LAS VEGAS - A coalition of 21 states sued the U.S. Department of Labor Tuesday over a new rule that would make about 4 million higher-earning workers eligible for overtime pay, slamming the measure as inappropriate federal overreach from the Obama Administration.

Republican Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas, urging it to block implementation before the regulation takes effect on Dec. 1. Laxalt, a frequent critic of President Barack Obama's policies, said the rule would burden private and public sectors by straining budgets and forcing layoffs or cuts in working hours.

"This rule, pushed by distant bureaucrats in D.C., tramples on state and local government budgets, forcing states to shift money from other important programs to balance their budgets, including programs intended to protect the very families that purportedly benefit from such federal overreach," he said in a statement.

Labor Department officials did not immediately respond to telephone and emailed requests seeking comment.

The measure would shrink the so-called "white collar exemption" that exempts workers who perform "executive, administrative or professional" duties from overtime and minimum wage requirements.

It would more than double the salary threshold under which employers must pay overtime to their white collar workers. Overtime protections would apply to workers who make up to $913 a week, or $47,476 a year, and the threshold would readjust every three years to reflect changes in average wages.

"This long-awaited update will result in a meaningful boost to many workers' wallets, and will go a long way toward realizing President Obama's commitment to ensuring every worker is compensated fairly for their hard work," the Labor Department said in May when it announced the new rule.

Business groups say the changes are too much and too fast, especially as states continue to recover from the recession.

"We believe that many employers across our state and the country_large and small alike_will not be able to meet the high cost of these ongoing rate changes, and as a result, will be forced to curtail hiring or even lay off employees," said Kristin McMillan, president of the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Other plaintiffs include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

The Eastern Texas district where the lawsuit was filed is known as a "rocket docket" court where cases move along quickly.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The vacancy rate on commercial property in northwest Arkansas is 12.7 percent, up from 12.4 percent in the second half of 2015, according to the Arvest Bank's Skyline Reports for the first six months of 2016.

Released Tuesday, the reports on commercial and multifamily real estate also said new construction added 462,563 SF of commercial space in northwest Arkansas during the first half of 2016 while 474,410 SF of existing space became occupied, netting a positive absorption of 11,847 SF.

Almost all the new retail space added to the market was immediately absorbed, according to Kathy Deck, lead researcher for the Skyline Report and director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

More: See the reports on commercial construction and multifamily real estate in northwest Arkansas.

The absorbed space resulted in a dip in the retail vacancy rate to 9.2 percent. Meanwhile, no new construction added space to the warehouse submarket but the submarket vacancy rate from 11.5 percent at the end of 2015 to 8 percent at the end of June.

"We have been seeing increased consumer optimism in northwest Arkansas and the state in general…" said Chris Thornton, loan manager and executive vice president of Arvest Bank in Springdale. "As consumers feel more confident in spending and buying, businesses are readying themselves to provide the goods and services consumers are looking for."

From Jan. 1 to June 30, there were $206.5 million in commercial building permits issued in northwest Arkansas, an increase from the $112.8 million in commercial building permits issued in the last half of 2015.

Vacancy rates in multifamily real estate remain at dramatically low levels despite substantial building activity in the region. The overall vacancy rate for the northwest Arkansas market during the first half of 2016 was 2.4 percent.

More: Millennials drive a boom in Arkansas' apartment market.

Rogers had the largest year-over-year increase in vacancy rates, up to 5 percent in the first half of 2016 from 0.9 percent in the first half of 2015. Fayetteville experienced the largest year-over-year decrease in vacancy rates with 2.7 percent in the first half of 2016 from 3.6 percent in the first half of 2015.

The average monthly lease price for a multifamily property unit increased to $608.88 in the first half of 2016 from $601.43 in the second half of 2015.

"Since 2011, average lease prices for multifamily units have increased 14.8 percent across the region," Deck said. "While the average price has increased to $608.88, the median lease price has remained somewhat steadier at $550."

More than 6,200 rental units have been announced or under construction in new multifamily projects across northwest Arkansas. 

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is keeping its key interest rate unchanged but signaling that it will likely raise rates before year's end.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Arkansas Business and the Best Companies Group on Wednesday honored 29 Arkansas companies with "Best Places to Work" awards, which honor firms that have exceptional workplace environments.

Among the winners was United Federal Credit Union, which received the 2016 Benchmark Award, given to the company whose workplace goes above and beyond in offering employee benefits, professional development programs and other perks.

The Michigan-based institution operates five locations in Alma, Fort Smith, Van Buren and Springdale. In 2015, the company reported over $2 billion in assets, $17.5 million in income and 140,000 total members.

"That would not happen without a satisfied workforce that advocates for us and the goods and services we offer," Noel Andrew Sanger, the company's market vice president, said of the its growth. "As the Arkansas market vice president, I follow two guiding principles: 'Leadership takes care of the team and the team takes care of the member,' and 'Teamwork divides the task but doubles the success.'"

UFCU’s focus on the employee has driven turnover to just 6 percent in the Arkansas region, well below national turnover rates of between 15 and 22 percent. Sanger credits operational elements that address its 49 local employees as individuals first as one big reason why.

Award winners are determined by a set of criteria set forth in the Best Places program, through which companies survey their employees about workplace satisfaction, corporate culture and company leadership. This year's honorees were recognized at a luncheon at the Embassy Suites Little Rock.

The event recognized two other companies as overall "Best Places to Work" in the small and large company categories.

Saatchi & Saatchi X of Springdale, an advertising firm, won in the small company category. 

"We transcend fun to make this a joyful place to work," said Jessica Hill, the firm's talent director. "We celebrate every success, birthday and anniversary. We have a committee that finds different ways for us to give back to the community; we've held fundraising events and internal games or competitions to raise money, as well as donating our time. Additionally, we have a secret committee called X-Files that creatively executes fun activities throughout the year."

Amid the entertainment value of crawfish boils, Halloween costume contests and charity Texas Hold 'Em tournaments, the company is also achieving important team building benefits that show up most clearly during times of stress.

Rockfish, a digital media agency founded in Rogers in 2006, won in the large company category. 

The firm, with offices in Little Rock, Dallas, Cincinnati and Atlanta, marked its fourth consecutive year as a Best Place to Work honoree. Lisa Bridgers, senior vice president for talent acquisition and human resources, said Rockfish wants its employees to do their best in the office and at home. 

This year, the company deliberately focused on employees' overall well-being. The goal was a happier, healthier and more productive workplace.

