Arvest's purchase of Bear State closes
Arvest Bank on Friday closed on its acquisition of Little Rock-based Bear State Financial Inc., the Fayetteville-based bank said.
Arvest and Bear State are legally one bank, but they will continue to operate under separate names until the fall when Bear State Bank branches, accounts and operations will transition to Arvest.
The deal, announced last year, is a cash transaction valued at $391 million.
On Dec. 31, Bear State had $2.2 billion in assets, $1.7 billion in loans and $1.5 billion in deposits. With the purchase Arvest, the second-largest bank in Arkansas, will have $18.8 billion in assets.
Bear State has 44 locations in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
With the acquisition, Arvest will have branches in 135 communities in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Bear State has banking locations in 18 cities served by Arvest.
-- David Smith
Dallas investor buys LR medical building
Ridgeline Capital Partners, a Dallas-based commercial real estate investment firm, recently bought a three-story medical building in Little Rock's Chenal Valley neighborhood.
The price Ridgeline paid for the 43,000-square-foot building was unavailable because the building sits on leased property.
"The only thing that was sold was the improvements" on the property, said Wes Martin of Coldwell Banker Commercial Hathaway Group. "The buyer and the seller have an agreement in place not to release that."
Construction of the building at 16115 St. Vincent Way near the Promenade at Chenal shopping center was completed in 2015.
The building is 68 percent occupied by six medical practices specializing in radiology, imaging, dermatology, pediatrics, dentistry and pharmacy.
-- David Smith
Index down by 3.94, ends week at 401.95
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 3.94 to 401.95 Friday.
Eleven stocks declined, and six advanced.
Home BancShares rose 1.7 percent in heavy trading and Uniti Group fell 3.5 percent in light trading.
For the week, 13 stocks advanced and four declined.
For the week, USA Truck led the index's four trucking firms with returns above 4 percent.
Dillard's fell 5 percent for the week.
Total volume for the index was 20.3 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 19.4 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 04/21/2018