The 2015 Forbes 400 list of the country's richest people includes 10 with close Arkansas ties and one Arkansan in the top 10.

The list once again is led by Microsoft's Bill Gates. Forbes estimates his net worth at $76 billion. Wal-Mart heir and Arvest Bank Chairman and CEO Jim Walton leads a group of Arkansans and those with close ties to the state included on the list.

That group is dominated by Waltons:

• Forbes No. 9 -- Jim Walton, 67, Bentonville, estimated worth $33.7 billion. The son of Sam Walton, Walton is the chairman and CEO of the Walton family's Arvest Bank.
• Forbes No. 12 -- Alice Walton, 65, Fort Worth, Texas, estimated worth $32 billion. Daughter of Sam Walton and founder of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.
• Forbes No. 13 -- Rob Walton, 70, Bentonville, estimated worth $31.7 billion. Son of Sam Walton and former Wal-Mart chair.
• Forbes No. 14 -- Christy Walton, 66, Jackson, Wyoming, estimated worth $30.2 billion. Walton is the wife of the late John Walton, son of Wal-Mart co-founder Sam Walton.
• Forbes No. 94 -- Jerry Jones, 72, Dallas, estimated worth $5 billion. Jones was raised in North Little Rock and was a member of the 1964 University of Arkansas national championship football team. He made his money in oil and gas before purchasing the Dallas Cowboys, now worth an estimated $4 billion, in 1989.
• Forbes No. 121 -- Ann Walton Kroenke, 66, Columbia, Missouri, estimated worth $4.5 billion. Kroenke is the daughter of Wal-Mart co-founder Bud Walton and is married to Stanley Kroenke, who owns several professional sports teams including the St. Louis Rams and is No. 63 on the list with an estimated worth of $7.6 billion.
• Forbes No. 138 -- Nancy Walton Laurie, 64, Henderson, Nevada, estimated worth $4 billion. Daughter of Bud Walton and, with husband Bill, a former owner of the St. Louis Blues hockey team.
• Forbes No. 171 -- Fred Smith, 71, Memphis, estimated worth $3.5 billion. In 1971, Smith turned Ark Aviation Sales of Little Rock into FedEx and moved his operation to Memphis.
• Forbes No. 268 -- Warren Stephens, 58, Little Rock, estimated worth $2.5 billion. Stephens owns Little Rock investment firm Stephens Inc., and its interests, and founded the ultra-exclusive and critically acclaimed The Alotian golf club on Highway 10 just west of Little Rock.
• Forbes No. 307 -- Johnelle Hunt, 83, Fayetteville, estimated worth $2.2 billion. With her late husband Johnnie, Hunt founded Lowell's J.B. Hunt trucking company and grew it into one of the largest of its kind in the U.S.

See the full list here.

Bear State Financial Inc. of Little Rock on Thursday announced that Mark McFatridge had been appointed CEO and director of both Bear State Financial and Bear State Bank effective immediately.

McFatridge is the former CEO of Metropolitan National Bank of Springfield, Missouri. Publicly traded Bear State Financial announced in June that it would purchase Metropolitan for $70 million, and the company completed the deal on Thursday.

McFatridge takes over the CEO positions most recently held by Bear State Financial Chairman Richard Massey, who led the holding company after former CEO Chris Wewers left the company in April to be CFO of Southern Bancorp Inc. of Arkadelphia.

McFatridge has 25 years of experience in the banking industry.

"As Bear State opens this new chapter, the Bear State Board and I are confident Mark has the right blend of regional and community banking experience to lead our company forward," Massey said in a news release. "He has the proven ability to create strategic clarity, drive innovation and growth, and ensure disciplined execution to deliver results. We believe his depth of banking experience as well as his passion for leading high performing teams will drive growth throughout the Bear State pawprint." 

Bear State, formerly First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas and headquartered in Harrison, tripled its assets to about $1.5 million more than a year ago by acquiring First National Security Co. of Hot Springs, the holding company of First National Bank of Hot Springs and Heritage Bank of Jonesboro. Those banks were merged with the former First Federal Bank of Harrison and renamed Bear State Bank.

Bear State's acquisition of Metropolitan pushes Bear State's total assets to $2 billion. The combined company has 55 branches — 41 branches in Arkansas, two in southeast Oklahoma and 12 in southwest Missouri — and three loan production offices in Arkansas and one in Missouri. 

The company also said Thursday that John Ghirardelli, a member of the Metropolitan board, has joined the board of directors of Bear State Financial and Bear State Bank. 

Home BancShares Inc. of Conway, the parent company of Centennial Bank, said Thursday that it had completed a $101.6 million deal to buy Florida Business BancGroup Inc., the parent company of Bay Cities Bank. 

Home BancShares announced the deal in June.

