Business briefs

Ex-LIA boss has heart surgery

Matt Crosson, who left the Long Island Association in March to become president of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, is recovering from emergency heart surgery there last week, a chamber spokeswoman said. Crosson, who led the LIA for 16 years, said he wasn't feeling well late Thursday night and went to the hospital, said spokeswoman Cara Roberts. He underwent open heart surgery. "He's doing really, really well," Roberts said Wednesday, quipping, "He's already on the BlackBerry." She added he seemed to be in good spirits and his prognosis was good.

- EMI ENDO

CVD tallies $2.5M in Sept. sales

Ronkonkoma-based CVD Equipment Corp. reported $2.5 million in sales so far this month of its new entry-level nanotechnology systems, which are used in making products that require extremely precise control of atoms and molecules. Customers use the systems to make thin film coatings on computer chips and solar cells. CVD Equipment Corp.'s First Nano division made the sales to the University of Illinois, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other customers. The products were sold under the brand names First Nano EasyTube, EasyGas and EasyExhaust. CVD makes a variety of industrial equipment for computer-chip, solar energy and nanotechnology uses. Its annual revenue for the year ending Dec. 31, 2009, was $18.1 million.

- JOSEPH MALLIA

Feds to sell Citgroup shares

The government said Wednesday it is starting to sell $2.2 billion in trust preferred shares that it holds in Citigroup, another move to recoup the costs incurred in the $700-billion financial bailout. The Treasury Department said the pace of the sales would be determined by market conditions. The $2.2 billion in trust preferred shares were received by the government as part of Treasury's agreement in January 2009 to share potential losses on a pool of $301 billion of assets held by Citigroup. The loss-sharing arrangement also involved the Federal Deposit Insurance Co. and the Federal Reserve. Citigroup paid the Treasury and the FDIC a premium in the form of securities for their willingness to share potential losses over a five- to 10-year period. The loss sharing arrangement was terminated in December 2009 at the request of Citigroup. Treasury was never required to make any payments under the arrangement and has no further obligation to do so.

- AP