Southern Bancorp to buy DeWitt bank
Southern Bancorp Inc. of Arkadelphia said Thursday that it will buy DeWitt First Bankshares Corp. and its operations in DeWitt, Stuttgart and Lockesburg.
The sale price was not disclosed. The acquisition is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval but is expected to close in the second quarter. It will increase to 52 the number of Southern Bancorp sites in Arkansas and Mississippi, where it has a combined 65,000 customers, Southern Bancorp said.
Southern Bancorp said DeWitt First's wholly owned subsidiary, Arkansas County Bank, has $185 million in assets, with two branches in Arkansas County and one in Sevier County. Arkansas County Bank was founded in 1912.
Southern Bancorp, which is licensed as a community development financial institution, consists of its holding company; Southern Bancorp Bank, with $1.7 billion in assets, and Southern Bancorp Community Partners, a 501(c)(3) lending organization.
-- Stephen Steed
Poultry processor expands in Alabama
TGADSDEN, Ala. -- One of the largest poultry processors in the U.S. is investing nearly $16 million to expand a processing plant in Alabama, an investment officials say will provide 135 jobs over the next three years.
The funds will go toward the production line of the Koch Foods processing plant in Gadsden, making the company Etowah County's second-largest employer, the city said Wednesday in a news release. The company currently has roughly 1,000 employees at the plant.
The Gadsden City Council on Tuesday approved a 10-year tax break for the company on all state and local noneducational property taxes and all noneducational construction-related transaction taxes, the release said. But officials believe the expansion will increase funding for schools and generate more taxes for the city.
"We're really proud to have Koch Foods in Gadsden," Mayor Sherman Guyton said in the news release. "I'm pleased that they're continuing to expand here, bringing new developments and more good-paying jobs for our citizens."
Koch Foods expanded its Gadsden plant in 2018, and in 2019, announced a new poultry feed-mill in nearby Attalla.
-- The Associated Press
Day's loss of 3.15 puts index at 521.48
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Thursday day at 521.48, down 3.15.
"Equities closed relatively unchanged while the energy sector underperformed following an announcement by the Biden administration of a 60-day freeze on new oil and gas drilling on public lands," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.