News in brief

CoreLink purchases

medical-device firm

CoreLink LLC, a limited liability portfolio company of The Stephens Group, has acquired the assets of Expanding Orthopedics Inc., the companies said Tuesday.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2001, Expanding Orthopedics, an Israeli medical device company, develops devices used in spinal surgery.

The purchase allows CoreLink to add important product lines and intellectual property in the fastest-growing categories in the spine market, said Jay Bartling, founder and chief executive officer of CoreLink.

The Little Rock-based Stephens Group is owned by W.R. "Witt" Stephens Jr. and Elizabeth Stephens Campbell, children of the late W.R. "Witt" Stephens, the founder of the Stephens financial empire.

-- David Smith

UA startup chosen

for accelerator spot

A University of Arkansas, Fayetteville startup company is one of six chosen to participate in the Health InnovatAR health care accelerator program.

Lapovations LLC recently won the graduate division of the annual Governor's Cup competition. In all, Lapovations has won five business-plan competitions, finished second in two others and won $300,000.

Lapovations is developing a noninvasive alternative for lifting the abdominal wall in laparoscopic surgeries.

The other health care startups in the program are Day Zero Diagnostics of Boston, Ejenta of San Francisco, ExplORer Surgical of Chicago, Macro-eyes of Seattle and Medical Informatics Corp. of Houston.

The six companies were selected from hundreds of applicants from 20 countries.

The announcement was made Monday at Arkansas Heart Hospital. Other partners in the program are the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and BioVentures. Winrock International is administrating the program.

-- David Smith

Up 4.17, state index

sets another record

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, climbed 4.17 to 440.80 Tuesday, reaching a record high for the second-straight day.

Total volume for the index was 23.2 million shares.

"U.S. stocks closed mixed on Tuesday and technology shares extended recent gains, while U.S. Treasury yields fell on safe-haven buying," said Chris Harkins, managing director with Raymond James & Associates in Little Rock.

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

Business on 06/06/2018

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