Virginia Business Online: For the Record, August 2003

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

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For the Record
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Richmond, VA 23293

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Mergers and Acquisitions
Albermarle Corp. a Richmond-based specialty chemicals company, plans to acquire the global organo-phosphorus and ammonium polyphosphate businesses from the French company Rhodia SA to strengthen its position in the flame-retardants market. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

AMSEC, a full-service Naval and marine engineering company headquartered in Virginia Beach, completed the acquisition of Planning Consultants Inc., a Navy combat systems engineering company, also of Virginia Beach. (PR Newswire)

Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. of Bassett, announced its Weiman Furniture division plans to acquire certain assets of Preview Furniture Inc., a High Point, N.C., manufacturer of contemporary upholstery. (Press release)

Cysive Inc., a software provider based in Reston, entered into an agreement and plan of merger with Snowbird Holdings Inc., an entity formed by the president and CEO of the company, resulting in the company becoming privately-held. (PR Newswire)

Eastern Virginia Bankshares Inc. of Tappanannock, signed an agreement with BB&T Corp. and First Virginia Bank-Hampton Roads for its Southside Bank subsidiary to acquire three First Virginia branches. (Business Wire)

General Dynamics, a combat systems provider based in Falls Church, plans to acquire Veridian Corp. of Arlington, a systems provider with a transaction total of approximately $1.5 billion. (PR Newswire)

Hourigan Construction Corp. of Virginia Beach, and Creative Structures Contractors Inc., based in Tenn., united in a merger of talents. The move, which brings nine new staffers to Hourigan's office, is expected to increase the company's business in the speciality health care niche for which Creative Structures is known. (Press release)

Icelandic USA, a Norwalk, Conn.-based unit of Icelandic Group PLC in Reykjavik, Iceland, completed the purchase of the assets of Ocean to Ocean, a supplier of shrimp and other shellfish headquartered in Virginia Beach. (The Virginian-Pilot)

IceWEB Inc., a Herndon-based software maker, acquired Interlan Communications Inc., also of Herndon, a provider of Data Networking and Network Security infrastructure solutions for business, government and education. (Business Wire)

InfiNet of Norfolk, an Internet services company, merged with Gannett Media Technologies International and will exist as a product line of Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper group. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Intelix Inc., a Fairfax-based custom software and systems integration development company, was acquired by Edgewater Technology Inc., of Wakefield, Mass., a custom development and system integration consulting firm. (Business Wire)

LanpherWilson Corp. of Reston, a consulting firm, acquired Eclipse Technical Resources Inc., an IT staffing services provider headquartered in Herndon. (PR Newswire)

LaSalle Hotel Properties, a REIT based in Bethesda, Md., acquired the AAA Four-Diamond Lansdowne Resort in Lansdowne for $115.8 million. (newstream.com)
McGuireWoods of Richmond, plans to merge with 160-lawyer Chicago-based Ross & Hardies. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Mortgage Asset Research Institute Inc., a Reston-based privately-held monitor database company, was acquired by ChoicePoint, a provider of identification and credential verification services headquartered in Alpharetta, Ga. (PR Newswire)

Pacel Corp. of Manassas, a software applications development company, plans to purchase Phoenix-based Advantage Enterprises Inc., a printing management company. (Business Wire)

T. A. Carlson & Co., a management consulting firm of Fairfax, was acquired by Navigant Consulting Inc., a solutions provider based in Chicago. (Business Wire)

Virginia Financial Group Inc. of Culpeper, a holding company, plans to acquire eight branches from several First Virginia member banks, which are being divested in connection with the pending BB&T Corp./First Virginia Banks Inc. merger. (PR Newswire)

Witt, Mares & Co. and Eggleston Smith of Newport News, plan to merge into Witt Mares Eggleston Smith to provide a greater array of accounting services. (The Virginian-Pilot)

XO Communications Inc., a broadband communications services provider based in Reston, plans to acquire all of the assets of Global Crossing and Global Crossing Holdings for consideration of more than $700 million. (PR Newswire)

Deals
Capital Automotive REIT, a specialty finance company for automotive retail real estate headquartered in McLean, completed approximately $83 million of acquisitions since the end of the first quarter of 2003. (PR Newswire)

