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May 2003
Virginia Business

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

Bedford Bancshares Inc. and FNB Corp., of Christiansburg, the parent of First National Bank, plan to merge their companies valued at an expected $49.9 million, resulting in Bedford Federal Savings Bank operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of FNB making FNB the largest Virginia-based community banking organization. (The Roanoke Times)

Dominion Energy, a subsidiary of Richmond-based Dominion Resources Inc., plans to buy Westmoreland Coal Co.'s 20 percent interest in Dominion Terminal Associates (not affiliated with Dominion Resources), owner of a Newport News coal pier, for $10.5 million. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

EYT, a Gold Certified Partner for both Microsoft® Business Solutions and Microsoft technology solutions headquartered in Chantilly, acquired Southern California-based Gorilla Consultants, a professional services firm and Microsoft Triple-Gold Certified Partner in Security Solutions, Enterprise Systems and Commerce Solutions. (PR Newswire)

Gammapar of Bedford County, a hardwood flooring manufacturer, plans to acquire competitor PermaGrain of Pennsylvania, a provider of high quality specialty flooring products. (The Roanoke Times)

Hilb, Rogal and Hamilton Co., an insurance intermediary headquartered in Richmond, plans to acquire substantially all of the assets of Sheppard Riley Coughlin Insurance Agency Inc. of Boston, an insurance brokerage firm which generates more than $10 million in revenues annually. (Press release)

Owners of Richmond-based Hungerford Mechanical Corp. and Atlantic Industrial Constructors Inc. created a new company, Atlantic Constructors Inc., by buying back local operations from Encompass Services Corp. of Houston, Texas, a contracting company going through bankruptcy restructuring. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

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Deals
BCE Emergis of Vienna and a la mode inc., an Oklahoma City-based real estate software designer, agreed to bring to together real estate appraisers in North America with more than 14,000 mortgage originators by connecting a la mode's Mercury Network to Emergis (r) Vendor Services Exchange, a secure Web-based solution for real-time placement, receipt and management of settlement services. (Press release)

Max Media, a broadcasting management company headquartered in Virginia Beach, formed a partnership with Golden Gate Capital of San Francisco, an equity investment firm, and two other investment firms to acquire small and middle market radio and television stations through a $150 million investment. (Business Wire)

McCandlish Holton, a four-lawyer immigration practice, plans to move to the Richmond law office of Reed Smith. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Micro Warehouse Gov/Ed Inc. of Ashburn, a provider of technology products and services, joined Apple Computer Inc.'s new Apple Authorized Education Agent Program to increase the adoption of Apple products and technologies within the education market. (Business Wire)

Pacel Corp., a provider of outsourced HR solutions based in Manassas, chose KBK Ventures Inc. of Houston, a firm specializing in representing small and mid-cap companies whose stocks are not properly recognized by the investing public, to direct and facilitate all investor relations for the company. (Business Wire)

Regulatory DataCorp International, ChoicePoint and GuideStar of Williamsburg announced plans to offer a new global due diligence service named, "CharityGuard", designed for the comprehensive screening of charities and charitable contributions to ensure the integrity of their direct and "matching" charitable donations. (Press release)

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New Plants and Companies
Harvest Pharmaceuticals Inc., a newly-formed pharmaceutical sales and distribution company, plans to locate a marketing call center and warehouse/distribution facility in Grayson County. The $3 million investment is expected to create 30 jobs. Virginia competed with North Carolina for the project. (Press release)

INFe Inc. of Falls Church, an investment banking firm, plans to spin off several subsidiaries, streamline operations and function as a holding company by making acquisitions of operating companies.The measures are designed to help INFe reach profitability quickly (PR Newswire)

Marvin Windows and Doors, a made-to-order window and door manufacturer based in Minnesota, chose Roanoke County's Valley Gateway Business Park as the site of a new manufacturing facility for its line of Integrity Windows and Doors.The company plans to invest $32 million in the new plant over the next five years, creating 150 - 350 jobs. (Press release)

