Simmons Bank said Tuesday that Paul D. Kanneman has joined the company as executive vice president and chief information officer. 

Kanneman most recently worked for 14 years for Grant Thornton of Dallas, an international accounting firm that provides tax and advisory services to businesses and public-sector entities around the world. 

Simmons said Kanneman has more than 30 years of experience in management consulting, technology management and governance advisory services. At Simmons, his duties will include management of information technology infrastructure, physical and information security, data analytics, business applications and information technology project management. 

After graduating from the University of Toledo, Kanneman served as a U.S. Army intelligence officer for seven years. He later worked for the global management consulting firms of Booz Allen & Hamilton and Andersen Consulting. Kanneman also started his own technology services company, which grew to more than 40 employees before being acquired, according to Simmons.

From 1994-98, Kanneman was the CIO for the Zale Corp., responsible for technology supporting more than 1,800 retail locations, three credit card processing and customer service centers with more than 12,000 employees, the corporate headquarters, and a distribution center and supply warehouse.

Simmons Bank is the subsidiary bank of Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff. 

IberiaBank Corp. of Lafayette, Louisiana, said Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Sabadell United Bank N.A. from Banco de Sabadell S.A. of Barcelona in a stock and cash transaction valued at $1.025 billion.

The deal, already approved by the boards of both companies, is set to close in the second half of the year. It will make Florida IberiaBank's biggest state by deposits, and gives the company a presence in each of the five largest markets in the Southeast, according to its CEO.

"We are very pleased to have the opportunity to bolster our South Florida franchise by joining forces with the exceptional team at Sabadell United," Daryl G. Byrd, IberiaBank's president and CEO, said in a news release. "With a population of over six million people, the greater Miami area is a dynamic market with a strong concentration of commercial and industrial clients that are particularly attractive to us. 

"Sabadell United's deep commercial and retail lending base, combined with strong core deposit funding and quality credit underwriting, provides an excellent fit with our unique culture and business model."

Sabadell United has $5.8 billion in assets. Headquartered in Miami, it has 26 branches in Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Sarasota, and Collier counties.

IberiaBank has 199 bank branch offices and three loan production offices in Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, and Georgia; 24 title insurance offices in Arkansas and Louisiana; and mortgage representatives in 69 locations in 10 states. It has $21.6 billion in assets.

Home BancShares Inc. Chairman Johnny Allison received a $3.6 million compensation package in fiscal 2016, up from $2.8 million in the previous year, according to the company's proxy statement, filed Thursday.

The publicly traded company (Nasdaq: HOMB), the parent company of Centennial Bank, reported compensation increases for Allison and CEO and President C. Randall Sims. Allison and two other executives received additional payments by exercising stock options.

Allison's total compensation of $3.6 million included salary of $330,000, up from $300,000 in 2015, and stock awards worth $2.5 million. He realized an additional $2.6 million by exercising stock options.

Sims' total compensation of $317,539 included salary of $285,000, up from $275,000 in 2015, and a $10,000 bonus. 

Other executives and their compensation: 

Tracy M. French, CEO and president of Centennial Bank, had total compensation of $659,061, down from $2.2 million in 2015. His 2016 package included salary of $385,000, up from $360,000 in 2015, and a $192,000 bonus. French realized an additional $1.1 million by exercising stock options.

Kevin D. Hester, chief lending officer, had total compensation of $620,447, down from $1.6 million in 2015. His 2016 package included salary of $325,000, up from $300,000 in 2015, and a $162,000 bonus.

Brian S. Davis, chief financial officer and treasurer, had total compensation of $477,092, down from $1.7 million in 2015. His 2016 package included a salary of $300,000, up from $225,105 in 2015, and a $150,000 bonus. Davis realized an additional $289,562 by exercising stock options.

Home BancShares will hold its annual meeting on April 20 in Conway. There, shareholders will be asked to:

• vote on a proposal to elect the nominees listed in this proxy statement as directors for a term of one year;
• vote on a proposal to approve, on an advisory (non-binding) basis, the Company’s compensation of its named executive officers;
• vote on a proposal to approve the material terms of the performance goals under the Company’s Amended and Restated 2006 Stock Option and Performance Incentive Plan, as amended; and
• vote on a proposal to ratify the appointment of BKD, LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the next fiscal year.

Earlier this week, Home BancShares completed its latest acquisition — The Bank of Commerce, a Florida state-chartered bank that operates in the Sarasota area. The company originally announced the deal in November.

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled Friday that the Fed will likely resume raising interest rates later this month to reflect a strengthening job market and inflation edging toward the central bank's 2 percent target rate.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Johnny Poole has joined Arvest Wealth Management in central Arkansas as senior vice president and regional manager. He will be based in Little Rock.

Poole was previously a vice president and program manager for a Florida credit union and has also served in executive leadership roles at financial institutions in Alabama.

Tim Cooper has been named senior vice president and senior lending officer at Stone Bank in Harrison. He has experience in financial services gained from previous positions, including at Anstaff Bank, Security Bank in Harrison, Farm Credit Services and USDA-Farmers Home Administration.

Ryder Bonham has been hired as a credit analyst for Simmons Bank. Before joining the Little Rock bank, he worked as a revenue accountant for Windstream Communications.

W. Scott Davis recently joined The Circumference Group LLC in Little Rock as director of partner relations. He will be responsible for business development and client relations.

He was previously vice chairman and chief financial officer for Clearview International LLC, a data center and cloud computing company.

See more of this week's Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.

CPAC stands for Conservative Political Action Conference, which is held annually by the American Conservative Union. At this year’s conference in our nation’s capital, the Trump tandem of Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon performed a duet with lyrics from a new presidential songbook of policy and politics. And they were singing from the same page.

For Bannon’s part, a trilogy of policy objectives was laid out. They were described as national security and sovereignty, economic nationalism and deconstructing the administrative state.

For our purposes today, and following last month’s column on trade, let’s unpack the idea of economic nationalism. What is it?