As of September, FBBI had about $542.4 million in total assets, $415.8 million in loans and $471.5 million in deposits. The combined company now operates 80 branches in Arkansas, 64 branches in Florida, six branches in south Alabama and a loan production office in New York City. 

"Acquiring Bay Cities is a smart and strategic deal for Home BancShares," Home BancShares Chairman John Allison said in a news release. "This merger is another step in the right direction for our company as we continue our discipline of executing financially attractive transactions immediately accretive to diluted earnings per share, book and tangible book values."

Under the terms of the deal, Home BancShares will issue about 2 million shares of its common stock valued at about $84.2 million as of Thursday, plus about $20.3 million in cash in exchange for all outstanding shares of FBBI common stock. 

Shares of Home BancShares (Nasdaq: HOMB) were trading at about $41.12 on Thursday.

One Bank & Trust of Little Rock on Thursday announced the settlement of an $18 million lawsuit over assets seized from entities connected with the late Layton "Scooter" Stuart, its former chairman, president and CEO.

The settlement is among the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Treasury, One Bank & Trust, the Stuart family and BHL Financing LLC, led by trucking heiress Johnelle Hunt.

Rosalind M. Mouser of Pine Bluff has joined Simmons First National Bank as senior vice president and deputy general counsel.

Mouser will manage litigation for Simmons in all its markets in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee.

Mouser joins Simmons following a 30-year practice at Ramsay Bridgforth Robinson & Raley in Pine Bluff and is a former president of the Arkansas Bar Association.

Mouser teaches banking courses for the Arkansas Bankers Association, the American Bar Association and Southern Methodist University’s Southwest Graduate School of Banking.

She serves on the boards of the Southeast Arkansas College Foundation, the Greater Arkansas Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas, and on the Arkansas Bar Association’s finance committee and judiciary committee. Mouser also chairs the ABA’s underwriting committee.

Northwest Arkansas is running with a new crowd, and initial results show the region performing well. 

When the Northwest Arkansas Council developed a new strategic plan for the region this past year, its executives decided it was time to compare northwest Arkansas with a higher-level of competition.

Out were cities such as Omaha, Nebraska, and Huntsville, Alabama, and Lexington, Kentucky. In were cities (or areas) such as Austin, Texas, and Madison, Wisconsin, and the North Carolina area that includes Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill.

The fifth annual State of Northwest Arkansas Region Report showed that northwest Arkansas is competitive in key metrics such as employment, job growth and gross domestic product. The report is a collaboration between the council and the Center for Business and Economic Development at the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Mike Malone, the CEO of the council, and COO Mike Harvey decided that the region needed to start comparing itself to best economic areas in the nation. Malone and Harvey joked that a consultant thought they were crazy, especially when you consider Austin has a population of nearly 2 million while northwest Arkansas recently surpassed 500,000.

"We ain’t scared," Harvey said. "We’re punching above our weight. We are in the challenge business at the council."

More: The full report will be available here.

Kathy Deck, the director of the center, said the comparison models were the “best of the best,” and northwest Arkansas did well.

For example, in GDP, northwest Arkansas’ 4.6 percent growth from 2013 to 2014 was higher than Madison, Durham-Chapel Hill and even with Raleigh and Des Moines. Its unemployment rate of 4.6 percent in 2014 and its employment growth rate of 4.1 percent from 2013 to 2104 also compared favorably, and in some cases, beat the other markets.

"We don’t want to be winning the NIT," said Deck, referring to the postseason collegiate basketball tournament that is filled with teams that don’t make the NCAA Tournament. "We knock their socks off … in so many different places. Northwest Arkansas should be started to be talked about in the same breath as Raleigh and started to be talked about in the same breath as Austin."

But things were not all positive. Deck said northwest Arkansas still trails significantly in areas such as education, as measured by the percentage of the population with bachelor’s degrees, and the number of business establishments created.

Deck said the area saw no growth in the number of businesses created, meaning that job growth is pretty confined to existing companies. Northwest Arkansas is consistently creating 5,000 to 10,000 jobs a year, with this year being closer to 5,000; Deck said it would be better if there were more new companies contributing to that effect.

"Existing companies are doing a good job of creating new jobs," said Deck, who acknowledged the report was being released the same day Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville announced it was laying off 450 employees. "We don’t want to have to depend on our existing businesses. None of us want to rest on our laurels. This is what we need to have our eyes most closely on."

Malone, in his opening remarks, said if he had his choice, he would have not have scheduled the report’s release to coincide with Wal-Mart’s announcement. Wal-Mart’s layoffs were known to be in the works for months — "the area’s worst-kept secret," Harvey said — but neither the council executives nor Deck thought the layoffs would have a significant long-term effect on the area’s economy.

"When we talk about the economic potential of northwest Arkansas, Wal-Mart’s restructuring does absolutely nothing to affect the northwest Arkansas job creation machine," Deck said. 