Carter Ryley Thomas, a public-relations agency based in Richmond, joined four other mid-sized public relations agencies to form Lumin, the industry's first "intellectual collaborative. " The firms will work cohesively to support clients with breakthrough ideas, innovative service offerings and strategy and expanded resources. (PR Newswire)

NASCAR of New York, chose Nextel Communications of Reston, a wireless communications provider, as the title sponsor of NASCAR's premier national series, replacing R.J. Reynolds' Winston brand. (Business Wire)

Owens & Minor of Richmond, a medical and surgical supplies distributor, announced its OMSolutions (SM) consulting group signed a five-year comprehensive agreement with The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. (PR Newswire) and signed a five-year master distribution agreement with HealthTrust Purchasing Group, a Nashville, Tenn.-based group purchasing organization. (PR Newswire)

SAVVIS Communications, a global managed IP and managed hosting services provider headquartered in Herndon, was selected by Fine Hotels Corp., a hotel management company, to provide managed services to its 13 independently-owned hotels and its Mass.-based corporate headquarters. (Business Wire)

Witt Mares Eggleston Smith of Newport News, hired Rubin Cawley & Associates of Virginia Beach, a full-service public relations, advertising, video productions and e-consulting firm, to provide public and media relations services on behalf of the newly merged firm. (Press release)

New Plants and Companies
Care Rehab, a supplier of physical-therapy equipment based in McLean, plans to open an assembly and distribution plant in Keysville with Orthopaedic Products Inc. Charlotte County competed successfully with West Virginia and Asia for the facility. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Science Applications International Corp. of McLean, an employee-owned research and engineering company, plans to open its fourth , a 22,000-square-foot facility in Sterling that will be the home of the Joint Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program Office. (PR Newswire)

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership of Richmond, opened an International Trade office in Abingdon to increase the number of Southwest Virginia companies exporting and the volume of exports from the region. (Press release)

People
Andrew Sloan, president and CEO, The Servant-Leader Development Center in Alexandria. (Business Wire)

Beth Braswell, director, economic development, Henry County. Previously the marketing director of the of the county's Office of Commerce. (The Roanoke Times)

Chris Adkins of Massey Energy Company, a coal company headquartered in Richmond, was promoted to SVP and COO to oversee all mining and processing operations. (PR Newswire)

Grady C. Wright, president and COO, Universal Systems & Technology Inc. in Centreville. (Press release)

Mary Jane (M.J.) Morrow, EVP and CFO, The Mills Corp. in Arlington. (Press release)

Ronald R. Spoehel of ManTech International Corp., a Fairfax-based IT and technical services provider, was appointed EVP and CFO. (Business Wire)

Contracts
American Management Systems Inc., Fairfax: $100 million for several new and extended contracts over five years from U.S. Intelligence customers to provide a broad range of solutions and consulting services to U.S. national intelligence agencies. (PR Newswire)

Anteon International Corp., Fairfax: $9.9 million over six years by the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, to support the Aeronautical Science Advanced Technology Assessment program. (PR Newswire)

Avineon Inc., Alexandria: a Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase III contract by the U.S. Department of Defense Naval Sea Systems Command to develop the Trouble Report Information Data Warehouse, a web-based database solution granting global users rapid access to combat systems data from disparate platforms. (PR Newswire)

CAE, Leesburg: $30-40 million for three contracts to provide its integrated platform management system for the U.S. Navy's DD(X) program. (PR Newswire)

Framatome ANP Inc., Lynchburg: joint venture with Washington Group International Inc., SGT, signed a contract with Florida Power & Light Co., to provide engineering and construction services. (PR Newswire)

General Dynamics, Falls Church: [United Kingdom], approximately $42 million from the UK Ministry of Defense for the provision of ground-to-air data connectivity with the British Army Apache WAH Mk 1 Helicopters. (PR Newswire); $3 billion from the Army to outfit future soldiers with wired uniforms that monitor heart rates and respiration and with helmets that receive real-time video from overhead drones. (The Washington Post); [Electric Boat], $10 million modification to manage and support nuclear-maintenance work for submarines homeported at Submarine Base New London, Conn. (PR Newswire); [Electric Boat], $5.9 million from the U.S. Navy for advance procurement of on-board repair parts for the first four submarines of the Virginia Class. (PR Newswire); [C4 Systems], $2 billion over ten years from the U.S. Army's Common Hardware/Software III contract to provide equipment to U.S. Department of Defense clients worldwide. (PR Newswire); [Network Systems], $30 million over six years with a potential $98 million value if all options are exercised, to provide information technology support and related services to the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force South. (PR Newswire)