Let’s call economic nationalism a set of policies that would result in more nativist control of our own economy. Although economic nationalism is a hodge-podge of political rhetoric, if we include such notions as increased tariffs or the more complex border adjustment tax that would penalize American corporations for off-shoring manufactured goods sold in the U.S. (while reducing, by the way, their on-shore corporate taxes), then the idea begins to walk and quack like a policy duck.

Last month I suggested a new resistance to globalization and to the integration of worldwide markets and marketplaces. It seems the idea of economic nationalism embodies that resistance and, perhaps, fear. Indeed, free trade — or the more descriptive open trade — suggests to some the lessening of national identity. Would that mean such things as retail labels could soon simply say “Made Somewhere in the World,” or “Made by Proud Internationalists Right Here on Our Shared Planet”? Well, that’s a bit extreme.

Statements made by Donald Trump during the campaign, and now as president, could be characterized as a go-it-alone, unilateral approach to international relations, including diplomacy (or lack thereof), the use or threat of military force and trade. If carried out to its end-game conclusion, this economic-isolationist approach would be markedly different from the way this country has viewed and interacted with the world since Jefferson resided in Paris.

And it would be antithetical to President Trump’s own business model of planting his brand around the world. The Miss Universe Pageant, after all, is global!

Consumers need to understand that the cost of a move toward economic nationalism is a cost that will be borne by us all. It will show up first and foremost in electronics and clothing and then work its way into other products at retail, as well as parts and components for final assembly of manufactured goods.

Dun & Bradstreet reports that economic nationalism would disrupt the global supply chain. “At a global level, Donald Trump’s election success in November confirmed a wider shift towards protectionism in global trade policy,” the company said. “The adoption of protectionist trade policies, closing of borders and pursuit of bilateral trade deals over multilateral ones, all signal that the gap is widening between an interdependent global economy and the sole pursuit of national interests.” This increases supply uncertainty. And uncertainty in markets impacts products, pricing, promotion and distribution.

Echoing that concern is Tufts University Professor Daniel Drezner. Commenting in the Washington Post, Drezner says that the implementation of a Bannon-style economic nationalism would “reward non-tradable sectors at the expense of tradable sectors.” That would mean tradable categories from technology to agriculture could be severely hampered.

Is this a movement or an aberration? Are we becoming Brexitized, or is there a newly found realization that we can survive on our own, with little attention to the world around us? Which is it?

Stay tuned.

Craig Douglass of Little Rock is an advertising agency owner and research and marketing consultant. He is also the executive director of the Arkansas Good Roads Foundation. Email him at Craig@CraigDouglass.com.

MidSouth Bank of Lafayette, Louisiana, has asked a bankruptcy court judge not to allow Dr. Hiren D. Patel, who owns the Arkansas Convention Center & Holiday Inn in Texarkana, to be allowed to walk away from a $13.3 million debt he owes the bank.

The bank said Patel “did knowingly and fraudulently … make a false oath or account” when he obtained the loans, the bank said in an August filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Texas. It asked the bankruptcy court judge to deny a discharge of the debt.

Patel, and his wife, Nila, along with two of Patel’s companies, are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas.

Between May 2010 and September 2013, the bank made a series of loans to Patel’s companies to build and furnish the Country Inn & Suites in Texarkana, Texas, and the convention center and hotel project on the Arkansas side of the city. At the end of March 2016, $13.3 million was still owed on the loans, according to the bank’s filing.

The bank said that instead of using the money for the properties as required, Patel transferred at least $1.3 million to his other companies or to his father, Dineshchandra Patel, sometimes called Dinesh, who has an ownership interest in his son’s companies.

The bank said that Hiren Patel was the one who contributed all the money to the companies. His father, “on the other hand, contributed virtually nothing,” MidSouth Bank said. “He guaranteed no debt. He carried none of the risk.”

MidSouth charged that Patel and his father “conspired to make substantial transfers of assets to Dinesh, or to third parties for Dinesh’s benefit.”

In addition, the bank said that in September 2015, just before Patel and his companies filed for bankruptcy reorganization in late 2015 and 2016, he transferred money from his companies so he could buy a house with his wife in Southlake, Texas. The house, with a value of $450,000, has been claimed as exempt in Patel’s bankruptcy, the filing said.

Hiren Patel also misrepresented his financial condition, according to the pleading. The financial statements he submitted to the bank showed that the convention center and Holiday Inn had a value of $16 million and the Country Inn & Suites was valued at $6.5 million, MidSouth said. The Country Inn recently sold for $2.9 million and the winning bid for the convention center and Holiday Inn was $6.6 million.

Hiren and Nila Patel’s attorney, Bill Payne of Dallas, denied the allegations of wrongdoing in his filing but didn’t return calls for comment. No court date has been set.

(Related: Podiatrist's Purchase of Convention Center Gives Texarkana Officials Cold Feet)

A Texas podiatrist with a past that includes a federal conviction wants to buy the troubled Arkansas Convention Center & Holiday Inn out of bankruptcy — and that has some Texarkana officials on the Arkansas side concerned.

City officials say they haven’t heard from Dr. James J. Naples about his plans for the convention center. In December, Naples entered into a $6.6 million purchase agreement with Dr. Hiren Patel, who owns the property through his Texarkana Hotels LLC. The sale ultimately would have to be approved by the bankruptcy court.

“We are as much in the dark as you are,” Ruth Penney-Bell, mayor of Texarkana, Arkansas, told Arkansas Business. “I have never heard of his having any experience in this sort of thing, not even being a hotel or motel” operator.

She said the city has invested more than $9 million in the convention center project, which opened in 2013, about a year after a convention center opened on the Texas side of the city. Penney-Bell said the city has no voice in the convention center’s operation.

Several messages left at Naples’ medical office in Texarkana, Texas, drew no response. Messages and emails to the attorney representing Naples in the purchase, Kyle B. Davis of New Boston, Texas, also brought no response.

Naples, who has practiced podiatry for more than four decades on the Texas side of Texarkana, also is known for buying properties in financial distress, according to an Arkansan who was in business relationships with Naples. The Arkansan asked that his name not be used because he had been involved in a lawsuit with Naples.