Other winners for Best Place to Work in the small category were:

• Braswell & Son Pawnbrokers
• C.R. Crawford Construction LLC
• Clark Contractors
• Delta Dental of Arkansas
• Harrison Energy Partners
• Kimbel Mechanical Systems
• Optus Inc.
• Perks.com
• Rainwater Holt & Sexton PA
• RevUnit
• Team SI
• The Good Earth Garden Center
• Travel Nurse across America LLC
• WELSCO Inc.

Other winners for Best Place to Work in the large category were:

• ABC Financial Services Inc.
• Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield
• Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp.
• Arkansas Federal Credit Union
• CaseStack
• City of Siloam Springs
• Delta Plastics
• Rockfish
• Rural Sourcing Inc.
• St. Bernards Medical Center
• Total Quality Logistics
• United Federal Credit Union
• USAble Life
• VCC LLC

More information about the Best Places to work program, including profiles of each company and how to register for next year's program, is available here.

Brandon Woodrome, a northwest Arkansas real estate developer, has pleaded guilty to one count each of bank fraud and wire fraud, according to Kenneth Elser, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.

The move comes after a two-count federal information was filed against Woodrome, 28, charging him for his role in a scheme to defraud First Western Bank in Fort Smith and Rioux Capital of Austin, Texas. 

A sentencing date has not been set. 

Arkansas Business wrote about Rioux Capital's accusations against Woodrome in May. Rioux made the charges in connection to Woodrome's personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy case.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Woodrome owned and operated a construction business in Fort Smith called Behr LLC. In 2014, he obtained a $795,000 construction loan at First Western Bank to fund the purchase of land and build a medical clinic and strip center in Fort Smith. The loan agreement required him to submit invoices for work the subcontractors had completed. 

Prosecutors say Woodrome "created and submitted fraudulent invoices that contained material misrepresentations about construction work he knew had not been done by subcontractors to First Western Bank for payment."  The bank issued cashier's checks based on the invoices; Woodrome received more than $300,000 from First Western between November and December 2014 for the fraudulent invoices he had submitted, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Prosecutors say Woodrome also defrauded Rioux Capital of about $1.8 million by submitting fraudulent invoices by email.

Judge P.K. Holmes III accepted the guilty plea Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Fort Smith.

Allied Bank of Mulberry was closed late Friday afternoon by state and federal regulators, and its five branches will reopen for "normal business hours" as branches of Today's Bank of Huntsville.

The action comes almost six weeks after the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis gave Allied 30 days to either inject equity capital into the "critically undercapitalized" bank or find a buyer. The receiver was announced jointly by the Arkansas State Bank Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Today's Bank entered into a purchase agreement to assume all of Allied's deposits and to purchase essentially all its assets, the regulators said. As of June 30, Allied Bank had approximately $66.3 million in total assets and $64.7 million in total deposits.

Bad loans have battered Allied for more than five years and eroded its tier one capital to $1.3 million as of June 30. Its capital ratio of 1.8 percent during the second quarter was the lowest of all financial institutions in Arkansas.

The bank lost nearly $4.5 million through the first six months of 2016. Allied has lost more than $17.7 million since 2011. The bank's inability to generate dividends prompted the April 2014 bankruptcy of its parent company, Acme Holding Co.

The bank had been under the control of bankruptcy trustee Ray Fulmer of Fort Smith. The family of former Allied CEO Lex Golden controls Allied Bank and Acme Holding.

"Customers of Allied Bank should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Today's Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Today's Bank branches to process their accounts as well," the announcement said.

This evening and over the weekend, depositors of Allied Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

Full details are available on the FDIC website.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $6.9 million. Allied Bank is the fifth FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year and the first in Arkansas since First Southern Bank at Batesville was shuttered in December 2010.

Today's Bank had been considered a possible acquirer of Allied Bank since early in the bankruptcy, which originated as a Chapter 11 reorganization. 

Known as First State Bank of Northwest Arkansas until 2014, Today's Bank had assets of $116 million and equity capital of $17.4 million as of June 30. It reported net income of $1.08 million for the first half of the year, exceeding the $1.07 million it earned for the full year of 2015.

Today's Bank has five branches: two each in Huntsville and Fayetteville and one in Springdale.

Allied's office are in Mulberry, Alma, Ozark, Mansfield and Little Rock (5701 Kavanaugh Blvd.).

The potential value of the Community First Bancshares Inc. sale has climbed to more than $77 million since the deal was announced two months ago.

Shares in publicly traded Equity Bancshares Inc. of Wichita are now trading at near $25, which has pushed the stock component of the transaction to nearly $67 million. Equity’s pending acquisition of Community First includes $10.1 million in cash.

The deal for the parent company of Harrison’s Community First Bank was valued at $68.5 million in July. At the time, that represented a tangible book value multiple of 1.58, which has increased to 1.77.

The three biggest Community First investors benefiting from this favorable stock movement are Thomas Miller of Harrison, and Kirkwood and Cynthia Dupps of Eureka Springs.

Miller holds a 6.31 percent stake, worth $4.8 million; Kirkwood Dupps has a 4.6 percent stake worth $3.5 million; and Cynthia Dupps owns a 3.29 percent share worth $2.5 million.

The transaction represents the first Arkansas deal for the $1.5 billion-asset Equity. Community First’s prime holding is its $495 million-asset bank.

Two holding company assets aren’t part of the deal:

• Mobius Technology Consulting, a small data processing and management consulting firm in Springfield, Missouri, that Community First has held a stake in since 2005.
• A 23 percent piece of White River Bancshares Co., parent company of the $500 million-asset Signature Bank of Fayetteville, valued at $8.2 million in the merger agreement.

Two Community First directors will join the Equity board of directors. They are Jerry Maland, a former McDonald’s franchisee in Harrison, Berryville and Eureka Springs, and Dan Bowers, a Harrison lawyer.

Class of 1997

And then there were two.

The sale of First Community Bank will leave only two members from the Arkansas De Novo Class of 1997: $1.1 billion-asset First Community Bank of Batesville, chartered on Aug. 4, and $145.6 million-asset The Capital Bank of Little Rock, chartered on Sept. 8.

Gone but not forgotten are Pinnacle Bank of Little Rock (chartered on Jan. 27), Alliance Bank of Hot Springs (chartered on May 5) and River Valley Bank of Russellville (chartered Aug. 5). The trio sold in separate transactions in successive years.

The $127.8 million-asset Pinnacle Bank was the first to go in 2002. It sold shortly after the expiration of the five-year regulatory restriction governing new bank charter transactions.

