White Hall utilities deny state violations
The White Hall water and sewer systems denied in a filing Tuesday with the Public Service Commission that they are in violation of state law or Public Service Commission regulations.
They were responding to a claim by Attorney General Leslie Rutledge that the utilities and their parent company, Liberty Utilities, have violated several Arkansas laws pertaining to public utilities.
In 2014, Liberty acquired the water supply and distribution system and the sewer collection and pumping system from White Hall. Liberty acquired Pine Bluff's water system in 2013.
Since the acquisitions, the Pine Bluff system has been regulated by the commission and the two White Hall systems have been regulated by the city of White Hall, the utilities said in the filing.
"To suggest some scheme was developed to acquire [the White Hall utilities] in order to avoid regulation is unfounded since the [attorney general] acknowledges that it, and the [commission], have known of the relationship between [the Pine Bluff system and the two White Hall utilities] for several years prior to the filing of the complaint in this case," the utilities said.
-- David Smith
NanoMech presents plan to sell company
Springdale-based NanoMech Inc. has presented to a Delaware bankruptcy judge a preliminary plan to sell the tech company at auction in June.
The motion made Tuesday by NanoMech calls for the company's largest creditor, New York-based Michaelson Capital Company, to act as the stalking horse bidder in an auction with a $9 million initial bid along with assumed liabilities. The plan calls for a June 24 date for the sale hearing.
NanoMech filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month. In initial filings, NanoMech claimed between 100 and 199 creditors, between $10 million and $50 million in assets and between $10 million and $50 million in debt.
NanoMech, founded in 2002 by Jim Phillips, develops nanotechnology for use in machining and manufacturing, lubrication, packaging, biomedical implant coatings, and the development of specialty chemicals. Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the atomic and molecular scale. Phillips retired weeks before the bankruptcy filing.
-- John Magsam
Arkansas Index rises 1.25, ends at 427.81
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, climbed 1.25 to 427.81 Wednesday.
"Energy stocks led equities lower following Tuesday's new closing high for the year in the S&P 500 Index as investors continue to digest a stream of quarterly earnings reports," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 04/25/2019