Home BancShares
buying Florida bank
Home BancShares, which owns Centennial Bank branches in three states, has agreed to buy Florida Business BancGroup of Tampa, Fla., the Conway-based bank said Wednesday.
Home BancShares will pay about $102 million -- about $81 million in stock and the rest in cash -- for the Florida bank, which has six Bay Cities Bank branches in the Tampa area and loan offices in Tampa and Sarasota.
The Florida bank has about $541 million in assets, $392 million in loans and $461 million in deposits.
The purchase increases Home BancShares' market share in Tampa to 1.1 percent with $713 million in total deposits.
When the deal closes, Home BancShares will have $5.1 billion in assets. The deal is expected to close in the next three or four months.
The purchase is the 14th for Home BancShares since 2010.
-- David Smith
Fahr hired to lead El Dorado newsroom
Veteran journalist Rick Fahr will become managing editor of the El Dorado News-Times beginning July 6, the paper's general manager Ronnie Bell announced.
Fahr is the former publisher of the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway and the River Valley Leader in Russellville. He also was managing editor of The Courier in Russellville and The Jonesboro Sun. Fahr is a graduate of Lyon College in Batesville.
Fahr will be leaving his post as public information officer for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
"We are more than pleased that someone with Rick's background and experience is joining our team here at the News-Times," Bell said.
Under his leadership, Fahr said the El Dorado paper will "tell the unafraid truth" and help the city grow in a positive way.
-- David Smith
State index off 0.84; Bear State dips 6.5%
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 0.84 to 372.18 Wednesday.
"U.S. stocks moved higher on Wednesday following the [Federal Open Market Committee] policy announcement to leave rates unchanged," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
Shares of Bear State Financial fell 6.5 percent in active trading.
America's Car-Mart dropped 2.1 percent on heavy volume.
Windstream gained 2 percent in light trading.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 06/18/2015