ManTech International Corp., Fairfax: $88.6 million with a one-year base period and four one-year options by the Department of State to support the Worldwide Systems Fielding Program. (Business Wire)

MAXIMUS, Reston: performance-based contracts to provide school-based Medicaid claiming services for the State of Mississippi Department of Education, the Miami-Dade County School District and the Gary, Ind., Community Schools Corp. (Business Wire); several federal revenue maximization contracts by the Florida Office of the CFO, the Connecticut Department of Social Services, the Louisiana Department of Social Services, Office of Community Services and the Iowa Department of Human Services, to identify and pursue additionaf funding on behalf of individual clients. (Business Wire); $43.5 million to implement its web-based student information system in the Los Angeles United School District. (Business Wire); $7.3 million over five years from the State of Tennessee Department of Human Services, to operate a child support program in the State's 25th Judicial District. (Business Wire)

McNeil Technologies Inc., Springfield: $1.5 million from the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations to provide intelligence and analyst support as well as translation and interpretation services. (Press release)

ObjectVideo, Reston: a three-year contract to jointly develop surveillance software to protect ships in ports from terrorist attacks. (Business Wire)

Sensytech Inc., Newington: $4.4 million for delivery of subsystem assemblies for the SLQ-25A Surface Ship Torpedo Defense System. (Business Wire)

VSE Corp., Alexandria: $54 million cost, plus fixed fee, multi-year support contract over a base year and four one-year options by the Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center to provide technical services. (PR Newswire)

Cutbacks and Closings
Axiom Technologies, a communications-technology parts maker based in Calif., delayed an opening in Martinsville due to not meeting a financing deadline on a contract to buy the 52,000-square-foot Coca-Cola building. (Roanoke Times)

Capital One Financial Corp. of Richmond, a nongovernment employer, plans to close its Fredericksburg office in December to reduce operating expenses and consolidate resources in central Virginia, leaving 650 employees with the option to work at Henrico and Chesterfield locations. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Dan River Inc., a textile company headquartered in Danville, plans to close its plants in Greenville, S.C., and Fort Valley, Ga., due to the soft retail environment and the markets' excessive inventories. (Danville Register & Bee)

The General Electric/Toshiba Automation Systems joint venture in Salem laid off approximately 30 of its 200 employees due to current order volume and market conditions. The company says the layoffs are not the result of Toshiba acquiring majority ownership of the joint venture. (Roanoke Times)
Hampton Roads Transit, a mass transportation provider based in Hampton Roads, plans to lay off 102 employees in South Hampton Roads when it hires a private company to operate its Handi-Ride service for the disabled in November, saving the agency $1.6 million in 2003. (Daily Press)

Honeywell International Inc., a Morris Township, N.J.-based conglomerate, plans to cut 36 jobs at its Colonial Heights technical center and 100 jobs at its nylon-fibers plant in Chesterfield County as a result of ongoing weak demand for nylon fibers and high costs of raw materials. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Hooker Furniture of Martinsville, plans to close its Kernersville, N.C.-based plant, leaving 270 workers jobless due to years of a sustained economic downturn and a flood of lower-priced imported furniture. (Roanoke Times)

INTERMET Corp., a manufacturer of automotive components headquartered in Troy, Mich., plans to close its Radford Foundry by the end of the year as a result of changing market conditions and production technology. (PR Newswire)

Perdue Farms Inc. of Salisbury, Md., plans to close its Emporia deboning plant due to the struggling poultry industry, leaving 565 workers without jobs. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Sandvik, a mining-products manufacturer with operations in Abingdon, intends to sell the assets of the chemical product division and lay off all related workers. (Bristol Herald-Courier)

Tredegar Corp. of Richmond, intends to close its films plant in New Bern, N.C. by mid-2004. Closing the plant, which employs 80 people, will save the company $7 million a year. (PR Newswire)

