BUSINESS

The Buzz: Coca-Cola shuts down Great Falls bottling division

Jo Dee Black
jblack@greatfallstribune.com

Great Falls Coca-Cola plant at 933 38th St. N. ceased bottling operations last week and is now solely a distribution facility with about 50 employees.

Coca-Cola‘s Denver, Wilsonville, Ore., Bellevue, Wash. and Bismarck, N.D. facilities picked up the former Great Falls manufacturing volume, a Coca Cola spokeswoman said.

Coca-Cola did not release the number of jobs lost in Great Falls.

“All employees are welcome to apply for other positions within the Coca-Cola system,” wrote Spokeswoman Jennifer Lemming in an email. “Our company takes these actions very seriously and we make every effort to be sensitive to the concerns of employees who may have been affected. All employees are being treated fairly and equitably.”

Montana successful luring biotech industry

After selling heart failure drug developer Corthera Inc. to Novartis AG, Stan Abel wanted to slow down. His father was sick. His wife was pregnant with twins.

So he went to Montana, and there he’s stayed even while leading his newest venture, SiteOne Therapeutics Inc., out of an incubator in San Francisco.

But Abel is far from the only life sciences entrepreneur or academic to land in Big Sky Country.

San Francisco Business Times reporter Ron Leuty writes that Montana, the land of gold, silver and copper deposits, now is striking biotech veins.

Leuty said that although Montana isn’t going to overtake the Bay Area, Boston, San Diego or Seattle in the rankings of American biotech hubs, Montana State University lured former Stanford University and University of California, San Francisco, stem cell research star and entrepreneur Renee Reijo Pera as vice president of research and economic development.

Stan Abel is running SiteOne Therapeutics Inc. out of an incubator in San Francisco from his new Montana home.

Leuty points out this trend is not new to Montana.

“The McLaughlin Research Institute in Great Falls was a training ground for stem cell researcher Irving Weissman, director of the Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine,” Leuty wrote from the San Francisco Business Time. “He also serves as chairman of the Montana center’s scientific advisory committee.”

In all, Montana has more than 350 bioscience establishments, according to the Montana BioScience Alliance, wrote Leuty.

Leuty covers biotech, higher education and China for the San Francisco Business Times.

Montana Department of Revenue reminds businesses to submit unclaimed property report by Nov. 1

The Montana Department of Revenue reminds businesses that the deadline for submitting an annual unclaimed property report is Nov. 1.

Because Nov. 1 is a Saturday, reports will still be accepted on Nov. 3.

Montana law requires businesses to submit the report if they are holding unclaimed property. The deadline applies to all businesses except life insurance companies, whose deadline is May 1.

Unclaimed property is any financial asset being held by a business for a person or entity that owns the asset but cannot be found. The asset can be an uncashed check, dormant savings or checking account, payroll check, credit balance, money order, customer deposit, travelers check, stock or bond certificate, insurance payment, certificate of deposit, safe deposit box contents and other interests or benefits.

The department encourages businesses to submit their unclaimed property report electronically through the free Montana ePass File Transfer Service. Businesses can do so by going online to revenue.mt.gov, clicking the Online Services button and then on the Holder Unclaimed Property tab.

Businesses can also file using downloadable forms from the department website. The department is no longer able to accept unclaimed property reports on compact discs, diskettes, tapes or USB devices.

The DOR receives between $7 and $8 million worth of unclaimed property annually and gives back about $4 million. It is now holding about $63 million that can be claimed indefinitely.

Visit revenue.mt.gov to use Click for Cash. Or email the department at UnclaimedProperty@mt.gov or call toll free 866-859-2254.

—Jo Dee Black