A 57,705-SF warehouse in North Little Rock tipped the scales at $2.91 million.

MEBFI North Hills LLC, led by George Dunklin Jr., and Lighthouse Investments LLC, led by Edward Dickey, bought the project at 1316 North Hills Blvd. in a 98-2 split.

The sellers are K&D Huchingson Ltd., led by Kevin and Dianna Huchingson; PAW Enterprises LLC, led by Matthew R. Jones; TOCS Investments LLC, led by Dr. Scott Schlesinger; and LAF 1316 LLC, led by Jason LaFrance.

The 4.63-acre development previously was linked with a December 2012 mortgage of $1.5 million held by First Security Bank of Searcy.

Back when Gene Cauley was part of the ownership equation, the property was acquired for $2.02 million in May 2008. The seller was Gregory Street Properties Inc., an affiliate of Park National Bank of Oak Park, Ill.

The bank entered the ownership picture in March 2008 when the project was forfeited in lieu of foreclosure by Central LLC, led by Dickson Flake.

Cottage Industry

A 1.55-acre commercial redevelopment is in motion after a $1.03 million land deal.

EVC Little Rock LLC of Topeka, Kansas, purchased the former restaurant property at 9210 N. Rodney Parham Road from Parks Land Co. LLLP, led by Donald Parks.

Construction of a Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage project is backed with a $3.85 million loan from Fidelity State Bank & Trust of Topeka, Kansas.

Parks bought the land for $170,000

in November 1976 from John Toney Jr. and his wife, Beverly; John Toney Sr. and his wife, Mary; Wallace and Jama Fowler; and Don and Ellen Edmonson.

Medical Land

A 2.11-acre commercial site in North Little Rock rang up a $737,104 transaction.

DBO Properties LLC, led by Dr. Scott Dinehart, acquired the property at the northwest corner of Smokey Lane and Stockton Drive. The seller is Woodcrest Co. LLP, led by James P. Matthews.

The land was part of the 400-acre Springhill Farm the Matthews family bought in August 1959. John and Martha Matthews purchased it from Fred and Katherine Watkins for $250,000.

Future Hotel Site

An acre of parking in downtown Little Rock is under new ownership after a $699,000 deal.

Vibrant Hospitality LLC, led by Feroz Patel, bought the parking lots at the southwest corner of Sixth and Cumberland streets and on the east side of Scott between Sixth and Seventh streets.

The sellers are the Margaret Cook Thaxton Revocable Trust and Joann Edwards.

The Cook family assembled the property as part of five transactions with Elizabeth Bonner in May 1939; J.D. and Hettie Walthour and Leon and Marguerite Flake in 1940; Columbus Club Association Inc. in September 1949; Marvin and Leaine Cohen in February 1956; and the Glenn Johnson Sr. estate in February 1969.

Parking Property

A 0.66-acre parking lot in downtown Little Rock changed hands in a $205,000 sale.

201 S Izard LLC, led by John Chandler, purchased a property adjoining the south side of its namesake property from the Gregory L. Hatcher Revocable Living Trust.

The deal is financed with a five-year loan of $174,250 from IberiaBank of Lafayette, Louisiana.

The parking lot previously helped secure an October 2012 mortgage of $450,000 held by Centennial Bank of Conway.

The trust bought the property three years ago as part of a $480,000 deal with First State Bank of Russellville.

River Club House

A 5,400-SF home in the River Club neighborhood east of Pinnacle Mountain State Park drew an $850,000 transaction.

Kristi and Michael Crum acquired the house from Rick Angel. The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $750,000 from Bank of England.

The residence previously was tied to a December 2006 mortgage of $840,000 from Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama.

The 5-acre location was purchased for $113,000 in April 2002 from Tim and Melissa Nesterenko.

Cliffewood Home

A 3,220-SF home in Little Rock’s Cliffewood neighborhood sold for $707,500.

David Bumpass and Mary Rude bought the house from Wilson and Stephanie Bynum. The deal is backed with an 8.5-year loan of $650,000 from Regions Bank.

The residence previously was linked with a September 2011 mortgage of $417,000 held by One Bank & Trust of Little Rock and a November 2011 mortgage of $150,000 held by IberiaBank.

The Bynums acquired the property for $634,800 in November 2005 from Nikolai and Leslie Fisken.

Arbors Abode

A 4,000-SF home in The Arbors neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development rang up a $645,000 deal.

Barry and Mary Ledbetter purchased the house from the Erb Living Trust, led by David and Louise Erb.

The deal is financed with a 10-year loan of $494,250 from IberiaBank.

The trust bought the property for $600,000 in February 2014 from Donny and Christi Slayton.

Wildwood Purchase

A 2,986-SF home in west Little Rock is under new ownership after a $615,000 sale.

