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EndoGastric Solutions has completed a $30 million round of financing led by Canaan Partners and Radius Ventures.

Existing investors Advanced Technology Ventures, MPM Capital, Foundation Medical Partners, Chicago Growth Partners, and De Novo Ventures joined in the round.

EndoGastric is developing procedures for the treatment of upper gastrointestinal diseases business cards.

Brent Ahrens, general partner of Canaan Partners, and Kathleen Regan, venture partner of Radius Ventures, joined EndoGastric 's board of directors as part of the transaction.

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Cascade Financial Corp. said Friday it received a notice from the NASDAQ stock exchange that its common stock price was below $1 for 30 consecutive business days and therefore not in compliance with NASDAQ rules.

The Everett, Wash.-based banking company (NASDAQ: CASB), parent company of Cascade Bank, said it has 180 calendar days, or until January 31, 2011, to regain compliance with the minimum closing bid price requirement. If it doesn't meet that deadline, its shares will be subject to delisting by NASDAQ.

Cascade shares ended the day Friday at 41 cents.

In July, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Washington Department of Financial Institutions issued a consent order, ordering the bank to raise capital within three months, among other requirements.

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HFF Inc. today posted a second quarter profit of $2.7 million, or 14 cents per share, compared with a loss of $200,000, or 1 cent per share, in the comparable year-ago quarter.

For the quarter ended June 30, the Downtown Pittsburgh-based commercial mortgage broker (NYSE:HF) had revenue of $34.1 million, more than double the revenue of $16.4 million it posted a year ago.

For the first six months of the year, HFF had net income of $2.6 million, or 14 cents per share, on revenue of $53.5 million. That compares with a loss of $2.2 million, or 14 cents per share, on revenue of $29.7 million in the first six months of 2009.

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Solutia Inc. said its second-quarter profit more than tripled from last year’s period, as sales rose more than 26 percent.

For the quarter ended June 30, the company reported net income of $41 million compared to net income of $10 million in last year’s quarter, primarily due to increased sales volumes across all segments, partially offset by higher raw material costs and higher interest expense.

Solutia’s net sales in the recent quarter were $518 million compared to $410 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2009.

During the recent quarter, Solutia bought Novomatrix a Singapore-based maker of window films for the automotive and architectural markets, for $73 million. Solutia also bought the Vista solar product business (now called Vistasolar) from German firm Etimex Holding for $294 million.

The company had said in April that it will stop making a key ingredient for a rubber compound used in making tires, called primary accelerators, in the second half of this year Internet Payday loans. Solutia said Monday that it took a $38 million charge in the second quarter for restructuring costs related to closing that business.

Solutia said it expects steady second-half sales volume with a normal fourth-quarter seasonal slowdown. The company said it expects average selling prices in the second half of the year to be consistent with the second quarter, and full-year revenue growth of from 10 percent to 15 percent versus last year.

St. Louis-based Solutia Inc. (NYSE: SOA), led by Chairman, President and Chief Executive Jeffry Quinn, develops specialty chemicals, fibers, fluids and other performance products.

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Home sales and the average price of homes sold continued to climb in June, according to the Memphis Area Association of Realtors.

In June, total Multiple Listing Service sales were 1,152, up 8.5 percent from 1,062 in June 2009. June MLS home sales were 3.6 percent lower than in May, however, when 1,195 homes sold.

The average sales price in June jumped 3.9 percent to $161,000, compared to $155,000 in June 2009, and was 7.3 percent higher than the previous month of May when the average sales price was $150,000.

For the first fix months of 2010, MLS sales are up 4.2 percent — from 5,842 in 2009 to 6,089 this year — while the average price is up 5 payday loan online.9 percent to $144,000.

Data shows that the average time on the market is 108.6. The majority of sales, 38.8 percent or 447 sales, were in the $0-$99,999 price group. The second largest was $100,000-$199,999, with 390 sales, or 33.9 percent.

MAAR’s MLS database records all property transactions in Shelby, Fayette, Tipton and DeSoto counties.

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Accounting and business consulting company LECG Corp. officially closed its first acquisition since merging with Smart Business Advisory & Consulting and relocating from California to the Philadelphia area earlier this year.

LECG agreed to buy Bourne Business Consulting, a 36-person consulting firm in London, on June 22 and the deal closed officially on Monday.

LECG (NASDAQ:XPRT) didn’t say what it plans to pay in the deal. But in a release Monday, the investment banking firm that assisted Bourne with the transaction, Equiteq, said the deal includes “an initial consideration of 2.75 million British pounds plus contingent consideration over the next four years.”

Picking up Bourne will give LECG more clout in the valuation, transfer pricing, intellectual property and tax consulting areas in Europe. Danny Ryan is LECG’s managing director in London.

Bourne was started in 2002 and has offices in London and Farnham in Surrey. It is led by four partners: Philip Feibusch, Colette Moscati, Ian Mackie and Toni Dyson.

LECG has 39 offices around the world and Devon, Pa.-based Steve Samek serves as CEO. LECG and Smart completed a merger in March and chose to operate under the LECG name but locate its headquarters and take its CEO from Smart. Samek said earlier this spring that he expected 50 jobs to transfer from LECG’s Emeryville, Calif., offices to Smart’s Devon, Pa., location and held a job fair to hire candidates.

