Houston Business Journal articles from December 1997

Houston Business Journal archives from December 1997

Capital budgets show heavy boost for 1998. (Nuevo Energy Co, Chevron Corp, Unocal Corp, and Pennzoil Co step up exploration activities)
December 26, 1997... Hungry for reserves, oil companies plan to spend more on exploration Nuevo Energy Co. upped its capital spending budget by 8 percent, boasting plans in 1998 to drill more wells than ever before. Chevron claims its $6.3 billion capital...

Detroit dealer drives Cadillacs downtown. (Don Massey to pick up Bland Cadillac Co's business)
December 26, 1997... Massey will fill void left by Bland's exit As many dealers across the nation choose to invest in the suburbs, Detroit-based "super dealer" Don Massey is cruising into the city with plans to open his first local Cadillac dealership in downtown...

Banking on rebirth: trio of new financial institutions finish year with coveted charters. (Texas National Bank, Southwestern National Bank and CompuBank open for business in Texas)
December 26, 1997... Three groups of bankers entered 1997 hoping to close out the year with new charters and ongoing operations. Two have already opened for business, and the third is well on its way with a national charter in hand. * Texas National Bank in...

No news was bad news for would-be deregulators. (Texas Legislature weighs electric utilities deregulation proposal)
December 26, 1997... THEN: Date: January 17, 1997 Headline: "Legislative charge: Power deregulation or status quo" The story: The Texas Legislature considered a bill that would introduce competition into the state's electric utility industry, igniting a...

Top stories of the year provide economic review; news of local business developments show city's ups and downs in 1997.
December 26, 1997... * Minimum wage. Restaurants and grocery chains lead a fight against the proposed $6.50 minimum wage in Houston, with business coalitions raising $160,000 to combat what proponents say would create a "living wage." In a Jan. 18 referendum,...

What's ahead for 1998? Houston's economic outlook.(Panel Discussion)
December 26, 1997... Bill Gilmer senior economist and research officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas - Houston Branch Near-term Expectations for the Houston Economy Houston has had a banner year in 1997, following a very good one in 1996. Houston has...

United Meridian combining with Louisiana-based Ocean Energy. (United Meridian Corp acquires Ocean Energy Inc)
December 26, 1997... Houston-based United Meridian Corp. will merge with a Louisiana energy company to form the ninth largest independent oil and gas company. United Meridian and Baton Rouge-based Ocean Energy Inc. will be headquartered in Houston and will be named...

Rejecting Discount, Hi-Lo finds new buyer for its retail operation. (O'Reilly Automotive Inc to acquire Hi-Lo Automotive Inc)
December 26, 1997... Throwing a wrench into Discount Auto Parts plans for a merger, homegrown Hi-Lo Automotive Inc. has agreed to be acquired by Springfield, Mo.-based O' Reilly Automotive Inc. The companies jointly announced the merger this week, just a month...

Royal union: Crown meets Castle in communications tower merger. (Castle Tower Corp merges with Crown Communications Corp)
December 26, 1997... Houston-based Castle Tower Corp. has merged with a Pittsburgh-based tower company that will more than double its capacity and annual revenue. The merger with Crown Communications is so significant that local officials have changed the name...

What's mine is ores: local company seeks gold in California desert. (Griffin Gold Group Inc)(Company Profile)
December 26, 1997... Some Houston and Canadian entrepreneurs are prospecting for gold in California's Mohave Desert - and on Wall Street. Griffin Gold Group Inc. was formed in October of 1996 to extract gold and other precious minerals believed to be located on...

Summit becomes extra point to Compaq expansion. (Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum Inc to design Compaq Computer Corp's new office building)
December 26, 1997... THEN: Date: January 31, 1997 Headline: "Compaq eyes new building" The story: Compaq Computer Corp. was rumored to be developing an office building as large as 500,000 square feet to handle the consolidation and growth of its workforce....

Former owner of deceased DBA picks up mantle of on-line publishing. (DBA Houston's Bob Orkand starts Houston News Today Online)
December 26, 1997... The first quarter of 1997 was tough for publishing ventures. The Houston Daily News, which had been billed by founder Paul Allen as the World Wide Web-based descendant of the late Houston Post, folded after just weeks of operation and a year of...

