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Acxiom to go private in $3 billion deal Sunday, May 20, 2007 By Roby Brock In a surprise move, Acxiom Corp. announced late Wednesday that it would accept a $3 billion buyout offer from Silver Lake Partners and ValueAct Capital Partners, two private equity firms. The deal would move Acxiom from a publicly traded firm to a private company. ValueAct is led by Jeffrey Ubben, a one-time nemesis-turned board member for Acxiom. Silver Lake is a private equity firm that invests in technology companies. Acxiom Company Leader Charles Morgan said the acquisition would not result in any major changes. "This is an ownership change, not a leadership change," Morgan stressed. He plans to remain as CEO. Under terms of the agreement, Acxiom shareholders will receive $27.10 per share in cash. Over the next two months, Acxiom's board may entertain other offers, which could result in a bidding war for the Little Rock-based database marketer. News of the buyout offer was released simultaneously with Acxiom's fourth quarter earnings. Acxiom's net income plunged 73 percent during the period to $6.3 million. Revenues rose to $357.3 million, up 3.8 percent versus last year's comparable quarter. For the full fiscal year, Acxiom's revenues topped $1.4 billion, up 4.7 percent. Earnings were up 10.3 percent to $70.7 million. Beverly buyer front-runner for chain Fillmore Capital, a private equity company that bought Fort Smith-based Beverly Enterprises more than a year ago for $1.8 billion, may be adding another nursing home chain to its portfolio. Fillmore and Formation Capital ? the two firms that dueled for Beverly ? are in a bidding war for Genesis Health Care, a Pennsylvania-based nursing home chain. On Thursday, Genesis' board accepted Fillmore's latest offer, a $1.36 billion bid, for its 213 facilities. Genesis operates nursing homes, assisted living centers and transitional care units in a 20-state region. Formation will get a chance to counter Fillmore's proposal. When Fillmore bought Beverly Enterprises, it renamed the company's two major divisions to Golden Ventures and Golden Horizons. If Fillmore is successful in its bid, it could give the company two major headquarters facilities, one in Fort Smith and one in Kennett Square, Penn. Wal-Mart reports strong quarterly growth Wal-Mart reported its sales and earnings for the quarter ended April 30. Net sales for the retail giant's first quarter rose 8.3 percent to $85.39 billion. Earnings climbed nearly 8 percent to $2.83 billion, up from $2.62 billion in last year's comparable quarter. "While these are record sales and earnings, we feel there was an opportunity to have done better," said Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. For the quarter, Wal-Mart discount stores and supercenters saw sales growth of 5.6 percent with revenues topping $55.43 billion. Sam's Club sales also grew 5.6 percent to $10.32 billion. International sales continued to fuel Wal-Mart's momentum. The retailer posted international sales of $19.63 billion, an 18.5 percent increase over last year. For the second quarter of fiscal 2008, Wal-Mart estimates its same store sales to increase in the United States between 1 percent and 2 percent. Alltel quiet on future plans "This looks like an Alltel picnic," commented CEO Scott Ford as he opened this year's short annual shareholders' meeting. With nothing new to report regarding the company's "strategic review," shareholders listened to Ford recap the last year's activities and the company's performance over the last decade, and they re-elected four members to the Alltel board. The meeting was held at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock. Ford said that 2006 was the "most challenging year" since he's been with Alltel, as the wireless telecom fully separated from its wireline business, integrated four wireless acquisitions and pushed forward with a major stock buyback program. He also noted that Alltel was "off to a blistering start in 2007," as the company posted first-quarter earnings of $230 million and continues its study of what its future may entail. Champion posts small quarterly loss Champion Parts, the Hope-based re-manufacturer of automotive parts, announced first-quarter sales of $5.3 million, down 13 percent compared to one year ago. The company reported a net loss of $22,000 compared to a net profit of $239,000 for the same period in 2006. Champion's management said weaker sales in the company's air-conditioning products, constant velocity axles and heavy duty and agricultural products "negatively impacted first-quarter results." England lands 175 jobs England OilField Services announced that it will build a manufacturing facility at England in Lonoke County, creating 175 jobs with an average hourly wage of $18. The 33,000 sq. ft. facility will be built on ten acres in the England Industrial Park. In addition to manufacturing field equipment for natural-gas and oil drilling, England OilField will offer steel blasting, painting, welding and electrical services to the oil industry. Companies doing business in Arkansas's Fayetteville Shale region will be the primary customers of England OilField. Production could begin by late 2007. In making remarks to the England crowd, Gov. Mike Beebe also hinted that more economic development good news may be forthcoming in the next few weeks. When asked if Arkansas was still in the running for a $150 million windmill blade manufacturing plant that could employ 500 to 1,000 workers, Beebe commented, "At the very least, we're still in the running." In April, state lawmakers passed an incentives bill to lure a windmill blade manufacturer to Arkansas. Bill Clark dies at 63 Bill Clark, chief executive of CDI Contractors, the Little Rock-based commercial construction company, died after a battle with cancer. He was 63. Clark was a longtime business leader in Central Arkansas and a former member of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees. His company is renowned for many building projects, including the Clinton Presidential Library, the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce headquarters, and the Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute at UAMS. The company was founded in 1987 in large part to handle construction projects for Dillard's Inc. Nucor not fazed by Memphis air Nucor Steel, which has major operations in Mississippi County, is expanding into southwest Memphis. Nucor is building a $250 million plant to recycle scrap metal into steel for the automotive and heavy equipment industries. It will also add 225 workers averaging $66,000 in annual wages. Because of Memphis' sensitive air pollution problems ? which Toyota cited as a reason to bypass Marion, Arkansas for an SUV factory ? Nucor is taking extraordinary precautions to reduce air emissions through its plant construction. Japanese to visit Tyson Foods beef facilities Tyson Foods confirmed that Japanese beef inspectors plan to visit all eight of the company's beef processing plants, beginning May 21. In February, Japan stopped beef imports from Tyson Foods' Lexington, Neb., packing plant after finding two boxes of beef that did not contain the proper age verification of 20 months old or younger, as required by Japan. The upcoming visits are an extension of a two-week tour of U.S. meat packing plants by the Japanese as part of a compromise between the two governments in compliance with a bilateral trade agreement. In related export news, Tyson Foods also recently made its first beef shipments to South Korea since the market re-opened in September. Beebe says income tax vital After a legislative session of tax relief, Gov. Mike Beebe told Northwest Arkansas business leaders that he did not see any more major tax cuts coming in the near future. In response to a question from Tyson Foods Chairman John Tyson, Beebe indicated that individual and corporate income taxes were vital for essential state services. "I'm not going to lie to you. I don't know where we'd go without the income tax," said Beebe. The Governor also discussed economic development, highways and regionalism with the group. |
