May
2003
Virginia
Business
This
report is compiled from company releases, business
journals and newspapers from around the state.
If you have an item for these listings please:
mail it to:
For the Record
Virginia Business Magazine
P.O. Box 85333
Richmond, VA 23293
or e-mail it to ForTheRecord@va-business.com,
or fax it to (804)
649-6311
Mergers
and Acquisitions
Bedford Bancshares
Inc. and FNB Corp., of Christiansburg,
the parent of First National Bank, plan to merge
their companies valued at an expected $49.9 million,
resulting in Bedford Federal Savings Bank operating
as a wholly-owned subsidiary of FNB making FNB
the largest Virginia-based community banking organization.
(The Roanoke Times)
Dominion
Energy, a subsidiary of Richmond-based Dominion
Resources Inc., plans to buy Westmoreland
Coal Co.'s 20 percent interest in Dominion
Terminal Associates (not affiliated with Dominion
Resources), owner of a Newport News coal pier,
for $10.5 million. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
EYT,
a Gold Certified Partner for both Microsoft®
Business Solutions and Microsoft technology solutions
headquartered in Chantilly, acquired Southern
California-based Gorilla Consultants, a
professional services firm and Microsoft Triple-Gold
Certified Partner in Security Solutions, Enterprise
Systems and Commerce Solutions. (PR Newswire)
Gammapar
of Bedford County, a hardwood flooring manufacturer,
plans to acquire competitor PermaGrain of Pennsylvania,
a provider of high quality specialty flooring
products. (The Roanoke Times)
Hilb, Rogal
and Hamilton Co., an insurance intermediary
headquartered in Richmond, plans to acquire substantially
all of the assets of Sheppard Riley Coughlin Insurance
Agency Inc. of Boston, an insurance brokerage
firm which generates more than $10 million in
revenues annually. (Press release)
Owners of Richmond-based
Hungerford Mechanical Corp. and Atlantic
Industrial Constructors Inc. created a new
company, Atlantic Constructors Inc., by
buying back local operations from Encompass Services
Corp. of Houston, Texas, a contracting company
going through bankruptcy restructuring. (Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
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Deals
BCE Emergis
of Vienna and a la mode inc., an Oklahoma City-based
real estate software designer, agreed to bring
to together real estate appraisers in North America
with more than 14,000 mortgage originators by
connecting a la mode's Mercury Network to Emergis
(r) Vendor Services Exchange, a secure Web-based
solution for real-time placement, receipt and
management of settlement services. (Press release)
Max Media,
a broadcasting management company headquartered
in Virginia Beach, formed a partnership with Golden
Gate Capital of San Francisco, an equity investment
firm, and two other investment firms to acquire
small and middle market radio and television stations
through a $150 million investment. (Business
Wire)
McCandlish
Holton, a four-lawyer immigration practice,
plans to move to the Richmond law office of Reed
Smith. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Micro Warehouse
Gov/Ed Inc. of Ashburn, a provider of technology
products and services, joined Apple Computer Inc.'s
new Apple Authorized Education Agent Program to
increase the adoption of Apple products and technologies
within the education market. (Business Wire)
Pacel Corp.,
a provider of outsourced HR solutions based in
Manassas, chose KBK Ventures Inc. of Houston,
a firm specializing in representing small and
mid-cap companies whose stocks are not properly
recognized by the investing public, to direct
and facilitate all investor relations for the
company. (Business Wire)
Regulatory
DataCorp International, ChoicePoint and GuideStar
of Williamsburg announced plans to offer a new
global due diligence service named, "CharityGuard",
designed for the comprehensive screening of charities
and charitable contributions to ensure the integrity
of their direct and "matching" charitable
donations. (Press release)
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New
Plants and Companies
Harvest Pharmaceuticals
Inc., a newly-formed pharmaceutical sales
and distribution company, plans to locate a marketing
call center and warehouse/distribution facility
in Grayson County. The $3 million investment is
expected to create 30 jobs. Virginia competed
with North Carolina for the project. (Press
release)
INFe Inc.
of Falls Church, an investment banking firm,
plans to spin off several subsidiaries, streamline
operations and function as a holding company by
making acquisitions of operating companies.The
measures are designed to help INFe reach profitability
quickly (PR Newswire)
Marvin Windows
and Doors, a made-to-order window and door
manufacturer based in Minnesota, chose Roanoke
County's Valley Gateway Business Park as the site
of a new manufacturing facility for its line of
Integrity Windows and Doors.The company plans
to invest $32 million in the new plant over the
next five years, creating 150 - 350 jobs. (Press
release)
Money Mailer,
a leader in the direct mail industry headquartered
in Garden Grove, Calif., plans to locate a printing,
packaging and mailing operation in an existing
building in Franklin. The $8.5 million investment
will create 160 jobs over the next five years.