BancorpSouth Inc. of Tupelo, Mississippi, paid about $21.2 million for Pinnacle.

The sale of the $54 million-asset River Valley Bank followed in 2003. Little Rock’s Bank of the Ozarks Inc. acquired the lender for $7.1 million in cash and stock.

Completing the series was the 2004 sale of the $155 million-asset Alliance Bank. Pine Bluff’s Simmons First National Corp. bought the lender for $25.7 million in cash and stock and transformed it into Simmons First Bank of Hot Springs.

Community First was the last of the Class of 1997 chartered, opening for business on Oct. 30.

Community First Bank, Harrison

(As of June 30)
All dollars in thousands.
Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Last week in this space I wrote about what the egregious corporate behavior of Wells Fargo Bank does to innocent competitors in the banking industry, especially the little banks that must meet most of the same expensive regulatory hurdles even though they couldn’t execute anything on that level if they wanted to.

But Wells Fargo had other victims, so I’m going to say a few more things about this scandal while it’s on my mind, even though it may seem like piling on to the few Wells Fargo employees in Arkansas. If the second-largest bank in the country can operate a scam for five years, I can harp on it for two weeks.

The customers — at least 1.5 million of them — whose personal information was used to create accounts they didn’t want, need or request were also victims. Oh, they didn’t lose much money — only a fraction of the customers were ever charged bogus fees, and Wells Fargo made them whole with refunds averaging $25.

But here’s something that I never considered even though I think of myself as more financially literate than most: Those unauthorized accounts — checking accounts and credit cards, mostly — could reflect negatively on the unsuspecting customer’s credit score, and that could cost them far more for far longer.

“Yes, we pull a credit bureau [report] for each one of these cards,” Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf acknowledged when pressed by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., during a grilling by the Senate Banking Committee last week.

And here’s another thing I never considered: Even if customers figured out what was happening to them, there wasn’t much they could do about it. That’s because Wells Fargo, like many other corporate giants, tucks a forced arbitration clause into every contract, preventing the peons from filing public lawsuits individually or collectively.

A helpful reader called my attention to commentary about this by a couple of consumer advocates, Robert Weissman of Public Citizen and Lisa Donner of Americans for Financial Reform, that appeared last week in The Hill, an influential Washington political newspaper:

“The problem isn’t just that aggrieved consumers don’t have access to a remedy. Keeping cases out of court means abuses are kept out of the spotlight.

“That’s exactly what happened with Wells Fargo, and why the abuses could go on so long.”

Now, that may sound very clever to business readers who tend to be sympathetic to a company just trying to make a buck … or 20 billion. But, ironically, I was reminded that big shots were also Wells Fargo’s victims as I sweated through a YouTube video of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Flamethrower, scorching Stumpf.

Warren was mainly talking about the self-serving corporate culture that spawned the phony account fiasco: While most banks’ customers average fewer than three accounts, Wells Fargo set a goal of eight accounts for each customer because, Warren quoted from the 2010 annual report, “eight rhymes with great.”

It was such a ridiculous goal, based on linguistics rather than an identified market demand, that low-level customer service reps resorted to fraud in order to keep their crummy jobs. They would be fired when caught — more than 5,300 of them over the years.

But did Wells Fargo acknowledge the faulty incentive structure and back off the account quota that was making desperados out of thousands of employees? Au contraire!

In 12 consecutive quarterly conference calls in 2012-14, Stumpf “personally cited Wells Fargo’s success at cross-selling retail accounts as one of the main reasons to buy more stock in the company,” Warren scolded.

And ticker symbol WFC did rise more than $30 a share during the years that the phony cross-selling was being incentivized, then punished and then bragged about, making Wells Fargo the most valuable banking company in the country. That added about $200 million to Stumpf’s personal net worth, so he’s clearly not a victim.

But everyone who bought the stock based on those representations was suckered, in part because the arbitration clause kept the truth under wraps. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on Sept. 7 that Wells Fargo had agreed to pay fines totaling $185 million, a relative pittance, but over the next few days the company’s value slid by almost 10 percent —$20 billion, give or take. (And that’s before we learn how many customers decide to take their real accounts — one or two or eight of them — to a bank that hasn’t proven that it cannot be trusted.)

Several class-action lawyers are already eagerly seeking out Wells Fargo stockholders as plaintiffs. They don’t seem to think investors who have been rooked can be forced to arbitrate.

Gwen Moritz is editor of Arkansas Business. Email her at GMoritz@ABPG.com.

A 45,952-SF St. Vincent West medical office building in west Little Rock tipped the scales at $14.1 million.

DOC-16221 St. Vincent Way MOB LLC, an affiliate of Physicians Realty Trust of Milwaukee, bought the project at 16221 St. Vincent Way from St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center.

The 4.22-acre site was purchased in December 2009 as part of a $4 million transaction with Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado.

Commercial Sale

An 82,474-SF office-warehouse project in North Little Rock weighed in at $2.2 million.

NL Ventures X East 13th Street LLC of Austin, Texas, acquired the 400 E. 13th St. project from Cedar Creek LLC, an affiliate of Cedar Creek Wholesale of Broken Bow, Okla.

The property was bought for $1.1 million in May 2011 from the Newman Family LLC, led by Dwain Newman.

AutoZone Acquisition

A 5,400-SF AutoZone in Little Rock changed hands in a $1.01 million sale.

401 (K) LLC of Newport Beach, California, purchased the 515 E. Roosevelt Road project from AZH Roosevelt LLC, led by Kevin Huchingson, and Scott Proctor.

The deal is financed with a seven-year loan of $1.5 million from Talmer Bank & Trust of Troy, Michigan.

The 0.6-acre development previously helped secure an April 2016 mortgage of $2.2 million held by Arvest Bank of Fayetteville. The location was acquired for $135,000 in April 2003 from Baird Inc., led by John Schlereth.

Office Buy I

A 5,125-SF office building in Little Rock is under new ownership after a $400,000 deal. Goodwitch Properties LLC, led by Chad Millard, bought the 2121 Watt St. project.

The seller is 100 Queensway LLC, led by Justin Muller.

The 0.34-acre development previously was tied to a February 2014 mortgage of $340,000 held by Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff.

100 Queensway purchased the property for $400,000 in October 2011 from Farmers Bank & Trust of Magnolia.

Office Buy II

A 2,300-SF office building in west Little Rock rang up a $220,000 sale.

Thomas and Lori Schneider acquired the Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics project at 10014 W. Markham St.

The deal is funded with a seven-year loan of $176,000 from Simmons Bank.