Money Mailer, a leader in the direct mail industry headquartered in Garden Grove, Calif., plans to locate a printing, packaging and mailing operation in an existing building in Franklin. The $8.5 million investment will create 160 jobs over the next five years. Virginia competed with North Carolina and Tennessee for the project. (Press release)

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Executive Promotions
Gary Lisota, president and COO, AMSEC in Virginia Beach. He previously held the title of COO only. (Daily Press)

Martin L. "Mell" Vaughan, chairman and CEO, Hilb, Rogal and Hamilton in Richmond. He previously held positions of president and COO. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Merritt W. Mayher, president and CEO, Schwarzschild Jewelers Inc. in Richmond. A former vice president for Tiffany & Co. jewelers. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)


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Contracts
Anteon International, Fairfax: $80 million over five years to provide support to U.S. Army units and installations worldwide through the U.S. Army Forces Command in Atlanta, Georgia. (PR Newswire); a nine-year, 10-month $55.4 million subcontract if all options are exercised by Lockheed Martin Corp. to support the U.S. Navy Aegis Combat System Integration program. (Press release); a five-year blanket purchase agreement with a ceiling of $10 million by the Department of Defense, Office of the Comptroller to provide information technology support to the DoD Financial Management Modernization Program. (Press release)

Bio-Track, Richmond: $100,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a state-of-the-art, one-handed battlefield tourniquet and breathing tube that can be used in remote locations by special operations forces. (Press release)

CACI International, Arlington: $100 million indefinite delivery/quantity contract for one base year and four option years to support the U. S. Army Forces Command on the multiple-award Operations, Planning, Training and Resource Support Services contract. (PR Newswire)

Centex Construction Co./Mid Atlantic division, Fairfax: $55 million from the General Services Administration, National Capital Region, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for construction of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Office Building Phase 2a at the Federal Research Center in White Oak, Silver Spring, Md., slated for completion in November 2004. (Press release)

General Dynamics, Falls Church, Electric Boat Division: $17.2 million contract modification to a $30.6 million contract awarded in March 2000 from the U.S. Navy for research and development work on Seawolf-class submarines. Total five-year contract worth $138 million if all options are exercised and funded. (PR Newswire); Land Systems: $38.5 million delivery order from the U. S.Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command for advanced materials to support the assembly of 125 Abrams Integrated Management tanks. (PR Newswire); C4 Systems: $9.8 million modification to its multi-year Common Hardware/Software II contract for the Project Manager Army Tactical Operations Centers/Air and Missile Defense Command and Control Systems. (PR Newswire); Land Systems: $5 million from the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command for M93 and M93A1 Fox contractor logistics support. (PR Newswire)

Identix Public Sector Inc., Fairfax: one five-year contract with the team of AFG Construction Management with a value up to $10 million from an unnamed U.S. government agency and a three-year indefinite delivery/quantity contract worth up to $1 million per year from American University for construction management services. (PR Newswire)

Innovative Logistics Techniques Inc., McLean: $3.4 million for projects at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, to provide financial and program management support. (PR Newswire)

In-Q-Tel, Arlington and Convera, Vienna: $1,5 million from In-Q-Tel to Convera for the enhancements to its products and In-Q-Tel will receive two-year warrants to purchase 137,711 shares of Convera common stock for key technologies and tools to help address the critical IT challenges facing the intelligence community. (Press release)

ManTech International Corp., Fairfax: an indefinite-delivery/quantity contract with a base period of three years and five one-year options contract under the Federal Technology Service's CONNECTIONS Program from the General Services Administration. (Business Wire)

McDonald Bradley Inc., Herndon: $7.8 million from the Department of Defense for the intelligence portion of the Net-Centric Enterprise Services project. (PR Newswire)

SI International, Reston: $43.5 million over nine years if all options are exercised with a one-year base period with eight one-year options to provide space sensors engineering and technical services support to the Air Force Space Command. (Press release); $5.4 million over eight years to provide planning, integration, operations and information warfare support for Headquarters U.S. Central Air Forces. (Press release)