With the headquarters transition, the combined firm has already named two new senior managers to handle chief financial officer and general counsel duties. Steve Fife, LECG’s CFO, and Deanne Tully, LECG’s general counsel, will resign from their roles this summer and will not make the move to the East Coast. Fife will be replaced on Aug payday loans. 15 by Warren D. Barratt and Tully stepped down June 30 in favor of Yuri Rozenfeld.

“Having the management team centralized in one location is an important part of our strategy to drive operational excellence, effectively manage costs, and provide support for our professionals,” Samek said. “With more than two-thirds of our clients located in Europe or on the East Coast of the U.S., we cannot underestimate the value of having our leadership close to our engagements and the professionals who serve them.”

Barratt has more than 27 years of financial, accounting and general management experience. In addition to 11 years in public accounting with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, he has served as CFO for a variety of public and private companies in the services, technology and life sciences industries. Most recently, he was senior vice president and CFO of Epitome Systems, a privately held business process software company. Prior to that, he was CFO of Oncura, a multinational medical device joint venture.

Rozenfeld joined LECG June 1 and brings nearly 15 years of legal experience, most recently as senior securities counsel at Walgreens. Previously, he was general counsel and secretary at I-trax.

LECG also recently said it promoted two managing directors who joined the firm earlier this year from Huron Consulting to the positions of regional managing partners in the firm’s litigation, forensics and finance practice. Joe Decilveo, who joined the firm earlier this year from Huron Consulting, has responsibilities on the east coast while Stan Logan oversees the firm’s Midwest region and operations in Asia-Pacific, including the firm’s new Shanghai office.

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SPO Advisory Corp. has sold a significant chunk of its holdings of cellphone tower operator Crown Castle International Inc.

According to regulatory filings, the institutional hedge fund investor disposed of 3.05 million shares in multiple transactions between June 17-24. The shares were sold in a range between $38.95 and $39.43 apiece and were worth just over a combined $120 million.

After the sale, SPO still holds 32 online payday loans.6 million shares, worth some $1.27 billion based on the June 28 closing price of $38.92.

Houston-based Crown Castle (NYSE CCI), which has been a favorite investment of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in recent years, has 290 million shares outstanding.

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The Federal Reserve is ordering Peoples Bank and Trust Co. to add capital and sort out its troubled commercial real estate loans.

In a written agreement with the bank, revealed Monday, the Fed also told the bank not to pay dividends without Fed permission or interest on its trust preferred securities, a form of long-term debt that allows temporary lapses in interest payments.

Peoples Bank and Trust is based in Troy, Mo., and has seven branches in Lincoln, St. Charles and Pike counties. It has $415 million in assets and lost $2.3 million in the first three months of the year. It holds less than half of one percent of the St. Louis region’s bank deposits. Peoples deposits are protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

In the March quarter, the bank dropped slightly below the level that regulators consider "well capitalized," a red flag in banking. The bank still meets the "adequately capitalized" standard.

Peoples Bank ran into problems with commercial real estate lending. About 4 percent of all the bank’s loans were "non-performing," generally meaning that payments are far past due.

A written agreement with the Fed is considered a serious enforcement action indicating problems at the bank. The Fed told the bank to reduce concentrations in commercial real estate lending and write off loans that federal bank examiners believe can’t be rescued.

"The economic conditions have caused a challenge for many and we are no exception," the bank said in a written statement. "Loan defaults and past due loans have mounted and the bank is moving forward to meet those challenges. The bank believes that it is well on its way to correcting regulatory concerns and returning to its usual profitable position."

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Foreclosure notices on commercial properties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area jumped 58 percent in the first six months of 2010, Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service Inc. said Thursday.

During that period, including foreclosures already set for June, 1,659 notices were filed on retail properties, retail buildings, office buildings, industrial spaces, apartment complexes, and commercial lands in the D-FW area. Property owners still have time to respond and avoid foreclosure.

While it’s nothing compared to the 8,000 foreclosure filings reported in one year during the late 1980s, the jump over last year has made an impact, according to Foreclosure Listing Service, which compiles foreclosure data for the region.

There are still more foreclosure postings on residential properties, said George Roddy president of Foreclosure Listing Service, but he added, “posting activity has climbed at a much steeper pace on commercial properties than on residential.”

During the first six months of 2010, foreclosure filings on buildings classified as "miscellaneous commercial properties" jumped 126 percent to 683 postings. There were in 302 last year. Meanwhile, foreclosure notices filed on commercial land jumped 72 percent, hitting 381, up from 222 postings.

Meanwhile, apartment communities saw the number of foreclosure notices filed increase 46 percent over last year. Foreclosures on office buildings increased 18 percent, while foreclosures on retail centers and buildings dropped 16 percent.

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Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust CEO and founder Steven D. Hayworth has replaced Adolfo Henriques as chairman of the Coral Gables-based bank.

In September, a group of more than 50 local investors led by Hayworth bought the bank from Boston Private Financial Holdings, where Henriques is a board member. During the negotiations to sell the bank to the local group, Henriques took over as chairman.

The former CEO of Florida East Coast Railway, Henriques remains on the board of Boston Private cash advance no fax.

“I will miss my friends on the Gibraltar Private board, but I leave knowing that Steve and his team have created a terrific private bank and wealth management company that will serve our community well in the future,” Henriques stated in a press release.

Gibraltar Private Bank lost $20.2 million in 2009 and ended the year with $1.5 billion in assets.

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