The seller is 10014 W. Markham St. LLC, led by Lee Stephens.

The 0.3-acre development previously was linked with an April 2016 mortgage of $163,780 held by One Bank & Trust of Little Rock.

The property was bought for $160,000 five months ago from Solomon Enterprises Inc., led by Barry Solomon.

Pharmacy Transaction

A 3,200-SF retail project in Little Rock drew a $175,000 transaction.

CAEB Properties LLC, led by Charlie Turner, purchased the Arch Street Pharmacy at 11200 Arch Street Pike. The seller is MAM Enterprises Inc., led by Mark McMurry.

The deal is backed with a five-year loan of $270,000 from Peoples Bank of Sheridan.

The 0.92-acre development previously helped secure a February 2012 mortgage of $630,000 held by Metropolitan National Bank of Little Rock.

MAM Enterprises acquired the property for $255,000 in April 2001 from Robert Cotton and his wife, Kristine.

Estates Purchase

A 6,845-SF home in The Estates neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development sold for $923,000.

The Kimberlyn W. Binkley Trust bought the house from Scott and Erin Schoen. The deal is financed with a 15-year loan of $738,400 from Arvest Bank.

The Schoens purchased the property for $842,000 in July 2001 from the namesake trust of Raymond and Linda Skelton.

Woodland’s Abode I

A 4,397-SF home in the Woodland’s Edge neighborhood of west Little Rock changed hands in an $875,384 deal.

Joey and Leslie Wiggins acquired the house from Chenal Valley Construction Inc., led by James Miles.

The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $696,000 from Arkansas Federal Credit Union of Jacksonville. The residence previously was tied to a September 2015 mortgage of $552,000 held by BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo, Mississippi.

The location was bought for $160,000 in April 2015 from Kenneth Meachum.

Heights Home

A 3,399-SF home in the Heights neighborhood of Little Rock is under new ownership after a $795,000 sale.

John and Nena Busby purchased the house from the Rhodes Family Revocable Trust, led by Noah Rhodes Jr.

The deal is backed with a 30-year loan of $636,000 from Simmons Bank. The residence previously was linked with a June 2014 mortgage of $500,000 held by BancorpSouth Bank.

The property was acquired for $700,000 more than two years ago from the Diane Davenport Wilder Living Trust.

Cypress Point House

A 5,020-SF home in west Little Rock’s Cypress Point neighborhood rang up a $629,000 deal.

Derek Stafford bought the house from Rob Herndon III and his wife, Tami.

The deal is financed with 30-year loans of $417,000 and $86,200 from Bank of Little Rock Mortgage Corp.

The Herndons purchased the property for $630,000 in April 2007 from Robert and Angela Belk.

Millers Residence

A 3,500-SF home in Sherwood’s Millers Pointe neighborhood drew a $550,000 transaction.

Randy and Betty Ort acquired the house from E-Co Residential Builders Inc., led by Jerry Ester.

The deal is funded with a 13-year loan of $392,000 from Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama. The residence previously was tied to a September 2015 mortgage of $401,710 held by Little Rock’s Bank of the Ozarks.

The location was bought for $80,000 a year ago from the Carol Ann Davis Trust No. 1.

Woodland’s Abode II

A 4,337-SF home in the Woodland’s Edge neighborhood of west Little Rock sold for $534,000.

Josh and Sydney Smith purchased the house from Mark and Brooke Sumby. The deal is backed with a 10-year loan of $544,680 from Simmons Bank.

The residence previously was linked with an August 2014 mortgage of $392,000 held by IberiaBank Mortgage Co. of Little Rock.

The Sumbys acquired the property for $490,000 more than two years ago from The Wilson Co., led by Janet Dillon.

Marabel House

A 3,675-SF home in the Marabel Court neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development changed hands in a $519,000 deal.

Albert and Debra Zimmerebner bought the house from J. Martin Homes Inc. of Bryant.

The residence previously was tied to a December 2015 mortgage of $404,000 held by Arvest Bank.

The site was purchased for $82,000 nine months ago from Deltic Timber.

Multimillion-Dollar Construction

Pinnacle View Middle School    $34,332,724
5701 Ranch Drive, Little Rock
Baldwin & Shell Construction Co., Little Rock

Stribling Equipment    $5,300,000
10600 Interstate 30, Little Rock
Peoples Construction Corp., Flowood, Mississippi

Cornerstone Clinic    $4,898,690
9500 Baptist Health Drive, Little Rock
Bailey Construction & Consulting LLC, Little Rock

An investment group paid $3.2 million for 13 condominiums in the Legacy Building at 401 W. Watson St. in Fayetteville.

The Legacy Investors Group LLC, led by Mitchell Massey and Todd Ross, bought the property from Legacy BDF III LLC, a subsidiary of the private investment firm Broe Group of Denver. Broe purchased the seven-story building for slightly less than $4.3 million in 2012 from a group of banks that had reclaimed the property from Brandon Barber in an $11.2 foreclosure sale in 2008.

Chambers Bank of Danville assisted the purchase with a loan of $2.72 million.

E.J. Ball Plaza Sells

The E.J. Ball Plaza sold for $3.125 million.

Specialized Real Estate Group of Fayetteville and Moses Tucker Real Estate of Little Rock announced the acquisition earlier this month without a price tag. The seven-story, 58,000-SF building overlooks the downtown Fayetteville Square at 112 W. Center St.

Chris Moses, the CEO of Moses Tucker, acquired 80 percent of the property through his Tower Square Fayetteville LLC. The other 20 percent was bought by Mark and Kimberly Dake through their Bradford Square of Arkansas LLC.

SREG said it plans to renovate the exterior of the building, which is 60 percent occupied. Any interior work would be determined by future tenants’ needs.

Ball Plaza Holdings LLC, led by Ted Belden, was the seller. IberiaBank of Lafayette, Louisiana, assisted the purchase with a loan of $2.4 million.

(Also see: New Owners Plan Renovations to Fayetteville's EJ Ball Building)

Fayetteville AT&T Deals

A California family bought a strip center on Wedington Drive in Fayetteville for $3.34 million.

The center, located at 3575 W. Wedington, is anchored by an AT&T and Belle Boutique and has more than 8,000-SF of retail space. Joseph and Mary Daher of Willow Creek, California, bought 68.4 percent of the property, while Tom and Romaine Daher acquired the remaining 31.6 percent.

Bear State Bank of Harrison assisted the purchase with a loan of $2.25 million. The seller was JRN Investments, led by Robin Nix of Jonesboro.

