A consortium of private equity investors took control of APR Energy plc last week and while they haven’t announced any post-buyout plans, the company will likely remain headquartered in Jacksonville.
A majority of shareholders voted in favor of the buyout offer from a group consisting of Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., ACON Equity Management LLC and Albright Capital Management LLC. The group will own at least 79 percent of APR’s stock, the company said.
APR builds interim power plants and does most of its business overseas. Its stock has been trading on the London Stock Exchange.
However, the company’s main office is in Jacksonville, where it employs a little less than 200 people, APR spokesman Alan Chapple said.
Chapple said last week the headquarters is expected to remain in Jacksonville after the buyout.
“That’s not even been part of the discussion. I can’t imagine that’s going to change,” he said.
The one thing that will change is APR will no longer be publicly traded. The company said it has taken steps to delist its stock from the London exchange.
The owners of the 21 percent of shares who had not agreed to sell to the buyout group, as of last week’s shareholder vote, still have the opportunity to sell their shares for a limited time.
The consortium agreed to pay 175 pence in cash (about $2.60) for the APR shares they did not already own. While that was a significant gain from the trading price of 93 pence before the buyout talks began, it is well below APR’s price of more than 1,000 pence two years ago.
While the buyout was approved, not all shareholders were happy with the deal. APR said 45.6 percent of “independent shareholders” voted against the deal.
The consortium has also agreed to provide $200 million in new capital to the company.
“We are pleased to be working alongside a group that truly understands our business and our market, and that shares our longer-term vision,” APR Executive Chairman John Campion said in a news release.
“Their significant investment reflects a strong belief in our business, our market and our management team, and we expect them to be great partners as we grow the company and continue to serve our expanding base of global customers,” he said.
Regulator terminates EverBank order
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency last week said it terminated mortgage servicing-related consent orders against EverBank and JPMorgan Chase Bank.
The consent orders were originally issued in April 2011 and amended in February 2013 and June 2015.
The OCC, the regulatory agency for nationally chartered banks, said the two banks are in compliance with the orders. The termination ends business restrictions on JPMorgan and Jacksonville-based EverBank that were put in place in the June 2015 amendment.
The OCC said EverBank violated the original 2011 order by improperly charging fees to about 47,000 borrowers from January 2011 to March 2015.
EverBank has begun paying $1.6 million in remediation payments to affected borrowers and was also assessed a $1 million civil penalty by the OCC, it said.
JPMorgan was assessed a $48 million penalty.
EverBank noted the termination of the consent order in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday but made no other announcement about it.
Analysts upgrade EverBank Financial
Meanwhile last week, analysts at Raymond James & Associates upgraded EverBank Financial Corp. from “outperform” to “strong buy” as part of an overall reassessment of bank stocks before fourth-quarter earnings are announced.
“Plainly, EverBank shares have been seemingly left for dead with the stock off about 24 percent since reporting disappointing third-quarter results and at a fresh 52-week low,” the analysts said in a research report.
“However, with fundamental results expected to snap back in the fourth quarter (which it reiterated during our recent non-deal roadshow), a solid projected EPS ramp in 2016, and attractive relative valuation (cheapest stock in our Southeast/Southwest coverage using our regression analysis), we view risk-reward positively at current levels,” they said.
Regency Centers rated a top pick
Regency Centers Corp. did well for its shareholders in 2015, producing a total return of 9.8 percent in a generally lackluster year for stocks.
However, one analyst sees even better things ahead this year.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Rich Moore last week rated Jacksonville-based Regency as his top pick for 2016 among real estate investment trust stocks.
“Regency has steadily transformed itself not only into one of the top owners and operators in the community center space but into one of the REITs best positioned for bottom line growth from both the existing portfolio as well as additions through development and acquisition. High quality, infill assets and a conservative balance sheet also work to limit risk from a potential economic slowdown,” Moore said in his research report.
Regency specializes in developing and operating neighborhood shopping centers anchored by supermarkets, and Moore expects that entire sector to do well this year.
“As we move into the new year, the community center space as a whole is well-positioned to capitalize on both organic growth and external growth opportunities,” he said.
But there are several factors about Regency that Moore likes in particular.
“In our view, Regency has the strongest development platform in the shopping center space,” he said.
“With the company’s major disposition program complete, the core portfolio is one of the healthiest in the real estate sector and we look for organic growth to remain steady and strong regardless of fluctuations in the broader U.S. economy. We see no slowdown in planned retailer openings with tenants looking increasingly toward the highest quality centers for space,” he said.
“Regency continues to produce significant top and bottom line results, and we see little in 2016 that would slow the company’s progress,” he said.
Stein Mart sales rise during holidays
After four straight months of declining sales, Stein Mart Inc. reported an increase in sales for the holiday season.
The Jacksonville-based fashion retailer said last week that total sales for the five weeks ended Jan. 2 rose 4.7 percent to $198.3 million and comparable-store sales (sales at stores open for more than one year) rose 1.8 percent.
Stein Mart operated 278 stores across the country at the end of December, compared with 270 a year earlier.
Stein Mart had previously said that a slump in its Texas stores had been affecting the company’s overall sales performance but in December, it said sales were “relatively consistent” across all regions.
Another General Employment deal
General Employment Enterprises Inc. ended 2015 with its third acquisition since Jacksonville executive Derek Dewan took over as CEO in April.
The Illinois-based staffing company acquired Paladin Consulting Inc., an information technology and professional staffing company based in Dallas.
Paladin was expecting revenue of $16 million to $18 million this year, which brings General Employment’s total projected revenue this year to about $90 million, more than double its fiscal 2015 revenue, the company said.
“The acquisition fits within our strategic growth strategy, which includes expansion of our IT staff augmentation and solutions presence into key markets where there is significant spending for IT staffing services and increasing our professional services capabilities in accounting and engineering,” Dewan said in a news release.
Dewan became CEO in April after General Employment acquired his previous company, Jacksonville-based Scribe Solutions Inc.
General Employment said in an SEC filing that it paid $1.75 million plus other payments that could total $2.25 million, depending on certain conditions, to acquire Paladin.
General Employment reported revenue of $43.4 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 and an adjusted net loss from continuing operations of $1.3 million.
ParkerVision ends licensing partnership
ParkerVision Inc. said in an SEC filing it is terminating its licensing services agreement with intellectual property advisory firm 3LP Advisors.
Jacksonville-based ParkerVision, which is developing technology for use in wireless devices, began working with 3LP in February 2014 to help it find licensing partners for its technology.
However, ParkerVision never announced any revenue-producing deals from that relationship.
Drone Aviation upgrades listing
Drone Aviation Holding Corp. last week was approved to upgrade its stock listing to the OTCQX Best Market, the top of three tiers of the OTC Markets Group.
Jacksonville-based Drone Aviation, which manufactures tethered drones and lighter-than-air-aerostats, had been trading on the middle tier, the OTCQB Venture Market.
The stock continues to trade under the ticker symbol “DRNE.”
“This upgrade is yet another step toward accomplishing our goal of an up-listing to a national stock exchange as we seek to expand our shareholder base and improve the company’s ability to attract institutional investors,” Chairman Jay Nussbaum said in a news release.
Drone Aviation took another step to improve its listing in the fall with a reverse stock split in which stockholders received one share for every 40 they previously owned.
The stock had been trading below 20 cents a share before the split but has been trading near $3 recently.