SRA International, Fairfax: $115 million over five years if all options are exercised under the U.S. Department of Transportation's Information Technology Omnibus Procurement II contract to provide a broad range of advanced information technology services and solutions to the National Guard Bureau Chief Information Officer and Reserve Component. (Press release); $13.9 million over five years if all options are exercised by the U.S. Navy's Naval Education and Training Command and Naval Personnel Development Command under the Chief Information Officer Solutions and Partners 2 Innovations contract to provide various services. (Press release); $105 million over six years if all options are exercised by the General Services Administration Federal Systems Integration and Management Center to provide a broad range of enterprise-wide network engineering and management services to support the U.S. General Accounting Office's IT infrastructure. (Press release)

VERSAR Inc., Springfield: $1.1 billion ceiling over a five-year period among thirty other contractors with the Air Force Center of Environment Excellence to promote military readiness through environmental design services. (PR Newswire)

W.M. Jordan Co., Newport News: $ 55.3 million for the construction of the 317,000-square-foot Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton slated for completion in January 2005. (Daily Press)

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Cutbacks and Closings
The Aerus Electrolux plant in Bristol, a vacuum cleaner manufacturer, will shut down, eliminating 250 jobs. Assembly and some manufacturing will be transferred to Eureka's El Paso, Texas facility, a subsidiary of the Swedish firm AB Electrolux. (Bristol Herald Courier)

Bush Industries, a furniture manufacturer headquartered in Jamestown, N.Y., closed its 285,000-square-foot plant in St. Paul, laying off most of its 140 employees due to competition from imported glass and metal products softening the market for Bush's particleboard and fiberboard products. (Bristol Herald Courier)

CSX of Richmond, a railroad and shipping company, plans to close its downtown headquarters and move it effective immediately to Jacksonville, Fla., home of its railroad operations. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Federal-Mogul Corp., a Southfield, Mich., producer of engine components, seals and other auto parts, plans to lay off 260 workers after a deal to sell its automotive lighting factory in Copeland Industrial Park in Hampton fell through. (Daily Press)

Gateway Inc. of Poway, Calif., a desktop computer assembler, laid off nearly a third of its employees at its Hampton manufacturing plant as part of a $400 million cost-reduction plan to eliminate about 17 percent of Gateway's national work force. (The Virginian-Pilot)

NewRoads Inc., a customer service provider based in Greenwich, Conn., plans to close two of its Roanoke Valley operations, eliminating 130 jobs. (The Roanoke Times)

Reciprocal of America, an insurer of Richmond, fired nearly a quarter of its employees in the latest installment of its financial woes after being placed in receivership by the State Corporation Commission. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

State Farm Insurance Co., plans to move 151 jobs out of its Charlottesville office over the next two to four years in an effort to consolidate its life insurance division due to intense competition coupled with losses in the insurance industry. (The Daily Progress)

Stillwater Inc. of Goshen, a family-owned textile company, laid off 30 of its 125 workers in its dye plant in Goshen and plans to close its Augusta County plant by the end of April due to competition in a market inundated with cheaper, foreign-made goods. (The Roanoke Times)

Walker Manufacturing, a division of Lake Forest, Ill.-based Tenneco Automotive Inc., a manufacturer of automotive emissions control and ride control products and systems, plans to cut 106 jobs at its Harrisonburg plant due to reduced demand in the automotive market. (Daily News-Record)


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Divestitures

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Expansions
America Online Inc. plans to launch a music service, "MusicNet on AOL" that will enable its subscribers to listen to newly released music and copy onto CDs for a fixed monthly fee. (The Washington Post)

Bowers and Associates, a Leesburg-based provider of civil engineers, land surveyors and landscape architects, opened a satellite office in Winchester as a way of differentiating itself to lure companies to the area. (The Winchester Star)

Delta Connection, an airline company based in Newport News, plans to offer an additional daily round-trip regional jet flight between Newport News/Williamsburg and Atlanta beginning June 16, 2003. (PR Newswire)

Hudd Distribution, a subsidiary of Maersk Logistics, a leading logistics company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, plans to expand its existing distribution facility in the city of Chesapeake's Gateway Commerce Park through a $14 million investment creating 260 jobs. Virginia competed with Georgia and South Carolina for the project. (Press release)