The center is in front of the Walmart Neighborhood Market and next to a Starbucks. It wasn’t the only AT&T property in Fayetteville attracting California buyers.

A California investor paid more than $1.3 million for the AT&T retail store at 2804 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Fayetteville.

Davidson Properties Holdings of Walnut Creek, California, led by Jerry Lee and Kathleen Davidson, bought the 3,224-SF building for $1.36 million from ARFAY MLK LLC, led by Scott McLain of Fort Smith. McLain bought the property for $250,000 in 2014.

The property is across the street from the Walmart Supercenter. Wells Fargo Bank assisted the purchase with a loan of $885,000.

Haag Brown Purchase

Haag Brown Commercial Real Estate & Development in Jonesboro paid $200,000 for nearly 2 acres of land just behind a property it purchased earlier this year in Fayetteville.

Haag Brown bought the property from CVS Pharmacy of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The lot is directly behind the CVS Pharmacy on North College Avenue, just north of the intersection of College and East Township Street. In late March, Haag Brown paid $655,000 for the Suds Car Wash at 2408 N. College, which is next door to the CVS.

Haag Brown plans to replace the car wash with a multiuse retail building anchored by, in all likelihood, Starbucks and one other tenant. When the company bought the car wash, CVS contacted Joshua Brown, co-founder of Haag Brown, about the 2 acres, which are located directly behind the CVS and car wash.

CVS paid $2.6 million to JMU Inc. of Fayetteville for the property in 2014. Brown told Arkansas Business earlier this year, when the company was working on the deal, that the second property was attractive as an office development to tie in with the retail development at the car wash property.

I-49 Office Building Sale

A five-unit office building just off Interstate 49 in Fayetteville changed hands in a $1.2 million deal.

Hillcrest Holdings LLC of Johnson, led by Gary Nichols, bought the two-story, 6,500-SF building from Monroe North Point LLC, led by Steve and Nicole Fowler. The office is located at 2961 N. Point Circle and overlooks the Exit 66 on-ramp.

Legacy National Bank of Springdale assisted the purchase with a loan of $960,000.

These things can sometimes change at the last minute, but at press time the Walnut Ridge Three were scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Little Rock later this week.

We refer, of course, to the former employees of First National Bank of Lawrence County who have already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud by stealing nearly $4 million in cash from the bank’s vault over a 10-year period.

Brenda Montgomery, who was 57 when she waived indictment and pleaded guilty in May, will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

Cindy Tate, also 57 as of May, will be sentenced by Baker at 10:45 a.m. on Friday, followed by Peggy Sutton, 61 as of May, at 1:30 p.m.

Each defendant agreed to be responsible for almost $1.32 million in restitution, for a total of almost $3.95 million.

Their plea deals suggest a sentencing range of 41 to 57 months in federal prison, and the women reserved the right to withdraw their pleas if Baker doesn’t agree to that range.

First National revealed the theft of almost $4 million in August 2015, when it filed its second-quarter call report with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Federal prosecutors said the theft began in 2005.

Tate, the head cashier, had advance notice of internal audits, prosecutors said, and would arrange with tellers Montgomery and Sutton to transfer cash from other branches into the main vault temporarily so the amount of cash on hand would appear to be correct.

Once the auditors completed their count, the defendants would return the cash to the other locations.

Managers became suspicious in April 2015 and arranged for a surprise cash count of the vault contents. A forensic audit confirmed the theft.

In February, the bank’s CEO, Milton Smith, reported that the bank had received an insurance settlement of almost $2.7 million.

With Arkansas Razorbacks football season finally here, many of us will be blocking out time in our Saturdays for the next few months to watch the games.

It’s been a long summer of anticipation to see how the Hogs are going to perform this year, especially after losing several key players from last season to the NFL draft. Many of us have been keeping up with the practice schedules, new recruits and the Red/White scrimmage with expectation of a good season and we are encouraged by the early victories.

If there’s one thing noticeable about the Razorbacks over the last several years, it’s that their mental game is just as tough to keep in shape as the physical game. They spend all that time practicing, running drills and going through two-a-days, but when it’s the fourth quarter and they're down by 10 points, the pressure is on.

For many people, this is the same concept as where they are in their retirement preparation game: fourth quarter, pressure is on, down by 10 points, and the decisions you make will decide whether you go home celebrating or with your head down.

We see this scenario all too often. People often do not realize how critical saving for retirement is until it’s the fourth quarter. This is not something we are taught in school, nor is it something that has always been a problem. If you think back a few generations, most people who “retired” from the company in which they worked were provided a pension plan into which they weren't responsible to make deposits. In that generation, retirement had a totally different connotation than it does today. It was an age. Today, retirement is not defined by how old you are, or how long you’ve worked. Retirement is achieved by how many dollars you have saved. Oh and by the way, saving those dollars is YOUR responsibility.

Just like in football, whenever we find ourselves in this situation we need to go back to our training and rely on the fundamentals we’ve been practicing. So here are three basic fundamentals you can refer to if you find yourself in the fourth quarter of your working years and you feel the pressure of retirement.

1. Blocking and tackling — Think of this as the financial equivalent of budgeting and saving. These are the two main ingredients of a healthy financial picture. If we don’t block ourselves from some of the impulse purchases we make and tackle the savings goal we set for ourselves, then the rest of our financial picture will not have a firm foundation on which to stand.
2. Keep your eyes on the ball — You have to begin with the end in mind. If you keep your mind focused on goals ahead of you, then it becomes much easier to make that extra IRA contribution and maybe not buy a boat this year.
3. Listen to your coach — Even the star player is nothing without the coach helping everyone to work together. It’s critical that you have a coach to help you set your goals, develop a plan for success, and to encourage you along the way.

Whether you’re at halftime or in the fourth quarter, the victory is yours for the taking. What will you do to take the lead? 

Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff has opened a third branch in Fayetteville, at 2025 Crossover Road.

"We're committed to this growing region, and our newest location will offer greater accessibility and convenience for our customers, who we look forward to serving in east Fayetteville," Greg Martin, the northwest Arkansas market president for the bank, said in a news release.

A grand opening tailgate party is set from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 7. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for noon.

Virginia Smith Fields repeatedly turned to glare at Brenda Montgomery as she pleaded, unsuccessfully, with U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker to reject a plea deal under which Montgomery would spend less than five years in federal prison.

Fields talked about the small-town bank that her grandfather, father and brother worked to build and preserve, and she vented her fury at the first of three defendants to be sentenced for her role in stealing nearly $4 million from First National Bank of Lawrence County over the course of 10 years.

