics. Four Working Teams were formed to create action plans around (1) increasing demand and supply of green products and services, (2) fostering an entrepreneurial infrastructure for green businesses and innovation (3) strengthening the green workforce and (4) developing a green export strategy and attracting direct foreign investment. These Working Teams will meet again on August 3rd and 4th and through the Fall to design specific programs and activities to advance climate prosperity in the St. Louis region. In addition, St. Louis Greenprint 2011 will also include a catalog of regional climate prosperity assets and sustainability initiatives that will be used to promote St. Louis' green economy to national decision-makers. A Climate Prosperity Leadership Summit will occur in December to launch the St. Louis Greenprint 2011. There are still opportunities for RCGA member companies to join a Working Team and contribute to the creation of St. Louis Greenprint 2011. Please contact Eric Schneider, RCGA Senior Director of Energy and Environment, at eschneider@stlrcga.org for more information about how to participate. July 25, 2011 Major Milestone Agreement: Missouri Senate And House Leaders Come Together On Statewide Economic Development Bill: Missouri Senate and House Leaders held a joint news conference this past Wednesday at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport to announce agreement on the statewide economic development bill to include incentives for plant & life sciences, data centers, amateur sports events, and Aerotropolis, as well as an agreement on long-debated tax credit reform.
Legislative leaders have been working throughout the summer to reach this agreement. For many years, the RCGA has supported the MOSIRA legislation as crucial to capitalizing on the outstanding biotech assets in the St. Louis region and throughout the State. Our region’s and the State’s recruiting efforts will also benefit from the proposed incentive package for data centers. One of the RCGA’s 5 key economic development priorities is, in essence, to “restage” the St. Louis region as an international center for commerce. This is also at the heart of the State’s recently unveiled strategic economic development plan, particularly focusing on increasing Missouri exports. The Aerotropolis legislation, as proposed, “sets the table” for the pursuit of this vision, both at the regional and the State levels.
Our economic analysis, performed in conjunction with Institute St. Onge, a leading logistics consulting firm, projects the overall impact of the Aerotropolis legislation when fully subscribed as leading to over $1 billion in new construction and more than 18,000 new construction jobs over the next several years. Total employment attributable to the ongoing operations of these new facilities would be just under 11,000 jobs, with a combined impact over 15 years of over $17 billion. It’s important to remember that The Big Idea simply begins with cargo flights between Shanghai and St. Louis. This effort also revolves around re-internationalizing St. Louis as a vigorous cargo hub, positions our region as China’s platform for engaging the central USA, and strengthens Lambert-St. Louis International Airport with an entirely new source of revenue. Following the Wednesday news conference by House and Senate leaders, Gov. Jay Nixon announced that he would call a Special Session to take up the proposed bill. The next day, the Governor delivered an economic development address in both St. Louis and Kansas City. His St. Louis address was at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. He endorsed the overall legislation, including specifically endorsing the proposals for MOSIRA, Data Centers, Aerotropolis, and Tax Credit Reform. The Governor and Legislative Leaders were slated to meet today to finalize logistics of the timing of the Special Session. July 18, 2011 CHINA PUMPS THE CHINA HUB: KMOX’s web page carried this lead headline and story over the weekend, citing a major story in the China Daily, posted July 17. China Daily often reflects the views of the Chinese government, KMOX noted. And it reported this weekend that St. Louis is set to be a major air trade hub.
The article quotes members of the Midwest China Hub Commission here as saying the first cargo flight would be in September and says final enabling legislation would have to come from the Missouri state legislature. The commission is calling for a special session of the state legislature to give the project a green light. Below is the headline and excerpts from the China Daily article itself:
AEROTROPOLIS AUTHOR QUESTIONS CHINA HUB IN “VIRTUAL MEDIA TOUR”, BUT MISSES THE POINT: Meanwhile, as the media reported that an agreement between Missouri House and Senate Leadership was near – an agreement that would clear the way for a Special Session of the Legislature to pass key Aerotropolis legislation -- a sometime consultant to other competing cargo hubs, Greg Lindsay, conducted a round of telephone radio interviews. “Aerotropolis won’t work in St. Louis,” declared Lindsay, who was a contributing author with professor John Kasarda of Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next, back in March. But Lindsay admitted to KMOX’s Mark Reardon that he’d never been to St. Louis, and he showed no signs that he had read or understood the proposed Missouri legislation. Nor did he take into account that Lambert has a “mega customer” --- China ---for their cargo hub (see preceding article above). . Lindsay appeared not to understand that the core incentive does not even get triggered until AFTER the facilities are built, the cargo flows and the jobs are here. That also means that as the incentives produce results, the State would be able to add to them and produce even more benefit. In its economic impact analysis, Institute St. Onge projects that $360 million of State incentives over 15 years will generate 20 million square feet of new Aerotropolis facilities, over $17 billion in new economic activity in the region, added flights and thousands of well-paying jobs. To the extent that these results take place, the State can clearly add on even further to the project’s critical mass. RCGA’s Executive Vice President for Economic Development Steve Johnson followed Lindsay’s Friday afternoon interview on KMOX with a strong rebuttal.
