PORTLAND
The proposed $2.3 billion deal for Russian Evraz Group S.A. to acquire Oregon Steel Mills made for
riveting headlines: It was the biggest yet international
acquisition by a Russian company, it capped a dramatic
corporate turnaround by the 80-year-old Portland-based steel
business, and it raised questions about the future for Oregon
Steel’s 1,900 nationwide employees. But the acquisition,
if it passes federal regulatory muster, is another in a string
of similar deals for a quickly consolidating global steel
industry. Evraz officials were attracted to Oregon Steel Mills
for the company’s strength in making rails and pipes.
PORTLAND
When five big companies announced in December that they would
back a project to give employees their own, portable electronic
health care records, it made headlines for the potential future
benefit for health care costs. The Omnimedix Institute in Portland is
the nonprofit group that is developing Dossia, the web-based
framework for health records with the help of Applied
Materials, BP America, Intel Corp, Pitney Bowes and Wal-Mart.
Omnimedix will start to deploy Dossia later this
year.
PORTLAND
Under a two-year, $28 million contract with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a
division of the U.S. Department of Defense agency,
Portland-based AVI
BioPharma will develop treatments for Ebola, Marburg and
Junin hemorrhagic viruses, which are considered potential
bioterrorism agents.