Wildwood Partners LLC, led by Graham Smith, acquired the 5-acre spread from the Sylvia Galloway Butler Trust.

The property is now helping secure a two-year loan of $1.4 million from First Security Bank. The property previously was tied to a May 2011 mortgage of $105,000 held by Arvest Bank of Fayetteville.

The land was purchased for $45,000 in April 1984 from Charles and Carolyn Heavner.

Avignon Residence

A 4,080-SF home in the Avignon Court neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development changed hands in a $572,000 transaction.

Henry Wong and Barbara Aufiero bought the house from Gary Duke and Jeffrey Chapman.

The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $417,000 from Eagle Bank & Trust of Little Rock. The residence previously was linked with a November 2012 mortgage of $312,000 held by Bank of Little Rock Mortgage Corp.

The property was acquired for $450,000 in November 2009 from Joel and Debra Owens.

Woodland’s Edge

A 3,673-SF home in west Little Rock’s Woodland’s Edge neighborhood drew a $521,000 deal.

Stephen and Leslei Rikard purchased the house from Arbor Construction LLC, led by Mike Moran.

The deal is backed with a 30-year loan of $416,800 from One Bank & Trust. The residence previously was tied to a December 2014 mortgage of $404,800 held by Bear State Bank of Little Rock.

The site was bought for $77,000 nine months ago from Rocket Properties LLC, led by Ron Tyne and Lisenne Rockefeller.

300 Third

A 1,861-SF high-rise residence in downtown Little Rock sold for $500,000.

Bobby Malone acquired the condo on the 12th floor at 300 E. Third St. from Gregory Hendrix.

Mosaic Mortgage

A south Little Rock congregation picked up a $2.8 million funding agreement.

Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas obtained the five-year loan from First Security Bank.

The 140,600-SF former Kmart store at 6221 Col. Glenn Road previously was linked with a December 2012 mortgage of $1.5 million held by Arvest Bank.

The church bought the 8.8-acre development for $1.7 million nearly three years ago from Mike and Monica Montgomery.

Jennifer Joyner has joined Signature Bank of Arkansas in Bentonville as a mortgage banker. She was previously a business development representative for Waco Title Co.

Matt Kendall has been promoted to executive director of mortgage operations by Arvest Bank, and Kathleen Craig has been hired to succeed him as director of mortgage production operations.

Kendall has held several positions in 17 years with Arvest, including CEO of Arvest’s Waco Title Co. subsidiary. Craig, who will work in Tulsa, has more than 25 years of mortgage banking experience.

Charlotte Stratton, formerly the commercial closing coordinator at Waco Title, has been hired as a consumer and mortgage lender at Arvest’s Northside branch in Harrison. A native of Harrison, Stratton holds multiple financing and banking certifications and was a licensed mortgage broker.

A financial decision that Layton “Scooter” Stuart made in the weeks preceding his death in March 2013 is breathing fiscal life into Little Rock’s One Bank & Trust. The de facto capital injection is happening in a way that he didn’t plan and couldn’t have foreseen.

The outcome of his $44,000 investment 30 months ago will produce an extraordinary balance sheet event measured in millions for the $326 million-asset bank he once owned, controlled and at times operated as his own piggy bank.

Under the terms of a settlement agreement in the final stages of closure, $14.9 million will be divided among three parties. One Bank will receive $6.9 million in much-needed capital while the U.S. Treasury and Stuart’s estate will each receive $4 million.

“That takes a lot of pressure off the bank on how examiners look at it,” Jerry Pavlas, Stuart’s successor at One Bank, said of the $6.9 million. “This is not a distress situation any more.”

The $14.9 million represents the remainder of a $20 million life insurance payout after loans against the policy and bank-paid premiums were repaid.

None of those millions would be in play if Stuart hadn’t made two monthly payments of $22,000 to keep his life insurance policy in force in early 2013.

“There wouldn’t have been any money to have a settlement,” said Dick Torti, executor of Stuart’s estate and trustee of the Stuart family trusts.

The payout from Stuart’s life insurance policy through John Hancock Financial has been tied up in litigation since the federal government seized the money more than two years ago. The settlement has resolved most of the issues in Stuart’s contentious probate case in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

“Everything has been agreed on,” Torti said. “I don’t count my beans until they’re all in the pot. It wasn’t everything we thought we deserved, but we think it is a fair settlement.”

Stuart’s wife, Tommye, and two adult children, Kirby and Hunter, were the designated beneficiaries of his life insurance policy through family trusts he established in 1997.

“I bet there were 12 lawyers at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, with a half-dozen on the phone, when we were hammering this out on [Sept. 25],” said Tom Prince, the court-appointed independent special administrator.