ForeFront retreat from Internet helped set up profitable quarter. (ForeFront Group Inc)(Company Profile)
December 26, 1997... THEN: Date: May 23, 1997 Headline: Outmaneuvered by Microsoft: The ForeFront Group found that building a better mousetrap doesn't always beat giants" The story: Houston-based The ForeFront Group Inc., a provider of computer software...

Dwango's tango with Microsoft goes from slow dance to jitterbug. (Interactive Visual Systems Corp contracts with Microsoft Corp)(Company Profile)
December 26, 1997... THEN: Date: March 24, 1997 Headline: "It takes two to Dwango: Small business signs big deal to market computer games on Microsoft network" The story: Houston-based Interactive Visual Systems Corp. announced that is had signed a deal...

Pipe player squeezes success out of tight drilling equipment market. (Drill Tube International Inc)(Company Profile)
December 26, 1997... THEN: Date: June 13, 1997 Headline: "Pipe shortage squeezes drillers: Tight market attracts new pipe player" The story: High profits, tight supply and heavy demand for drill pipe attracted a new player to the market. Last spring,...

Federal budget changes will affect Texas home health care. (implications of Balanced Budget Act of 1997 on Texas home health care)
December 26, 1997... Very little attention has been focused on the massive cuts to home health care under Medicare made by Congress last summer when it passed the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, but thousands of Texas families are about to feel the devastating...

Putting parking in overdrive: expansion at VIP Valet has put Brad Klein in the driver's seat. (VIP Valet Parking)(Company Profile)
December 26, 1997... In high school, Brad Klein used to park cars at parties thrown by his mother's friends. "They'd pay me $20 bucks, which was great spending money for a kid," Klein says. Today, he isn't the one throwing parties, but he does have more than...

Industry watchers predict healthy, slower-paced 1998 after fast and furious 1997. (real estate in Houston, TX)(Industry Overview)
December 26, 1997... After 15 years of waiting, 1997 was the year job growth finally caught up with the Houston office market. But after all this leveling, many economists and industry watchers speculate that commercial real estate endeavors in 1998 will be...

Sysco Corp. selling tracts in west Houston office park. (more of Enclave Business Park for sale)
December 26, 1997... A month after selling 18 acres of its sprawling west Houston office park to Owen Healthcare Inc., Sysco Corp. officials say they're selling even more. Three of the six remaining parcels of undeveloped land in Sysco's Enclave Business Park,...

Richard H. Rudd. (senior managing director of Granite Partners Inc)
December 26, 1997... Senior Managing Director Granite Partners Inc. Richard Rudd and Jim Savage recently teamed up to form the Houston office of Granite Partners. Prior Background: Prior to joining Granite Partners, Jim Savage and I headed up the Houston...

PacifiCare plan draws state investigation. (PacifiCare of Texas Inc.)
December 19, 1997... Proposed changes to health coverage anger trade group A disagreement over how PacifiCare of Texas is providing health care coverage to members of the Greater Houston Builders Association has prompted an investigation by the Texas Department...

Medistar acquires Cypress property. (Medistar Corp.; Harris County, Texas)
December 19, 1997... Houston firm will develop 2,100 acres for mixed use A local company owned by Houston-based Medistar Corp. has finalized the purchase of nearly 2,100 acres in northwest Harris County for commercial and residential development. The land,...

Pipeline battle goes to court. (Exxon Pipeline Co.)
December 19, 1997... Exxon sues to force Friendswood action After trying for two years to locate an ethane pipeline through Friendswood, Exxon Pipeline Co. has taken its case to court. The pipeline company filed suit two weeks ago seeking court action that...

Hughes legacy lives on in litigation. (Howard R. Hughes, Jr.)
December 19, 1997... Andrews & Kurth, relatives battle IRS over fortune left by wealthy recluse WASHINGTON - The legacy of Howard R. Hughes Jr. continues to shroud the reclusive billionaire in mystery, as much in death as in life. More than two decades after...

