North Bay Business Journal

NOVATO — Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (Nasdaq: RPTP), after steadily growing its pipeline over the past 12 months, will relocate its corporate headquarters to a nearly 31,000 square-foot space at 7 Hamilton Landing, a space formally occupied by Walt Disney Corp.’s ImageMovers Digital animation studio.

Diana Brennan, who has worked in Sonoma Raceway media relations since 1999, was promoted from director to senior director of media and community relations. …

Altus Equity Group in Santa Rosa hired Kristy Brooks as operations manager. …

Kyle Young is the newest agent of commercial real estate brokerage Keegan & Coppin Company, Inc./ONCOR International’s Santa Rosa office….

Novato-based Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical, Inc., appointed Eric Yuen, MD, chief medical officer and senior vice president. …

Marla Carroll was named winemaker at Franciscan Estate Winery in St. Helena. …

NOVATO — Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (Nasdaq: RPTP) today reported its first-quarter net loss expanded by 13.6 percent from a year before.

NOVATO — The Marin Community Foundation today said it will distribute to local health clinics $2 million in new grants from the Sutter Health Access to Care Fund.

NOVATO — Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (Nasdaq: RPTP) today said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drug designed for the treatment of nephropathic cystinosis, a rare and possibly life-threatening metabolic disorder.

It’s the first FDA-approved product for Raptor, started in 2005 by former executives and researchers of Novato-based BioMarin Pharmaceutical, itself a developer of treatments for rare diseases.

U.S. commercial launch is expected by July. FDA approval triggers the second of two $25 million payments to Raptor.

Marin Clean Energy unveiled a new, free energy savings tool available to homeowners in the Marin County and Richmond. … Novato City Council voted unanimously for the city become a customer of Marin Clean Energy ….

Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RH), based in Corte Madera, reported net revenues increased 25 percent for its 2012–2013 fiscal year. …

Town Center Corte Madera (shopttowncenter.com) recently completed a renovation of the center’s office building, whose lobby now has what’s possibly Marin County’s first indoor “living wall.” …

North Bay Leadership Council is gearing up for the third year of its Algebra Academy program this summer in San Rafael and Novato. …

AT&T expanded its high-speed 4G LTE cell phone network to include areas of the North Bay. …

Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), whose Cardio and Vascular division is based in Santa Rosa, announced Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance and the first U.S. clinical uses of its new Affinity Fusion oxygenation system. …

NOVATO — Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ: BMRC), parent company of Bank of Marin, today reported net income in the first three months of 2013 increased from the prior quarter and was level with income a year before.

The bank realized a net recovery on troubled loans for the first time in several years.

Green Key Commercial, based in Petaluma, received the Green Company Innovator award at the Infusionsoft Innovation Summit in San Francisco. …

REACH Air Medical Services of Santa Rosa earned the Diamond Certified rating for the third consecutive year. …

San Rafael-based 10,000 Degrees announced that two grant awards will help kick off the organization’s 14th year of providing the 10,000 Degrees Institute — a wrap-around approach to college success for low-income students. …

This month, Mollie Stone’s Markets will note the 25th anniversary of its Sausalito location. …

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors appointed Susan Klassen transportation and public works director. …

Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane was elected to the board of directors for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare Foundation. …

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. named Jay Dipasupil vice president of programs and Dan Reed vice president of professional liability. …

NOVATO — W. Bradley Electric has diversified into much more than an electrical contractor, and now the company is becoming more than a North Bay or even national company, as opportunities grow for security-control jobs and, soon, telecommunications-related work outside the U.S.

NOVATO — While scores of institutions await the fallout from across-the-board cuts to federal spending known as “‘sequestration,” the local impact is being realized particularly by medical research centers like the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

San Rafael and Novato were the most active Marin cities in terms of square feet leased in 2012. Absent unexpected new major additions of user-controlled space, we expect a continued gradual decrease in vacancy in 2013. Asking rents will edge higher as additional buildings raise asking rental rates.

SAN RAFAEL — BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (Nasdaq: BMRN) on Thursday reported its fourth-quarter and 2012 net losses about doubled from a year before.

