What?s the Big Deal? Wal-Mart and Asda

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s $10.7 billion buyout of Asda Group PLC of England last June wasn’t just the biggest deal struck in Northwest Arkansas in 1999. It was the biggest deal in the entire state and in the history of the world’s largest retailer.

It was twice as big as the state’s biggest deals of 1998 and 1997 put together. And it was more than 12 times larger than the next-biggest, unrelated deal.

While it can’t hold a candle to deals like America Online-Time Warner, Wal-Mart’s Asda purchase was by far the biggest deal ever in Arkansas.

Asda Group is a chain of more than 230 discount stores in Great Britain that had operated on a distinctly Waltonian business strategy. The fit between the two companies has apparently been remarkably smooth.

“[Former Wal-Mart CEO] David Glass thinks we’re more like Wal-Mart than Wal-Mart,” Asda CEO Allan Leighton said late last year.

The issuance of $5.8 billion in bonds to help pay for Wal-Mart’s cash purchase of Asda even wound up ranking second on the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s list of Top Deals of 1999.

One-third of the top 15 business deals made anywhere in the state during 1999 had Northwest corridor connections. Genesis Capital Corp. of Van Buren checked in at No. 8 statewide and No. 3 in Northwest Arkansas with its $76.6 million purchase of Motor Sports on Dirt Inc. in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Williams Tools Inc. of Fort Smith was acquired by Weatherford International Inc. of Houston for $63.7 million.

That was good enough to be the 11th-largest deal in the state and the fourth-largest in Northwest Arkansas.

P.A.M Transportation Services Inc., the Tontitown truckload carrier, was No. 13 statewide and No. 5 locally with its $48.9 million buyout of Decker Transport Co. of Riverdale, N.J.

P.A.M. CEO Bob Weaver said shortly after the Decker acquisition that it’s his company’s goal to grow its revenue by 20 percent every year.

“Everyone has different reasons for trying to increase their top line,” Weaver says.

“I’ m doing it because, whether you want to admit it or not, there’s this mindset out there that if you’re a public company, you have to grow the top and bottom line.

“In this business, there’s a good supply and demand for freight right now, but that’s not always the case.”

Rounding out Northwest Arkansas’ top 10 were Fayetteville-based Southwestern Energy Co’s $32 million sale of its Missouri natural gas business to Atmos Energy Corp. of Dallas; Clear Channel Communications Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, bought Fayetteville radio stations KKIX-FM, KEZA-FM, KJEM-FM and KMNF-FM for $23.5 million; Arkansas Best Corp. of Fort Smith bought out its wholly owned subsidiary, Treadco Inc. of Fort Smith, for $23.19 million, Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies Inc. of Springdale issued $16.5 million worth of bonds to fund its expansion.

Bancshares Inc. of Bentonville and Arkansas National had a $10 million private stock offering to repay a line of credit.

Eight of the top 10 Northwest Arkansas deals came from Benton or Washington counties, or about 99 percent of the $16.6 billion the top 10 deals generated.