Prince was brought into the legal fray last October as an unpaid mediator and buffer between Torti and Pavlas, president and CEO of the bank since Oct. 25, 2012.

“The beneficiaries of the estate, who are my concern, are taken care of,” Prince said.

Picking Up Payments

Concern for his family’s financial well-being was a prime motivation when Scooter Stuart picked up the monthly payments to keep his $20 million life insurance policy from lapsing.

He stepped in after learning that new leadership at One Bank decided to quit making payments on the policy several months after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ordered his ouster as chairman, president and CEO on Sept. 28, 2012.

Part punitive and part cost-cutting, the decision to forgo future payments on Stuart’s life insurance was made after Pavlas was brought in as his replacement at One Bank.

The board of directors approved ending the premium payments although it was advised not to by Andrew Melton. Melton, the former chief financial officer of Worthen Banking Corp., was hired briefly as a consultant by Stuart to help fix the bank’s muddled operations under OCC supervision since 2011.

Before Pavlas severed the consulting contract, Melton advised the board to keep making payments on the life insurance policy even though Stuart had been removed from One Bank leadership.

Melton pointed out that if the bank quit making the monthly payments, there would be no recovery of any past premiums paid on Stuart’s behalf. Because Stuart kept the policy in force, One Bank recouped $3 million in May 2014 as reimbursement for past premium payments.

Stuart may not have intended to replenish the bank’s coffers to the degree his death benefits will. Motives notwithstanding, One Bank’s $9.9 million cut of his life insurance payout represents a sizable token toward the alleged damages to the bank caused by his self-dealing.

According to One Bank’s math, Stuart diverted more than $13 million from the bank for his own use. The tally was derived from a forensic audit ordered by the OCC that examined the bank’s financial records back to Jan. 1, 2009.

One Bank has lost more than $11.6 million during the three years since Stuart was escorted out and Pavlas was ushered in.

Direct ownership of the bank will remain in limbo in the wake of the settlement. The Stuart estate will relinquish its ownership claim to OneFinancial Corp., the bank’s holding company. The OneFinancial shares will be held by a newly established trust.

The shares are laden with as much as $40 million of delinquent debt held by three parties: the U.S. Treasury, with a $17.3 million claim tied to TARP funds; BHL Financing LLC, led by trucking heiress Johnelle Hunt, with a $14.7 million default judgment; and investors of trust-preferred securities, with an $8 million claim.

The most likely scenarios for curing OneFinancial’s significant shortcomings include selling One Bank or raising new capital.

Pavlas hopes to work out a global settlement of the holding company debt by mid-2016. That effort would be teamed with a recapitalization to bring in new money and investors.

Other Matters

In addition to its impact on Stuart’s probate case, the settlement will end two cases in federal court brought by the United States of America:

• A 2013 civil forfeiture action in U.S. District Court in Little Rock brought against Stuart’s estate that confiscated cash, cars and more along with the remainder from his $20 million life insurance policy. The assets were seized in connection with allegations of massive self-dealing by Stuart.
• A 2015 civil fraud action in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., brought against his estate and his heirs to recover $17.3 million in TARP funds.

The U.S. Treasury claimed it was deceived about One Bank’s condition by Stuart and other executives and that while most of the money ultimately flowed to aid the bank, more than $2.1 million allegedly was diverted for Stuart’s personal use.

Two loose ends among the assets in contention also were tied up as part of the settlement:

• One Bank and the U.S. government agreed to release any claims against the 2,646-SF ocean-front condo in Miramar Beach, Florida, that Stuart bought for $700,000 in November 2000.
• His estate agreed to release any ownership claims on a 1,711-SF condo in the University Park area of Dallas valued at $362,000 when Stuart purchased it in December 2004.

Arvest Bank on Thursday named Greg Stanfill director of Community Banks for Arvest Bank in Benton County. Stanfill will continue in his previous position as the community executive for Rogers and Lowell.

Stanfill joined Arvest Bank when it was known as First National Bank and Trust Co. of Rogers in 1992 as branch manager in Lowell. He was promoted to community bank president in Lowell in 1994 and to community executive for Rogers and Lowell in 2012.

"I don’t think we could have found anyone more qualified for this position than Greg Stanfill," Craig Rivaldo, president and CEO for Arvest Bank in Benton County, said in a news release. "He knows Northwest Arkansas and Arvest, as well as best practices for Arvest associates to help their customers reach their financial goals."

A graduate of Greenwood High School, Stanfill attended Westark Community College (now known as University of Arkansas at Fort Smith) and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he earned a bachelor of science in business administration. He is also a graduate of Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Stanfill is a member of the board of directors for the Area Agency on Aging and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes NWA. He is the president of the Lowell Recreation Association. He is a past president of the Rogers Rotary Club, a past chairman of the Rogers Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce and past vice chairman of the United Way of Benton County.