Fields, of Austin, Texas, described Montgomery as a "petty, delusional manipulator" and a "sociopathic narcissist of the highest order," and complained that Montgomery had shown no remorse and paid no restitution since the theft was discovered in April 2015.

Instead, Fields said Montgomery, who was 57 when she offered her guilty plea in May, had used stolen money to hire a high-priced lawyer — Bill James of Little Rock — and even had the nerve to ask the court for probation rather than a prison sentence.

She asked Baker to reject the plea deal and to let a jury trial determine Montgomery's punishment, which could have been up to 30 years in prison.

Fields' brother, Milton Smith, CEO of the bank at Walnut Ridge since their father died unexpectedly in 1994, also asked Baker to reject the conditional plea deal that Montgomery and her co-defendants, Cindy Tate and Peggy Sutton, entered with federal prosecutors.

Smith, 49, said he had known all three of the defendants since he was a child — Montgomery had worked for the bank for 35 years, and the three had combined tenure at the bank of nearly a century. Yet none of the three has paid any restitution, and Smith told Arkansas Business that only Sutton had expressed any remorse to him personally.

The losses that exceeded the amount stolen — lost dividends, legal and accounting expenses — were compounded, he told the judge, by an "emotional toll" that was "difficult to describe."

Montgomery, however, told Baker that she felt the "deepest remorse for my crime" and for letting down her husband, coworkers and friends. And James said a letter Montgomery wrote asking to be sentenced to probation — a violation of the plea agreement, which anticipated 41 to 57 months in prison — was a mistake that had been withdrawn.

Baker disappointed the Smith siblings by accepting the plea agreement, but she did sentence Montgomery to the 57-month maximum contemplated by the deal. That will be followed by three years of supervised release.

Montgomery agreed to pay restitution of almost $1.32 million — a third of the $3.95 million she, Tate and Sutton admitted stealing during the course of a 10-year conspiracy.

James asked that his client be allowed to report to prison after the Christmas holidays, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Jegley said she would not object to giving Montgomery 60 days to report. But Baker said she thought 45 days was adequate and ordered Montgomery to report to prison on Nov. 14.

Tate and Sutton are scheduled to be sentenced Friday, Tate at 10:45 a.m. and Sutton at 1:30 p.m. Sutton's attorney, Tim Dudley of Little Rock, attended the sentencing hearing and said he expected his client to receive the same sentence.

The exact nature of the embezzlement was not discussed at Thursday's hearing. In a press release announcing the conditional pleas by the three defendants in May, federal prosecutors said the three stole money from the vault at the main bank office and would transfer cash from branches to cover the shortage when Tate, as head cashier, got advance notice of internal audits.

But Smith said Thursday that the cover-up involved bookkeeping entries, although there may have been some cash transfers as well.

Tate was 57 as of May, and Sutton, a former teller, was 61. In her impassioned statement to Judge Baker, Virginia Fields said Montgomery knew that Sutton was going to attempt suicide when a surprise audit uncovered the shortage, but didn't report it to authorities.

Smith confirmed that Sutton had made a suicide attempt, but he said rumors of a suicide pact by all three women or a plan to shift the blame to Sutton after she killed herself were never confirmed.

Arkansas bank deposits grew at a 7.5 percent clip in the year that ended June 30, handily beating the national growth rate and topping $60 billion for the first time as the number of separate bank charters and branch locations continued to decline.

More than $2 billion of the state's $4.28 billion in additional deposits flowed to Bank of the Ozarks, the fast-growing publicly traded bank headquartered in Little Rock. With Arkansas deposits of $5.42 billion, up 61 percent from $3.37 billion in mid-2015, Bank of the Ozarks moved from No. 7 last year to No. 2, passing Bank of America, Regions Bank, First Security Bank, Simmons Bank and Centennial Bank.

Arvest Bank still had the most Arkansas deposits as of June 30, $7.67 billion, but Bank of the Ozarks overtook Arvest as the largest bank chartered in Arkansas ranked by total assets when it completed two acquisitions in July.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. released its annual summary of deposits Friday. It is an accounting taken at midyear by the government agency that insures bank deposits. It is not a holistic report card on the health of a bank or of the banking industry, but it is the only official report that provides Arkansas-specific trend data for multistate banks like Arvest, Regions and Bank of America.

BOZ did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday morning. Its June 30 call report filed with the FDIC showed that its brokered deposits — bundled deposits that banks seek out to supplement "core" customer deposits in order to fund loan demand — had tripled from $501 million to $1.5 billion in 12 months.

Last year, when the summary of deposits showed a 22 percent growth in Arkansas deposits from mid-2014 to mid-2015, BOZ's chief operating officer, Tyler Vance, credited winning bids on public deposits from state agencies and municipalities across the state.

Below is a list of the 20 banks with the most in-state deposits. In-state mergers brought two of them into the top 20: Farmers & Merchants Bank of Stuttgart, which acquired Bank of Fayetteville in November, and Citizens Bank of Batesville, which acquired Parkway Bank of Rogers in December.

Those acquisitions explain why the total number of banks doing business in the state as of June 30, 127, was down by two from a year earlier. The number of separate bank branch locations, 1,354, was down by 11 from mid-2015. The number of branches has declined by 10 percent from the peak in mid-2008.

Top 20 Banks in Arkansas by Deposit

^*Acquired Bank of Fayetteville on Nov. 30, 2015; 2015 deposits have been combined for comparison
^**Acquired Parkway Bank of Rogers on Dec. 22, 2015; 2015 deposits have been combined for comparison
^†Dollars in thousands

Sharp-eyed lawyering resulted in a shorter prison term for the last of the defendants to be sentenced for stealing almost $4 million from First National Bank of Lawrence County, and it could bode well for her co-defendants.

Peggy Sutton, 61, received a 51-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker on Friday afternoon, six months shorter than the sentences Baker gave Brenda Montgomery on Thursday and Cindy Tate on Friday morning.

Sutton was the only one of the three who had promptly confessed to the 10-year conspiracy to steal cash from the bank vault, and she reportedly attempted suicide when the theft was discovered in April 2015. Her lawyer, Tim Dudley of Little Rock, was the first to contact federal prosecutors with an offer to plead guilty.

Unlike her co-conspirators, she sobbed as she addressed Baker and thanked the court for ordering mental health counseling that had helped her understand what she caused her "inexcusable" crime.

