Turner Grain trustee gets $2.1M returned
A federal judge has approved a $2.1 million settlement in one of the largest "clawback" lawsuits involved in the bankruptcy of Turner Grain Merchandising Inc.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Phyllis Jones approved the settlement after no one filed objections in a case in which the trustee for Turner's bankruptcy estate initially sought $5.9 million from AgHeritage Farm Credit Services, based in Little Rock.
The trustee, M. Randy Rice of Little Rock, contended that the payments to AgHeritage from Turner were made within 90 days of the Brinkley grain dealer's bankruptcy petition and were subject to being returned to the estate for the benefit of all unsecured creditors.
Turner Grain closed in 2014, owing farmers and other entities some $40 million.
AgHeritage and Rice went into settlement talks just a couple of days before the case was set for trial in late June.
Rice filed 47 "clawback" lawsuits seeking the return of Turner payments made within 90 days of Turner's bankruptcy petition. Twenty-five of those lawsuits have been settled, bringing about $3.5 million into the estate.
-- Stephen Steed
Acxiom's CEO earns
$5.4M in pay, stock
Scott Howe, chief executive officer at Acxiom Corp., made $5.4 million last year, the Conway-based data provider said in its recently filed preliminary proxy statement.
Howe earned a salary of $670,000, $4.1 million in stock awards and $604,000 in other compensation, the proxy said.
Howe's total income was 59 times more than the compensation of the median employee at Acxiom, who earned $92,118 last year. The median means half the employees, excluding Howe, made more than $92,118, and half made less.
Other top executives and their pay last year include Warren Jenson, chief financial officer, $2.8 million; James Arra, co-president of LiveRamp, $3.4 million; Richard Erwin, president of Acxiom Marketing Solutions, $1.5 million; Anneka Gupta, co-president of LiveRamp, $3.2 million; and Travis May, former chief growth officer, $4.5 million.
Interpublic Group of New York has agreed to pay $2.3 billion in cash to acquire Acxiom's largest business, Acxiom Marketing Solutions. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.
-- David Smith
Arkansas Index dips
by 0.07 to end week
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, lost 0.07 to 451.21 Friday.
Ten stocks advanced and six declined.
Murphy Oil rose 3.8 percent in average volume. Dillard's fell 2.3 percent in light trading.
For the week, 14 stocks were up and two lost ground.
Windstream climbed 26.2 percent for the week. Murphy Oil fell 6.1 percent for the week.
Total volume for the index was 21.8 million shares on Friday. The average daily volume for the week was 18 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 08/11/2018