The 27,000-SF, $15 million convention center and 127-room Holiday Inn would seem to be the kind of property Naples finds attractive. It lost $381,000 on revenue of $2 million between April and January, according to financial reports in its bankruptcy. And Naples is familiar with Patel. In January, Naples bought the 81-room Country Inn & Suites in Texarkana, Texas, out of bankruptcy, paying $2.9 million to Patel’s Krishna Associates LLC.

Naples’ biggest deal, though, appears to be selling his AmiCare Behavioral Centers LLC of Fayetteville to publicly traded Acadia Healthcare Co. of Franklin, Tennessee, for $113 million in late 2012. AmiCare was the largest provider of behavioral health services in western Arkansas and did business as Vista Health, operating three inpatient psychiatric treatment facilities in Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Texarkana. It also operated the Piney Ridge Center, a residential treatment facility in Fayetteville, and eight outpatient treatment centers throughout western Arkansas.

More than a decade ago, Naples made headlines for legal troubles. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and was ordered to pay $2 million in restitution and sentenced to probation for two years. As a result of that conviction, the Texas State Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners suspended Naples’ medical license for three months in 2006 and fined him $75,000.

Hell’s Kitchen
Naples grew up in a part of New York known as Hell’s Kitchen. “This man was not born with a silver spoon,” his attorney, David Botsford of Austin, Texas, said at Naples’ April 2005 sentencing hearing. Naples “brought himself up by his own bootstraps from a tiny hovel of a family home in New York City.”

Naples received his podiatric medicine degree in 1974 from the Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science in North Chicago, Illinois, which has produced approximately a third of all practicing podiatric physicians in the United States. He moved to the Texas side of Texarkana in the early 1970s.

Botsford told the judge during the 2005 sentencing that Naples is “a man of his word, a man of integrity, a man that is devoted to his family.”

Naples owned and operated the 63-bed New Boston General Hospital in Texas.

“He made his first million at New Boston hospital. That’s where he got his start,” said the business associate. “He did a huge amount of surgeries there.”

The hospital activity caught the eye of state and federal investigators.

Fraud Allegations
In February 2004, Naples and eight others who worked at the hospital were indicted in U.S. District Court in Texas on charges that included racketeering and Medicare fraud. The 134-count indictment accused Naples of leading the “other doctors to overbill Medicare and persuaded an assistant to help him perform unauthorized cancer research,” according to an April 2004 article in the Houston Chronicle.

“We vehemently deny all the accusations and look forward to proving our innocence in court,” Keith Naples, son of Dr. Naples and the administrator of the hospital, told the newspaper.

Naples wasn’t under indictment for long. About three months later, in May 2004, a federal judge dropped the charges against Naples and his co-defendants. At the request of the defendants, the documents in that case were sealed, which is an unusual move.

But the dismissal of the charges against Naples didn’t end his dealings with the federal government.

In September 2004, Naples was charged with one count of obstruction of justice for causing “an employee to fail to produce airplane trip logs, … which were required to be produced” by a grand jury subpoena dated in August 2003, according to the information sheet filed in U.S. District Court in the Texarkana, Texas, Division.

Federal prosecutors considered Naples a flight risk and prevented him from using his Beechcraft King Air B100 Turboprop plane, according to the April 2004 Houston Chronicle article. Naples, however, did receive permission to use the plane to fly from Texarkana to Fayetteville and back to watch his son graduate from business school in December 2004.

Not long afterward, Naples pleaded guilty to the obstruction charge.

At his sentencing hearing in April 2005, Naples was given two years of probation and ordered to pay $2 million in restitution to the Department of Health & Human Services, the federal agency that oversees the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Naples also was sentenced to 250 hours of community service.

Naples apologized and told the judge, “I assure you I won’t be back.”

After being on probation for about 14 months, Naples asked U.S. District Judge David Folsom to end his probation early. The $2 million restitution had been paid, and “he has far exceeded his 250 hours of community service,” Botsford said in a pleading. “His attitude has been exceptional and he has done everything the Court required of him.”

Folsom granted the early termination of Naples’ probation on Nov. 3, 2006.

More Deals
Released from probation, Naples continued buying property.

Through an entity called Pinewood Healthcare Realty LP, Naples bought an On Deck batting cage in Fayetteville in September 2007 for $375,000 after it had been an asset in a bankruptcy. The 18,300-SF building on 1.4 acres now has an estimated market value of $2.2 million, according to the Washington County assessor’s record.

Other properties in bankruptcy also caught Naples’ attention.

Naples was one of six parties who submitted bids in November to buy the Country Inn & Suites on the Texas side of Texarkana out of bankruptcy from Hiren Patel and his father, Dineshchandra Patel, through their company, Krishna Associates LLC.

Krishna Associates had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in November 2015 and listed $5.3 million in debts and $3.2 million in assets. The company’s bankruptcy attorney, Bill F. Payne of Paris, Texas, didn’t respond to calls or an email.

Naples was the winning bidder, and the $2.9 million in proceeds from the sale went to MidSouth Bank of Lafayette, Louisiana, which was the leading creditor.

Hiren Patel and his father also own the Arkansas Convention Center & Holiday Inn, through their company Texarkana Hotels, which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization last March. It listed $10.6 million in debts and $5.2 million in assets.

The convention center project has previously been a source of controversy.

Between 2009 and 2012, Harold Boldt, then city manager of Texarkana, Arkansas, persuaded city directors to approve several deals and incentives so Patel would develop the convention center project and a water park, which he operates under Holiday Springs Water Park LLC. That company is not in bankruptcy.

In 2014, a legislative audit found several violations of state law in the city’s handling of the development, but no criminal charges were brought.

Meanwhile, revenue was increasing at the convention center and hotel, growing from $1.85 million in 2014, its first full year of operation, to $2.46 million in 2015.

MidSouth Bank, though, said Patel’s company defaulted on $10 million worth of loans and wanted to foreclose. That triggered the trip to bankruptcy court to stop the foreclosure action.

(See: Midsouth Bank Accuses Arkansas Convention Center Owner of Fraud.)

