SHARE:
Around the State
Longwood-based First Mercantile National Bank and Titusville-based Prime Bank of Central Florida agreed to become subsidiaries of First Commerce Banks of Florida, the holding company of Winter Haven-based First Commerce Bank of Polk County. If the deal is approved by regulatory officials and shareholders, the new multibank holding company would have total assets of more than $278 million. The three banks would continue to operate under the same names, management and directors.
Northwest
Law Engineering and Environmental Services plans to relocate two of its Atlanta laboratories to its newly expanded facility in Pensacola's Ellyson Industrial Park. The relocation could bring to Pensacola about 50 jobs paying up to $36,000 a year. One reason the environmental consulting and laboratory services firm gave for relocating to Northwest Florida is the availability of Pensacola workers with backgrounds in science.
Central
Lake Mary-based Recoton, a supplier of consumer electronic accessories, agreed to acquire International Jensen Inc. for $8.90 per share in a cash and stock merger. International Jensen, a leading loudspeaker company, is based in Lincolnshire, Ill., and markets audio products under the brand names Jensen, Advent, AR and Phase Linear.
The Orlando Museum of Art began construction on a $7.7 million, 30,786-square-foot expansion. The new space will allow the museum to exhibit more of its permanent art collections, including 19th and 20th century American paintings, sculptures, prints and pre-Colombian and African art.
The $15 million development of the Boggy Creek Gang family camp, a Lake County camping area for children with serious chronic illnesses and their families, is scheduled to be completed this summer. Boggy Creek is a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1989 by General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Ted Forstmann and Paul Newman. On the grounds of the 232-acre camp will be 44 buildings, including 16 camper cabins, a theater, medical center, dining hall, arts and craft center and recreation center. Also included are horse trails, two lakes for canoeing and fishing and a heated pool.
Bergen Brunswig Corp.'s 60,000-square-foot distribution center in Lakeland will close at the end of this month. The pharmaceutical distributor, based in Orange, California, blamed increased market competition for the closure, among other reasons. The 40 employees in Lakeland were invited to transfer to the company's Orlando distribution center.
Orlando-based LaserSight Inc. announced it completed a private placement of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock which yielded gross proceeds of $5.8 million. The company, which develops, manufactures and markets optical materials, plans to use the funds to reduce debt, to make acquisitions and to improve the company's working capital.
Tampa Bay
United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co. (USF&G), the Baltimore, Md.-based property and casualty insurer, plans to open a national claims center in Tampa by September. The center, which will provide telephone claim reporting service to the company's customers and agents, will initially employ about 185, with an additional 75 in 1997 and 80 in 1998.
Continental Airlines is hiring 234 full-time and 156 part-time reservation sales agents for its Tampa office. The jobs pay a base wage of $5.77 per hour plus incentive income.
Tech Data Corp. completed the expansion of its Clearwater headquarters. The new 75,000-square-foot, three-story building is home to sales, customer service, human resources and distribution operations. A distributor of personal computer products, Tech Data added about 800 employees to its Clearwater location over the past two years.
Southwest
Stereo World of Fort Myers is filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, according to the Fort Myers News-Press. The private company, which opened 26 years ago, closed its two stores in January. Competition from other retailers prompted the closures.
Treasure Coast
PhyMatrix Corp. of West Palm Beach, a physician practice management company, sold 7.15 million shares of common stock at $15 per share in its initial public offering. The shares' closing price on the first day of trading rose to $19.25. Proceeds will be used to repay debt and to fund acquisitions and internal growth.
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons plans to open its new service center for North American operations and Northern Latin American headquarters in Delray Beach. The center, named the Shared Services Center for the Americas, will occupy 56,000 square feet and employ about 100 local and 40 relocating workers.
West Palm Beach-based Convenience Corp. of America bought 7-Eleven stores and licensing rights from Contemporary Industries Corp. of Omaha. With the purchase, Convenience became the second-largest domestic 7-Eleven licensee with 146 stores in 11 states.
Wellington-based BE Aerospace, the world's leading supplier of cabin products for airlines, completed its $42.5 million acquisition of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Burns Aerospace, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eagle Industries and one of the world's largest manufacturers of commercial aircraft seating. Funding for BE Aerospace's acquisition came from proceeds of a $100 million debt issue.
Radio and television station operator Paxson Communications of West Palm Beach entered into a partnership with the Florida Bobcats, the new Arena Football League team coached by former Miami Dolphins player Jim Jensen. Co-owner Bruce J. Frey will be the managing general partner of the team.
Boca Raton-based North American Biologicals Inc., a pharmaceutical company, announced in January that it plans to raise $60 million, subject to market and other conditions, through the sale of convertible subordinated notes and up to $9 million if an over-allotment option is exercised in full. The company also announced it completed the U.S. patient enrollment for a Phase II clinical trial for Pseudomonas polyclonal antibodies, an antibody under evaluation as a possible treatment of recurring acute lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. The 171 enrolled patients will tryout the new antibody at about 40 clinical sites in the U.S. and Europe.
Boca Raton-based KidSource Inc., a retailer of children's apparel, footwear and other accessories, says it's closing its three stores, located in Fort Lauderdale, Kendall and Altamonte Springs.
Levitz Furniture fired 65 employees following a major realignment of its field management structure. Two geographic divisions in the company were eliminated, resulting in centralized buying, inventory, management and advertising out of the company's headquarters in Boca Raton. Included among the 65 fired employees were five senior executives.
Southeast
Sensormatic Electronics Corp., the Boca Raton-based maker of anti-theft devices, eliminated 520 jobs in a major reorganization to reduce the number of corporate operating units from six to four. Among the jobs eliminated are 70 in Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton.
Claire's Stores purchased 85 stores from the Icing Inc., which operated the women's fashion accessory stores before filing for bankruptcy. With the addition of the new stores, Pembroke Pines-based Claire's will have more than 1,400 locations in North America, the Caribbean and Japan.
Miami's Pharmed Group, a pharmaceutical and medical company, signed a multimillion-dollar contract with hospital giant Columbia/HCA. Pharmed will distribute physical therapy products to Columbia/HCA's 400 hospitals and other health care facilities.
Miami Beach's MTV Latino and Westwood One International of Culver City, Calif., the nation's largest producer and distributor of radio programming, will begin a joint venture next month called "Radio MTV." RMTV is a radio-programming package for young Latin American listeners.
The Singing Machine Co. of Pompano Beach announced that its common stock and warrants were delisted from NASDAQ, effective Jan. 26, due to the inability to maintain NASDAQ's minimum bid requirement. The company, a distributor and marketer of audio equipment which plays backing tracks of popular songs for karaoke-style entertainment, also says it terminated negotiations to form a joint venture with an undisclosed party.
Peaches Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Code. The Miramar-based company plans to close three unprofitable recorded-music stores in Plantation, Fort Myers and Columbia, S.C. The company says the main reason for the bankruptcy filing was to rid itself of leases on the three stores.
A start-up company doing business under the old Pan American name plans to offer low-cost flights to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami, starting this summer. Frost Hanna Mergers Group Inc. of Boca Raton agreed to invest $10 million in Pan American World Airways Inc., a deal that would make it Pan Am's largest single shareholder. Martin Shugrue, who would be Pan Am's president and CEO, says he and Charles Cobb, who bought rights to the Pan Am name in 1993, already have raised $30 million for the start-up. The new Pan Am would be based in Miami.