Sean Yaffe, vice president and regional operations manager of The Yaffe Cos. Inc., has been named an associate director of United Federal Credit Union, which has branches in western Arkansas. The newly created associate director program is designed to provide a prepared and ready supply of succession candidates for the board of directors, ensuring continuity of board leadership.

Heather Bankhead was recently promoted to human resources officer at Relyance Bank of Pine Bluff. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Henderson State University at Arkadelphia and is a 2015 Leadership Pine Bluff graduate.

See more of this week's Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.

Colin Gorman has been named managing partner at EGP PLLC Certified Public Accountants & Consultants of North Little Rock.

Lindsey Baker has been named partner in charge of audit, and Jeff Crone is the new partner of tax. EGP has locations in Heber Springs and Bryant and plans a new office in Jonesboro.

See more of this week's Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.

Real median household income in Arkansas was $41,262 in 2014, rising by 0.2 percent compared with 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau, however, does not consider the rise statistically significant.

Median household income in the United States as a whole in 2014 was $53,657.

The bureau’s American Community Survey showed that real median household income grew in 16 states between 2013 and 2014 and fell in one state, Kentucky. Median household incomes ranged from $73,971 in Maryland to $39,680 in Mississippi.

The Economic Policy Institute, in analyzing the ACS data, noted that “the gradual improvement in state economies from 2013 to 2014 brought little change in overall economic conditions for households in most states.”

“By and large, what little improvement in household incomes occurred tended to be in states where incomes were already relatively high or where the oil and gas boom has fueled growth,” said the institute, based in Washington.

Did you know that First Arkansas Bank & Trust of Jacksonville obtained a $15.6 million consent judgment against Angelica Rogers?

The Oct. 7 order in Pulaski County Circuit Court includes daily interest of about $2,319 plus $106,181 for legal fees.

The judgment is linked with her personal guaranty on four loans that had a total delinquent balance of $14.2 million back in November when the bank filed suit.

You might recall that business debt associated with the photo archives and sports memorabilia business was also personally guaranteed by her ex-husband, John Rogers.

First Arkansas landed a $14.5 million default judgment against him on Jan. 6.

$42.3 million, all cash.

That’s the payday on the way for investors in Bankshares of Fayetteville Inc., holding company of the $358 million-asset Bank of Fayetteville.

Announced in July, the acquisition by Farmers & Merchants Bankshares Inc. of Stuttgart will close before year’s end. As expected, Bank of Fayetteville will be merged into the $702 million-asset Farmers & Merchants Bank of Stuttgart.

The combination is expected to boost the asset total of Farmers & Merchants beyond the $1 billion mark. The tally would make it the 13th Arkansas financial institution to achieve that asset milestone.

First Community Bank of Batesville, with total assets of $991 million at June 30, joined the $1 billion club on July 31.

First National Bank of Paragould, with total assets of $981 million at June 30, crossed the 10-digit threshold during the third quarter as well.

“As of Sept. 30, we were at 1 billion and 9 million dollars,” said Greg Graham, CFO at First National. “That’s a hard number to say.”

Because of the seasonality of its agri loan portfolio, the bank’s total assets will ebb and flow during the fourth quarter as crop loans pay off as harvest time winds down. But First National will more than likely end the year somewhere north of $1 billion.

More Merger Musings

The Bank of Fayetteville sale will cipher out to about 1.34 times book value, according to bank watchers familiar with the transaction.

Five of the largest stockholders in Bankshares of Fayetteville include:

• David McClinton, chairman, 14.33 percent worth $6.06 million.
• Lee Bodenhamer of Little Rock, 7.79 percent worth $3.3 million.
• Jim Lindsey, 5.13 percent worth $2.17 million.
• Curtis Shipley, director, 3.43 percent worth $1.45 million.
• Mary Beth Brooks, president and CEO, 2.35 percent worth $1 million.

Except for Bodenhamer, that lineup is Fayetteville-centric.

Farmers & Merchants isn’t the first ardent suitor to court BOF shareholders.

The Bank of Fayetteville was in the merger spotlight back in 1997-98 when a Magnolia State bank holding company came calling.

Deposit Guaranty Corp. of Jackson, Mississippi, made a $31 million proposal in late 1997. That unsolicited offer prompted BOF officials to orchestrate a formal bidding process that attracted 15 interested parties.

However, the flurry of activity came to naught.

During the winnowing process, 11 received bidding packages. Five made preliminary bids, but only two fell within the bank board’s acceptable price range.

After due diligence, those last two suitors exited the picture as well.

Deposit Guaranty itself was acquired during 1998 in a $2.4 billion stock swap with First American Corp. of Nashville, Tennessee — a multiple of 4.2 times book value.

Ah, those heady days when merger mania was sweeping through the national banking scene.