The property went up for bid in January, with Naples winning the bid. But objections to the sale were filed, including one by the Advertising & Promotion Commission in Texarkana, Arkansas, which pays the company almost $235,000 annually as incentive for operating the property. The A&P Commision said it shouldn’t have to continue to make those payments to a new owner.

A&P Commission Chairman Buddy Allen said he hasn’t talked to Naples about the purchase of the property. Naples hasn’t requested that the A&P tax incentives continue under his ownership, Allen said.

“I do not know what his plans are if he is the successful bidder,” Allen told Arkansas Business.

A hearing on the sale is scheduled for March 17 in front of Bankruptcy Judge Brenda T. Rhoades in Plano, Texas.

Arkansas Convention Center & Holiday Inn
Texarkana, Arkansas

Source: Monthly Operating Reports filed in Texarkana Hotels LLC’s Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Texas. The reports started being filed in April 2016.

A series of auto transactions in Pulaski County added up to $41.5 million.

Affiliates of Little Rock’s McLarty Auto Group bought four auto properties from affiliates of Asbury Automotive Group of Duluth, Georgia.

The deals are funded with a $35.2 million loan from SunTrust Bank of Atlanta.

MAG-AR 4400 Landers Road LLC purchased North Point Ford at 4400 Landers Road and North Point Lincoln at 4336 Landers Road in North Little Rock from Asbury Automotive Arkansas Dealership Holdings LLC for $14.4 million.

The property was assembled in three deals:

• $11.5 million for the 14.39-acre dealership in May 2011.

Seller: NPF Holdings LLC, a McLarty family entity.

• $275,000 for a 0.28-acre parcel on Smokey Lane in November 2006.

Sellers: Adams Trust and the Credit Shelter Trust, both led by Alice Faye Adams.

• $141,000 for 1.62 acres on Newman Drive in July 2000.

Seller: An investment group composed of James Dietz, Hershel Bowman, Douglas W. Ashcraft; CBM Construction Co., led by Clark McGlothin; Dennis Jungmeyer; Hal Matthews; Rablaco LLC, led by Tom Cory; R-4 Enterprises Inc., led by Raymond Roberts; Seymour Real Estate LLC, led by Mike Seymour; Dow Worsham II; and Arkansas Precast Corp. of Jacksonville.

MAG-AR 4313 Landers Road LLC acquired North Point Toyota at 4313 Landers Road in North Little Rock from Asbury Automotive Arkansas Dealership Holdings for $12.1 million.

The 12.11-acre development previously was tied to an October 2013 mortgage of $5.5 million held by Toyota Motor Credit Corp. of Torrance, California.

Asbury assembled half of the property in deals totaling $2.3 million. The sellers were Fletcher Realty LLC, led by Frank Fletcher, $1.5 million for the 2.4-acre Frank Fletcher Chrysler Jeep location at 4313 Landers Road in January 2006; Davidson Holding Co., led by Skip Davidson, $1.38 million for 2.54 acres on Smokey Lane in March 2007; L&S Concrete Co., led by Charles Weaver, $772,000 for two acres on Smokey Lane in January 2006; and Joe Edd Hawkins, $75,000 for a 0.15-acre parcel on Smokey Lane in January 2006.

The remaining 4.97 acres are leased from MJG Family Ltd., led by Michael Goshen.

MAG-AR 4621 Colonel Glenn LLC bought BMW of Little Rock at 4621 Col. Glenn Plaza Road in west Little Rock from Asbury Automotive Arkansas for $12 million.

The 5.38-acre site was purchased for $4.2 million in July 2013 from LLEJ I, led by Leonard Boen.

MAG-AR 5500 Starita Drive LLC acquired North Point Collision Center North at 5500 Starita Drive in Sherwood from NP FLM LLC for $3 million.

The 4-acre development helped secure an October 2013 funding agreement of $75 million with Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The project was bought for $2.5 million in June 2008 from Astar Asb Ar1 LLC of Dallas.

Quail Valley Sale
A 240-unit apartment project in southwest Little Rock weighed in at $3.7 million.

Quail Redevelopment LLC, an affiliate of Cross Equities LLC of Addison, Texas, acquired Quail Valley Apartments at 5300 Baseline Road.

The seller is Quail Valley Apartments LLC, led by Donald Marshall Jr.

The deal is financed with a three-year loan of $5.3 million from American Bank of Commerce in Wolfforth, Texas.

The 12.59-acre development previously was linked with an October 2014 mortgage of $2.8 million held by Southern Bancorp Bank of Arkadelphia.

The property was bought for $2.8 million in October 2014 from Quail Valley Ltd. of Clayton, Missouri.

Dollar Transaction
A Family Dollar Store in southwest Little Rock tipped the scales at nearly $1.37 million.

The Thomas E. Keyser & Gwendolyn Keyser Revocable Trust of Los Angeles purchased the 8,320-SF store at 3500 Baseline Road from FD Little Rock Arkansas Baseline Road LLC, an affiliate of the Atwater Group of Chicago.

The 1.96-acre development previously was tied to a February 2016 mortgage of $1 million held by One Bank & Trust of Little Rock.

The location was acquired 13 months ago for $149,000 from Robert Brook Properties LLC, led by Jon Luer.

Pinnacle Purchase
A 6,120-SF office building in downtown Little Rock changed hands in an $800,000 transaction.

Pinnacle Hotel Group Inc., led by Chetan Patel, bought the 119 Izard St. project from Nussbaum-Cockrill LLC, led by Alan Nussbaum.

The deal is backed with a five-year loan of $680,000 from Little Rock’s Bank of the Ozarks.

The 0.52-acre development previously was linked with an August 2002 mortgage of $680,000 held by Bank of America.

The location was purchased for $144,000 in 2002 from the namesake trusts of Dickson, Gordon and John Flake.

Hotel Land
A hotel project is in motion after a 1.78-acre site on the north side of Little Rock’s Gateway Town Center sold for $755,983.

Gateway Lodging LLC, led by Chetan Patel, acquired the land north of Bass Pro Parkway. The seller is Gateway Creek LLC, led by Isaac Smith.

