Investment Fund

The following are recent bankruptcy filings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Maryland in Baltimore CityFeb. 9* Connecticut Liquidity Investment Fund, a.k.a. CLIF, c/o The Savings Banks' Association of Connecticut, 450 Church St., Hartford, Conn., an investment company, has been involuntarily petitioned to Chapter 7 bankruptcy by creditors. Principal: n/a. Assets: n/a; Liabilities: at least $336,281.75Feb. 10* Wang Zi Cashmere Products Inc., 6625 Selnick Drive, Elkridge, a manufacturer and distributor, has been involuntarily petitioned to Chapter 7 bankruptcy by several creditors.

Gov. Martin O'Malley has set many strong clean energy goals for the state. He continues to wisely push for the development of wind energy off our shores ("Md. governor readies offshore wind power mandate, turbines could be spinning by 2016," Feb. 9), but let's not leave energy efficiency in the dust. Efficiency remains one of our best strategies for boosting the economy and providing clean, reliable energy to Marylanders. The Maryland state legislature has already dedicated money for energy efficiency through the Strategic Energy Investment Fund that pays for most of the Maryland Energy Administration's programs, including efficiency.

Gov. Martin O'Malley announced $2.1 million in grants Thursday fund energy-efficiency projects aimed at low- and moderate-income families. "These grants are an example of exactly the type of efficiency projects we had intended for Maryland communities and families when we entered into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the nation's first multi-state collaborative carbon cap-and-trade program," O'Malley said in a statement. "These grants are another step forward in our goal to take control of our energy future.

* Paine-Webber Mortgage Finance Inc. announced that it will conduct all business under its new corporate name, Columbia National Inc. The name change is a result of the recent management buyout of the company. Equity backing for the transaction was provided by Merrill Lynch Capital Partners Inc. (MLCP). Ownership of the business was transferred to existing management and the institutional investment fund managed and advised by MLCP.On the moveAmerican Properties Inc., a full-service real estate development firm with offices in Columbia and Ellicott City, appointed Jayne Stevens sales consultant in its New Homes Division.

Baltimore is a city full of potential to Nancy Welsh, the founder of the rapidly expanding North Carolina nonprofit Builders of Hope Inc. The nonprofit recently announced plans to rehabilitate 500 vacant homes near Johns Hopkins Hospital. Baltimore was a draw in part because the city already has rehab programs aimed at reducing blight, said Welsh. And several of her employees — the nonprofit has grown from 10 to 50 workers — are from Charm City. They convinced her that Baltimore, with its 16,000 vacant homes and residents in need, should be one of the next beneficiaries of the nonprofit's work.

The president and chief executive officer of Associated Black Charities has quit after being threatened with firing, just 18 months since he took over the leadership at the Baltimore-based social services agency, according to internal memos. Gary Officer resigned July 13, said board Chairman Nathaniel E. Jones Jr., who insisted yesterday that Officer "was not asked to resign" and that the departure was voluntary. But documents obtained by The Sun reveal that Jones demanded Officer either quit or face a termination vote by the full board of directors.

There are two possible ways to interpret the temporary or permanent departure of four top executives and two traders from securities brokerage Ferris Baker Watts. One: Maybe the company is bending over backward to cooperate with a federal investigation that will turn out - for Ferris - to be a minor problem of paperwork and procedures. Two: Maybe the disruption signifies that Ferris Baker abetted an alleged $50 million Ponzi scheme. In either case, there is only one label for the way the Baltimore firm has handled disclosure of the situation.

This year, Maryland Economic and Business Development Secretary Richard C. Mike Lewin was drawn repeatedly to the floor below his office, where he watched on a stock monitor as shares of Gene Logic Inc. traded higher hour by hour. When they hit $75, the state's venture capital gurus began to sell. The sale brought the state's Enterprise Investment Fund about $17.2 million on the $500,000 investment it had made in the young company in 1996, a whopping 3,340 percent increase. Yesterday, as yet another fledgling biotechnology company announced that the state's enterprise fund had invested $500,000 in it, Lewin could only hope that the state would once again fare so well.

Legg Mason money manager Sam Peters will begin co-managing the company's flagship mutual fund next month. Peters will join star manager Bill Miller in managing the $4 billion Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust. The company had announced earlier this year that Peters would become co-manager and eventually succeed Miller as the Value Trust's manager once he retires. Mary Chris Gay will continue to serve as the fund's assistant portfolio manager. Miller is known for having beat the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index for 15 consecutive years.

Peter Sundman, the chief executive officer of ClearBridge Advisors, has left Legg Mason's largest stock-fund division based in New York, the Baltimore company said Friday. In a letter to clients on Dec. 1, ClearBridge said Sundman's duties have been merged with those of the president, Terrence Murphy. Legg spokeswoman Mary Athridge said the roles of chief executive and president had overlapping responsibilities that could be combined for efficiency. Sundman joined ClearBridge in December 2008.