Deposit Guaranty’s $31 million offer for Bank of Fayetteville represented a book value multiple of 2.4.

With the benefit of hindsight was the would-be deal a missed opportunity?

Not exactly. The Deposit Guaranty bid fell by the wayside in deference to its pending sale to First American.

BOF shareholders also can take solace in the $16.7 million in dividends they’ve collected since 1998.

Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock on Tuesday reported third-quarter net income of $46.1 million, up 44 percent from the same quarter last year.

Diluted earnings per share were 52 cents, up 30 percent from the same quarter last year, matching Wall Street expectations.

The company said the most recent quarter included about $2.9 million in acquisition-related and systems conversion expenses, and another $200,000 in software and contract termination charges. That reduced earnings per share by about 2 cents, the company said.

"We are very pleased with our outstanding third quarter results, including our record $680 million growth in non-purchased loans and leases, our record $859 million growth in the unfunded balance of our closed loans, some of our best asset quality ratios as a public company, and our excellent efficiency ratio of 37.6 percent," George Gleason, chairman and CEO, said in a news release.

"Our annualized returns on average assets of 2.05 percent for the third quarter and 2.11 percent for the first nine months of 2015 continued our track record of having achieved returns on average assets in excess of 2 percent in each of the last five years.”

As of Sept. 30, deposits were $7.61 billion, up 48 percent increase from the same point last year. Total assets were $9.33 billion, up 42 percent from the same time last year.

Four Arkansas business leaders have been named to the 2016 class of inductees for the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame.

The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas and the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Board announced the inductees on Wednesday. They are:

• William T. Dillard II, chairman and CEO of Dillard's Inc. of Little Rock;
• Dr. George K. Mitchell, former president and CEO of Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield;
• Winthrop Rockefeller (1912–1973), former governor of Arkansas and founder of Winrock Farms;
• Patricia P. Upton, founder and former president and CEO of Aromatique Inc.

The inductees will join the 70 other members of the hall in a ceremony scheduled for Friday, Feb. 12 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

The Arkansas Business Hall of Fame is housed permanently in the atrium of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development at the Walton College on the UA campus in Fayetteville.

"It is a privilege to celebrate the achievements of these four outstanding business leaders of our state through their induction into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame," Walton College Interim Dean Matt Waller said. "They and those inductees who have preceded them represent the best in business in Arkansas. Their lives and careers have had a tremendous impact on business both inside and outside the state and have inspired others to do the same."

Ann Bordelon, Walton College alumna and retired Wal-Mart executive, chaired the selection committee of nine business and community leaders who reviewed nominations from throughout the state and chose the inductees, the UA said.

Criteria for selection included: the significance of the impact made as a business leader, the concern demonstrated for improving the community and the display of ethics in all business dealings. In addition, living inductees must be over the age of 60.

Tickets to the induction ceremony, a black-tie optional event, are $150 per person. For more information about tickets and event sponsorships, call (479) 575-6146 or email abhf@walton.uark.edu.

Citizens Bank, the expansion-minded Batesville bank that opened a full-service branch in Fayetteville earlier this year, announced late Wednesday afternoon that it will buy Parkway Bank of Rogers before the end of the year.

Bob Taylor, president and CEO of Parkway Bank and current president of the Arkansas Bankers Association, will become Citizens Bank's regional CEO in northwest Arkansas and executive credit officer for the entire bank, according to the news release.

"Bob is the ideal person for that," Phil Baldwin, president and CEO of Citizen Bank, who has been acting as chief credit officer, told Arkansas Business. "He's much better than me because I'm not inherently a lender. I haven't spent my life doing that."

Doug Lynch remains market president in Fayetteville, Baldwin said.

"Our goal is to have six or seven branches in northwest Arkansas, but Bob and Doug will be thinking about that," Baldwin said.

No terms of the deal were released by Citizens Bancshares of Batesville Inc. and Parkway Bankshares Inc., the holding companies of the two banks. But in the announcement, Baldwin called the acquisition "an important strategic relationship for us … consistent with the strategic growth strategy approved by the Citizens Bank Board of Directors in 2014."

Baldwin, in comments to Arkansas Business, reiterated Citizens' growth plans.

"We're not done. This is just the beginning for us," he said, and he suggested that another acquisition might come soon after the Parkway deal is finalized.

Citizens Bank, with assets of $575 million, has 12 full-service branches in Batesville, Cave City, Fayetteville, Hot Springs, Imboden, Mountain View and Pleasant Plains.

Parkway Bank has $135 million in assets and four full-service locations in Rogers, Crossett, Monticello and Portland (Ashley County). It was originally chartered in 1900 as Portland Bank but was renamed and moved to Rogers in 2004.

Baldwin said he was "very, very excited" about Citizens' first branches in southeast Arkansas.