Lear Corp. of Southfield, Mich., an automotive interior systems supplier, plans a $60 million reinvestment in four existing Virginia facilities creating 200 jobs in the commonwealth. (Press release)

Merge Computer Group, a Richmond-based full-service information technology consulting firm, was selected as a qualified vendor for the North Carolina Information Technology Supplemental Convenience Contract. (PR Newswire)

Metalsa of Monterrey, Mexico, a truck frame manufacturer, plans to expand in Roanoke adding 150,000 square feet to its 185,000-square-foot facility in Botetourt County's Vista Corporate Park through a $25 million investment creating 70 jobs. (The Roanoke Times)

Norfolk Southern Corp., a transportation company based in Norfolk, formed a Mexican subsidiary, NorfolkSouthernMexicana, S. de R.L. de C.V. to market the railroad's transportation and logistics service in Mexico. (PR Newswire)

Norfolk Wire & Electronics of Richmond, a wholesale distributor of networking products for voice, data, sound and video applications in businesses and homes, opened a warehouse/office facility in Raleigh, N.C. (Press release)

Phillip Morris USA plans to relocate the cigarette giant's headquarters from New York to Richmond in June at the former Reynolds Metals headquarters on West Broad Street in Henrico County in an effort to save more than $60 million a year. It also plans to invest $300 million in its cigarette-manufacturing operations on Commerce Road in South Richmond. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital in Virginia Beach, proposed a $31 million expansion and renovation to construct a four-story, 108-room addition to keep pace with the health-care trend of more patients demanding private rooms. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Southern Financial Bancorp Inc., a community bank based in Warrenton, plans to open the state's only international department in Richmond to serve the estimated 3,000 U.S. exporters, 1,500 U.S. importers and more than 160 foreign-owned businesses that operate in ports in Richmond and Norfolk. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Sunrise Senior Living, a provider of senior living services based in McLean, plans to expand its corporate headquarters, creating more than 140 jobs through the acquisition of Marriott Senior Living Services Inc. of Maryland. (Press release)

Symantec Corp. of Cupertino, California, a developer of anti-virus software, plans to add 30 jobs at its facility in the Point Business Park in Newport News as it consolidates its email security software development to one location. (Daily Press)

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Real Estate
Binswanger/CBB, a Philadelphia-based full-service real estate organization, represented VDO North America, a supplier of electronic information and control systems, in the sale of a two-building, 207,580-square-foot complex on 34 acres in the Fort Collier Industrial Park in Winchester to Winchester Cold Storage. (Business Wire)

Divaris Real Estate Inc. of Virginia Beach, announced the sale of a parcel of land in the parking lot of One Columbus Center in Virginia Beach to TowneBank, a provider of lender services based in Virginia Beach, who plans to construct a two-story, 16,000-square-foot bank building. (Press release); announced the signing of a lease with Galyan's Trading Company Inc., an active lifestyle retailer based in Plainfield, Ind., for a two-level, 84,000-square-foot Galyan's store at the Town Center of Virginia Beach. (Press release)

FDIC of Washington, D.C., plans to expand its office space in Arlington through a $75 million investment in the Virginia Square for 415,472 square feet of space. (Press release)

The Timmons Group, a civil-engineering company headquartered in Chesterfield County, shifted its technology-services division from Mechanicsville to the city's canal district. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Troutman Sanders of Virginia Beach, a full-service commercial international law firm, announced that both Virginia Beach and Norfolk offices have moved to new locations within the Hampton Roads area in order to accommodate recent growth and planned expansion.The Virginia Beach office went to the new Town Center, and the Norfolk office has moved to 150 West Main St. (Press release)

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust, a Rockville, Md.-based self-administered, self-managed equity real estate investment trust, announced a 116,338-square-foot ten-year lease with Sunrise Assisted Living for the 7900 Westpark Drive, McLean building. (Press release)

 

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Financing
Advance Auto Parts Inc. of Roanoke, received commitments for an additional $350 million in bank debt through an amendment to its existing credit agreement as amended and restated on June 28, 2002. (PR Newswire)

