Baltimore Money Moves: Under Armour to pay out $434M in class-action settlement

On July 2, the federal Economic Development Administration announced that it did not accept the local Tech Hubs program bid. Organizers had hoped the Phase 2 project would bring the region $70 million and publicly reacted with a mix of disappointment and faith in the models they collectively assembled.

As the area’s biggest economic development boosters, universities and other consortium members weigh what happens next, check out some of the grants, investments and contracts that the Baltimore metro did score.

Under Armour pays $434 million to resolve shareholder suit

Locust Point-based apparel giant Under Armour announced in June that it would repay the nine-figure amount to settle a class-action lawsuit.

Entities and people who purchased publicly traded Under Armour shares between September 2015 and November 2019 filed the suit in 2017. Accusing the company of misrepresenting its financial performance, it was initially dismissed in 2019 before being reopened after a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation resulting in a $9 million fine.

Under Armour, whose recently returned founding CEO Kevin Plank maintains economic ties to the tech world through his Sagamore Ventures firm and involvement in Baltimore Peninsula, did not admit wrongdoing. This latest settlement still needs to be approved by the US District Court of Maryland but helps the company avoid a trial that would have otherwise started in July.

“The company intends to pay the settlement amount through cash on hand and/or by drawing on its $1.1 billion revolving credit facility,” Under Armour said in an announcement.

Under Armour’s press release noted that it has $859 million in cash and equivalent assets as of March 31, as well as an “accrual” — a term that references revenue earned, no matter when it’s received — of $100 million for litigation expenses. The announcement added that Under Armour anticipates a total accrual to hit the settlement amount during the 2025 fiscal year’s first quarter.

$300 million for offshore wind in South Baltimore

Hellenic Cables, the American subsidiary of Belgium-based Cenergy Holdings, plans to put this sum toward a new manufacturing facility that will develop cable and other components for offshore wind infrastructure. According to an announcement, the company already acquired a 38-acre site for the facility in Wagner’s Point, a longtime industrial area near South Baltimore’s Brooklyn neighborhood.

The new facility’s construction plans, which Cenergy expects to begin by the end of 2024, start with a plant for land cables — a type of cable that goes underground to power regional power grids and handle the energy from wind turbines in bodies of water. A second phase involves additional capacity for developing submarine cables.

Cenergy’s announcement mentioned $200 million that Hellenic is already using for land acquisition and the plant’s development. In addition, the Baltimore Business Journal reported that the second phase could cost up to $100 million. Cenergy, which gave the $300 million number in an April press release, did not immediately return a request for clarity on the full cost or the source of those funds.

Cenergy’s latest announcement also noted that it halted discussions over potential collaboration with Danish wind energy company Ørsted after the latter firm decided to reconfigure another Maryland wind energy project.

Maryland grants $9 million to local innovation capacity projects

In late June, the State of Maryland Department of Commerce announced a new round of awards from the Build Our Future Grant Pilot program.

This initiative arose out of Gov. Wes Moore’s Innovation Economy Infrastructure Act of 2023 and offers awards of up to $2 million to support projects in tech fields like advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, biotech and cyber. The program seeks to help recipients build infrastructure for innovation work and often matches or otherwise builds upon funds from other sources.

“To make Maryland more competitive, we need to turbocharge those areas of our economy that are producing fresh ideas and innovative new technologies,” said Gov. Moore in an announcement.

At least six of the latest 11 recipients will use the funds for projects in the Baltimore metro area:

• $1 million to Johns Hopkins University spinout and 2023 RealLIST Startup CraniUS for a new lab to test and prototype its signature neurological medicine delivery device
• $500,000 to Early Charm Ventures for the conversion of the Aberdeen-based HEAT Center into a materials industry innovation center that would serve both local military and private entities
• $1.25 million to Johns Hopkins to launch a renewable energy innovation lab above R. House in Remington
• $935,680 to the Maryland Association of Community Colleges to develop the Maryland Cyber Workforce Accelerator, an initiative for cyber training across 16 of the state’s community colleges, in partnership with BCR Cyber (formerly Baltimore Cyber Range)
• $996,120 to Saft, a French battery developer with an American office in Cockeysville, to turn 4,700 square feet of office space into a facility to produce lithium-ion cells
• $1 million to The Mill of Black Horse, an agricultural supplies retailer in White Hall, to build a 16,000-square-foot plant that uses smart tech to develop fertilizer for regional farmers

Other Baltimore-area raises and awards

• The Biden-Harris Campaign committed $1.5 million to advertise with the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an organization representing publishers of Black community news outlets.
• The Kahlert Foundation gifted the Maryland Science Center $1 million to put its makerspace, The Shed, in a larger facility. The grant also will help subsidize field trip admission for school groups from Carroll and Howard counties.
• Frederick County received $81,250 as part of the federal Department of Energy’s $18.5 million of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program. These awards help local government agencies promote energy-efficient projects.
• Highlandtown-based Barcoding Inc. acquired DecisionPoint Systems, a Florida company that creates software for retailers in various industries. According to the Baltimore Business Journal, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings indicate that the all-cash deal is worth at least $78.5 million. DecisionPoint will also go private within a holding company called DecisionPoint Technologies.
• Akeptus, a Howard County-based company developing a smart home energy management system, received $150,000 via the Google for Startups Founders Funds
• TEDCO granted several awards, worth up to $100,000, to local organizations like Dent Education, Baltimore Underground Science Space and the Digital Harbor Foundation through the Maryland Makerspace Initiative Program.
• Columbia-HQed integrative medicine company Nava Health’s attempts to go public hit a wall when, per the Baltimore Business Journal, the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) involved in the deal messed up a necessary step. According to the Business Journal, 99 Acquisition Group deposited only $558,000 into a trust that needed $750,000 to delay the acquisition close date from May to August. This deal, if it isn’t fully jeopardized by this failure, is valued at up to $320 million.

More investments spotted in SEC filings

• $3.25 million for Locust Point-based Synaptic Advisory Partners
• $250,000 for Timonium-HQed SharpRank
• $1 million for City Garage-based Mi-Helper
• $250,000 for Johns Hopkins spinout EpiWatch

This article references TEDCO, a Technical.ly client. That relationship has no impact on this report.