Big Creek to acquire two Arkansas banks
Big Creek Bancshares, parent company of Forrest City-based Armor Bank, has agreed to buy Tyronza Bancshares and First Delta Bank of Marked Tree, the banks announced Friday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The transaction is expected to close this spring. Upon closing, First Delta Bank will become a subsidiary of Big Creek Bancshares. First Delta Bank branches will become branches of Armor Bank in the first quarter of 2020.
Customers should continue to bank as they always have, said Chad May, chief executive officer of Armor Bank. No changes to customer accounts will be made until next year.
Armor Bank has $90.5 million in assets. In 2016, Big Creek Bancshares acquired the 98-year-old Forrest City Bank and named it Armor Bank. Armor Bank has two locations in Forrest City and this year opened a branch in Little Rock on Cantrell Road.
First Delta Bank, established in 1951, has $59.6 million in assets and three locations in Marked Tree, Tyronza and Trumann.
-- David Smith
Meatless 'meat' firm sets terms for IPO
Beyond Meat, a maker of food designed to appear and taste like chicken and beef, set the terms of an initial public offering on Monday that could raise almost $184 million.
The California meatless "meat" company on Monday said in a regulatory filing that it wants to sell as many as 8.75 million shares of common stock valued between $19 and $21 a share.
In a news release, the company said proceeds would go to "expand research and development and sales and marketing capabilities" at its manufacturing sites and expenses related to the offering. In the past year, Beyond Meat has expanded its retail and restaurant customer base with plans to sell its products globally.
Since it was founded in 2009, Beyond Meat has received backing from the companies and philanthropists such as Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Humane Society and Springdale-based Tyson Foods.
Tyson has been investing in companies that make alternative protein products and has plans to bring its own meat substitute products to market.
If the public offering is approved, the company's ticker in trading on the Nasdaq Global Market would be BYND.
-- Nathan Owens
Arkansas Index falls 2.34, ends at 420.37
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 2.34 to 420.37 Monday.
"U.S. stocks were little changed on Monday, as investors remain cautious ahead of the heavy release of quarterly earnings reports from major companies," said Chris Harkins, managing director with Raymond James & Associates in Little Rock.
Total volume for the index was 16.4 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 04/23/2019