Corporate Report

Corporate Report

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

HMA sells interest in seven hospitals

Naples-based hospital owner/manager Health Management Associates Inc. signed an agreement with Novant Health for an affiliate of Novant to acquire a 27% ownership interest in HMA's seven hospitals in North and South Carolina for $300 million.

HMA will continue to manage the hospitals and HMA and Novant will share governance rights. Over a four-month period, Novant will assume ownership and operation of the physician practices associated with the hospitals, which HMA will partially subsidize for the first three years, if necessary.

"We are particularly pleased and honored to have Novant Health as our partner," Burke W. Whitman, HMA's president and CEO, said in a press release. "Novant has an unsurpassed reputation for delivering high quality, innovative health care to the residents and visitors of North Carolina. Novant's partnership will materially reinforce our mission, strengthen our operating performance, and provide a more comprehensive service network for our patients, physicians, and the communities we serve in North and South Carolina."

HMA says it is evaluating similar joint venture transactions involving other HMA hospitals. The company plans to use the proceeds from the transaction for general corporate purposes.

Overall, the company expects to record a gain from continuing operations of $200 million before taxes, or 50 cents a share after tax, on the sale of the 27% minority interest.

In addition, the company reiterated its 2008 earnings objective of 40 to 50 cents per diluted share from continuing operations on net revenues $4.5 to $4.7 billion, excluding the gain from the joint-venture transaction and the potential separate non-cash write-down of certain other hospital assets.

Novant Health is a not-for-profit group of hospitals and physician clinics that includes nine hospitals, an 830-physician medical group, two nursing homes and 130 outpatient facilities. HMA owns and operates 58 hospitals, with some 8,300 licensed beds, in non-urban communities located throughout the United States.

Digital marketing firm

opens Tampa office

New York City-based digital marketing firm Zeta Interactive has opened new offices in Tampa and New York City. The company says the new offices were in response to the company's growing client base, which has now increased to more than 200 customers throughout the world. Current clients include Allergan/Botox, Time Inc., Sony Electronics Inc. and The Weather Channel.

The 13,000-square-foot Manhattan office, located on Park Avenue, will be the company's headquarters and will house a large portion of Zeta Interactive's sales and operations staff.

The agency's new Florida office will focus primarily on Zeta Interactive's marketing services. Carla McLeod, Zeta Interactive's recently named chief marketing officer, will lead the Tampa operations.

Formed in November 2007 after the acquisition of five marketing companies, Zeta Interactive now has offices in seven locations across the United States, as well as an office in India. Since its launch, the company has grown to more than 300 employees worldwide, and has named 11 industry leaders to its senior management team. Zeta Interactive offers a wide range of services from email and search marketing, to Web site development, creative services, social media marketing, mining and more. 

Brown & Brown

buys assets of Calif. firm

A subsidiary of Daytona Beach- and Tampa-based insurance agency Brown & Brown Inc. purchased the assets of California-based Powers & Co.

Powers & Co. is an insurance agency focused in the area of California, Nevada and Arizona, with annualized revenues of approximately $11.2 million. Richard Powers, the former president of Powers & Co.. and his staff will continue to operate out of their existing office as a new stand-alone Brown & Brown profit center.

"We are pleased to welcome Rich and his staff to our growing presence in California," Michael Paschke, regional executive vice president of Brown & Brown Inc., said in a press release. "This represents Brown & Brown's first retail operation in the greater Sacramento area. However, Rich's team will provide us with expanded resources and service capabilities for our clients throughout California and the West."

Brown & Brown and its subsidiaries offer a range of insurance and reinsurance products and services, as well as risk management, third party administration, managed health care, and Medicare set-aside services and programs.

Oil, gas energy firm

buys Utek subsidiary

Cheyenne, Wyo.-based oil-and-gas exploration and production firm Platina Energy Group Inc. acquired Enhanced Oil Recovery Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tampa-based technology-transfer firm Utek, in a stock transaction.

Enhanced Oil Recovery houses a worldwide license to a technology that separates liquid and gas streams through the use of an electrical submersible pump and a jet pump. The technology, acquired from the University of Texas, has the potential benefit of eliminating the need for a gas vent line at oil well sites with a high gas-to-liquid ratio.

Blair Merriam, CEO for Platina, says the company plans to use the product at some of its production wells and to sell it to third parties. In other Utek news, the company has signed a two-year agreement with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) to market Utek's innovation services to the institute's 1,500-memeber Society for Biological Engineering.

"This two-year Alliance is a great opportunity for both parties as it will help connect the technology and business needs of SBE member companies with valuable innovations from around the world that are in Utek's Open Innovation network," John Sofranko, Ph.D., executive director at AIChE, said in a press release. "The Alliance will also connect AIChE member companies with innovative thinkers and researchers in the scientific community as well as provide our individual members with business opportunities through the UTEK TekScout service."

