Corporate Report

Corporate Report

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

HealthPlan sells Montgomery Management

Columbia, S.C.-based Companion Life Insurance Co. has purchased Pennsylvania-based Montgomery Management Corp., a managing general underwriter of stop-loss coverage for employer health plans, from Tampa's HealthPlan Holdings Inc.

The acquisition includes Montgomery Management's headquarters in Blue Bell, Pa., and its other offices: Grand Rapids, Mich.; Overland Park, Kan.; Charlotte, N.C.; Houston; and Tampa. With more than $45 million in annual premiums, Montgomery Management has 18 employees.

Montgomery Management Corp. will retain its name and continue to operate independently. Anne Marie McCarthy will continue serving as Montgomery Management's president.

HealthPlan Holdings, a Sun Capital Partners Inc. affiliate, is the largest privately held outsourcing-solutions company for fully insured employee benefit services.

Vetoquinol distributes

GeoPharma's Vetprofen

Largo-based pharmaceutical company GeoPharma Inc. has reached an agreement with Vetoquinol USA for it to market and distribute GeoPharma's Vetprofen drug nationwide.

The agreement executed with GeoPharma's subsidiary Belcher Pharmaceuticals represents GeoPharma's first generic drug offering. Vetprofen's active ingredient Carprofen is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory substance used by veterinarians to treat canines for pain and inflammation associated with osteoarthritis and post operative pain.

"Vetoquinol has long been a leader in the marketing and distribution of veterinary health products, so working with them was a logical choice to proliferate the acceptance of Vetprofen into the marketplace," GeoPharma CEO Mihir K. Taneja, said in a press release.

Vetoquinol is the 12th largest animal health company and distributes products in about 100 countries.

Bank of Florida Trust

adds new president

Scott Kellett, J.D., has been promoted to president of Bank of Florida Trust Co.

Kellett previously served as president for the West Coast division overseeing client relationships and operations. Following the promotion, Kellett's responsibilities have been expanded to include overseeing both the East and West Coast Florida divisions.

Prior to joining Bank of Florida Trust, he served as senior vice president and Florida private client group manager at Fifth Third Bank Investment Advisors (formerly First National Bank of Florida) and vice president and administrative manager at SunTrust Bank.

"(Kellett) skillfully combines investment expertise and knowledge of ever-changing tax laws, with a keen attention to serving his clients' current needs and reaching their future objectives," Julie Husler, CEO of Bank of Florida Trust Co., said in a press release. "He is uniquely qualified to continue to build on the current and future successes of our company."

Bank of Florida Trust Co. is an investment firm specializing in financial consulting, portfolio management, advisory services, alternative investment strategies, family office planning, business succession planning, trust services and private banking.

Aerosonic CEO leaves company, VP appointed interim CEO

David Baldini, chairman, president and CEO, of Aerosonic Corp. has left the Clearwater-based flight product supplier.

P. Mark Perkins, the company's executive vice president and a member of the Board of Directors, has been appointed as interim president and CEO until a successor can be appointed. Perkins has been a member of the Board of Directors since 1997 and has more than 18 years of experience in various segments of the aviation industry, most recently serving as vice president of marketing at Gulf Aerospace Inc. Perkins joined the company as executive vice president of sales and marketing in 1998.

Danka Business Systems

distributes Konica Minolta

Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A Inc., an advanced imaging and networking technologies company, and St. Petersburg-based Danka Business Systems PLC, one of the largest independent suppliers of office imaging products in the United States, have signed a strategic relationship agreement calling for Danka to distribute Konica Minolta products in the United States.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ramsey, N.J.-based Konica Minolta will market its complete line of bizhub color printers and network-ready multifunctional products, and network printers, in select Danka markets beginning in early 2008.

"We are delighted to have this opportunity to partner with Konica Minolta," A.D. Frazier, chairman and CEO of Danka, said in a press release. "They are a major player in the office imaging solutions marketplace thanks to their cutting-edge technology. This association not only demonstrates confidence in Danka's ability to replicate its successful sales and distribution system for their products, it recognizes Danka's leadership in service and business re-engineering, particularly in the enterprise market segment."

Etc...