White & Baldacci, an advertising agency headquartered in Herndon, laid off 10 of its 60 workers after losing Amtrak, its top client, and more than $20 million in billings to McLean-based Arnold Worldwide. (The Washington Post)

Divestitures
J.W. Burress, a construction equipment dealership based in Roanoke, was sold to a group of Burress' senior managers by Fluor Corp. of Aliso Viejo, Calif., a provider of services for the construction industry. (PR Newswire)

Expansions
Amerigroup Corp., a managed-health-care company based in Virginia Beach, plans to expand in two new office buildings to be developed through a $56 million capital investment adding 858 jobs. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Continental Teves of Auburn Hills, Mich., an automotive supplier, plans to expand its Culpeper County facility creating 29 jobs through a $3 million investment. (Press release)

Delta Connection, an airliner based in Richmond, plans to offer six daily nonstop flights between Delta Air Lines' hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and Richmond with one additional round-trip flight to begin Aug. 1. (PR Newswire)

Dominion of Richmond, an energy producer, expanded in the city of Richmond through a $28.5 million investment in a 60,000-square-foot "Dominion Energy Clearinghouse," which houses the natural gas and electric power marketing division, bringing 110 new jobs to Virginia. (Press release)

Goldschmidt Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of Dusseldorf, Germany-based Degussa Corp., plans to expand its operations in Hopewell, creating 28 jobs and bringing Goldschmidt's first U.S. polyether plant to the Commonwealth. (Press release)

HireStrategy of Reston, a professional staffing firm, plans a major expansion of its service offerings in the greater Washington area with the formal launch of two new divisions: Accounting Contract and Technology Consulting. (Business Wire)

PennStuart, a law firm based in Abingdon, plans to expand into Tennessee with a new office in Bristol. (Press release)

Sentara Healthcare of Norfolk, plans to expand and consolidate cardiac care in a 112-bed heart center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital through a $9.5 million investment. An application for the expansion must be approved by the state. (The Virginian-Pilot)

SunTrust Mortgage Inc. of Richmond, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc., plans to purchase Sun America Mortgage Corp., of Atlanta. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. of Richmond, plans to spend $40 million in the next two years opening four stores and adding more natural-food products. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

US Airways Express began daily nonstop round-trip regional jet service between Montreal, Quebec, and Charlotte, N.C., in June. (PR Newswire)

Real Estate
Corporate Office Properties Trust, a Columbia, Md.-based owner of commercial office properties in the Baltimore/Washington Corridor, acquired a 404,665-square-foot Class A office building in Herndon for $71.2 million. (Business Wire)

Divaris Real Estate Inc. of Virginia Beach, an international real estate brokerage and property management company, signed a lease with Woolpert, a Virginia Beach-based engineering and architectural consulting firm, for 17,500 square feet of office space in Port Center One in Portsmouth. (Press release)

Great Atlantic Management, a Virginia Beach-based property management firm, plans to add a 10-to 12-story office tower in Pembroke Office Park through an estimated $40 million investment offering 200,000 square feet of office space and an attached six-level parking garage with 1,000 spaces. (The Virginian-Pilot)

MCI, a global communications provider based in Ashburn, plans to acquire the Columbia, Cananda-based Douglas Lake Ranch, a cattle ranch and agribusiness with equipment dealerships and recreational facilities. (PR Newswire)

MW Custom Papers of Charlotte, N.C., negotiated the sale of a 283,651-square-foot building on 35 acres in Front Royal to Winchester Cold Storage, a full-service public warehousing and distribution company, for $7 million. (Business Wire)

Sentara Healthcare of Norfolk, acquired approximately 11 acres adjacent to Sentara Leigh Hospital for a likely expansion. (The Virginian-Pilot)

SunTrust Bank, an Atlanta-based financial services provider, plans to move its regional headquarters to the year-old 150 West Main tower in Norfolk in December 2003. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Financing
Albermarle First Bank, a financial services provider headquartered in Charlottesville, raised nearly $2.4 million in additional capital. (Business Wire)

Defywire of Reston, a wireless enterprise software solutions provider, raised $4.5 million in a Series A investment led by Intersouth Partners of Durham, N.C. (PR Newswire)