But her early acceptance of responsibility and cooperation with the investigation wasn't what persuaded Baker to give Sutton a shorter sentence. Instead, it was Dudley's questioning of a discrepancy between the calculation of the numeric offense level in the plea agreement hammered out in the spring and the calculation included in the pre-sentencing report by the federal probation officer.

The discrepancy had not been noted by Bill James, the Little Rock attorney who represented Montgomery, or by Tate's attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig of Little Rock. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Jegley agreed with Dudley's interpretation, and Judge Baker said she would give "the benefit of the bargain" to the defendant.

Jegley told the court that she would contact the attorneys for Montgomery and Tate, and Dudley suggested that the first two defendants would likely be resentenced to 51 months because the negotiations with federal prosecutors always contemplated identical deals.

All three were sentenced to three years of supervised release following their prison sentences, and each had agreed to be responsible for repaying a third of the $3.95 million that was stolen — almost $1.32 million each.

Even the longer sentences imposed on Montgomery and Tate were a disappointment to the family that controls First National Bank. In the three separate sentencing hearings, Virginia Smith Fields used strong language to describe the women who victimized the small-town bank that her grandfather, father and brother worked to build and preserve.

Her brother, Milton Smith, has been CEO of the bank since their father died unexpectedly in 1994. Now 49, he said he had known the three defendants since he was a child; each had worked at the bank at least 30 years.

But the Smith family dropped its request that Baker reject the conditional plea agreement after she accepted it in Montgomery's case on Thursday. The 57-month sentences that Baker gave Montgomery and Tate were the high end of the range that was contemplated by the plea deal, but Dudley argued that the range should have been 41-51 months after his client was given maximum credit for accepting responsibility.

Jegley said the negotiation was the same for all three.

It's not clear what became of the money, which was stolen in cash from the bank's main vault, although Fields suggested to the judge that Sutton had gambled away her ill-gotten gains.

The theft has shaken Walnut Ridge, other employees told the judge when she asked for oral impact statements from victims. Tammy Franks, senior vice president and head cashier, said the bank's approximately 60 employees were "a family that has been devastated" by the crime perpetrated by three women who were part of that family-like organization.

Another SVP, Lorra Whitmire, said she had bought stock in the bank that had offered excellent salaries and benefits, especially to women. "The price we have paid for credibility in our small community cannot be measured," she said.

Whitmire also told Judge Baker that the forensic audit that identified the $4 million theft had also uncovered sexual misconduct by Tate that resulted in the resignation of another bank officer. He was not named in court, and Milton Smith declined to identify him.

Another bank employee, Vicki Boothe, complained to Baker that Sutton had bullied, belittled and embarrassed her from the day she was hired as a teller in 2001, and the fallout from the theft had left her emotionally and physically exhausted and caused her home life to suffer.

The bank recovered $2.7 million from a private insurance policy, but Milton Smith pointed out to the court that the financial damage was not limited to the money stolen. The bank is bearing the expense of parallel civil litigation, and the loss has reduced shareholder dividends and bonuses and raises for employees.  

Montgomery's request to report to prison at the start of 2017, after the Christmas holidays, was denied, and she and Tate were both given 45 days to report. But Sutton asked to start her sentence as soon as possible, so she was ordered to report in 30 days if the federal Bureau of Prisons is ready for her that soon.  

Katie Chandler has been promoted to tax partner at the Little Rock office of accounting firm HoganTaylor LLP. Chandler, a certified public accountant, was previously with the Little Rock accounting firm of Hart Chandler & Associates PLLC, which merged with HoganTaylor in 2015.

Todd Green has been promoted to president of the Hot Springs and Hot Springs Village markets of Relyance Bank of Pine Bluff.

Green received both his bachelor’s degree and Master of Business Administration degree from Henderson State University. He’s a 2012 graduate of the Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University and has served in several leadership roles at the bank over the past seven years.

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

El Dorado advertising executive Don Hale had a job opportunity at a bank, so he called a friend for advice. That friend was Hot Springs marketing pro Kirby Williams, who as fate had it was just announcing a banking job of his own.

News circulated simultaneously last month that Hale and Williams were stepping back from their firms to become marketing chiefs at banks — Hale as a senior vice president with Citizens Bank of Batesville, where he’ll be relocating soon, and Williams as senior vice president with Stone Bank of Mountain View, working out of Little Rock. He’ll also be moving. (His wife, Clare Thomas Williams, is from Little Rock and his two daughters live there.)

“Yes, Don Hale and I have been conspiring for years and we finally figured out how to dominate the north central Arkansas financial industry,” Williams joked in an email. More seriously, he said he and Hale had been close for years. But his move, he said, was sealed long ago and only revealed last month.

“I started working with the bank as a consultant a year and a half ago,” said Williams, 62, who began his career at First National Bank in Little Rock in 1977. “I’ve been working full-time with the bank since Jan. 1, but Stephanie [Alderdice] and I didn’t want a big deal made of it.

Alderdice bought Kirby & Co., Williams’ Hot Springs advertising and social media firm, but no financial details of the private transaction were revealed.

“The thing with Don was just a coincidence, but he did call me; he wanted to get my perspective,” Williams said.

Hale said he “wanted to visit with Kirby about this opportunity because he started in banks. We’re close friends and I think we have similar styles.”

Hale, who didn’t directly state his age but was 39 in 1995 when he was an Arkansas Business 40 Under 40 honoree, is giving up leadership of the Diamond Agency, his family-owned company in El Dorado, turning over reins to account manager Carol McDade.

Both men have strong confidence in their successors. “I’m leaving Diamond in capable hands,” said Hale, who grew up in El Dorado and returned after graduating from the University of Arkansas. “Carol has been with me 20 years, and she has all the capabilities to take over seamlessly. Kirby and I both have good people, and that probably did play a role in our being comfortable with all this.”

Hale said that Phil Baldwin, Citizens Bank’s CEO, lured him with a vision for what he plans to build, “and I wanted to be part of his team.”

Hale said his son Clark, a recent Henderson State University graduate, would be taking a visible role at Diamond, learning under McDade.

Williams, 62, said he picked a peak time to sell Kirby & Co., which will keep its name for now, to a woman he described as “brilliant” at social media. The purchase will be paid out over four years, with Williams on retainer.

In the new job, he’s excited to work with Stone Bank CEO Marnie Oldner, CTO Bruce Upton and President Nick Roach. The Mountain View bank, renamed from Ozark Heritage Bank last year with Williams’ help, has a branch in White Hall, management offices in Little Rock and plans for a banking center in Harrison. “We’re collecting ideas on how to build a perfect bank,” he said.