The critique of the St. Louis Big Idea ignores St. Louis’ ideal location, airfield and air space capacity and thousands of acres of developable airside land --- not to mention a game-changing customer, the fastest growing economy in the world, which previously announced that it would increase the percentage of cargo being shipped on Chinese airlines to 50 percent from the present 15 to 20 percent in the next 5 years. In fact, just last week, Reuters reported that China had committed a whopping $232 billion to its three major airlines (one of which has been designated for the Lambert Cargo Hub) for purchasing some 5,000 planes and investing in aviation infrastructure both in China and abroad. The St. Louis Cargo Hub will succeed because the Lambert piece is but a part of a larger strategy --- the so-called Big Idea. The transportation piece of the Big Idea is only the leading edge of a larger economic development strategy involving Missouri and China – a broader commercial relationship – that will sustain and grow the air hub piece. The Missouri legislation’s incentives are designed to stimulate and build a broader commercial partnership with China and other international players in global air commerce. More to follow, I’m sure, but meanwhile, let’s get back to that Missouri Economic Development Legislation, and finalizing the deal with the Chinese, who by the way, are back in town later this week. You see, our customer wants to help us create a Cargo Hub at Lambert as the first step in the Big Idea. July 12, 2011 Where Is The Spirit Of St. Louis? HOK’s Ripley Rasmus Has Some Timely Thoughts: What a timely commentary focusing on two transformational projects – the Arch grounds redevelopment and Aerotropolis – Ripley Rasmus penned in last Sunday’s (July 3rd) Post-Dispatch.
Ripley, senior vice president and director of design at HOK, presented a very positive vision of what life could be like in St. Louis in the near future. The article asks the key question right in its title, namely, “Where is the Spirit of St. Louis?” He writes about a refurbished Arch grounds, high-speed rail, and a bustling Lambert Airport readying cargo planes bound for Asia and South America. He writes, “In St. Louis, the China Hub offers a vision of prosperity built around an airport with the potential to perform as an emissary of our region. With a stream of income generated by the hub, Lambert can transition from a place where passengers rush to their destination to a place where they have the opportunity to soak in some favorable impressions of St. Louis. At the Indianapolis terminal, designed by HOK, travelers naturally gravitate to its central piazza — an amenity that invites and enables them to slow down and connect with Indianapolis and the Hoosier State. Meanwhile, the hub can become Lambert's annuity, blossoming with businesses and jobs serving overseas trading. According to the Regional Chamber and Growth Association, it has the potential to generate more than 20 million square feet of cargo, warehouse and factory space, directly employ more than 5,000 people, and create an additional 5,000 jobs in secondary businesses serving the trade hub. Correspondingly, one value of high-speed rail will be its physical impact on downtown St. Louis. Since we don't have a downtown airport, air travelers typically bypass downtown — never even see it — except from the air. But high-speed rail offers enormous prospects of intimately engaging passengers with our city. But we'll have to think big.” He concludes his piece, “St. Louis once leveraged its post-Civil War stature as the "Gateway to the West" by investing in Union Station and its Grand Hall, an architectural showcase that awed travelers and communicated that here was a city confident in itself. That same self-assurance is needed today to advance our considerable assets in higher education, research, business, quality of life, cultural amenities and skilled workforce. Hesitation will waste these assets. The drive to compete — as we must do — will energize them. This future is not a pipe dream. It's a vision we can materialize. To do so, we just need to marshal a bit of the "can-do" spirit that has served us so well countless times in the past.” Please click on this link to read the entire commentary. Speaking Of The Big Idea, Aerotropolis And Lambert, as the State of Missouri and the business and civic leaders of St. Louis work hard to bring about passage of the Aerotropolis legislation and the overall economic development bill, it’s worth noting that a Reuters article posted this morning highlights the magnitude of the opportunity of the Big Idea and the proposed cargo hub at Lambert Airport. The Chinese have announced the dedication of over $200 billion towards precisely the kind of aviation-related and distribution-related economic development activities that are envisioned in the Aerotropolis legislation. Specifically, the article notes that Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), says that the country would institute favorable tax policies to help domestic airliners open new international passenger and cargo routes. Li also said that China's three top carriers, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, were still “too small in scale compared