Corporate Report

Corporate Report

by Sean Roth | Real Estate Editor

Walter Industries reduces home division

Walter Industries Inc. announced a major restructuring of JWH Holding Company LLC, the company's financing and homebuilding business.

Walter Industries reports it has closed or will close 36 underperforming Jim Walter Homes sales centers as part of the restructuring. As a result of the restructuring, the company expects to offset the impact of lower sales volumes with annualized reductions in operating expenses in the range of $26 million to $28 million. Walter Industries also plans to reduce its financing and homebuilding workforce by 25%.

"After careful consideration of the performance of each branch in our system and the challenging operating environment facing the entire homebuilding industry, we came to the difficult decision to close nearly half of our branches," Mark J. O'Brien, chairman and CEO of JWH Holding Co. LLC said in a press release "Our remaining 47 branches are our best-performing locations and provide a significantly higher proportion of overall sales and unit deliveries."

O'Brien added that while the number of branch locations has diminished significantly, Jim Walter Homes continues to explore and evaluate new markets where it believes a significant market opportunity exists for its affordably priced homes.

 The Jim Walter Homes sales centers affected by the restructuring include Gulf Coast sites in Fort Myers, Ocala, Orlando, Sebring and Tampa as well as locations in 13 other states.

The company also announced management changes intended to accelerate the separation of the financing and homebuilding business from the company's core natural resources and energy business.

The Board of Directors has asked Joseph J. Troy to focus exclusively on achieving the separation. As a result of Troy's new assignment, the Board of Directors elected Victor P. Patrick, vice chairman and general counsel, to the additional role of chief financial officer. Prior to joining Walter Industries, Patrick served as deputy general counsel and secretary with Honeywell International Inc., where he was also lead attorney for finance and M&A transactions.

Walter Industries is a producer and exporter of metallurgical coal for the global steel industry and also produces steam coal, coal bed methane gas, furnace and foundry coke and other related products. The company also operates a mortgage financing and affordable homebuilding business.

Buccaneers sign deal

with Connecticut company

Stamford, Conn.'s Centerplate is partnering with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to create a retail merchandise operation at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. 

Centerplate and the Buccaneers plan to create a retail entertainment experience, which will feature a dynamic sales environment celebrating the team's rich brand, a greatly expanded selection of items and a knowledgeable and friendly sales team.

Centerplate is a national leader in creating professional sports merchandise solutions, with clients including the San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Indianapolis Colts, Tennessee Titans and the Tampa Bay Rays.

"We are ecstatic to team up with Centerplate on this exciting new venture," Brian Ford, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Director of Business Administration, said in a press release. "We feel that Centerplate is the up and coming leader in merchandise operations nationally and are confident that our fans will benefit from this new relationship through superior service and many more choices on game day." In addition to this contract with the Buccaneers, Centerplate was awarded the merchandise service contracts for the Washington Nationals and the New Jersey Devils, the two newest facilities built in Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, respectively.

Roper Industries

buys CBORD Group

Sarasota-based Roper Industries Inc. acquired The CBORD Group Inc., a supplier of card systems and security products in a transaction valued at $367 million. The acquisition is expected to add two to three cents to Roper Industries' 2008 diluted earnings per share and to increase 2009 diluted earnings per share by up to 10 cents.

The CBORD Group is the world's leading provider of campus and cashless card systems, food and nutrition service management software, student discount and off-campus commerce programs, housing and judicial process management software, and integrated security solutions.

CBORD's clients include 750 colleges and universities, representing 4.5 million students; 1,700 major healthcare licensees; and large corporate campuses, leading supermarkets, theme parks and dining chains. In total, CBORD systems are used by more than 6,000 organizations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.  

The business will continue as CBORD and will operate within Roper's RF Technology segment, and market its products and services under its current brand names.

"CBORD is an ideal acquisition for Roper that meets all of our key criteria," said Brian Jellison, Roper's chairman, president and CEO, said in a press release.

"The company enjoys leadership in its core markets with brand name recognition, long-term relationships with high customer retention, the broadest suite of integrated applications, and a reputation for quality service. Its financial profile is excellent with strong recurring revenue," Jellison said. "In addition, CBORD has a prepaid annual subscription model that accelerates cash flow and reduces risk in many of its markets. Most importantly, CBORD has extraordinary growth opportunities across its markets and in others it will be able to pursue as a part of Roper."

In other news, Roper's board of directors approved a dividend of seven-and-a-quarter cents per share payable on April 25 to stockholders of record on April 11.

Roper provides engineered products and solutions for global niche markets, including water, energy, radio frequency and research/medical applications.

Partners Bank

adds Leslie as new CFO

Partners Bank, a subsidiary of Naples-based Partners Financial Corp., has appointed Heather M. Leslie as chief financial officer. Leslie is responsible for all the finance and accounting functions of the bank as well as general bank operations.

"Heather brings a great deal of local corporate accounting and financial management experience," Robert R. Sudbrook, president and CEO of Partners. "She will be a tremendous addition to our management team as we grow the bank in the Naples and Collier County market."

Prior to joining Partners Bank, she was corporate controller for a privately held company with a portfolio of real estate, construction, development and manufacturing companies. Before that, she served as controller and vice president for First National Bank of Florida, now known as Fifth Third. 

Partners Bank has about $60 million in total assets and two full-service banking centers in Collier County.

