Stock sale spurs a USA Truck board exit
Vadim Perelman resigned from USA Truck's board of directors Wednesday, following through with the terms of a cooperation agreement between the Van Buren-based trucking company and his Los Angeles-based investment firm.
Perelman stepped down after Baker Street Capital Management, the firm he managed, sold its 1.4 million shares of USA Truck stock as part of the public secondary offering that closed Wednesday. The offering also included 600,000 shares of stock owned by Stone House Capital Management, which is managed by Mark Cohen. The stock was sold for $20 a share.
Last year, the firms combined to form Shareholders for the Benefit of USA Truck, and the group held a 28 percent stake in the company. Perelman also was named to USA Truck's board in May 2014 at the group's suggestion and re-elected earlier this month. But Perelman agreed to resign if the shares beneficially owned by Baker Street fell below 10 percent of the outstanding shares of the company, according to the cooperation agreement.
Perelman's resignation leaves USA Truck, based in Van Buren, with nine board members.
-- Robbie Neiswanger
Fitness center leases space from Kmart
A Little Rock fitness center of the low-cost, no-contract 10 Fitness chain recently leased 13,520 square feet of space from Kmart Corp. at 10901 Rodney Parham Road and is expanding its operations into adjacent space formerly occupied by Chuck E. Cheese. Kmart, also located at the shopping center, will not be affected.
Isaac Smith and Todd Rice, with Colliers International, helped broker the deal for 10 Fitness. Chuck E. Cheese has moved to the Shackleford Crossing Shopping Center.
Smith said the 10 Fitness' expansion could be done within the next 75 days. The fitness chain, which sells itself on a $10 monthly fee and no binding contract, has nine locations in central Arkansas and Springfield, Mo.
-- Cyd King
Court OKs RadioShack to sell name, data
RadioShack Corp. won court approval to sell its name and other intellectual property to Standard General LP, the hedge fund that took over about 1,700 of the bankrupt electronics retailer's stores.
The sale approved by a federal judge in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday also includes a trove of customer data. The total price for the package is $26.2 million.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon approved the sale over the objections of Wonderland Investment Group Inc., which wanted the auction process reopened so it could submit a $30 million bid. Wonderland said the change from incremental bidding to sealed bids was not provided for under the approved bidding procedures.
RadioShack entered bankruptcy after struggling to compete with big-box retailers and online merchants. It has since been pursuing a plan to have a Standard General affiliate take over hundreds of stores in a co-branding arrangement with Sprint Corp.
The proposed sale of customer information that the chain has collected over the years drew objections from dozens of state attorneys general, who had expressed concern about how the buyer might use the data. An agreement on the handling of the data was reached May 14 and announced in court Wednesday.
-- Bloomberg News
House panel votes to end meat-label rule
WASHINGTON --The U.S. House Agriculture Committee voted Wednesday to repeal country-of-original labeling rules that made beef, pork and chicken producers and processors list where the animals used in their products were born, raised and slaughtered.
The repeal which came two days after the World Trade Organization ruled that the labeling rules economically injured meat producers in Canada and Mexico.
The vote for repeal was a lopsided 38-6. The matter now goes to the House floor where it is expected to pass in the Republican-controlled chamber. Senate passage is uncertain.
Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., the ranking minority member of the agriculture panel, called the action premature.
Peterson said the U.S. was acting too fast in the wake of the WTO ruling and should wait to see a WTO calculation of the economic injury the labeling caused to Canada and Mexico.
Repeal of the so-called COOL rules is a giant setback for the U.S. food-labeling movement.
-- STAR TRIBUNE
Pilgrim's Pride says its flocks skirt flu
Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the world's second-biggest chicken processor, said the worst-ever bird flu outbreak in the U.S. hasn't affected any of its flocks and that domestic demand will rise 5 percent this year.
All the company's complexes are on highest alert, Chief Executive Officer Bill Lovette said Wednesday. The outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has affected more than 38.3 million chickens, turkeys and other birds since December.
The southeastern U.S., where Pilgrim's commercial chicken production is centered, has been largely unscathed. The drop in export demand after the outbreak hasn't had a financial affect on the company, Lovette said in an interview in New York. More than 30 countries, including China and Mexico, have banned U.S. poultry meat from affected areas.
Lovette said U.S. chicken demand will also rise 5 percent in 2016 and supply "may be pressured" to keep pace.
Domestic "demand has remained very strong," he said. "The consumer is comfortable with the fact that the virus does not affect the meat and does not pose a risk in consumption."
The risk to humans from the flu strains found in the U.S. are low, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Poultry purchases are being helped by high beef prices. Restaurants including McDonald's Corp. are promoting more chicken on their menus. Chicken consumption per person will jump to 88.3 pounds in 2015 from 83.4 pounds last year, according to the USDA.
Greeley, Colorado-based Pilgrim's is controlled by Brazilian meat company JBS SA.
-- BLOOMBERG NEWS
Business on 05/21/2015