News in brief

NLR hospital adding

building to campus

A 150,000-square-foot, four-story building going up on the North Little Rock campus of the Baptist Health hospital system will meet demand for private physician space, a spokesman for the system said Wednesday.

Work on the $23.7 million project at 3201 Springhill Drive began last month. The building is expected to open in July 2019.

The building will have space for training, administration and clinical facilities, said spokesman Mark Lowman.

Baptist Health Medical Center-North Little Rock, a 225-bed, full-service hospital at 3333 Springhill Drive, had not had any construction for physician office space since it opened 18 years ago. The campus already includes one office building.

CDI Contractors, a national general contractor and construction management firm based in Little Rock, obtained a building permit for the project construction on April 2.

-- Noel Oman

Tyson called suitor

for Keystone Foods

Tyson Foods is one of several businesses reportedly expressing interest in acquiring Keystone Foods, a supplier of McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.

Tyson, Cargill Inc. and China's Fosun International Ltd. are currently in the running, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources familiar with the deal. They say parent company Marfrig Global wants more than $3 billion for Keystone, which has operations in the U.S., Asia and Australia. One source said an agreement may be reached in the next few weeks.

An initial public offering of Pennsylvania-based Keystone, purchased in 2010 for $1.26 billion, was established by Marfrig Global last year.

Marfrig acquired majority ownership of U.S.-based National Beef in April for $969 million, becoming the world's second-largest beef processor. To offset debt, Marfrig plans to sell Keystone.

Spokesmen for Cargill and Tyson said Wednesday that they won't comment on "rumors or speculation."

-- Nathan Owens

Index picks up 2.07;

ArcBest gains 3.3%

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 2.07 to 405.59 Wednesday.

Twelve stocks rose and four fell.

ArcBest rose 3.3 percent on average volume.

P.A.M. Transportation climbed 2.2 percent in heavy trading.

Walmart fell 3.1 percent with 32 million shares traded, almost three times its average.

Windstream fell 2.6 percent on average volume.

Total volume for the index was 47.7 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 05/10/2018

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