Oil-gas services firm to buy disposal wells
A Houston-based environmental services company is buying two disposal wells in Van Buren County in a deal valued at a little more than $20 million.
TexCom Inc., which serves the oil and gas industry, is buying the two salt disposal wells, the Peak Water Systems SWD No. 1 and the Bennett SWD No. 1, according to a Thursday news release. The $20.29 million deal will include assuming or refinancing $7.07 million in debt, along with $2.65 million in cash and $10.58 million in shares of common stock.
Liquids used in oil and gas production are disposed of in saltwater wells. The liquids are considered hazardous waste because of a high salt content and other proprietary materials they contain.
The wells are expected to add $5.5 million in annual revenue, and the deal is expected to close at the end of June. Green Bank of Houston is providing the debt refinancing, and WoodRock & Co. acted as financial advisers to TexCom.
The deal is subject to the approval of TexCom Inc. shareholders at the company's annual shareholders meeting June 26.
-- John Magsam
Judge says Wal-Mart must respond to suit
Wal-Mart has 30 days to respond to a lawsuit filed in April 2012 connected to a bribery investigation, U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey said Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas in Texarkana.
Hickey originally had ruled that the federal case should be put on hold until the disposition of a similar case pending in state court in Delaware. But the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the lawsuit should continue.
Both lawsuits were filed by Wal-Mart shareholders.
The Texarkana lawsuit said Wal-Mart and its directors did not protect shareholders' interest and the company's corporate reputation by purportedly "permitting operation of a widespread and systematic scheme to bribe Mexican officials for the purpose of obtaining various government permits."
-- David Smith
Arkansas Index rises 3.98 to close 350.96
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, climbed 3.98 to 350.96 Thursday.
"U.S. stocks jumped on Thursday after the European Central Bank cut all three key rates as expected, most notably putting the rate for deposits from commercial banks in negative territory for the first time ever, hoping to spur the banks to lend more," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
Bear State Financial continued its rise, gaining 6.4 percent on more than double its average volume.
USA Truck rose 4.8 percent in heavy trading.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 06/06/2014