The property previously was tied to a January 2016 mortgage of $6 million held by First Security Bank of Searcy.

Gateway Creek bought an 89.3 percent stake in the property 13 months ago as part of a $4.97 million deal with Town Center LLC, led by Tommy Hodges.

Jacksonville Acreage
A 75.5-acre tract in Jacksonville drew a $275,000 transaction.

Jack and Michelle Anderson purchased the land near the southeast corner of Military Road and Southeastern Avenue from Lone’s Jacksonville Inc., led by Shahlia Lone.

The deal is funded with a 20-year loan of $365,000 from AgHeritage Farm Credit Services of Little Rock.

The property previously helped secure a September 2012 mortgage of $224,000 held by Centennial Bank of Conway.

The land was acquired more than four years ago as part of a $281,000 deal with Arkansas Emergency Transport LLC, led by Roger Hosman.

Fourche Rock
A 16-unit apartment project in south Little Rock rang up a $150,000 sale.

Colonial Park RBG LLC of West Plains, Missouri, bought Fourche Rock Apartments at 4815 Mabelvale Pike from City National Bank of Los Angeles.

The bank recovered the 0.6-acre development from Little Rock Group LLC, led by Steven St. Clair, in April 2015 at a $150,000 foreclosure sale.

The property was purchased for $460,000 in December 2006 from NCK LLC, led by Linda Koubek.

Heights Home
A 3,992-SF home in the Country Club Heights neighborhood is under new ownership after an $840,000 transaction.

John and Betsy Walker acquired the house from the Roescheise Family Revocable Living Trust, led by Donald and Ethel Roescheise.

The deal is financed with a one-year loan of $672,000 from Bank of England.

The residence previously was linked with a December 2008 mortgage of $620,000 held by Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama.

The property was bought for $60,000 in May 1965 from Emma Rogers.

Riverbend Residence
A 3,180-SF home in Little Rock’s Riverbend neighborhood changed hands in a $710,000 sale.

Clifford Woods LLC, led by Mack and Donna McLarty, purchased the house from the Marjorie O. McLean Revocable Trust.

The property was acquired for $194,000 in 1991 from Virginia Bailey.

Seven-Digit Construction

Renovation    $1,809,476
H&E Equipment
2801 W. 65th St., Little Rock
Buquet-Leblanc Inc., Baton Rouge

Did you know that Lex Golden, the Little Rock banker who once controlled two Arkansas financial institutions, recently filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy?

The joint filing by Golden and his wife, Ellen, lists total assets of $1.9 million and total liabilities of $7.7 million. Most of that debt, $4.2 million, is owed to unsecured creditors.

The biggest secured claim is held by Chambers Bank of Danville, more than $2 million owed on a Yell County Circuit Court judgment against the Goldens back in July.

The Goldens guaranteed repayment of a $2 million loan in 2010 to help re-capitalize Acme Holding Co., the bankrupt holding company of Allied Bank.

You might remember that the $66.3 million-asset bank was taken over by regulators on Sept. 24 and sold to Today’s Bank of Huntsville with a negative bid of $6.1 million.

The Chambers debt is secured by a $5 million Sun Life Financial life insurance policy on Lex Golden with annual premiums of $63,645.

The second-biggest secured claim is held by U.S. Bank of Cincinnati, $719,933 tied to a first mortgage on the Golden’s home near the Country Club of Little Rock.

Unsecured Debt & More

The largest unsecured creditor listed is QF Holdings LLC, led by Walter Quinn: $2 million. The Goldens personally guaranteed the debt linked with their failed banking ventures, which includes Allcorp Inc.

Allcorp, the parent company of Community State Bank of Bradley, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July. Community State, with assets of $15.2 million, is the smallest bank in Arkansas.

By the way, a stock purchase agreement of unspecified value is in play for Allcorp with Dallas investors. Lex Golden, Allcorp chairman and CEO, owns 39.28 percent of the bank holding company as does his son, Alex, Allcorp president.

The Allcorp stock secures a $1.2 million loan to Heartland Bank of Little Rock. The Jan. 27 stock purchase agreement is subject to approval in bankruptcy court.

Back to the Goldens’ creditors: Everest Business Funding of New York got burned on a $109,765 loan made on Dec. 27.

The debt is described as a business loan to support Terry’s Finer Foods, which was in the early stages of eviction before it closed on Feb. 24.

The total debt associated with the grocery store, at 5018 Kavanaugh Blvd. in the Heights neighborhood of Little Rock, tops $500,000.

Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff has purchased the 12-story Acxiom Building in downtown Little Rock, and Acxiom Corp. will move its headquarters back to Conway, where it was founded, the two companies announced Friday.

The purchase price initially wasn't disclosed.

The acquisition of the 188,460-SF office building at 601 E. Third St. with its supporting five-story parking deck will allow Simmons to consolidate staffers and provide additional space for future growth.

"We have people all over Little Rock that we inherited when we bought Metropolitan National Bank and Delta Trust & Bank," George Makris Jr., Simmons CEO, told Arkansas Business on Friday. "It has become a logistical nightmare from a corporate communications standpoint."

Arkansas Business reported Simmons' interest in the property in a "Whispers" item in January.

The purchase will facilitate the consolidation of about 200 staffers scattered around town.

Most of those are on floors 11-14 at the Simmons Tower at 425 W. Capitol Ave. Three of those floors were occupied by Metropolitan National Bank, which Simmons bought in 2013.

The consolidation of offices is expected to take place over the course of the next year. Simmons will remodel and refit the building and begin moving associates from various central Arkansas offices to the new location.

The transaction involves the city transferring ownership of the 2.13-acre development to Acxiom, which will sell the land and building to Simmons. The property was held nominally by the city to facilitate a $17 million bond issue to finance construction of the project 15 years ago.

In a news release, Acxiom said all employees working at the building "will remain with the company, with a few transitioning to home-based work and a small number remaining in Little Rock." It said the majority of employees "will work from Acxiom's original Conway campus, which was built in 1969, the year the company was founded."

