Corporate Report

Corporate Report

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Florida Exterminating Co. sold to Middleton Lawn & Pest Control

Orlando's Middleton Lawn & Pest Control, a subsidiary of Fort Lauderdale-based Sunair Services Corp., acquired the assets of Florida Exterminating Co., a Tampa-based family business.

Florida Exterminating Co. provides household pest control, drywood and subterranean termite control as well as home inspection services throughout the Tampa, St. Petersburg, Land O' Lakes and Lakeland area. For more than 37 years, Florida Exterminating Co. has been run by the Burke family, most recently under CEO David F. Burke, Jr.

"Florida Exterminating Co. is a great fit for Middleton since it mostly falls within our existing service area, thereby supporting our 'tuck in' approach to strategic growth by cost-effectively leveraging existing resources to provide existing and newly acquired customers with uninterrupted superior service," Greg Clendenin, CEO of Middleton Lawn & Pest Control, said in a press release. "This acquisition strengthens our current position in the growing Tampa market and allows us to naturally extend and serve fringe areas in our footprint."

Founded in 1952, Middleton Pest Control Inc. employs 544 people and provides pest control, lawn and shrub care, subterranean and drywood termite control and mosquito reduction services through a network of 26 branch offices, covering more than 27 Florida counties.

Audio Messaging Solutions buys Virginia's Focuspoint

Oldsmar's Audio Messaging Solutions LLC, an SJ Partners portfolio company, has completed the acquisition of Manassas, Va.-based Focuspoint Inc., a telephone messaging on-hold provider. AMS has also closed on a $6-million senior credit line from global merchant capital provider and alternative investment firm D.B. Zwirn & Co. to finance the acquisition.

AMS is among the top 10 telephone messaging on-hold providers in the nation, serving almost 20,000 clients throughout North America and the Caribbean. This is AMS' seventh and largest transaction to date. Most recently, AMS acquired the assets of Holdplus International, a Puerto Rico-based on-hold company specializing in the hospitality industry.

"We felt the Focuspoint client base and infrastructure would fit well with the AMS group of companies," Mitch Keller, president of AMS said in a press release. "Creston [Owen, former CEO of Focuspoint] really impressed us with how he built Focuspoint from the ground up into one of the largest providers of custom written telephone messaging in the country. We also are excited to have D.B. Zwirn as our financing partner."

Owen will serve as an executive consultant for AMS.

Roskamp runs MS-drug study

Sarasota's The Roskamp Institute is now running a phase III study to evaluate FTY720 (fingolimod), a novel, investigational, once-daily, oral medication for relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis. The 12-month, double-blind, randomized study is sponsored by drug maker Novartis and will include about 1275 MS patients in more than 170 study centers worldwide.

"If the Phase III study program confirms the data demonstrated in the Phase II study program and leads to FDA approval, FTY720 may represent an improvement when compared to currently-available injectable medications," Dr. Andrew Keegan, principal investigator said in a press release.

The study will include patients with RRMS between the ages of 18 and 55. The study will look at the patients over a year.

The phase II 12-month results, recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrated that FTY720 reduced the rate of clinical relapses and inflammatory disease activity as measured by an MRI more than the first six months of the study compared to a placebo.

The Phase II 24-month data presented at the ECTRIMS meeting in September, 2006 showed that many patients taking once-daily oral FTY720 remained free of relapses more than two years. The patients also were able maintained a low rate of inflammatory disease.

Florida Bank Group finalizes Bank of Tallahassee purchase

Florida Bank Group Inc., a Tampa-based bank holding company, has closed its purchase of The Bank of Tallahassee. The merger, which was granted regulatory approvals in March, was approved by shareholders during its April annual shareholder meetings.

The Bank of Tallahassee currently operates three full-service banking offices and has total assets of about $81 million. As an FBG subsidiary, it will maintain its name and charter. The bank will continue to operate through a local board of directors and management team.

Following the merger agreement, The Bank of Tallahassee shareholders elected to receive either cash or FBG stock.

The demand for FBG shares from The Bank of Tallahassee stockholders exceeded the maximum amount expected by Florida Bank Group officials as part of the merger agreement of about 30%.

Florida Bank Group Inc. currently controls three wholly-owned subsidiaries: Bank of St. Petersburg, Bank of North Florida and Bank of Tallahassee. Bank of St. Petersburg was founded in 1985 and operates seven branches in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. Chartered in late 2006, Bank of North Florida operates one bank office in downtown Jacksonville. Bank of Tallahassee operates three banking offices in Leon County. FBG had $557 million in assets and $100 million in capital as of March 31, 2007.

JCI Jones Chemicals awarded Puerto Rican contract

Sarasota-based chemical manufacturer and distributor JCI Jones Chemicals Inc. has been named the supplier for a recent chlorine contract by the government-operated Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority.

The award was made to JCI's exclusive distributor Laser Products. The award calls for a minimum three-year supply to Puerto Rico's Drinking and Wastewater Treatment Facilities. The total amount of the contract is valued at more than $16 million. Laser is one of the leading manufacturers and distributors of chlorine bleach in Puerto Rico.

JCI operates 11 facilities in the United States distributing water treatment chemicals throughout the world.

"Everyone at JCI is pleased with the supply agreement with Laser and PRASA," Jeffrey Jones, JCI president and CEO said in a press release. "The continued building of our revenues off shore is a strong component of our forward looking business plan." Chlorine is used to destroy bacteria in drinking water and wastewater.

TIB Financial closes on of Bank of Venice buyout

Naples-based bank holding company TIB Financial Corp. has closed its purchase of The Bank of Venice. Aside form its new owner, the bank is expected to run structurally much like it did before with its own separate name, charter, board of directors and officers.

"Our goal is to enable The Bank of Venice Team to achieve its five year plan in half the time," Edward V. Lett, CEO and president of TIB Financial Corp., said in a press release.

Bank of Venice currently has two offices, with a third expected to open in the Venice area soon. The acquisition will make TIB Financial Corp. a two-bank financial holding company with 19 offices in seven southern Florida counties.

Concurrent with the closing, David Voigt, CEO of The Bank of Venice, was appointed to the board of directors of TIB Financial Corp. and Lett was appointed to the board of directors of The Bank of Venice. TIB Financial Corp. issued 944,400 shares of common stock and paid $355,000 of cash in exchange for all the outstanding shares of The Bank of Venice stock.

As of March 31, 2007, The Bank of Venice reported total assets of $71.8 million, total loans and leases of $57.2 million, total deposits of $58.0 million and total equity of $8.6 million.

Sirion Therapeutics begins clinical programs

Sirion Therapeutics Inc., a Tampa-based ophthalmic-focused biopharmaceutical company, launched new phase III clinical programs for two of its pipeline compounds, ST-601 (difluprednate) and ST-603 (cyclosporine).

The two new clinical programs are designed to evaluate ST-601 as a potential therapy for the treatment of anterior uveitis and ST-603 as a potential therapy for the treatment of dry eye syndrome. The addition of these clinical programs brings the company's active clinical programs to five. Sirion's aim is to provide a diverse product offering for the treatment of debilitating ophthalmic diseases and conditions.

Sirion has raised $75 million to date and is currently developing a portfolio of product candidates that includes therapies in the areas of inflammatory diseases and conditions, allergy, dry eye, herpetic keratitis and dry age-related macular degeneration.