Virginia competed with North Carolina and Tennessee
for the project. (Press release)
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Executive
Promotions
Gary Lisota,
president and COO, AMSEC in Virginia Beach. He
previously held the title of COO only. (Daily
Press)
Martin L.
"Mell" Vaughan, chairman and CEO,
Hilb, Rogal and Hamilton in Richmond. He previously
held positions of president and COO. (Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
Merritt
W. Mayher, president and CEO, Schwarzschild
Jewelers Inc. in Richmond. A former vice president
for Tiffany & Co. jewelers. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
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Contracts
Anteon International,
Fairfax: $80 million over five years to provide
support to U.S. Army units and installations worldwide
through the U.S. Army Forces Command in Atlanta,
Georgia. (PR Newswire); a nine-year, 10-month
$55.4 million subcontract if all options are exercised
by Lockheed Martin Corp. to support the U.S. Navy
Aegis Combat System Integration program. (Press
release); a five-year blanket purchase agreement
with a ceiling of $10 million by the Department
of Defense, Office of the Comptroller to provide
information technology support to the DoD Financial
Management Modernization Program. (Press release)
Bio-Track,
Richmond: $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department
of Defense to develop a state-of-the-art, one-handed
battlefield tourniquet and breathing tube that
can be used in remote locations by special operations
forces. (Press release)
CACI International,
Arlington: $100 million indefinite delivery/quantity
contract for one base year and four option years
to support the U. S. Army Forces Command on the
multiple-award Operations, Planning, Training
and Resource Support Services contract. (PR
Newswire)
Centex Construction
Co./Mid Atlantic division, Fairfax: $55 million
from the General Services Administration, National
Capital Region, in partnership with the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services for construction
of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
Office Building Phase 2a at the Federal Research
Center in White Oak, Silver Spring, Md., slated
for completion in November 2004. (Press release)
General
Dynamics, Falls Church, Electric Boat Division:
$17.2 million contract modification to a $30.6
million contract awarded in March 2000 from the
U.S. Navy for research and development work on
Seawolf-class submarines. Total five-year contract
worth $138 million if all options are exercised
and funded. (PR Newswire); Land Systems:
$38.5 million delivery order from the U. S.Army
Tank-automotive and Armaments Command for advanced
materials to support the assembly of 125 Abrams
Integrated Management tanks. (PR Newswire);
C4 Systems: $9.8 million modification to its multi-year
Common Hardware/Software II contract for the Project
Manager Army Tactical Operations Centers/Air and
Missile Defense Command and Control Systems. (PR
Newswire); Land Systems: $5 million from the
U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command
for M93 and M93A1 Fox contractor logistics support.
(PR Newswire)
Identix
Public Sector Inc., Fairfax: one five-year
contract with the team of AFG Construction Management
with a value up to $10 million from an unnamed
U.S. government agency and a three-year indefinite
delivery/quantity contract worth up to $1 million
per year from American University for construction
management services. (PR Newswire)
Innovative
Logistics Techniques Inc., McLean: $3.4 million
for projects at the Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base in Dayton, Ohio, to provide financial and
program management support. (PR Newswire)
In-Q-Tel,
Arlington and Convera, Vienna: $1,5 million from
In-Q-Tel to Convera for the enhancements to its
products and In-Q-Tel will receive two-year warrants
to purchase 137,711 shares of Convera common stock
for key technologies and tools to help address
the critical IT challenges facing the intelligence
community. (Press release)
ManTech
International Corp., Fairfax: an indefinite-delivery/quantity
contract with a base period of three years and
five one-year options contract under the Federal
Technology Service's CONNECTIONS Program from
the General Services Administration. (Business
Wire)
McDonald
Bradley Inc., Herndon: $7.8 million from the
Department of Defense for the intelligence portion
of the Net-Centric Enterprise Services project.
(PR Newswire)
SI International,
Reston: $43.5 million over nine years if all options
are exercised with a one-year base period with
eight one-year options to provide space sensors
engineering and technical services support to
the Air Force Space Command. (Press release);
$5.4 million over eight years to provide planning,
integration, operations and information warfare
support for Headquarters U.S. Central Air Forces.