Moving workers from Little Rock will bring the number of employees at the Conway campus to about 1,500, the publicly traded data services firm said.

(Editor's Note: A correction has been made to this article. See the end of the article for details.)

The Conway Area Chamber of Commerce said Thursday it will raise public and private money for seven "generation defining" projects, including a startup space that Conway Corp. has said it will pay for.

The space, to be located downtown, will be called the Arnold Innovation Center, named for retiring Conway Corp. CEO Richie Arnold, who has led the utility for two decades.

An exact amount has not been pledged by the company yet, Chamber CEO Brad Lacy told Arkansas Business on Friday, because the center's downtown location has not been finalized. 

The other projects that are part of the Conway 125 fundraising campaign are:

• The renovation of the historic Grand Theatre at Oak and Chestnut streets into a new arts venue.
• An expansion of the city's existing trail system and new pedestrian overpasses.
• Splash pads at parks throughout Conway.
• Large-scale public art displays at roundabouts.
• New landscaping at interstate exits.
• Installation of 180 signs to guide visitors to destinations.

So far, the Arnold Innovation Center is the only project with funding.

"Conway Corp. will both host and power this historic initiative," Conway Corp. Board Chair Johnny Adams said. "The center's mission will be to connect entrepreneurs with critical resources to create, launch and grow businesses, creating jobs and wealth in our community. Much planning and dreaming has gone into this center over several years."

The center will feature programming by the Conductor, a public-private partnership at the University of Central Arkansas. Other partners include Cadron Creek Capital, the city, the chamber and Conway Development Corp.

Jeff Standridge, a co-founder of Cadron Creek Capital, said the center, along with the makerspace planned for UCA's Donaghey Building, would provide on- and off-campus help to entrepreneurs. He said it might also rent space at subsidized rates to startups. The center aims to help create companies in Conway and recruit existing firms to the city.

(Correction: A previous version of the story said Conway Corp. pledged a specific amount for the startup space, but a chamber official said that amount has not yet been determined.)

Shelia Cannon has been named a professional banker on the retail banking team at Stone Bank in White Hall.

She was most recently a branch manager at Simmons Bank in Pine Bluff and began her banking career with First National Bank of Altheimer.

Kimberly Shaw has joined Citizens Bank in Batesville as senior vice president of retail banking.

She has over 20 years of Arkansas banking experience and most recently served as senior vice president and retail sales manager with Eagle Bank & Trust in Little Rock.

See more of this week's Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.

There has been growing public debate over how the Federal Reserve should conduct and communicate monetary policy. Some recent proposals, for instance, would require the Fed to specify a monetary policy rule that it would follow in adjusting the key policy rate (i.e., the federal funds rate target) and for the Fed to explain any deviations from that rule.

Questions abound about these proposals: Is the idea for the Fed to use only one rule or a suite of rules, each with its own strengths and weaknesses? Among a suite of rules, which ones should receive more emphasis? What does “follow a rule” mean for the Fed, and what are the implications for not doing so? And, what about when the policy rate is near the zero lower bound? Should the Fed be encouraged to follow a rule even if it means that the policy rate would be negative?

These are good questions, but the case in favor of monetary policy rules is also compelling. We cannot really talk coherently about the future evolution of the macroeconomy without also talking about the future evolution of monetary policy. The two subjects go hand-in-hand: A monetary policy rule helps to map out the path of policy consistent with an envisioned path for the macroeconomy.

In light of these considerations, my recommendation is for the Fed to issue a quarterly monetary policy report to better explain its actions and projections on a regular basis. Reports like this are often issued by other central banks around the world. The information in the report could be organized around recommendations from a standard suite of monetary policy rules. This could improve the U.S. monetary policy debate by orienting it more toward a comparison of actual policy to recommendations from standard monetary policy rules.

Many Rules Already Used
In recent decades, monetary policy rules have become standard in the macroeconomics literature. A policy rule, such as the Taylor rule, named after John Taylor of Stanford University, is an equation that provides a recommended setting for a central bank’s targeted interest rate. It is based partly on values and targets for macroeconomic variables, including inflation as well as output or unemployment. Policy rules are popular among many economists and policymakers — including at the Fed — because these rules, when applied, help provide an understanding about future monetary policy, which is in turn important to households and businesses making investment and consumption decisions.

Much Fed communication, some within the Fed and some directed to the public, already involves using policy rules as benchmarks. As an input for the deliberations at each Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, for instance, staff economists produce and distribute a briefing document to the FOMC known as the Tealbook. Publicly-released Tealbooks have included policy rate recommendations from a suite of monetary policy rules. Similarly, there are many examples of public remarks by FOMC participants in which actual policy outcomes are compared with the prescription from a monetary policy rule. That includes remarks by the FOMC chair. For example, Fed Chair Janet Yellen discussed in 2012 (when she was vice-chair) what a variant of the original Taylor rule had prescribed for monetary policy at that time. Another example is from 2010, when then-Fed Chair Ben Bernanke gave a speech that used a Taylor-type rule to argue that monetary policy had not been too accommodative during the period 2002-2006, which coincided with the housing bubble.

A Solution to the Communication Problem
Monetary policy rules have been and will continue to be useful as guides for conducting monetary policy. A rules-based quarterly monetary policy report could provide a more complete discussion of how the FOMC views the current state of the U.S. economy and the Committee’s expectations going forward. Such a report, which I have advocated in the past, could include a regular discussion of various monetary policy rules and explain why any deviations from those rules seemed appropriate at that time. This type of reporting may provide an improvement over the so-called “dot plot,” which is released each quarter in the FOMC’s Summary of Economic Projections and shows FOMC participants’ projections for the policy rate over the next few years. The dot plot does not allow the public to infer which policy rule any of the participants are using since individual dots are not connected across the years shown in the chart or to his or her projections for changes in real gross domestic product, unemployment and inflation.

Conclusion
The Fed has made significant strides in increasing the transparency of its actions since the financial crisis and recession of 2007-2009. Still, there is room for improvement, and further transparency regarding the Fed’s use of policy rules in its monetary policymaking is within reach. Because the Fed already uses policy rules in many ways to describe monetary policy and to make a case for a particular policy, the Fed could push its public communications more in that direction.

