Stephens Family Splitting Business
by June 5, 2006 12:00 am 1,100 views
The heirs of Jack and Witt Stephens announced on May 22 that they would be reorganizing the family business into two entities with both separate and joint business interests.
Warren A. Stephens, son of the late Jackson T. Stephens and CEO of Stephens Group Inc., will own one of the two new entities. He will “acquire from the holding company 100 percent of Stephens Inc. and all related financial services companies,” according to the written announcement.
Warren Stephens will also acquire the Stephens building and nearby Capital Hotel in Little Rock.
Warren Stephens’ cousins, siblings Witt Stephens Jr. and Elizabeth Stephens Campbell, will acquire the Stephens Group Inc. name and “form a new entity to pursue private equity investments on their behalf.”
The families will remain 50/50 partners in the holding company, which will be renamed SH Corp. It will continue to own and operate joint investments like Las Vegas-based Stephens Media Group and Stephens Production Co. “as well as other private and public investments the families have made over the last 73 years,” according to the statement.
In Northwest Arkansas, the family’s holdings include a Stephens Inc. investment office in Fayetteville and The Morning News of Springdale, which falls under the media group.
Completion of the reorganization will likely take several months, Stephens spokesman Frank Thomas said, in part because Warren Stephens’ acquisition of Stephens Inc. is subject to federal regulatory approval.
The Stephens Group is No. 2 on the list of Arkansas’ largest private companies according to Arkansas Business.
Jack Stephens died last July and Witt Stephens died in 1991. Witt Stephens’ third child, Pam Stephens, died in 2003.