DIMON Inc., a Danville-based dealer of leaf tobacco, proposed to make a private offering of $125 million in aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes due 2013. (PR Newswire)

ePhone Telecom Inc. of Herndon, a global Internet telephony services provider, closed on a $3 million equity line of credit and $200,000 Convertible Security as it prepares for the merger with Champion Teleport, a Greenwich, Conn.-based affiliate of Alphastar International. (PR Newswire)

Freddie Mac, a stockholder-owned corporation supporting homeownership and rental housing, priced $2.5 million of a new 4.00% syndicated callable, due June 2013. (PR Newswire)

Guaranty Financial Corp. of Charlottesville, a holding company of Guaranty Bank, redeemed all $6 million of the outstanding preferred securities of Guaranty Capital Trust for $25 per share. (PR Newswire)

MicroStrategy Inc., a provider of business intelligence software headquartered in McLean, elected to convert the remaining $53 million in series A unsecured notes into shares of the company's class A common stock. (PR Newswire)

Nextel Communications Inc., a wireless communications services provider based in Reston, plans to redeem all outstanding shares of its 13 % Series D Exchangeable Preferred Stock. (Business Wire)

Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, an industry leader in small space systems, intends to offer for sale $135 million of senior unsecured notes due 2011. (PR Newswire)

United Defense Industries Inc., a combat munitions supplier headquartered in Arlington, filed a universal shelf registration statement with the SEC for the future offer and sale of up to $500 million of the company's debt securities, preferred stock, common stock and warrants and common stock held by certain stockholders. (Business Wire)

Legal
Capital One Financial Corp. of McLean, a credit-card company, and a group of former employees resolved all age-discrimination disputes in a confidential settlement. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

MercExchange, a digital technologies provider based in Norfolk, won a $35 million patent infringement suit against on-line auction giant, eBay. (Business Wire)

The Petersburg Hospital Authority plans to sell the nonprofit Southside Regional Medical Center to Community Health Systems, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based for-profit company for approximately $90 million. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Philip Morris USA won its appeal in the federal appeals court in Richmond against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. which alleged Philip Morris was attempting to shut out competition. by violating unfair competition laws. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Star Scientific Inc., a tobacco company headquartered in Chester, settled its differences with state attorneys general over the company's obligations under the $206 billion national tobacco settlement. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Sunrise Assisted Living Inc. of McLean, a senior living services provider, changed its name to Sunrise Senior Living Inc., to reflect the expansion of the business and the broad scope of services offered. (PR Newswire)

Tri-Cities Properties headquartered in Richmond, withdrew consideration of its application to the State Water Control Board for development of a 428-acre multi-use community in Chesapeake as a result of pressure from the Virginia office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. (Business Wire)

Noteworthy
Anteon International Corp., a Fairfax-based information technology and systems engineering and integration company, was named one of the world's top 100 information technology companies in Business Week's INFO TECH 100 Annual Report. (Press release)

Capital Automotive REIT, a McLean-based specialty finance company for automotive real estate, announced its founders, Thomas D. Eckert and David S. Kay, were named the 2003 Greater Washington Entrepreneurs of the Year® by Ernst & Young in the Real Estate, Construction & Hospitality category. (PR Newswire)

CEL-SCI Corp. of Vienna, a research and development company for cancer and infectious disease treatments, was issued a new U.S. pateT, expanding the proprietary protection for the company's Herpes Simplex-based therapeutic and preventive vaccines. (PR Newswire)

David L. Richardson, Chairman of the McGuireWoods' Financial Services Department and the head of the firm's Public Finance Group, was recently elected President of the Virginia Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, a provider of educational sessions for healthcare professionals in Virginia. (Press release)

McKim & Creed of Wilmington, N.C., an engineering and surveying firm with a Virginia Beach office, was named one of the top 200 environmental firms in the U.S. by Engineering News-Record magazine. (Press release)

The Virginia-Asian Advisory Board consisting of 16 members in Virginia Beach, was created to help attract new companies to the commonwealth and entice more of the state's executives to sell their products to Asia. (The Virginian-Pilot)

The Virginia Piedmont Technology Council, a tech-focused alliance based in Charlottesville, named Gail Milligan Executive Director. Previously, she held the position of project manager. (Press release)