November 2001

This report is compiled from company releases, business journals and newspapers from around the state. If you have an item for these listings please:

mail it to:
For the Record
Virginia Business Magazine
P.O. Box 85333
Richmond, VA 23293

or e-mail it to ForTheRecord@va-business.com, or fax it to (804) 649-6311.

Mergers and Acquisitions
Precise Software Solutions Ltd., a Westwood-Mass.-based corporate information technology software company, acquired Reston-based software company W. Quinn Associates, or WQuinn, in a cash and stock deal valued at a minimum of $35 million. The company agreed to pay up to $17 million more if WQuinn achieves incremental revenue between $10 million and $21 million over the next 12 months. (09/06/01, The Washington Post)

Health Management Associates, a Naples-Fla.-based non-urban hospital operator of general acute care hospitals in the southeast and southwest, completed the acquisition of Lee County Community Hospital, an 80-bed acute care hospital in Pennington Gap. (09/04/01, PRNewswire)

CareerBuilder Inc., a Reston-based online recruiting company, will merge its operations with those of Atlanta-based online resume bank Headhunter.Net Inc. CareerBuilder’s parent companies, media firms Tribune Co. and Knight Ridder Inc., will pay $200 million for Headhunter. (08/24/01, The Washington Post)

MicroStrategy Inc., a provider of business intelligence software headquartered in McLean, acquired the outstanding minority interest in its Strategy.com subsidiary. The company issued 3.5 million shares of Class A common stock in exchange for 16.5 million shares of Strategy.com’s outstanding Series A preferred stock. (08/29/01, PRNewswire)

Cyveillance Inc., an Arlington-based company that designs software to search the Internet for misuse of trade names, acquired the data-mining software firm 2Wrongs.com Inc. in a cash and stock deal. The purchase allows Cyveillance to offer customers additional services that rely on scanning data and links on the Web. (08/28/01, The Washington Post)

AES Corp., a global power provider headquartered in Arlington, announced one of its subsidiaries has entered into an agreement to purchase all of PSEG Global’s jointly held interests in three distribution companies and two generating companies in Argentina for $376 million. (08/ 27, Business Wire)

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Deals
Wythe County received a $2 million-plus federal loan for land grading and construction of a Norfolk Southern rail line into Progress Park, a regional industrial park. (09/01/01, The Roanoke Times)

The Packett Group, a Roanoke-based advertising company, will produce a branding and identity project for the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Association to further public awareness of the need for protection and preservation of battlefields. (08/23/01, Press release)

webMethods Inc., a provider of integration software headquartered in Fairfax, announced an agreement allowing Hewlett-Packard Co. to offer the webMethods integration platform as a premier software solution within HP Consulting, HP’s global consulting practice. The three-year agreement will focus on opportunities in the manufacturing and supply chain industries. (08/30/01, PRNewswire)

Children’s Wear Digest, a national catalog retailer of name-brand children’s clothing, selected RightMinds, a public relations firm headquartered in Richmond, to develop a national media relations campaign. (08/30/01, Press release)

TechBooks, a Fairfax-based data conversion firm, and iArchives, of Orem, Utah, announced a strategic partnership agreement to offer corporations and a fast, cost-effective way to turn archived data into digital content. The new solution for data conversion projects will reduce the cost of newspaper conversion projects by 50 to 75 percent. (08//24/01, Press release)

SLAY Public Relations, a Richmond-based media relations and strategic counseling company, will design and manage a national media relations campaign for the grand opening of Shenandoah Shakespeare’s Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton. (08/24/01, Press release)

ESPN, a cable television sports channel headquartered in Bristol. Conn., has entered into a licensing agreement with The Mills Corp., an Arlington-based national retail real estate developer, to create state-of-the-art public skateparks, branded with ESPN’s action sports franchise, The X Games. Seven X Games skateparks are in development. (08/22/01, PRNewswire)

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New Plants and Companies
Ai Metrix Inc., a network management software company previously based in El Dorado Hills, Calif., moved its headquarters to Herndon. (09/06/01, The Washington Post)

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Executive Promotions
Shawn Reese, president, Ai Metrix Inc., a Herndon-based network management software company. (09/06/01, The Washington Post)

Lamont "Bud" Curtis, president, The TAF Group, an architectural and engineering firm headquartered in Virginia Beach. (09/06/01, Press release)

Neil Wilkin, CFO, Optical Cable Corp., a Roanoke-based producer of fiber optic cables. (09/01/01, Press release)

Fred Rucker, president and CEO, Network Mantra, a Chantilly-based provider of network service management software. (08/29/01, PRNewswire)

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Contracts
MAXIMUS, a Reston-based government service company, was picked by the State of New Jersey to provide software to manage and maintain its statewide fleet of vehicles and equipment. The five-year contract is valued at $2.7 million. (09/07/01, Press release)

