LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY “Most people think that no deal would have been worse than a bad deal.” Mark Lehmann, president of JMP Securities in San Francisco, on the “fiscal cliff” budget deal Article, 1D Bank CEO, wife shift shares to trusts
George Gleason, chairman and chief executive officer of Little Rock-based Bank of the Ozarks, and his wife, Linda, on Monday transferred more than 240,000 shares of company stock to five separate trusts for the benefit of their children and grandchildren.
George and Linda Gleason have no plans to dispose of the shares, Susan Blair, spokesman for the bank, said Wednesday.
The transfer is part of the Gleasons’ long-term estate planning, Blair said.
The shares have a value of more than $807,700.
George and Linda Gleason still own 3,333,422 shares of Bank of the Ozarks, almost 10 percent of the company stock. Their stock is worth about $111 million.
In addition, Bank of the Ozarks said Wednesday that it has approved a regular quarterly dividend of 15 cents a share to be paid on Jan. 25 to stockholders as of Jan. 18.
The dividend is an increase of 1 cent a share.
- David Smith
Boeing’s 737 Max orders top 1,000
Boeing Co. has received an order for 60 of its upgraded single-aisle 737s from Aviation Capital Group LLC, a deal with a $6 billion catalog value that pushed purchases of the new plane past 1,000.
The sale was completed in December and consists of 50 of the 737 Max-8 model and 10 of the Max-9 variant, Chicago-based Boeing said Wednesday in a statement.
Airlines and lessors typically buy at a discount to list prices.
Aviation Capital’s acquisition pushed orders for the 737 Max to 1,029, meeting a goal of about 1,000 for 2012 as Boeing plays catch-up with Airbus SAS, which outstripped Boeing in introducing an upgrade of its narrowbody airliner. The Max will feature more fuel-efficient engines and is set to enter service in 2017, after the scheduled 2015 debut for Airbus’ A320neo series.
“Reaching 1,000 orders in just over a year’s time from our first order” shows the aircraft’s value for customers, said Bob Feldmann, vice president for the jet program.
The plane maker was criticized after more than three years of delays on its most recent all-new jet, the composite plastic 787 Dreamliner, which was delivered to its first customer in late 2011.
Boeing unveiled plans to revamp its 737 with the Max variant in July of the same year, more than seven months after Airbus announced the neo, a lag that helped the European plane maker book record narrow-body orders in 2011.
- Bloomberg News
Buffett unit invests in solar projects
Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.
agreed to spend as much as $2.5 billion to build two solar projects in California that are set to be the world’s largest photovoltaic development.
MidAmerican acquired the 579-megawatt Antelope Valley projects in Kern and Los Angeles counties from SunPower Corp., according to a statement Wednesday.
MidAmerican will pay San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower $2 billion to $2.5 billion for the projects and a three-year contract to build them. SunPower also will operate and maintain the projects under a multiyear agreement with MidAmerican.
Buffett has been increasing investment in wind and solar farms and last year formed a MidAmerican unit to support the projects it’s acquired, including the $2.4 billion 550-megawatt Topaz solar farm in California. Chief Financial Officer Patrick Goodman said in November that the company favors bets on renewable energy amid high utility valuations. California is the biggest U.S. solar market.
Ingrid Ekstrom, a spokesman for SunPower, declined to specify how much of the total amount being spent is construction costs and how much is the purchase price.
SunPower is 66 percent owned by France’s Total SA.
Construction of the Antelope Valley project is due to begin this quarter, with completion by the end of 2015, SunPower said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Bloomberg NewsChina Steel group buys iron-ore stake
A group led by China Steel Corp. and Posco has agreed to pay $1.1 billion for 15 percent of ArcelorMittal Mines Canada Inc. to secure supplies of iron ore from two mines, ArcelorMittal said in a statement.
China Steel will take 3.68 percent for $270 million, Steve Lee, executive vice president at Taiwan’s biggest steelmaker, said Wednesday.
Kim Ji Young, a spokesman for Posco, the largest South Korean steelmaker, didn’t say how much the company will invest. Other members of the group are “financial investors,” the company said without elaborating.
The deal gives the group access to mines producing about 40 percent of Canada’s iron ore, according to ArcelorMittal’s website, as the cost of the raw material rises faster than steel prices.
China Steel’s stake will bring the company closer to a goal of getting 30 percent of its iron ore and coal needs from mines it has investments in by 2015. The deal is due to be completed over the first and second quarters, it said in the statement.
The unit operates two open pit mines and produces about 15 million metric tons of iron ore concentrate a year and more than 9 million tons of iron oxide pellets, according to its website.
- Bloomberg News
Court to assess Portugal’s budget
LISBON, Portugal - Bailed-out Portugal’s president has asked the country’s Constitutional Court to check whether new austerity measures included in this year’s state budget are lawful.
The government says the steep tax hikes and welfare cuts in its 2013 spending plan are needed to pull the country out of its debt hole. Portugal needed a $103 billion bailout in May 2011 to avert bankruptcy as it was engulfed by the eurozone’s financial crisis.
President Anibal Cavaco Silva said in his annual New Year’s message broadcast late Tuesday that he signed the budget into law because Portugal cannot afford a political crisis.
But, with opposition parties promising to challenge the budget in the courts, the head of state said he wanted to make sure the steps taking away long-standing entitlements are permissible.
- The Associated Press
Business, Pages 22 on 01/03/2013