SIG SAUER GETS STATE FUNDS TO EXPAND IN ROCHESTER

The New Hampshire Executive Council has approved a $21 million package of funding for firearms manufacturer Sig Sauer to expand in Rochester.

It approved allowing the Business Finance Authority to provide financing and an unconditional state guarantee of up to $19 million to the company.

The firearms manufacturer previously announced plans to relocate its Dover operation to a multi-building, 210,000-square-foot campus in Rochester’s Crossroads Industrial Park on Route 125. The manufacturer has properties across southeastern New Hampshire, including at Pease International Tradeport, and plans to add about 500 employees within three to five years.

Meanwhile, Sig Sauer is proposing a $13.5 million building it calls a “showpiece” for its Sig Sauer Academy firearms training complex in Brentwood.

The new facility, to be called the “Sig Sauer Experience,” will include an indoor shooting range with 30 lanes. It also will feature retail and office space, classrooms and a museum dedicated to Sig Sauer’s history.

FOXX LIFE SCIENCES OPENS PLANT IN INDIA

Foxx Life Sciences, a Londonderrybased biotech lab and pharmaceutical production supplies manufacturer, has opened its third location and first overseas facility in Hyderabad, India.

The newly built 20,000-square-foot building will serve as the company’s headquarters for the Asia market and will distribute and manufacture products destined for clients in Asia, the company said.

Companies in India produce a significant percentage of the non-Covid vaccines used globally, and the nation’s biotech and pharmaceutical sectors are rapidly growing. Over 60% of the company’s pharma and biotech companies are located in and around Hyderabad.

The facility will have the capability to produce about 10% of the over 4,600 products Foxx makes, the firm said, but the company’s facilities in Londonderry and Salem will continue to produce the bulk of its products and will expand its export volume.

MINIM-ZOOM TELEPHONICS MERGER NOW OFFICIAL

Manchester-based Minim, a Wi-Fi network and security management company started up by Dyn co-founder Jeremy Hitchcock, is merging with Boston-based Zoom Telephonics, a publicly traded company that sells retail cable and modems under the Motorola brand.

Under the deal, the companies will combine in a non-cash stock transaction that values Minim at $30 million. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2020.

Zoom Telephonics was founded in 1977 in Boston. The company delivers cable modems, routers and other communications products under the globally recognized Motorola brand, according to a news release. As part of a yet-to-be disclosed rebranding, the Zoom ticker symbol will change.

The rebranded company will combine under a new leadership team led by Minim CEO Gray Chynoweth, another Hitchcock, Minim’s chair.

Speaking on Zoom Telephonics’ Q3 earnings call Nov. 12, Hitchcock said the combined company will offer an integrated package of connectivity hardware outfitted with Wi-Fi management and security software that, he said, will establish a more valuable product.

Minim has largely focused on direct sales to wireless internet service providers. It reports working with over 120 ISPs that serve some 2.35 million customers. Zoom’s direct-to-consumer channels include such retailers as Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart. The combined company will also leverage Minim’s established partner relations with the Microsoft Airband Initiative, a program designed to close the digital divide, security provider Irdeto and Telarus, the largest privately held IT product distributor in the U.S.