Corporate Report: June 18 - June 24

Safaricom in Kenya calls on Syniverse for mobile services
Tampa-based mobile-communications solution provider Syniverse Technologies will provide its MORE roaming and DataNet solutions systems to Safaricom, Kenya's largest mobile operator, to improve its roaming operations and fraud prevention.

The systems will allow the operator to “simplify operational complexity and maximize revenue opportunities while providing subscribers with highly reliable mobile services,” Eugene Bergen Henegouwen, executive vice president and managing director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Syniverse, said in a press release.

Syniverse Technologies works with more than 800 mobile operators, cable and Internet providers and businesses in more than 160 countries.

Palmetto classic car shop to appear regularly on TV series
Slicks Garage, a Palmetto-based custom and classics car shop, will be featured as the home garage for the second season of the “Tail Fins and Chrome” TV series, which airs locally on WFLA plus the RTV and TUFF cable networks.

Each new show, currently being taped each Monday, will also include “Slicks Tricks,” with the owner providing car tips and advice.

The regular exposure resulted from a special segment that was taped at Slicks Garage in late 2009 and aired on May 16 that featured Slick, the garage, customers and their vehicles.

The business, which opened four months ago, has a 13,000-square-foot garage for paint and body, upholstery, fiberglass body parts, chassis construction and mechanical work.

Dental group reactivates past patients via Demandforce D3
Dental Care Alliance of Sarasota says that 655 new appointments were requested by previous patients, many whom had been inactive for more than a year, during the first month of using Demandforce's D3 communications software system.

While also providing marketing and analytics support, the system achieves “scale as well as allows for work/life balance for our busy dental professionals,” Mitch Olan, chief operating officer of Dental Care Alliance, said in a press release.

DCA has 76 affiliated dental practices in seven states throughout the East Coast and is also expanding into new regions.

Walter Energy subsidiary buys Alabama natural gas assets
Tampa-based Walter Energy subsidiary Walter Natural Gas LLC acquired the Alabama natural gas assets of HighMount Exploration & Production LLC, including 1,300 wells, pipeline and equipment adjacent to its underground mining and coal bed methane operation in Tuscaloosa, for $210 million.

HighMount has current proven reserves of 190 billion cubic feet, with annual coal bed methane production of 8.5 billion cubic feet. The purchase price equated to $1.10 per million cubic feet of proven reserves. All 47 of HighMount's local employees accepted offers to remain with the company.

“While this acquisition more than doubles our annual coal-bed methane production, it is more important because it helps ensure that future coal production areas will be properly degasified, thereby improving the safety and operational efficiency of our existing and future underground coking coal production.” Walter Energy Interim CEO Joe Leonard said in a press release.

Raymond James & Associates Inc. acted as the transaction advisor to Walter Energy.

Walter Energy is a U.S. producer and exporter of premium hard coking coal for the steel industry plus produces steam coal and industrial coal, metallurgical coke and coal bed methane gas.

Florida Community Bank exec hired as Bank of Naples CEO
Bank of Naples, with two full-service offices, appointed John G. “Jack” Tamblyn, formerly Lee County market president for Florida Community Bank, as president and CEO.

Originally from Michigan, Tamblyn began his banking career with City National Bank of Detroit in 1969. He later relocated to Southwest Florida, serving in commercial lending and management positions for the former First Bankers Corp., First Union, C&S National Bank, NationsBank, SunTrust Bank and SouthTrust Bank.

Odyssey Marine Exploration seeks to overturn Black Swan decision
Odyssey Marine Exploration has filed several additional appellate and amicus briefs with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in defense of its claim that the trial court erred in dismissing the “Black Swan” case.

Spain has claimed that the finding is covered under its sovereign immunity protection. Odyssey argues that Spain did not have possession of the coins, and that sovereign immunity only applies to vessels exclusively on non-commercial missions.

Two separate filings were made by groups of descendants whose ancestors owned the cargo shipped aboard the Mercedes. Odyssey contends the trial court missed the basis of their claims, calling them “descendants of those aboard the Mercedes,” and that no vessel was found at the site and that property rights to cargo are distinct from those to the vessel.

U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis; U.S. Rep. Bill Young, ranking Republican member on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense; U.S. Rep. Connie Mack; U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan; U.S. Rep. Thomas J. Rooney; and U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, all filed an amicus “friend of the court” brief arguing that current legislation puts the finding under the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.

“If any foreign vessel is allowed to escape the jurisdiction of our courts regardless of its mission or the cargo it carries, there could be grave environmental and national security ramifications,” Melinda MacConnel, Odyssey's vice president and general counsel, said in a press release.

Mangrove Employer Services adds new COO
Tampa-based Mangrove Employer Services hired Jim Costello, president of Payroll Associates for the last four years, as its chief operating officer.

In a career of more than 30 years he has also held senior leadership positions for Bank of America, ADP, and Genesys Software Systems, and was a founding member and general manager for Employeematters.com, an Intuit company. Payroll Associates oversees the largest payroll software licensee base in the country.

Founded in 1994, Mangrove is a provider of payroll, human resource management and benefits administration software and services.

Tampa Electric completes Big Bend Power Station improvements
Tampa Electric completed the installation of Selective Catalytic Reduction equipment at its Big Bend Power Station Unit 1, the last of the four units to receive the new equipment, which is designed to further reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.

The project was conducted while Big Bend's other units continued to operate.

The 10-year, $1.2 billion project created more than 1,500 jobs in six years of planning, engineering and construction. It fulfills the company's 1999 agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to dramatically reduce overall emissions from its power plants.

Tampa Electric Co. is the principal subsidiary of TECO Energy Inc., an energy-related holding company, with regulated utility businesses. Tampa Electric Co. is a regulated utility with both Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas System. Other subsidiaries are engaged in coal, and electric generation and distribution in Guatemala.

Proper Power & Energy early results positive for Utah claim
Tampa-based Proper Power & Energy Inc.'s geophysicist Robert Dunbar reports “encouraging and exciting” early findings from seismic data of its claim that includes 11,000 acres in Rush Valley in Tooele County, Utah. He expects to make his recommendations as to locations and projected quantities by June 25.

The oil and gas exploration and production company, which was formed in 2006, will also engage a Utah oil and gas-consulting firm.

FlexStake enters Africa, partners with CP Fiberglass
FlexStake Inc., a Fort Myers-based manufacturer of high-impact signs and markers, is partnering with Lagos, Nigeria-based CP Fiberglass Ltd. to provide products for traffic control, utility company, oil and gas, aviation and civil projects.

CP Fiberglass specializes in advanced composites including fiberglass-reinforced products.

Law enforcement, Priority conduct cold-case program
Fort Myers marketing company Priority Marketing has teamed up with Florida and Georgia law enforcement agencies to produce Cold Case Playing Cards for distribution in prisons and probation offices.

The cards feature photos and information on unsolved homicide and missing person cases in these jurisdictions, along with a way to report tips.

According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, two cases have been solved since 2005 as a result of leads generated from the cards.

In Fulton County, Georgia, where there are currently 1,200 unsolved murder cases, 5,000 Cold Case Playing Cards decks are circulating in the prison system.

Eco Trans Alliance partners with Cruise Car
Eco Trans Alliance LLC, Sarasota, will provide solar-electric vehicle and battery technology, including SunRay Solar Top Conversion Kits and Eco Ports (solar-electric charging stations), for Sarasota-based Cruise Car Inc.'s electric and solar hybrid low-speed vehicles.