Freightways Tops Y2K?s Biggest Deals
by February 5, 2001 12:00 am 67 views
American Freightways Corp. came through the initial gas crunch of 2000 in much better shape than other trucking companies. But that didn’t stop the Harrison less-than-truckload firm from agreeing on Nov. 13 to sell its operations to Memphis-based FedEx Corp. for a total package worth $1.2 billion. The deal was expected to be completed Feb. 9.
It was not only the biggest deal struck with Northwest Arkansas companies in 2000, but more than doubled the second-largest transaction in Arkansas. El Dorado’s First United Bancshares Inc. sold to Tupelo, Miss.-based BancorpSouth Inc. for $416.2 million in April.
In fact, six of the 11 largest deals in Arkansas during 2000 involved Northwest Arkansas businesses.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville was involved in the area’s third and fifth-largest deals. Its $140.9 million purchase of Great Britain’s Alliance UniChem PLC was announced in September.
In April, Wal-Mart announced it was paying J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. of Lowell $100 million per year to manage shipments and logistics from Wal-Mart’s 14 “centerpoint” (cross-dock) distribution centers nationwide. Previously, Wal-Mart had some 50 trucking companies that it would call on to ship goods from the cross-dock centers.
Fayetteville was involved in the second and sixth-largest transactions in the area. In April, StaffMark Inc. sold its core staffing division to Little Rock’s Stephens Group Inc. for $190 million. The Stephens Group also got the StaffMark name, and StaffMark Inc. became Edgewater Technology Inc.
In March, Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville secured an $85.2 million bond issue from Arkansas Development Finance Authority for hospital revenue bonds.
The new WRMC, which is hoping to open in spring of 2002, will be located just west of the North Hills Medical Park on the north side of Fayetteville. The 280,000 SF building will be constructed on 18 acres of the 45-acre site.
In December, Van Buren’s Loislaw.com Inc. sold its business to Wolters Kluwer NV of Amsterdam for $111.2 million.
Perhaps the most talked about deal of 2000 for the state was a $51.8 project for the expansion of Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.