Sunsail of Clearwater

introduces Bahamas trips

Clearwater-based yacht-vacation company Sunsail Sailing Vacations has started offering bareboat, skippered and flotilla vacations to Marsh Harbor and Abacos in the Bahamas.

Sunsail offers nearly 1,000 yachts in more than 25 locations worldwide. In addition to sailing vacations, Sunsail offers sailing school courses and team-building events. 

Managers, investment funds

buy up AmeriLife Group

An investor group, including funds managed by Reservoir Capital Group, LLC and Black Diamond Capital Partners, I LP, has purchased Clearwater-based AmeriLife Group LLC from its founder. The new ownership also includes the AmeriLife Group's CEO Timothy North and other members of the company's senior management team. North will stay on to lead the company as CEO.

AmeriLife Group LLC is the largest annuity, life and health insurance marketing organization focused on the U.S. senior market.

AmeriLife develops annuity, life and health insurance products with its insurance carrier partners and markets these products through its distribution network.

"We are very pleased to have Reservoir Capital Group and Black Diamond as our capital partners," North said in a press release. "Their capital resources, relationships and expertise in the insurance industry will allow us to continue to profitably grow and expand our distribution and administrative business and to offer innovative products and services to our existing agents, policyholders and insurance carriers."

Former WCI executive

forms PR firm

Ken Plonski, who most recently served as vice president of Public Relations and Brand Management at WCI Communities in Bonita Springs, Florida, has launched his own public relations consulting practice. 

Master Planned Communications LLC, with offices in Fort Myers and Phoenix, was formed in July as a partnership between Plonski and Martha Moyer, a former business associate. The two worked together at the Del Webb Corp. in Phoenix, which pioneered the active adult community business with its Sun City communities. Del Webb is now a part of Pulte Homes.

The new firm is primarily targeting the homebuilding and development industries, but will also offer services to other businesses as well.

"We can draw upon more than 50 years of combined real estate experience to create public relations strategies that support our clients' business objectives," Plonski said in a press release.

Teco Energy

adjusts debt, offerings

Tampa's Teco Energy Inc. has started a series of debt tender and exchange offers.

The offers are designed to allow the company to pay off an additional $500 million in debt obligations through 2010, beyond the $357 million of Teco Energy debt that matured in 2007. The funding is also expected to allow the company to make additional investments in Tampa Electric Co. to handle its customer growth, transmission needs and distribution system, reliability improvements and environmental compliance.

Teco Energy also plans to use the proceeds of its pending sale of Teco Transport Corp. to speed up its debt retirement goals and pay off up to $300 million of its notes maturing in 2010. Teco Finance is conducting a series of offers to exchange Teco Finance notes for another series of notes maturing in 2011-2015.

The tender offer is an offer to purchase for cash any and all of Teco Energy's outstanding 7.50% Notes due 2010. The offer is scheduled to expire Dec. 19.

Verizon speeds up

local FiOS service

New York City-based Verizon has increased the speed of its fastest FiOS Internet service in the Tampa Bay area, quadrupling its upstream connection speed for no additional charge.

This new service features a downstream connection speed of up to 50 Mbps and a new upstream connection speed of up to 20 Mbps. Using a 20 Mbps upstream broadband connection, a consumer could upload a 250 megabyte file in about 90 seconds, compared with about 47 minutes over a 768 kilobits per second upstream connection.

"Our FiOS Internet customers in the Tampa Bay area no longer have to settle for cable upload speeds that can't deliver the most interactive online experiences," said Suri Surinder, Verizon's Southeast region senior vice president and general manager. "With FiOS, you can choose ultra-fast uploading that makes sending information as quick and easy as receiving it."

The new, fastest FiOS Internet service with a downstream connection speed of up to 50 Mbps and an upstream connection speed of up to 20 Mbps is available starting at $139.95 a month in an annual plan.

On Nov. 16, Verizon held its first field test of 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) optical transmission, on a live, in-service 312-mile (504 kilometer) network route between Tampa and Miami. The test was designed to show that using certain advanced systems, specifically Alcatel-Lucent's 1625 LambdaXtreme Transport, an existing 10-Gbps fiber network system can be upgraded to deliver the much faster transfer speeds.