LR's CS&L completes $409M acquisition
Communications Sales & Leasing, also known as CS&L, has completed its acquisition of PEG Bandwidth LLC, the Little Rock company said.
CS&L announced in January that it would buy PEG Bandwidth from Associated Partners LP, an investment company, in a $409 million deal.
The deal includes $315 million in cash and issuance of stock. CS&L said it borrowed $321 million under its revolving credit facility to fund the cash portion of the acquisition price and transaction costs.
PEG Bandwidth provides infrastructure for telecommunications carriers.
The acquisition is CS&L's first since it was spun off into a real estate investment trust by Windstream Holdings Inc. in 2015.
-- Jessica Seaman
State's share $1M in suit settlement
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office said Thursday that it has reached an agreement with a health care equipment company regarding allegations of anti-kickback violations.
Olympus America Inc., of Pennsylvania, has agreed to pay $306 million in the settlement. Of that, more than $1 million will go to Arkansas' Medicaid program and the Medicaid Trust Fund, according to the news release.
Arkansas was one of 50 states and the District of Columbia involved in the settlement.
The lawsuit centered on allegations that Olympus, along with subsidiaries, used financial incentives to encourage doctors and hospital executives to buy its endoscopes and other equipment, the news release said.
-- Jessica Seaman
State index off 3.50 as 12 issues decline
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 3.50 to 315.95 Thursday.
"U.S. stocks were mixed Thursday after a rise in jobless claims and as the markets await [today's] jobs report," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. "The Arkansas Index moved lower as 12 stocks declined and six advanced."
Total volume for the index was 32.2 million shares.
Shares of America's Car-Mart fell 6.5 percent in higher-than-average volume.
Dillard's Inc. shares fell 2.8 percent.
USA Truck shares jumped 10 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 on 05/06/2016