Rumors have been circulating that BioMarin is an acquisition target, but the company CEO fended off that speculation recently.

NOVATO — Novato Community Hospital today announced it is one of seven California providers to partner with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid on bundled payments, an initiative under the Affordable Care Act that seeks to lower health care costs while improving quality.

Geostellar, a startup that coordinates the process for a solar photovoltaic system installation, partnered with Real Goods Solar, which has Marin offices, in the rollout of an online marketplace in the Mid-Atlantic, New England and West Coast, including the San Francisco Bay Area. …

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund has agreed to administer a litigation fund to be used to help finance Drakes Bay Oyster Company’s lawsuit against the National Park Service. …

Ghilotti Bros., Inc. was recently recognized as award recipients in partnership with Caltrans and Liberty Mutual for the Lost Control Silver Safety Award for US Highway 101 Wilfred Avenue, Rohnert Park project. …

Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp., signed a $50 million loan agreement with HealthCare Royalty Partners to help fund the commercialization of Procysbi. …

Oculus Innovative Sciences, Inc., a Petaluma-based health care company that designs, produces and markets anti-infective products and medical devices and drug candidates, was issued a U.S. patent for the use of Microcyn technology in the treatment of skin ulcers. …

More than a dozen North Bay companies undertook major expansions or moves: TricorBraun WinePak, Raydiance, Enphase Energy, General Dynamics, Langers of Sonoma, Anette’s Chocolates Napa Valley, Marmot Mountain, Wineshipping, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, EO Products, Birkenstock USA, Toys for Bob, Adventist Health, Amorim Cork America, SPG Solar, Biosearch Technologies and Telltale Games.

NOVATO — Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. today said it raised $75 million in Series B financing for development of the company’s lead clinical testing–stage drugs to treat rare genetic diseases.

Sonoma-based wine company Don Sebastiani & Sons upgraded its south Napa winery, now called Steelbird Cellars after birds that populate the area, with new bottling capabilities, high-tech treatment of water to reduce chemicals used, energy-efficient lighting and “showcase” offices and client reception area. …

Fresh off the dissolution of the Mendocino Wine & Winegrape Commission this summer, the new marketing organization, Mendocino Winegrowers, has partnered with Amazon.com to sell more than 500 wines from the county’s appellations in the large online retailer’s second attempt at wine-to-consumer sales. …

Nearly three years after expanding from franchisees of two Napa UPS Store locations into owner-operators of a wine order fulfillment business in south Napa, Bill and Patti Myers are expanding Eagle Rock Fulfillment for the fourth time. …

Wine Direct to Trade is St. Helena-based company started by two veterans of wine direct sales, marketing and wholesaling are trying to create an Internet-based platform to simplify the process of selling wine to trade accounts. …

Sonoma County Vintners hired Dana Macaulay as director of events. She will be managing the 200-member trade group’s U.S. and international events such as Sonoma Wine Country Weekend, a joint production with Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance. …

Seguin Moreau Napa Cooperage hired Marion Ghiringhelli for a new position in North American sales and marketing of the company’s rapidly expanding oak-alternatives business. …

Novato-based wine accessories developer and distributor Cork Pops, which came up with the eponymous product for opening wine corks two decades ago and the vinOair bottle spout-aerator more recently, just released vinOice, a drip-resistant spout designed to chill a bottle of white or sparkling wine to an optimum temperature and keep it that way for up to an hour.

NOVATO — Assets under management at Hennessy Advisors, Inc. (OTCBB: HNNA) increased 22.7 percent for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, to $919 million, according to an announcement today.

The period does not include impact from the firm’s acquisition of ten investment funds under management of Arlington Va.-based FBR Funds, a major move orchestrated throughout that fiscal year that ultimately increased Hennessy’s total assets under management to more than $3 billion.

NOVATO — Ctuit Software has been helping restaurant chain owners better manage finances and operations for more than a decade, and now the maker of those tools is seeing to it that it has the talent and infrastructure in place to manage its own fast growth.