BC renews marketing deal with Fenway Sports Group

August 8, 2007

Boston College has renewed its marketing deal with Fenway Sports Group, the sports sponsorship company owned by Boston Red Sox principal owner John Henry. Financial terms of the 12-year agreement, under which Fenway Sports will negotiate regional media deals and national corporate sponsorships for Boston College's athletics department, were not disclosed. BC first hired Fenway Sports in 2005. (Keith Reed)

Bank of America Corp. named executives to lead its Global Wealth & Investment Management Alternative Investments group, which was expanded by the acquisition of US Trust. Spencer Boggess, previously a US Trust executive, will run the group's hedge fund investments, and James Bowden was named director of private equity investments. Four other executives were named to senior positions. (Steven Syre)

Boston Web analytics company Compete Inc. has closed a Series III $10 million funding round that was led by Commonwealth Capital Ventures, a Waltham venture capital firm. Compete, which helps corporate brands improve their marketing by studying consumers' online behavior, plans to use the funding to accelerate product development. (Chris Reidy)

A private plane charter service plans to launch a deluxe scheduled private jet service between Hanscom Field in Bedford and Morristown, N.J., next month. Maine Aviation Aircraft Charter, based in Portsmouth, N.H., has received initial approval from the US Transportation Department for two daily round trips. Flights would be on seven- and eight-seat Cessna Citation jets, and would cost $749, Maine Aviation sales and market director Jim Iacono said. (Peter J. Howe)

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley says more needs to be done to protect home buyers. Coakley is proposing a series of amendments to the state's consumer protection act she says will crack down on unfair and deceptive tactics contributing to the spike in foreclosures. The amendments would require mortgage brokers to disclose how interest rates or other charges will increase and bar them from making a loan if they don't have a reasonable belief the borrower is able to repay it. The changes would also prohibit mortgage brokers from processing loans that are not in the borrower's interest and outlaw the practice of lenders or brokers steering borrowers to more costly loan products. The proposal will be the subject of a series of public hearings statewide. (AP)

USA Technologies Inc. and MasterCard Inc. will install 7,500 cashless payment terminals in Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. vending machines. The terminals let customers use credit cards or MasterCard's PayPass contactless system. The new terminals will be installed in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, and Seattle. In May, Coca-Cola Enterprises entered a three-year supply and licensing agreement with USA Technologies, a Malvern, Pa., provider of wireless and cashless networking services. (Dow Jones/AP)

Pfizer has asked a Nigerian court to throw out a $2 billion lawsuit, saying company researchers did no harm and in fact saved lives when they gave children an experimental drug during a 1996 meningitis epidemic. In a 26-page brief filed in the northern Nigerian state of Kano, Pfizer described the clinical drug trial of an antibiotic known as Trovan as legal and ethical. The filing provides the company's most complete defense since Nigerian authorities charged the company and its representatives with 31 criminal charges and $8.5 billion in civil claims. Nigeria alleges the Trovan trial led to the deaths of 11 children and injured 189 others. Nigerian prosecutors also say that the company did not tell families that their children were participating in a drug experiment. (The Washington Post)