(Press release)
SRA International,
Fairfax: $115 million over five years if all options
are exercised under the U.S. Department of Transportation's
Information Technology Omnibus Procurement II
contract to provide a broad range of advanced
information technology services and solutions
to the National Guard Bureau Chief Information
Officer and Reserve Component. (Press release);
$13.9 million over five years if all options are
exercised by the U.S. Navy's Naval Education and
Training Command and Naval Personnel Development
Command under the Chief Information Officer Solutions
and Partners 2 Innovations contract to provide
various services. (Press release); $105
million over six years if all options are exercised
by the General Services Administration Federal
Systems Integration and Management Center to provide
a broad range of enterprise-wide network engineering
and management services to support the U.S. General
Accounting Office's IT infrastructure. (Press
release)
VERSAR Inc.,
Springfield: $1.1 billion ceiling over a five-year
period among thirty other contractors with the
Air Force Center of Environment Excellence to
promote military readiness through environmental
design services. (PR Newswire)
W.M. Jordan
Co., Newport News: $ 55.3 million for the
construction of the 317,000-square-foot Hampton
Roads Convention Center in Hampton slated for
completion in January 2005. (Daily Press)
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Cutbacks
and Closings
The Aerus
Electrolux plant in Bristol, a vacuum cleaner
manufacturer, will shut down, eliminating 250
jobs. Assembly and some manufacturing will be
transferred to Eureka's El Paso, Texas facility,
a subsidiary of the Swedish firm AB Electrolux.
(Bristol Herald Courier)
Bush Industries,
a furniture manufacturer headquartered in Jamestown,
N.Y., closed its 285,000-square-foot plant in
St. Paul, laying off most of its 140 employees
due to competition from imported glass and metal
products softening the market for Bush's particleboard
and fiberboard products. (Bristol Herald Courier)
CSX
of Richmond, a railroad and shipping company,
plans to close its downtown headquarters and move
it effective immediately to Jacksonville, Fla.,
home of its railroad operations. (Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
Federal-Mogul
Corp., a Southfield, Mich., producer of engine
components, seals and other auto parts, plans
to lay off 260 workers after a deal to sell its
automotive lighting factory in Copeland Industrial
Park in Hampton fell through. (Daily Press)
Gateway
Inc. of Poway, Calif., a desktop computer
assembler, laid off nearly a third of its employees
at its Hampton manufacturing plant as part of
a $400 million cost-reduction plan to eliminate
about 17 percent of Gateway's national work force.
(The Virginian-Pilot)
NewRoads
Inc., a customer service provider based in
Greenwich, Conn., plans to close two of its Roanoke
Valley operations, eliminating 130 jobs. (The
Roanoke Times)
Reciprocal
of America, an insurer of Richmond, fired
nearly a quarter of its employees in the latest
installment of its financial woes after being
placed in receivership by the State Corporation
Commission. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
State Farm
Insurance Co., plans to move 151 jobs out
of its Charlottesville office over the next two
to four years in an effort to consolidate its
life insurance division due to intense competition
coupled with losses in the insurance industry.
(The Daily Progress)
Stillwater
Inc. of Goshen, a family-owned textile company,
laid off 30 of its 125 workers in its dye plant
in Goshen and plans to close its Augusta County
plant by the end of April due to competition in
a market inundated with cheaper, foreign-made
goods. (The Roanoke Times)
Walker Manufacturing,
a division of Lake Forest, Ill.-based Tenneco
Automotive Inc., a manufacturer of automotive
emissions control and ride control products and
systems, plans to cut 106 jobs at its Harrisonburg
plant due to reduced demand in the automotive
market. (Daily News-Record)
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Divestitures
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Expansions
America
Online Inc. plans to launch a music service,
"MusicNet on AOL" that will enable its
subscribers to listen to newly released music
and copy onto CDs for a fixed monthly fee. (The
Washington Post)
Bowers and
Associates, a Leesburg-based provider of civil
engineers, land surveyors and landscape architects,
opened a satellite office in Winchester as a way
of differentiating itself to lure companies to
the area. (The Winchester Star)
Delta Connection,
an airline company based in Newport News, plans
to offer an additional daily round-trip regional
jet flight between Newport News/Williamsburg and
Atlanta beginning June 16, 2003. (PR Newswire)
Hudd Distribution,
a subsidiary of Maersk Logistics, a leading logistics
company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark,
plans to expand its existing distribution facility
in the city of Chesapeake's Gateway Commerce Park
through a $14 million investment creating 260
jobs. Virginia competed with Georgia and South
Carolina for the project. (Press release)
Lear Corp.
of Southfield, Mich., an automotive interior systems
supplier, plans a $60 million reinvestment in
four existing Virginia facilities creating 200
jobs in the commonwealth. (Press release)
Merge Computer
Group, a Richmond-based full-service information
technology consulting firm, was selected as a
qualified vendor for the North Carolina Information
Technology Supplemental Convenience Contract.