NETSEC of Herndon, a provider of managed security services, raised $10 million in additional financing through existing investors, Mobius Venture Capital and ArrowPath Venture Capital, to expand the company's market focus for global enterprise and government customers. (PR Newswire)

Surety Inc., a provider of data integrity solutions headquartered in Herndon, received $2 million in funding from Zenerji, a firm specializing in business-to-business software technology investing, to be used for sales and marketing. (PR Newswire)


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Legal
Capital One Financial Corp., accused of age discrimination in a lawsuit, is facing the AARP which has signed on as co-counsel in the suit with the Richmond law firm of Butler, Williams, Pantele & Skilling. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

CPV Warren, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maryland-based Competitive Power Ventures, a national power development company and energy marketer, plans to begin construction on the SCC-approved $280 million, 520-megawatt plant near Front Royal, which will burn natural gas in two combustion turbines and will be able to use low-sulfur oil as a backup fuel. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Haleos Inc., a now defunct producer of optical components for the telecommunications industry based in Blacksburg, had Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings dismissed, eliminating Haleo's obligation to pay off unsecured creditors, including some 200 former employees owed back wages. (The Roanoke Times)

Ntelos Inc. of Waynesboro, a telecommunications firm, filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in Richmond. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Portsmouth Hotel Associates, owner of the Holiday Inn-Portsmouth, filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy to prevent a foreclosure by Wachovia Bank N.A. (The Virginian-Pilot)

US Airways, an airliner based in Arlington, had its proposed plan of reorganization accepted by all eight debtors. (PR Newswire)

The Commonwealth of Virginia filed suits against ten tobacco manufacturers outside Virginia, for sales of tobacco in Virginia deemed illegal because of failure to pay into escrow accounts. Tobacco companies not participating in the Master Settlement Agreement are required to deposit funds into such accounts to cover potential future medical expenses or other costs associated with tobacco use. (Press release)



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Noteworthy
Craig Byrum, a Yorktown resident with 33 years of engineering and design experience, will coordinate all design schedules for Northrop Grumman Newport News on the proposed CVN-21 warship, previously known as the CVNX, expected to cost at least $11.7 million. (Daily Press)

Frank Batten, the first rector of Old Dominion University's board, donated $32 million to ODU. Three-quarters of the money will go to establish faculty chairs, primarily in science, engineering and technology, and the remainder will help finance faculty research. (The Virginian-Pilot); The retired chairman of Landmark Communications also donated $2.2 million to Hollins University to endow a chair at the university. (The Roanoke Times)

GuideStar, a premier source of information on U.S. charitable organizations based in Williamsburg, has driven the creation of GuideStar UK, a new British charity developed in collaboration with and modeled on its U.S. namesake. The British Treasury's Invest to Save budget funded the launch equivalent to $4.75 million in U.S. currency. (Press release)

Guy E. Beatty, chairman of the Beatty Companies, and his wife, Betty, established a charitable lead trust naming the Richmond-based Virginia College Fund as a beneficiary. The amount donated to the VCF will amount to approximately $40 million over a 30-year period. At least half of the funds are to be used to provide full scholarships to students attending colleges represented by the VCF. The remaining funds are to be used to strengthen and improve the infrastructure of each college to enhance the opportunity of employing all of the new innovations in technology available. (Press release)

Inova Health System was awarded a $5 million challenge grant by the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation to build a health education center in Fairfax County to house Northern Virginia's first medical school to be named the Claude Moore Health Education Center on the campus of Inova Fairfax Hospital. The estimated cost of the building, home of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine-Inova Division, is $10 million. (The Washington Post)

Phoenix Integration, a provider of integrated solutions for scientific and technical organizations based in Blacksburg, donated its ModelCenter and Analysis Server software to Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Tech, University of Michigan-Dearborn and Virginia Tech last year totaling more than $1 million to support research in aerospace, automotive and computer engineering. (Press release)

Verizon Wireless, the nation's leading provider of wireless communications with operations in Virginia, has been named one of the nation's top 100 companies by Training magazine for its continued commitment to employee development and for connecting its training programs to business objectives. It ranked 26th on the magazine's annual list of the "Top 100 Training Organizations in America." (Press release)


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