Sensytech Inc., a developer special purpose communications equipment headquartered in Newington, received a $2.5 million contract from Amazon Technologies Co. for an airborne hyperspectral imaging system to be used in environmental studies. (09/06/01, Business Wire)

CACI International Inc., an Arlington-based financial management services company, will provide the General Services Administration auditing and financial management services through a five-year, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with three, five-year options, valued at $20 million through the initial base period. (09/05/01, PRNewswire)

Computer Sciences Corp., a consulting and information technology services firm headquartered in Falls Church, won a task order from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command to support simulation and development of missile and aviation systems at Redstone Arsenal, Ala. The contract will have a value of $145.8 million if all options are exercised over a five-year period. (09/05/01, PRNewswire)

The Center for Health Dispute Resolution, part of the Reston-based government services company Maximus, was selected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a national independent review entity for external reviews of Medicare managed care denials. The one-year contract with four additional option years is valued at $21.8 million. (09/04/01, Press release)

Rand Construction Corp., an Arlington-based construction company, was awarded a contract for the build-out of 150,000 square feet of space for Computer Sciences Corp. in Annapolis Junction, Md. (08/30/01, Press release)

The Association for Investment Management and Research, an association of financial analysts and other investment professionals headquartered in Charlottesville, launched a $3 million, 12-month advertising campaign to promote its chartered financial analyst designation as "the global professional investment credential." The campaign was developed by Citigate Albert Frank of New York. (08/29/01, Business Wire)

Vastera Inc, a Dulles-based provider of solutions for global trade management, reached an agreement with Lucent Technologies to manage the company’s U.S.-based global trade operations. The five-year agreement’s first three years are valued at $25 million. (08/29/01, Business Wire)

SAVVIS Communications Corp., a global network services provider headquartered in Herndon, entered into an agreement with MoneyLine Network Inc., a provider of Internet-based transactional services, for a five-year, minimum $122 million contract to provide networking services for the 7,000 client connections that MoneyLine will acquire from Bridge Information Systems. (08/27/01, Business Wire)

Versar Inc., a Springfield-based provider of environmental engineering and compliance services, was awarded a five-year contract with a potential value of more than $8.3 million from Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio for environmental engineering services. (07/23/01, Press release)

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Cutbacks and Closings
The Journal Newspapers altered their publication schedule to five times a week by eliminating its Monday editions because of industry costs and the slowing economy. The Monday edition was eliminated. (09/05/01, The Fairfax Journal)

Optical Cable Corp., a Roanoke-based producer of fiber optic cable, dismissed 27 production employees, or 12 percent of its work force, because of weak economic conditions in the first layoff in company history. (09/08/01, The Roanoke Times)

Great Bridge LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Norfolk-based media conglomerate Landmark Communications Inc., ceased operations after failing to attract a buyer or more investors. Launched 16 months ago with $25 million in backing, Great Bridge was intended to market commercial products, services and support for "PostgreSQL", an open-source database. (09/06/01, The Washington Post)

Westvaco Corp., a Stamford, Conn.-based producer of paperboard and value-added packaging, will close its Richmond packaging plant, affecting about 350 employees. (09/06/01, Business Wire)

Evercel Inc., a Danbury, Conn.-based battery maker, closed its 97,000-square-foot plant in Newport News and moved production to China. (09/06/01, Daily Press)

Equant, a Dutch telephone and Internet data company, which merged with Reston-based Global One Inc., laid off 23 percent of its work force, including an undisclosed number of Washington-area workers. The cuts were anticipated as part of the merger process. (09/05/01, The Washington Post)

Relera Inc., an Internet data center with an office in Richmond, laid 20 of its 22 Richmond employees as part of a move to cut 380 out of 450 company wide positions. (08/31/01, The Washington Post)

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Danville plant has cut aircraft tire production by 430 tires a day for the remainder of the year. The aircraft division’s workforce will be cut by 25 to 30 employees. (08/31/01, Danville Register & Bee)

NetDecide Corp., a Falls Church-based wealth-management software firm for financial services companies, laid off about 20 workers, or a third of its staff. (08/30/01, The Washington Post)

American of Martinsville, a Martinsville-based furniture maker, laid off 120 workers, 100 of them from its Chilhowie plant. Another 20 were laid off from the Martinsville plant. The two plants manufacture furniture for hotels and motels, assisted-living centers, and the federal government. The layoffs were attributed to a slump in the lodging industry. (08/31/01, Bristol Herald Courier)

Teleglobe Communications Corp., a Canadian telecommunications company, laid off 150 workers in its Reston office. (08/31/01, The Washington Post)

Gateway Inc. will close its technical support call center in Hampton, idling about 575 workers. An additional 175 jobs in manufacturing and administration will be cut and the company’s 400,000-square-foot plant sold. Manufacturing operations will be relocated to the company’s distribution center. (08/28/01, The Virginian-Pilot)