This commentary is reprinted with permission from The Regional Economist, a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where James Bullard is president and CEO.

Cash flow is the largest determining factor of a small business’ success or failure. Before a company opens for business, there should be a plan in place for managing cash flow.

Every company will experience a lull in sales, late-paying customers, a contract that didn’t come through or economic factors that affect the bottom line. When that happens, owners can be forced to cut costs or secure alternative funding. It’s critical to be strategic with processes and set expectations for customers from day one regarding your accounts receivable policies.

The first course of action is to work with a trusted bank that has treasury and cash management tools as well as the expertise to help small businesses succeed. A cash-flow chart helps entrepreneurs detail the money coming in and out of the business on a daily, weekly and monthly basis and can include capital expenditures for a snapshot of the bigger financial picture.

A CPA can provide information on how key cash-flow drivers are performing, as well as insight on any developing negative trends. Standardized invoice and accounting processes help avoid disruption in cash flow and can speed payment.

Business owners must keep a fluid calculation of their break-even point to remain acutely aware of minimum sales goals, how they must price products and when expenses are on the trajectory to outpace profits.

Among the strategies business owners should put into place to optimize cash flow include the following:

Gross margins. Know the industry standard for pricing the products your business offers. Set costs at a level at which the business can be the most profitable, while still maintaining good customer flow. There’s a balance among price, demand and business affinity.

Send invoices immediately. If you’re not selling smaller retail items like coffee, you should strive to send invoices within 24 hours after a sale. This gives the customer ample time to process the paperwork for payment.

Early payment discounts. Incentivize customers to pay early by offering a small discount, such as 2 percent off the total if payment is received within 10 business days.

Business line of credit. A line of credit can be a temporary safety net when businesses experience a large gap in cash flow. Be aware, though, that the time to get that line of credit is before you really need it.

Cash reserves. The cash flow chart is the compass for determining cash reserves needed during slow periods. A reserve equivalent to six months of cash flow is recommended.

Accounts receivable financing. To offset the deficit from late payments, businesses may consider invoice factoring, also known as accounts receivable financing. This is a borrowing option that lets businesses convert the balance of invoices that are not due for another 30, 60 or 90 days into immediate cash.

Manage inventory levels. Too much inventory will use up available cash. Purchase as little inventory as possible but make arrangements for quick delivery of additional inventory when supplies get low. Consistently cycling out old inventory will help promote active cash flow, but manage discounts carefully because they ultimately cut into the profit margin.

Control debt. As businesses grow, owners can get ahead of themselves and create unmanageable debt. There are healthy ways to leverage debt, taking us back to the point of creating a cash flow chart and working with an experienced financial adviser.

For every question about managing cash flow, there is a solution. Business owners have access to proven tactics and a variety of resources that can help them build, operate and grow their business efficiently and successfully.

Marcus Guinn is an executive vice president and loan manager at Arvest Bank in central Arkansas. Email him at MGuinn@Arvest.com.

A possible bank stock sale and details of a legal settlement are part of the bankruptcy narrative in the 66-page Chapter 7 filed by Lex and Ellen Golden of Little Rock.

The Feb. 27 petition, which lists total assets of $1.9 million and total liabilities of $7.7 million, alludes to a Jan. 27 stock purchase agreement for Lex Golden’s 39 percent stake in Allcorp Inc.

Golden, chairman of Allcorp, took the bank holding company into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July. Allcorp owns the $15.2 million-asset Community State Bank of Bradley, the smallest bank in Arkansas.

The would-be buyers of his Allcorp stock are listed as three Dallas trusts associated with Eric Donnelly, chief financial officer of Capital Plus; Chad Vose, president of Harbor Portfolio Advisors; and Farzana Giga, CFO of HPA.

The Allcorp bankruptcy contains no mention of the proposed deal, and the Goldens’ Chapter 7 provides no details.

Allcorp’s Chapter 11 was sandwiched between the April 2014 bankruptcy of another Golden bank holding company, Acme Holding Co., and the regulatory takeover and sale in September of its only significant asset, Allied Bank of Mulberry.

The Goldens’ Chapter 7 filing also contains information on a financial settlement with a former president of Allied Bank, John Hunter.

In October 2015, Hunter sued Golden, chairman and CEO of Acme, along with two trusts established for the benefit of Golden’s grandchildren. At issue were two delinquent $187,454 promissory notes owed by the trusts and guaranteed by Golden.

The notes were linked with Hunter selling his stake in Acme to the trusts in December 2011.

In May, Hunter received a combination of cash and property to settle the dispute: Allcorp shares worth $80,000 that belonged to a Golden grandchildren’s trust held in the name of Amy McCay Children’s Trust, a house on 17.8 acres in Franklin County and $10,000.

Ten Biggest Golden Debts

Chambers Bank, Danville
$2 million secured

Owed on a Yell County Circuit Court judgment against the Goldens in July from their personal guarantees on a 2010 loan to help recapitalize Acme Holding Co., the bankrupt holding company of Allied Bank. The debt is secured by a $5 million Sun Life Financial life insurance policy on Lex Golden with annual premiums of $63,645.

QF Holdings LLC
$2 million unsecured

QF Holdings LLC, led by Walter Quinn, a leading stockholder in Heartland Bank of Little Rock. Debt guaranteed by Lex Golden on a loan to Acme Holding Co., the insolvent holding company of Allied Bank. The $66.3 million-asset bank was taken over by regulators on Sept. 24 and sold to Today’s Bank of Huntsville with a negative bid of $6.1 million.

C-Holdings LLC, affiliate of Chambers Bank
$1.5 million unsecured

Debt purchased by C-Holdings, a loan from Southern Bank of Batesville to Acme Holding Co. guaranteed by Lex Golden.

U.S. Bank, Cincinnati
$719,933 secured

A first mortgage claim on the Goldens’ 4,600-SF home near the Country Club of Little Rock.

