NEWS IN BRIEF

State agency limits LR firm’s bond sales

The Arkansas Securities Department entered into a consent order with Crews and Associates of Little Rock and issued a cease-and-desist order against an oil and natural gas company and its owners, the department said Tuesday.

Little Rock-based Bamco Gas LLC and executives Ernest Bartlett III of Little Rock and Howard Appel of Pennsylvania were ordered to stop selling corporate bonds not secured by property. The firm raised $17 million from 2005 and 2008 from investors in 16 states, including Arkansas.

The Securities Department claimed Bamco, Bartlett and Appel committed securities fraud by omitting information about their backgrounds.

Both Appel and Bartlett have been banned from the securities industry, and Appel has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, the department said. Bamco, Bartlett and Appel also did not disclose outstanding debt of more than $10 million, the department said.

Crews acted as the private placement agent for the Bamco bonds. The department claimed that Crews failed to adequately investigate Bamco.

In a statement, Crews said it is pleased the matter is resolved. A call to Bamco’s office seeking comment was not returned.

  • David Smith

Stephens Group buys California data hub

The Stephens Group LLC has bought an Internet services company based in Santa Clara, Calif., for an undisclosed amount.

Stephens, a Little Rock based private equity firm, acquired Bay Area Internet Solutions as part of what it anticipates may be one of a number of data centers around the country, Ron Clark, Stephens general counsel and chief operating officer, said in an interview Tuesday.

Daily operation of the data center will be managed by vXchnge, Clark said.

  • Jack Weatherly

USA Truck up 2.2% as index gains 1.74

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, advanced 1.74 at 287.89 on Tuesday.

“The major averages extended their gains for a fourth straight session amid optimism surrounding second-quarter earnings,” said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in Little Rock.

USA Truck gained 2.2 percent in light trading and established a 52-week high. P.A.M. Transportation Services fell 1.4 percent on minimal volume.

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 23 on 07/10/2013

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