Alderdice, 35, was a championship coach of the Western Kentucky University Speech and Debate Team before moving to Hot Springs, where her husband, Corey Alderdice, is director of the Arkansas School for Math, Science & Arts.

She says the Kirby name is widely recognized. “Given Kirby’s outstanding reputation, I didn’t want to move away from ‘Kirby & Co.’ from the get-go.” Her first goal is to keep happy clients like the Hot Springs Advertising & Promotion Commission and the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, then to grow the firm’s digital imprint.

McDade, 57, an “El Dorado girl” and Southern Arkansas University graduate, said she’s known Hale “as far back as I can remember” and will hold the course he set. “We all wear a lot of hats around here,” she said, praising her “ground crew” of about six employees and “a lot of ancillary folks.”

The agency is changing with the times, focusing on digital and social media along with print publications like the El Dorado Insider’s Guide, Arkadelphia Life and the Clark County Adventure Guide.

“Don and his family have instilled confidence in me,” she said. “I pride myself on loyalty – married nearly 40 years and working here almost 20. Most of my friends have been lifelong. What I lack in ability I make up for in loyalty and determination.”

The Allied Bank staff was still a little shell-shocked when they convened at the main office in Mulberry on Saturday, Sept. 24. The day after regulators took over the $66.3 million-asset lender, employees gathered to learn what the future held under the new ownership of Today’s Bank of Huntsville.

“I told the employees nobody ever likes to see a bank fail,” said Larry Olson, president and CEO of Today’s Bank. “It’s just a sad day regardless of the reasons.”

Losses from bad loans finally reached the tipping point where regulators intervened to stop Allied Bank from falling into insolvency. The failure was the culmination of a six-year death spiral in which Allied Bank recorded a combined loss of $18.8 million.

“This was the result of poor quality loans and bad business decisions,” State Bank Commissioner Candace Franks said in a prepared statement announcing the closing of Allied Bank.

Noncurrent loans totaled $5.1 million as of June 30, representing 12.3 percent of Allied’s still troubled loan portfolio.

The deterioration of the bank’s tier one capital to $1.3 million in the second quarter set in motion a regulator-mandated change of ownership and management.

The Allied staff was retained by Today’s Bank with the notable exception of its father-son executive team, Lex and Alex Golden of Little Rock. The Golden family held controlling ownership for 30 years.

Lex Golden held the posts of CEO, 1986-2007; chief lending officer, 2008-2012; and special assets manager since 2013. Alex Golden was named CEO in 2008 and held a variety of positions with the bank prior to that.

The clock began ticking on the Golden family’s ownership last year with their failed effort in bankruptcy court to reorganize the tattered financial affairs of Allied Bank’s parent company, Acme Holding Co.

Last summer’s court order to liquidate Acme launched an attempt to sell its biggest asset: Allied Bank.

What the bankruptcy trustee couldn’t do in a year, regulators did in two months. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found a buyer to take over Allied Bank.

“It’s just a situation where we gave it everything we could but came up short,” said Ray Fulmer of Fort Smith, court-appointed receiver for Acme Holding.

“We had hoped, of course, that we could find a buyer that could yield some value. We had several interested parties, but no one willing to pay the money to make the bank viable and pay some money to the creditors.”

Details of the purchase agreement for Allied Bank remain undisclosed, but the winning bid by Today’s Bank was deemed the least expensive. The FDIC estimated the cost to its Deposit Insurance Fund would be $6.9 million.

“We feel fortunate that we were selected the winner, so we can expand into new markets,” Olson said. “I can’t say we have a strategic plan for the Little Rock market. We’re in assimilation mode right now.”

In addition to one operational leased branch location, two closed bank-owned branches in Little Rock number among Allied Bank’s nonperforming assets. The offices are part of a $9.1 million real estate portfolio dominated by property that secured loans that had gone bad.

The Allied acquisition expands Today’s footprint southward from Washington and Madison counties into Crawford, Franklin and Sebastian counties.

Capital Position

At the end of the second quarter, the tier one risk-based capital ratio at Today’s Bank stood at 19.58 percent. That strong position enabled the bank to absorb the assets of Allied Bank and remain in regulatory compliance.

Allied Bank’s risk-based capital ratio fell below 2 percent during the second quarter. That triggered a prompt corrective action order from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

The bank’s primary federal regulator ordered the critically undercapitalized lender to improve its equity capital or sell during the next 30 days.

“That’s kind of the death knell right there,” Today’s Olson said.

The Aug. 15 order was the last in a series of regulator actions against Allied that date back more than five years.

The Goldens entered a memorandum of understanding on behalf of the bank, Acme Holding and its employee stock ownership plan with the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis

on March 15, 2011. The Arkansas State Bank Department issued a cease-and-desist order on Nov. 15, 2011.

Neither action was publicly announced but were revealed in filings and testimony during the Acme Holding bankruptcy.

The private memorandum of understanding with the Federal Reserve was replaced by a public written agreement on May 2, 2012.

The order addressed systemic problems with credit risk management, lending and credit administration.

Today's Bank, Huntsville

Total Assets: $116 million
Equity Capital: $7.4 million
OREO: $1.4 million
Net Income: $1.1 million
Staff: 40
Locations: Huntsville (2), Fayetteville (2) and Springdale

Allied Bank, Mulberry

Total Assets: $66.3 million
Equity Capital: $1.3 million
OREO: $9.1 million
Net Income: -$4,495
Staff: 40
Locations: Alma, Little Rock, Mansfield, Mulberry and Ozark

Dollars in thousands unless noted otherwise. All data as of June 30.
Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Did you know a proposed merger of Pinnacle Bank of Rogers and Central Bank of Little Rock is in the works?

Neither Central’s president and CEO, Wade Ruckle, nor Pinnacle’s president, David Bordovsky, could be reached for comment.

Here’s what we know:

Central Bank had $115.3 million in assets and $17.65 million in equity capital as of June 30. Founded on the dormant 1912 charter of Bank of Blevins, the venture was moved to Little Rock and renamed in 2007. It has two offices in Little Rock.

Pinnacle Bank was founded on the dormant charter of Bank of Pocahontas in 2004 when it was moved to northwest Arkansas and renamed. The lender had $89.5 million in assets and $10.4 million in equity capital at midyear. Its only office is at 4201 W. New Hope Road in Rogers.

Both banks are profitable. Central cleared $887,000 in 2015 and reported net income of $454,000 for the first half of 2016. Pinnacle earned $240,000 last year and $54,000 through June 30 this year.