(PR Newswire)
Metalsa
of Monterrey, Mexico, a truck frame manufacturer,
plans to expand in Roanoke adding 150,000 square
feet to its 185,000-square-foot facility in Botetourt
County's Vista Corporate Park through a $25 million
investment creating 70 jobs. (The Roanoke Times)
Norfolk
Southern Corp., a transportation company based
in Norfolk, formed a Mexican subsidiary, NorfolkSouthernMexicana,
S. de R.L. de C.V. to market the railroad's transportation
and logistics service in Mexico. (PR Newswire)
Norfolk
Wire & Electronics of Richmond, a wholesale
distributor of networking products for voice,
data, sound and video applications in businesses
and homes, opened a warehouse/office facility
in Raleigh, N.C. (Press release)
Phillip
Morris USA plans to relocate the cigarette
giant's headquarters from New York to Richmond
in June at the former Reynolds Metals headquarters
on West Broad Street in Henrico County in an effort
to save more than $60 million a year. It also
plans to invest $300 million in its cigarette-manufacturing
operations on Commerce Road in South Richmond.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Sentara
Virginia Beach General Hospital in Virginia
Beach, proposed a $31 million expansion and renovation
to construct a four-story, 108-room addition to
keep pace with the health-care trend of more patients
demanding private rooms. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Southern
Financial Bancorp Inc., a community bank based
in Warrenton, plans to open the state's only international
department in Richmond to serve the estimated
3,000 U.S. exporters, 1,500 U.S. importers and
more than 160 foreign-owned businesses that operate
in ports in Richmond and Norfolk. (Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
Sunrise
Senior Living, a provider of senior living
services based in McLean, plans to expand its
corporate headquarters, creating more than 140
jobs through the acquisition of Marriott Senior
Living Services Inc. of Maryland. (Press release)
Symantec
Corp. of Cupertino, California, a developer
of anti-virus software, plans to add 30 jobs at
its facility in the Point Business Park in Newport
News as it consolidates its email security software
development to one location. (Daily Press)
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Real
Estate
Binswanger/CBB,
a Philadelphia-based full-service real estate
organization, represented VDO North America, a
supplier of electronic information and control
systems, in the sale of a two-building, 207,580-square-foot
complex on 34 acres in the Fort Collier Industrial
Park in Winchester to Winchester Cold Storage.
(Business Wire)
Divaris
Real Estate Inc. of Virginia Beach, announced
the sale of a parcel of land in the parking lot
of One Columbus Center in Virginia Beach to TowneBank,
a provider of lender services based in Virginia
Beach, who plans to construct a two-story, 16,000-square-foot
bank building. (Press release); announced
the signing of a lease with Galyan's Trading Company
Inc., an active lifestyle retailer based in Plainfield,
Ind., for a two-level, 84,000-square-foot Galyan's
store at the Town Center of Virginia Beach. (Press
release)
FDIC
of Washington, D.C., plans to expand its office
space in Arlington through a $75 million investment
in the Virginia Square for 415,472 square feet
of space. (Press release)
The Timmons
Group, a civil-engineering company headquartered
in Chesterfield County, shifted its technology-services
division from Mechanicsville to the city's canal
district. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Troutman
Sanders of Virginia Beach, a full-service
commercial international law firm, announced that
both Virginia Beach and Norfolk offices have moved
to new locations within the Hampton Roads area
in order to accommodate recent growth and planned
expansion.The Virginia Beach office went to the
new Town Center, and the Norfolk office has moved
to 150 West Main St. (Press release)
Washington
Real Estate Investment Trust, a Rockville,
Md.-based self-administered, self-managed equity
real estate investment trust, announced a 116,338-square-foot
ten-year lease with Sunrise Assisted Living for
the 7900 Westpark Drive, McLean building. (Press
release)
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Financing
Advance
Auto Parts Inc. of Roanoke, received commitments
for an additional $350 million in bank debt through
an amendment to its existing credit agreement
as amended and restated on June 28, 2002. (PR
Newswire)
NETSEC
of Herndon, a provider of managed security services,
raised $10 million in additional financing through
existing investors, Mobius Venture Capital and
ArrowPath Venture Capital, to expand the company's
market focus for global enterprise and government
customers. (PR Newswire)
Surety Inc.,
a provider of data integrity solutions headquartered
in Herndon, received $2 million in funding from
Zenerji, a firm specializing in business-to-business
software technology investing, to be used for
sales and marketing. (PR Newswire)
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Legal
Capital
One Financial Corp., accused of age discrimination
in a lawsuit, is facing the AARP which has signed
on as co-counsel in the suit with the Richmond
law firm of Butler, Williams, Pantele & Skilling.