"I think Monticello is a huge opportunity for us," he said. "You know, I like small-town markets. That's who I am."

Parkway Bank reported net income of $718,000 in 2014 and $497,000 in the first half this year. Citizens earned $4 million last year and $1.8 million in the first two quarters of 2015.

The Little Rock Technology Park Authority Board is eyeing the last piece of the park's Phase 1 puzzle and is prepared to claim eminent domain to put it into place.

The board voted unanimously Wednesday afternoon to draft a condemnation lawsuit claiming eminent domain against Little Rock attorney Richard Mays, who owns the property at 415 Main St. that the board wants to use as the anchor for Phase 1 of the park.

If a settlement for the property can't be reached by Nov. 1, the board will meet in special session the next day to decide whether to proceed with the lawsuit. 

Board member Dickson Flake said Wednesday that he's been engaged in casual negotiations with Mays for months, and he called those talks amicable. But Mays told Arkansas Business that while he doesn't want to, he's prepared to go to court if necessary.

Mays contends that the park does not qualify as a "public purpose," a status that would allow the board to use eminent domain. The board and its attorney, Scott Schallhorn of Mitchell Williams Selig Gates & Woodward, believe it does. The statute that created the Tech Park Authority Board establishes it as a quasi-public entity, similar to an improvement district, Schallhorn said.

"The specific statute that authorized the tech park said it was for public use and authorized eminent domain powers," he said.

More: View the legislation that created the park here (PDF).

But Mays told Arkansas Business on Thursday that public use has always been an issue for judicial determination.  

Mays, who bought the property in 1984 for $500,000, said his preferred resolution would be to lease his property to the board, for 99 years if necessary, at a cheap price.

"I have no problem with a tech park," Mays said. "I'm just not sure you can take private property to do it. I want to work with them. I'm approaching this from the standpoint of being a good citizen, even though I think there's a legitimate question about eminent domain."

The board is updating an appraisal of the property it had made in the summer of 2014. The property, three stories but just 25 feet wide, was valued then at $470,000 to $530,000, Tech Park Director Brent Birch said. Mays said he is awaiting the results of an appraisal he ordered two weeks ago.

The board voted in July to pay $11.6 million for property owned by Warren Stephens at 417 and 421 Main St., which would make up the bulk of the project's 3.25-acre and 39,000-SF first phase.

Despite his preferences, Mays said he'd consider selling for a price per square foot similar to that of the Stephens deal.

Board members on Wednesday indicated their desire to reach a settlement with Mays but were confident in their right to employ eminent domain. The property needs to be purchased outright, and quickly, in order to rehabilitate the space to its needs, said Board Chair Mary Good.

"The whole footprint of the park does not have good integrity without this property," she said. "It's really an essential piece to make the park work."

Birch said the space will serve as the tech park's front door and anchor the other properties that make up Phase 1 of the project, which the board hopes to begin to develop early next year.

Mays claims such an intended use doesn't qualify as public use, though Good said it represented the most public aspect of the park.

"Using it to attract other private enterprises to generate economic activity is not public use," Mays said. "That's taking private property and giving it to private enterprise." 

Board member Darrin Williams, an attorney and CEO of Southern Bancorp, said litigation could stop the project in its tracks, but Schallhorn said the board could continue to negotiate a price even if a lawsuit is filed.

Jay Chesshir, president of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce and a member of the board, said it was better to get any eminent domain issues out of the way early before the project is developed further.

"We want to do what's right for all involved, but we also have a time frame to get work done," he said.

Credit Union and Financing

In addition to getting pulled into a potential eminent domain dispute, the board heard concerns about the bidding process used to select a consortium of local banks that would finance $17.5 million for development of the park's first phase.

Arkansas Federal Credit Union was an original member of the group but was dropped when the Arkansas Bankers Association raised concerns over the inclusion of a credit union.

Richard Downing, lawyer for AFCU, asked the board to reopen the bidding process to allow the nonprofit to bid on the plan itself. He said AFCU was not given a chance to bid on the project once it was dropped from the original group.

Downing said the board's request for financing proposals violated Arkansas law. Good said the dispute between AFCU and the banks should not involve the board.

"We didn't leave 'em out or put 'em in," she said. "I understand why they're unhappy but it's not this board's problem to fix. They're problem is with the consortium, which didn't let them know they were out." 

Downing asked the board to reopen the bidding process for the financing plan.

"We submit that to rectify this, you need to cancel it and reopen the process," he said. "If AFCU is not the lowest bidder, then fine."

Schallhorn will review AFCU's concerns for the board, which took no action on the matter Wednesday.

Downing told Arkansas Business that he didn't know if AFCU would take legal action, but promised that if the bidding process was reopened and AFCU allowed to bid for the plan, it was prepared to beat the banks.

"Yes, they're prepared to do it," he said.