Estate of Gene Lewellen Sr.
$286,272 unsecured

Debt owed on the asset purchase agreement of Terry’s Finer Foods in January 2009.

Riverside Bank, Sparkman
$271,282 secured

Debt from an October 2016 loan of $355,528 guaranteed by the Goldens and secured by his 39 percent stake in Allcorp Inc., parent company of Community State Bank of Bradley. Lex Golden is chairman of Allcorp.

Riverside Bank, Sparkman
$255,775 secured

Debt secured by a 39 percent stake in Allcorp, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The stock is owned by their son, Alex, president of Allcorp.

Riverside Bank, Sparkman
$208,714 partially secured

Debt from a January 2015 second mortgage on the Goldens’ Little Rock home.

Citi Cards, The Lakes, Nevada
$111,736 unsecured

Debt owed by Lex Golden for the purchase of “business goods/services.”

Everest Business Funding, New York
$109,765 unsecured

Debt owed on a Dec. 27, 2016, loan to Ellen Golden for Terry’s Finer Foods.

Rumblings of a new funding agreement for the long dormant K Lofts development in downtown Little Rock have reached our ears.

A new loan from an Alabama lender was supposed to close last week, by March 10 at the latest. Of course, this same loan was supposed to close the week before that.

The current financier is mindful that timelines involving Scott Reed-related projects are often abstract rather than definitive.

Creek Capital Partners LLC, led by Fort Smith’s Steve Creekmore Jr. family, set a March 13 deadline to get the deal done or it would restart the foreclosure process.

You might recall that, in January, Creek Capital stepped to the front of the line of creditors by purchasing the project’s construction loan from IberiaBank of Lafayette, Louisiana.

During the summer, IberiaBank sued to recover more than $1.4 million owed on an original June 2013 loan of $1.3 million to Reed’s K Lofts LLC. That debt is backed with the personal guarantees of Reed, of Portland, Oregon, and Brian Corbell, of Los Angeles.

Nearly completed work on 32 apartments on the upper floors of the once-dilapidated five-story building at 315 Main St. awaits.

Economist Kathy Deck is leaving the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville to become the director of community and economic research partnerships at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa.

Deck, 41, has been the director of the Center for Business & Economic Research at the University of Arkansas since March 2007. Before that, she was the interim director for three months after Jeff Collins left.

Deck said the university would release a statement about her departure and any succession plans at CBER.

Deck is the lead researcher for the Arvest Bank-sponsored Skyline Report, which studies the northwest Arkansas real estate market, and serves as host and regional presenter at the annual Business Forecast Luncheon. Deck and her research team produce numerous economic research reports annually on Arkansas’ industries.

She was named a member of the Real Estate Industry Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Arkansas Business recognized her as a “40 Under 40” honoree in 2009, when she was just 33.

Deck’s leaving is a family affair. Her husband, Cary, is taking an endowed chair position in the economics department at Alabama. Cary Deck has been an economics professor and director of the Behavioral Business Research Lab at Arkansas.

Cary Deck’s parents live in Tuscaloosa, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Alabama. Cary and Kathy Deck have one son.

“They made us an offer we couldn’t refuse,” Deck said. “It’s an exciting opportunity for us. Of course, we’re very sad to leave northwest Arkansas because we really love the place.”

Deck, a native of Virginia, earned her bachelor’s degree in economics from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia before earning a master’s in science and economics from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She was an antitrust economist for the attorney general of Arizona before she joined Arkansas’ CBER as a research associate in 2001.

George Gleason, 63, chairman and chief executive officer of Little Rock's Bank of the Ozarks Inc., received total compensation of $6.2 million during 2016.

While Gleason was the highest paid executive at the $19 billion-asset bank holding company, his one-year increase of 5.2 percent wasn't the biggest.

Dan Thomas, 53, vice chairman and chief lending officer and president of the bank's real estate specialties group, received total compensation of $4.7 million. That reflected a one-year gain of 13 percent.

Three of the top five executives at Little Rock's Bank of the Ozarks enjoyed healthy double-digit raises in 2016.

John Carter, director of community banking, received a 30.3 percent salary increase to $309,615. 

Greg McKinney, chief financial officer and chief accounting officer; and Tyler Vance, chief operating officer and chief banking officer; each received a 29.6 percent raise that boosted their annual pay to $594,615.

Gleason and Thomas each received a base salary of $1 million in 2015 and 2016.

The compensation information was included in the company's proxy statement that was released this morning and also noted the proposed addition of a new board member: Kathleen Franklin, 60, global ethics and compliance strategy leader for Sony Group since 2010. Franklin represents an expansion of the board back to 16 members after it stood at 15 last year.

The three largest stakeholders in Bank of the Ozarks are Willington Management Group LLP of Boston, 8.39 percent worth $558.9 million; BlackRock Inc. of New York, 7.68 percent worth $511.9 million; and The Vanguard Group Inc. of Malvern, Pennsylvania, 7.66 percent worth $510.5 million.

Among insiders, George and Linda Gleason control the largest collective block of stock, 4.98 percent worth $332.5 million.

This year's annual shareholder meeting will feature a new venue. Instead of the corporate headquarters in west Little Rock, the gathering will be held at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, May 8, at the Capital Hotel at 111 W. Markham St. in downtown Little Rock.

For the 24rd consecutive year, Arkansas Business is seeking nominations for its 40 Under 40 program, which recognizes 40 professionals under the age of 40 who excel in their profession and are leaving their mark on the Arkansas business and nonprofit community.

"This program provides Arkansas Business with the opportunity to not only honor our state's up-and-coming professionals, but identify those individuals who are helping shape Arkansas’ business, political and civic landscape," Arkansas Business Publisher Mitch Bettis said.

The 2017 class of 40 Under 40 honorees will be profiled in a future issue of Arkansas Business. Included in this issue will be a listing of their accomplishments within their businesses, organizations and/or community.

The deadline to nominate is Friday. Nominations can be made at ArkansasBusiness.com/40. For more information, contact Alex Howland at (501) 372-1443 ext. 314 or at ahowland@abpg.com.