(Richmond Times-Dispatch)
CPV Warren, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Maryland-based Competitive Power
Ventures, a national power development company
and energy marketer, plans to begin construction
on the SCC-approved $280 million, 520-megawatt
plant near Front Royal, which will burn natural
gas in two combustion turbines and will be able
to use low-sulfur oil as a backup fuel. (Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
Haleos Inc., a
now defunct producer of optical components for
the telecommunications industry based in Blacksburg,
had Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings dismissed,
eliminating Haleo's obligation to pay off unsecured
creditors, including some 200 former employees
owed back wages. (The Roanoke Times)
Ntelos Inc. of
Waynesboro, a telecommunications firm, filed
for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S.
Bankruptcy Code in Richmond. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Portsmouth Hotel Associates,
owner of the Holiday Inn-Portsmouth, filed for
a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to prevent a foreclosure
by Wachovia Bank N.A. (The Virginian-Pilot)
US Airways, an
airliner based in Arlington, had its proposed
plan of reorganization accepted by all eight
debtors. (PR Newswire)
The Commonwealth of
Virginia filed suits against ten tobacco
manufacturers outside Virginia, for sales of
tobacco in Virginia deemed illegal because of
failure to pay into escrow accounts. Tobacco
companies not participating in the Master Settlement
Agreement are required to deposit funds into
such accounts to cover potential future medical
expenses or other costs associated with tobacco
use. (Press release)
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Noteworthy
Craig
Byrum, a Yorktown resident with 33 years of
engineering and design experience, will coordinate
all design schedules for Northrop Grumman Newport
News on the proposed CVN-21 warship, previously
known as the CVNX, expected to cost at least $11.7
million. (Daily Press)
Frank Batten,
the first rector of Old Dominion University's
board, donated $32 million to ODU. Three-quarters
of the money will go to establish faculty chairs,
primarily in science, engineering and technology,
and the remainder will help finance faculty research.
(The Virginian-Pilot); The retired chairman
of Landmark Communications also donated $2.2 million
to Hollins University to endow a chair at the
university. (The Roanoke Times)
GuideStar,
a premier source of information on U.S. charitable
organizations based in Williamsburg, has driven
the creation of GuideStar UK, a new British charity
developed in collaboration with and modeled on
its U.S. namesake. The British Treasury's Invest
to Save budget funded the launch equivalent to
$4.75 million in U.S. currency. (Press release)
Guy E. Beatty,
chairman of the Beatty Companies, and his wife,
Betty, established a charitable lead trust
naming the Richmond-based Virginia College Fund
as a beneficiary. The amount donated to the VCF
will amount to approximately $40 million over
a 30-year period. At least half of the funds are
to be used to provide full scholarships to students
attending colleges represented by the VCF. The
remaining funds are to be used to strengthen and
improve the infrastructure of each college to
enhance the opportunity of employing all of the
new innovations in technology available. (Press
release)
Inova Health
System was awarded a $5 million challenge
grant by the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation
to build a health education center in Fairfax
County to house Northern Virginia's first medical
school to be named the Claude Moore Health Education
Center on the campus of Inova Fairfax Hospital.
The estimated cost of the building, home of the
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine-Inova
Division, is $10 million. (The Washington Post)
Phoenix
Integration, a provider of integrated solutions
for scientific and technical organizations based
in Blacksburg, donated its ModelCenter and Analysis
Server software to Carnegie Mellon University,
Georgia Tech, University of Michigan-Dearborn
and Virginia Tech last year totaling more than
$1 million to support research in aerospace, automotive
and computer engineering. (Press release)
Verizon
Wireless, the nation's leading provider of
wireless communications with operations in Virginia,
has been named one of the nation's top 100 companies
by Training magazine for its continued commitment
to employee development and for connecting its
training programs to business objectives. It ranked
26th on the magazine's annual list of the "Top
100 Training Organizations in America." (Press
release)
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