Spain drops some claims

to Odyssey's Black Swan

Spain has dismissed some its claims against Tampa-based shipwreck recovery company Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc.

Spain had filed claims with the U.S. District Court's Tampa Division in three of the company's pending admiralty arrests for possession of the "Black Swan" shipwreck site. The Admiralty arrests let Odyssey operate on the site's wreck with the understanding that there maybe other parties that claim or have interest in the site or its cargo. Odyssey Marine recovered 17 tons of silver and gold coins in May from the wreck, which is believe to be the remains of a 20th century passenger liner.

Odyssey says it was unaware of any evidence suggesting any potential Spanish interest in the site, yet Spain pursued its claim without providing any information as to the basis for that claim.

"We are very pleased that Spain has acknowledged that its claim to this particular shipwreck is unfounded, and we are now looking forward to moving ahead in resolving all issues expeditiously with the other two cases," Greg Stemm, Odyssey's CEO, said in a press release.

Odyssey has several shipwreck projects in various stages of development around the world.

Shells Seafood Restaurants

back New York CEO

Shells Seafood Restaurants Inc. has hired Marc Bernstein as the Tampa seafood-restaurant chain's CEO effective April 14. The 38-year-old Bernstein has been employed the past decade by Dallas BBQ, a chain of seven high-volume restaurants in New York City, where he was most recently director of operations.

Bernstein has also been the owner/operator of several restaurant concepts in the New York area.

"We are delighted to welcome someone with Marc's extensive restaurant experience to lead Shells through these difficult economic times," Shells Chairman of the Board Philip Chapman said in a press release. "His high energy, hands-on management style will be ideal for leading the Shells brand back toward financial stability, profitability and growth."

The three-year contract calls for Bernstein to receive an annual salary of $338,000 with a guaranteed bonus in the first year of employment of $40,000. Bernstein will also be awarded an option to purchase 3.5 million shares of common stock at an exercise price equal to 15 cents a share, the closing price per share on April 1, 2008 in 36 equal monthly increments. He will also receive a housing and automobile allowance of $3,000 per month and be reimbursed for relocation expenses up to $10,000.

Bernstein replaces Leslie Christon, who left the company in March. Warren Nelson, who served as interim president, will retain the title of president and chief financial officer of Shells.

Shells operates 23 seafood restaurants.

Etc...

First State Financial

paying eight-cent dividend

Sarasota-based bank holding company First State Financial Corp. has announced a quarterly dividend of eight cents per share of stock. The dividend is payable March 31 for shareholders of record on March 21.

First State Financial Corp. is the holding company for First State Bank, which currently operates seven offices, three in Sarasota County and four in Pinellas County.

NFinanSe board member

buys stocks, warrants

Tampa-based stored-value card and financial-services firm nFinanSe Inc. sold 200,000 shares to Bruce Terker for $2.50 per share along with warrants to purchase another 100,000 shares of stock for $3.25 a share.

Terker, who is on the company's board of directors, paid a total of $500,000 for the shares and stock warrants. The warrants are scheduled to expire if they are not exercised in three years.

Scripps Network attorney

joins Syniverse board

Robert J. Gerrard Jr. has joined Tampa-based Syniverse Technologies' board of directors. Gerrard currently serves as executive vice president and general counsel of Scripps Networks LLC.

Gerrard established the Scripps Networks legal department and oversaw the company's human resources department until January 2007, when he assumed his current position.

He is now responsible for all legal matters pertaining to the company's Web sites and lifestyle television networks. Prior to joining Scripps in 1997, he was vice president and general counsel of Sega Network. He also previously served as senior counsel for Home Box Office and was a litigation associate with Wall Street law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed.

Sun Hydraulics joins

Green Business Partnership

Sun Hydraulics Corp., a Sarasota-based designer and manufacturer of high-performance hydraulic cartridge valves and manifolds for fluid power systems, has been certified by the county's Green Business Partnership.

The company reportedly worked closely Florida Power and Light to implement specialized energy technologies, including for its ice-chilling system for air conditioning. The company also recycles its paper, aluminum and process by-products.

"Sun Hydraulics has a comprehensive recycling system that includes metal shavings from their milling processes," Sarasota County Recycling Coordinator Tom Franklin said in a press release. "Their stormwater pollution prevention measures ensure the protection of the pond adjacent to their property and they are currently researching the addition of solar power as a supplementary energy source for their facilities."

The Green Business Partnership is open to all businesses in Sarasota County that implement required resource conservation measures and pass an on-site certification assessment.

Cruise Car, FPL partner

for green tourney

Sarasota-based Cruise Car Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of solar electric hybrid cars, teamed up with Florida Power & Light, to offset the impact of the Honda Classic Golf Tournament in Palm Beach Gardens. FPL purchased energy credits to power the tournament through solar and wind energy utilizing the FPL Sunshine Energy Program, and Cruise Car's solar cars were used for much of the transportation.