Radiation Therapy Services

sold, no longer public

Fort Myers-based radiation treatment center operator Radiation Therapy Services Inc. completed its $1.1-billion merger with an affiliate of international private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners L.P. Radiation Therapy Services shareholders are entitled to receive $32.50 in cash per share. Radiation Therapy Services' common stock has also ceased trading on the NASDAQ Stock Market.

"We are pleased to partner with a prominent private equity firm that shares our commitment to the company and its mission of delivering the highest quality of care," Dr. Daniel E. Dosoretz, CEO of Radiation Therapy Services, said in a press release.

Wachovia Capital Markets, LLC, BNP Paribas Securities Corp. and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. arranged financing for the deal.

Wachovia Capital Markets acted as financial advisor to Radiation Therapy Services , and Morgan Joseph & Co. Inc. advised the special committee of the board of directors. Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP served as legal counsel to Radiation Therapy Services. Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman LLP served as legal counsel to Vestar.

Radiation Therapy Services, Inc., which operates under the name 21st Century Oncology, currently operates 84 treatment centers in 16 states.

Vestar Capital Partners specializes in management buyouts and growth capital investments. Since the firm's founding in 1988, the Vestar funds have completed more than 60 investments in companies with a total value of approximately $22 billion. Vestar currently manages funds with committed capital totaling about $7 billion.

Sirion Therapeutics licenses

Sarasota company's drug

Sirion Therapeutics Inc., a Tampa eye-disease focused biopharmaceutical company, has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Bridge Pharma Inc. of Sarasota for the worldwide rights to develop and market topical ophthalmic mixtures containing Bridge Pharma's proprietary anti-inflammatory agent norketotifen.

Under the terms of this licensing agreement, Sirion Therapeutics will have the rights to manufacture, sell and distribute norketotifen for ocular use. The company plans to begin clinical trials with the new formulation of norketotifen in the first half of 2009.

Sirion's pipeline includes four compounds: difluprednate, a topical steroid for post-operative inflammation and uveitis; ganciclovir, a topical antiviral for herpetic keratitis; cyclosporine, a topical immunomodulator for dry eye; and fenretinide, a first-in-class oral vitamin A binding protein antagonist for geographic atrophy associated with dry AMD.

Fox Electronics

introduces ID system

Fort Myers-based Fox Electronics developed a new system of assigning identification numbers to the components used to manufacture cell phones, MP3 players and other electronic devices.

The system is similar to the production identification numbers consumers are used to, but Fox Electronics is the first frequency control manufacturer in the world to use the system at component level in the components used to build end products.

The serial identification system was developed to improve the quality of the products and lowers the price for consumers. Fox Electronics designed the serial ID for its XpressO oscillator series, but plans to begin using serial ID in other oscillators in the future.

The unique serial ID is assigned and embedded inside each oscillator, which then enables Fox Electronics to quickly and accurately trace any product back to its original manufacturing process, including raw materials used, date of manufacture, electrical testing performed and equipment used to manufacture the specific part.

Fox Electronic officials tout Serial ID's ability to enhance quality control and speed its response to quality control issues.

Fox Electronics is a supplier of standard and custom frequency control products, including a line of crystals, oscillators and crystal filters.

Valpak, IHOP offers Dr. Seuss' sweepstakes

Largo's Valpak and IHOP Restaurants have teamed up for a promotion for the release of Twentieth Century Fox's animated feature film event, "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!"

Valpak sent out its self-named envelopes to more than 43 million U.S. households promoting the movie and offering savings sweepstakes with IHOP. Every envelope is valid for a free Kids' Meal, or short stack of buttermilk pancakes from IHOP. A thousand consumers will receive a $25 "IHOP Be My Guest" gift certificate randomly inserted inside Valpak envelopes. Two winners will each receive 52 IHOP gift cards valued at $50 each (total value $2,600).

"Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!," a comedy that features the voices of Jim Carrey, Steve Carell and Carol Burnett will open March 14.

This is the seventh time that Fox Filmed Entertainment has partnered with Valpak to promote one of its theatrical releases in an on-envelope national promotion.

Valpak is owned and operated by Cox Target Media. Valpak delivers savings coupons to nearly 46 million households each month throughout the United States and Canada.

Etc...

Tech Data top

Fujitsu distributor

For the eighth consecutive year, Clearwater-based Tech Data Corp. has been recognized as Distributor of the Year, Product & Service by Fujitsu Computer Products of America Inc. 

"Through our Document Imaging Specialized Business Unit, we provide the channel's most comprehensive support for Fujitsu imaging solutions," Wendy Linsky, Tech Data vice president, Peripherals Product Marketing, said in a press release. "The growth we continue to achieve in the imaging market can be attributed to Fujitsu's strong commitment to educating the channel and the successful initiatives we've developed together to better enable resellers to deliver the latest content management solutions."

In other Tech Data news, the company reached a new strategic partnership with Telovations Inc. to offer Telovations' Managed Voice Services to select Tech Data resellers in 16 U.S. markets. Telovations provides small- and medium-sized businesses with hosted communications solutions. 

Tech Data distributes to more than 90,000 customers in more than 100 countries. 

Kforce stock buy-back

near $50 million

Kforce Inc., a Tampa professional staffing and solutions firm, says its has repurchased 1.5 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $8.67 per share, or $13 million. The company's board of directors announced another buy-back for $50 million worth of its stock.

Interior designer

buys The Secret Room

Interior designer Debbie Wagner, owner of The Home Stylist LLC in Sarasota and Celebrate Design in Orlando, acquired The Secret Room, a custom and consignment window treatment business in Sarasota.