Cooley Godward LLP, a national law firm, will lay off at least 10 of 61 associates in the company’s two-year-old Reston office because of the economic slowdown. (08/24/01, The Washington Post)

AOL Time Warner Inc., the New York-based media giant, laid off just over 375 employees in its Internet division, located in Dulles. The cuts represent 22 percent of the estimated 1,700 layoffs announced by AOL. (08/24/01, The Washington Post)

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Divestitures
The Fortress Group Inc., a McLean-based nationally diversified homebuilder, closed the sale of Christopher Homes LLC, its Las Vegas, Nev., subsidiary, as part of its financial and organizational restructuring plan. Sale price was $28 million, reflecting the assumption of secured debt and other liabilities. (09/05/01, PRNewswire)

Masergy Communications Inc., a Dallas-area network services provider, acquired most of the technology assets of Falls Church-based Zephion Networks Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in June. The company acquired Internet protocol hardware assets in 29 Zephion hubs. Filings in Delaware bankruptcy court included a letter of intent that said Masergy would acquire Zephion’s assets for $4 million in cash and $6.5 million worth of Series A preferred stock. Zephion’s interest in its subsidiaries and other leases and contracts were not included. (08/22/01, The Washington Post)

SouthTrust Corp. of Birmingham, Ala., and the Bank of Tidewater in Virginia Beach signed a definitive agreement calling for the acquisition of the Bank of Tidewater by SouthTrust Bank. Bank of Tidewater operates 10 offices with reported assets of $295 million. (08/31/01, PRNewswire)

Brown & Brown, a provider of insurance products and services headquartered in Daytona Beach, Fla., has acquired Logan Insurance Agency, an independent insurance agency in Salem. (08/29/01, PRNewswire)

NTELOS Inc., a Waynesboro-based integrated communications provider, and Conestoga Enterprises Inc. of Birdsboro, Pa., signed a definitive purchase agreement with VoiceStream Wireless to sell VoiceStream the Conestoga Wireless GSM network in central Pennsylvania. The $60 million transaction is subject to the closing of the previously announced merger between NTELOS Inc. and Conestoga Enterprises Inc. and other customary conditions. (08/28/01, PRNewswire)

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Expansions
Ferguson Enterprises, a plumbing supply distributor, will create 400 new jobs and invest $20.5 million in a new facility at its corporate office in Newport News. (09/06/01, Press release)

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Real Estate
VeriSign Inc., a California-based Internet infrastructure company, leased a new office campus in Herndon for its 1,300 Northern Virginia employees in a vacant, 13-story building that Winstar Communications Inc. had planned to occupy before filing for bankruptcy. The company signed an 11-year lease with Tishman Speyer Properties for the 405,000-square-foot building under construction in the Woodland Park development. (09/06/01, The Washington Post)

Equity Office Properties Trust, a Chicago-based building owner and manager, sold five assets, including four office buildings and an apartment building in Alexandria/Old Town for $94.9 million. (09/06/01, PRNewswire)

Starmount Co., a Newport News-based residential and commercial property developer, purchased a 101,361-square-foot office and industrial complex leased and managed by Virginia Beach-based Divaris Real Estate. The property, bought for $7 million, was composed of Peninsula Center, Peninsula Business Center I and Peninsula Business Center II. (08/31/01, Press release)

Stuart Circle Hospital, a three-building complex in Richmond, was sold to Laurel Hill Associations LLC, from Bon Secours Richmond Health System for $400,000. Plans call for converting the site into residential units. (08/21/01, Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Buchanan Partners of Gaithersburg, Md., and Great Point Investors LLC, a Boston-based institutional real estate advisor, purchased 1400 Wilson Blvd. in Rosslyn, known as the Architects Building, for $22.4 million from JBG/JER. The 108,589-square-foot office building is occupied by the U.S. Department of State under a long-term lease. (08/21/01, Press release)

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Financing
NetDecide Corp., a Falls Church-based wealth management software company, secured $9.2 million in financing. Led by Walker Ventures and Dominion Ventures, the funding will be used primarily for product development and to expand sales and marketing. (09/06/01, The Washington Post)

Ai Metrix Inc., a Herndon-based network management software company, completed a $23 million private placement financing deal led by General Atlantic Partners LLC. (09/06/01, The Washington Post)

Workscape, a Reston-based company that sells Internet-based human resources and employee benefits administration software, secured $24 million in venture funding toward general operating expenses. Investors included Warburg Pincus and ABS Captial Partners. (08/21/01, The Washington Post)

The board of directors for Smithfield Foods, a Smithfield-based pork and poultry producer, declared a two-for-one stock split in the form of a 100 percent stock dividend on Smithfield Foods’ common stock. (08/29/01, PRNewswire)

Financeware Inc., a Richmond-based provider of probability analysis technology and marketing strategies for financial advisors and institutions, completed a second round of institutional financing worth $8 million. Proceeds will be used to grow its core business. (08/28/01, PRNewswire)

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