Business

A Columbia alternative medicine company is going public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in a deal that could be worth up to $320 million. Nava Health announced an agreement on Tuesday to be acquired by blank-check company 99 Acquisition Group Inc., which is based in Gaithersburg and exists to purchase firms that are looking to go public. As part of the agreement, 99 Acquisition (NASDAQ: NNAG) will be renamed Nava Health and expects to remain listed on the Nasdaq. The two firms expect to close the deal in the second quarter.

Mt. Vernon Marketplace has added two new vendors to its lineup, marking the latest changes at the food hall. The market has added barbecue vendor SmoQ-N-Meat and Mediterranean vendor Mercy Seat Kitchen so far this year. The new offerings are part of a larger trend for food halls that see stalls come and go at places like Mt. Vernon Marketplace, which saw two longtime vendors leave last year and will soon see Cheezy Mike’s Food Emporium close after four years.

Anyone seen a whale? MGM National Harbor might be missing a few. MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) this week reported a $124 million decline in fourth-quarter regional gaming net revenue compared to the same quarter in 2022, according to its earnings report and its latest earnings call. MGM National Harbor’s dip in performance was a contributor, per the earnings report, combined with a union strike at MGM Grand Detroit and the sale of Gold Strike Tunica in Mississippi.

This article is part of the Baltimore Business Journal’s Black History Month series on up-and-coming Black-owned businesses. For more profiles, click here. For Kashad McPherson, there is no better place to be than on a boat on the Chesapeake Bay during sunset. McPherson, who goes by “Captain Kay,” is investing tens of thousands of dollars to expand his private boat chartering company Vibe and Wave Charters so that his company can get even more people from Baltimore’s Black communities out on the water.

PNC may be adding to its Baltimore-area branch network after years of cutting back its physical footprint in the region. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (NYSE: PNC) said Wednesday that it is investing about $1 billion to open more than 100 new branches nationwide and renovate over 1,200 existing locations through 2028. That initiative will impact the bank’s presence in Greater Baltimore, although details on exactly what it means for the region are scarce.

CFG Bank’s longtime CEO Bill Wiedel is no longer with the company, and the chief executive of the bank’s holding company, Capital Funding Bancorp, Inc., is now also the CEO of the bank. Jack Dwyer, who founded Capital Funding Bancorp in 2009, was announced as CFG Bank’s new CEO on Tuesday. The company’s press release did not mention Wiedel, who had been CEO since 2018.

Houston-based Group 1 Automotive Inc. has acquired an auto group with a number of dealerships and collision centers in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area. The acquisition of College Park-based RRR Automotive Group adds Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Kia new vehicle dealerships; one Toyota Certified pre-owned center; and three collision centers to Group 1’s (NYSE: GPI) portfolio.

The Hagerstown Flying Boxcars hope to be a hit with the community when they begin their inaugural season in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball this year. Meritus Health has joined in the effort, hoping to help make it a grand slam. During a press conference and private event at Seven Ten in Hagerstown on Tuesday evening, Blackie Bowen, of the Flying Boxcars ownership group, announced the team’s naming-rights partnership with Meritus.