Briefs: Men's accessories co. to build new HQ+

New Orleans CityBusiness, May 20, 2002 by Staff

Randa Corp., the world's largest men's accessories company and parent of Wemco Inc. necktie manufacturer, plans to build a new headquarters office and distribution center for its necktie and hosiery products on 10 acres in James Business Park in St. Charles Parish by July 2003. It will move its current New Orleans operations to the new building. The parish will issue $8 million to $9 million of industrial revenue bonds to build the center. Randa's lease payments will pay off the bonds. St. Charles, negotiating with the company over the past several months, beat out Orleans and Jefferson parishes and Mississippi for Randa's move.

BellSouth Corp. got permission from the Federal Communications Commission to offer long-distance phone services in Louisiana and Georgia. The company has sought such permission for several years. Under provisions of the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, BellSouth had to prove to state and federal regulators that its local market is open to competitors. BellSouth will announce its pricing and start taking orders for service on the effective date of the FCC's approval, May 24. Louisiana and Georgia represent approximately 27% of BellSouth phone lines.

Kimberly Williamson, executive director of the Downtown Development District in New Orleans, has been chosen as Mayor Ray Nagin's chief administrative officer. Williamson, 39, is the first black woman to serve in the top appointed position at City Hall. She served three years as director of the development district.

State Mineral Board officials awarded 27 oil and gas leases worth $2.7 million this month. That's up from April's 15 leases worth $1.1 million. And excluding March's unusual spike of 62 leases, the May leasing activity is the strongest the state has seen since last October. Natural gas prices, which drive state production, have risen substantially this year.

J. Ray McDermott, a subsidiary of McDermott International Inc., a New Orleans energy services company, is preparing to supply platforms and pipelines to an oil and gas project off the coast of India. The company has received a letter of intent from Engineers India Ltd. to design, build and install two platforms and 11 submarine pipelines in an $84 million contract. J. Ray will build the platforms at its fabrication yard in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Newpark Resources Inc., a Metairie oil services company, has raised $16.4 million in net proceeds from the recent sale of 2 million shares of common stock. It will use $15.1 million to buy back all 150,000 shares of its preferred stock held by SCF-IV LP, a private energy investment fund. The rest of the money from the stock offering will finance general corporate purposes.

Sizeler Property Investors Inc., a Kenner real estate investment trust, has declared a first-quarter dividend of 23 cents a share, payable June 4 to stockholders of record on May 27. Also, Sizeler has sold $29.3 million in bonds and issued 305,320 shares of preferred stock. The net proceeds total $35.3 million and will be used to retire old debt and finance general corporate purposes.

Petroleum Helicopters Inc., a Lafayette offshore helicopter company, earned $2 million in the first quarter ended March 31, up from $46,000 earned a year earlier. Higher rates offset a decrease in flight activity. It also continued to trim expenses. The company has used the $200 million it recently raised in a private debt offering to pay off $62.4 million in existing debt and buy leased aircraft. As of early May, it had bought 80% of the aircraft it leases and expects to buy out the remaining leases. The company has also established a $50 million bank credit facility.

Friede Goldman Halter Inc., the bankrupt Gulfport ship and rig builder, announced that J.L. Holloway resigned as chairman of the company. Holloway, who is leaving the board, served since April 1997. He was the chief executive officer of the company's predecessor, Friede Goldman Offshore Inc., for 15 years. The company is in the process of selling off its business units as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.

1555 Poydras Building in New Orleans and Three Lakeway Center in Metairie have won regional awards for office building operations and management. They competed with other buildings from throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. They now advance to the Building Owners & Managers Association's international competition.

Hancock Holding Co. managed two equity investment funds that ranked among the top 20 for returns in their categories during the first four months of the year. Reuters' equity analysis company Lipper ranked Hancock's value fund seventh in its category based on returns of 12.8%. Hancock's growth fund ranked 18th for its return of 1.5% in a category that saw many funds lose money. The rankings based on performance did not calculate Hancock's sales charges on the funds.

Maison Orlans was named in Cond Nast Traveler's list of 52 top new hotels. Only 10 of the top hotels are located in the United States. The magazine also cited Restaurant August in the same issue.