with global rivals.” "Via government guidance and market operations, we must push ahead industry consolidation to form, as soon as possible, two or three airline companies with wide networks that are strongly competitive internationally," Li said. The China Cargo airline of China Eastern is the very airline that the Chinese have designated for the Lambert Hub and with whom officials at Lambert International Airport are currently negotiating. Here’s hoping we can close the deal on both the Cargo Hub and Aerotropolis in the near future. July 11, 2011 Capital Formation Efforts Emerging To Support Growing The Region’s Entrepreneurial Sector: The recently-adopted Regional Economic Development plan cites as one of its 5 key priorities, Increasing the rate of startup ventures. Specifically, supporting high growth potential startup ventures requires intense collaboration and strong partnerships throughout the community. The Regional Economic Development plan also notes that the RCGA and its varied civic partners must continue to develop the work that was begun some 10 years ago to: (1.) capitalize on our universities’ world class research; (2.) provide greater access to startup capital; and (3.) foster a more entrepreneurial climate throughout the St. Louis region… … RCGA, St. Louis Development Corp. & Partnership For Downtown St. Louis Collaborate With Capital Innovators To Launch StartUp St. Louis Accelerator Program: One such example is the announcement this past week of a joint civic venture between the RCGA, the St. Louis Development Corp. (SLDC), and the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, with a civic-minded venture capital firm, Capital Innovators, to launch the StartUp St. Louis Accelerator Program.
This innovative program will offer $50,000 in seed funding to an initial 5 companies. Operating out of contributed space in the Railway Exchange Building downtown, individual entrepreneurs receiving funding will undergo a rigorous 12-week program that includes free office space, and free legal and marketing services. These startup companies also will have access to free wi-fi and web hosting, as well as pro bono consulting from the best and brightest that St. Louis has to offer through a mentorship boot camp and university fellowship program in partnership with the Olin School of Business at Washington University, IT Entrepreneurial Network (ITEN), and individual business volunteers. For further details, please contact Jay DeLong, Vice President for New Ventures and Capital Formation, at 314.444.1130, or jdelong@stlrcga.org Interested startup companies can submit applications online at www.capitalinnovators.com. “We believe our program has the potential to make St. Louis one of the centers of influence for technology companies,” noted Judy Sindecuse, CEO of Capital Innovators. “We believe this is a crucial time to be encouraging the growth in this space and we welcome anyone with a strong idea to submit an application to become part of the first class in our program.”
Each 12-week program concludes with the opportunity for individual entrepreneurs to demo their product or service to prospective major investors who can take the business to the next level. Applications are due this Friday, July 15th, and the first class will begin on September 12th. Capital Innovators, working in partnership with the RCGA, the SLDC, and the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, is also seeking additional members of the St. Louis region’s business community who would work with these young companies. St. Louis executives who are interested in getting involved should contact program associate Mary Gleich at mtgleich@gmail.com. These and other efforts are important if the St. Louis region is to realize its potential in the “entrepreneurial space,” through collaborations such as Innovate St. Louis, the InvestMidwest Venture Capital Forum, the Startup Connection, Washington University’s and Saint Louis University’s entrepreneurial development programs, and IT Enterprises (ITEN) at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, as well as moving forward in the policy and legislative framework through passage of legislative initiatives, such as the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA) and the Grow Me State initiative. The good news is that the energy in the community seems to be building, such as yet another innovative capital formation idea referenced by Post-Dispatch business columnist David Nicklaus in his article yesterday about a new website called Fund St. Louis, which lets local entrepreneurs raise money in small increments from supporters. Nicklaus observes, “Fund St. Louis operates on the principle called crowdfunding, which means many people will contribute money and which entrepreneurs get it. The idea has been used successfully by sites such as Kickstarter.com and Rockethub.com, which direct money to creative projects such as music and movies.” Nicklaus notes, “Jay DeLong, who works on venture capital issues for the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association, said he had heard about a few other crowdfunding sites. He said it was an untested idea [in St. Louis], but a promising one.” |
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