Detroit automaker repurchases GMC dealership from Gillman. (Gillman GMC)
December 19, 1997... General Motors purchase part of changes in strategy On a mission to steer some of its Houston franchises toward suburbia, General Motors Corp., will purchase Gillman GMC, the city's oldest Pontiac dealership, and move its location next year....

Northwest land purchase gives Baker Hughes room for growth. (Houston, Texas)
December 19, 1997... Baker Hughes Inc. has purchased 62 acres in northwest Houston for a multiphase expansion project that will initially create 100 jobs. The first phase of the expansion plan, which is expected to carry over well into the next century, will...

Collection of roll-up consolidators continues acquisition spree.
December 19, 1997... Three local consolidation companies in three separate industries have announced a slew of new acquisitions in the past two weeks. Coach USA Inc., CoreStaff Inc. and Group Maintenance America Corp., each of which has gone public in the past 18...

Magnates of mortgage banking. (Holliday Fenoglio & Co. owners Harold Holliday and John Fenoglio)(Company Profile)
December 19, 1997... Weathering the bust helped turn Holliday Fenoglio into a national player Harold Holliday and John Fenoglio can recall only one argument in the 20 years they've known each other. It occurred in 1983, just a few months after they left First...

ACR Group Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
December 19, 1997... Nasdaq ACRG 3200 Wilcrest Drive, Suite 440, Houston 77042-6019 (713) 780-8532 ACR Group Inc. is a holding company which owns and operates businesses engaged in the wholesale distribution of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and...

Service firms race to take drilling in new directions; upstart company competes with energy giants in rush to develop new oil patch technology. (Rotary Steerable Tools USA)
December 5, 1997... Upstart company competes with energy giants in rush to develop new oil patch technology Golf course developer Dennis Wilkerson admits he doesn't know too much about the oil service industry. But the creator of Tour 18 in Houston is willing...

Mixed-use project slated for Kingwood property: Dallas' Teakwood enters local market with King's Harbor. (Teakwood Realty Advisors' King's Harbor Center development)
December 5, 1997... Dallas' Teakwood enters local market with King's Harbor The largest tract of undeveloped commercial property in Kingwood has been purchased by a Dallas-based real estate firm for the development of a mixed-use project. Teakwood Realty...

Feds charge broker in $40 million Euroscheme. (Harold Deavours' fraud case)
December 5, 1997... A federal grand jury in Houston has charged a former Smith Barney financial consultant with defrauding foreign investors of more than $40 million. Harold Deavours, 52, of Kingwood, is accused of duping investors throughout Europe into...

Appraisers hope for home equity boost.
December 5, 1997... Lenders from across the country are looking to the Texas market, where an estimated $4 billion will flow into the state's economy next year in the form of home equity loans. And as banks begin scrambling to process these loans, a wave of new...

New industrial expansions likely to further tighten local job market.
December 5, 1997... Petrochemical, energy firms win tax abatements to create 160 new jobs Four corporate expansions underway throughout Houston are expected to create nearly 160 jobs to an increasingly tight job market. The most jobs will arise from the...

Atlanta placement giant acquires Houston-based M. David Lowe. (Norrell Corp.)
December 5, 1997... Houston's largest employee placement firm, M. David Lowe, was acquired this week by Norrell Corp. of Atlanta, a national workforce company. Terms of the all-cash transaction were not disclosed. The Houston firm, founded in 1959 by M. David...

Equus-backed Travis International reveals plans for stock offering. (Travis International Inc.)
December 5, 1997... A Houston wholesale distributor of specialty products will seek to raise $22.8 million with an initial public offering of close to 3 million shares of stock. Travis International Inc., which filed IPO documents with the Securities and...

On the leading Wedge: Bill White is back in business after stints in law, government and Texas party politics. (Wedge Group CEO Bill White)
December 5, 1997... Bill White has made a lot of close friends and political connections in a varied career as high government official, prominent lawyer and chief executive officer of a large corporation. The ex-Deputy Secretary of Energy, former Susman Godfrey...

IPO scoreboard: 19 companies raise $825 million through third quarter.
December 5, 1997... Energy firms lead the pack as Wall Street parade outpaces first nine months of 1996 Houston companies raised $825 million through initial public offerings during the first nine months of 1997, a hefty 67 percent increase over the amount...