NEWS IN BRIEF

— Bank of the Ozarks buys Genala Banc

Little Rock-based Bank of the Ozarks completed its purchase of Genala Banc Inc. on Monday.

Genala is the holding company of The Citizens Bank, which had one office in Geneva, Ala. The Citizens Bank had about $170 million in assets.

Bank of the Ozarks paid $27.5 million for the bank, with $14.1 million paid in Bank of the Ozarks stock and $13.4 million paid in cash.

Jerome Parrish, a 20-year veteran of The Citizens Bank, was named market president and will oversee banking operations for Bank of the Ozarks in Geneva.

Bank of the Ozarks has $3.8 billion in assets. It has 117 offices in Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina.

  • David Smith

Corps wrapping up repair work on lock

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is wrapping up one round of repairs at the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System’s easternmost lock and dam.

The Montgomery Point Lock and Dam, near the Mississippi River, was expected to be ready for service today, Corps spokesman Laurie Driver said.

The Corps undertook $1.5 million in repairs on bad hinges on two lock gates, starting Dec. 1. On Dec. 15, the Corps was able to reopen a navigation bypass and let barges and other vehicles through while repair work continued.

But two other lock gates at Montgomery Point will need similar repairs when funding is available, James McKinnie, acting chief of the Corps navigation and maintenance section, said Monday.

  • Lisa Hammersly

Arkansas Index up by 4.81 Monday

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 4.81 to 248.66 Monday.

“The financial markets rallied despite the fact that politicians playing a game of chicken with constituents’ lives failed to reach an agreement, leading Americans over the so-called fiscal cliff,” said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock.

First Federal Bancshares, P.A.M. Transportation Services and Dillard’s all rose in excess of 4 percent.

Windstream was the sole component stock that lost ground, falling by a scant 0.2 percent.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 19 on 01/01/2013

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