Dallas Business Journal articles from June 1995

Dallas Business Journal archives from June 1995

Bank of America shops 27 rural branches. (Bank of America Texas)
June 2, 1995... Divestiture would trim Texas branch network by more than 10% and reduce deposits by $320 million In a move that could urbanize its operations, Bank of America Texas is putting up for sale 27 branches located mostly in the rural reaches of...

Harwood may build tower for Ernst. (Harwood Pacific Corp.; Ernst and Young L.L.P.)
June 2, 1995... Having just broken ground on a new office building in its International Center development for Centex Corp., Harwood Pacific Corp. is talking about building a second tower, this one for the Big Six accounting firm Ernst & Young. The...

Local mutual-fund managers riding high. (Dallas-Forth Worth Metropolitan Area)
June 2, 1995... Strong recent performances by technology stocks have powered the resurgence of many mutual funds, but Fort Worth-based Luther King Capital Management missed the boat on those investments since starting its own fund last year. Actually, fund...

Dal-Mac plans two Vista Ridge projects. (Dal-Mac Construction Co; Vista Ridge Plaza and The Shops of Vista Ridge shopping centers)
June 2, 1995... Two new shopping centers are on the drawing board for the thriving retail area near Vista Ridge Mall in Lewisville. The centers will join 700,000-square-foot Vista Ridge Village, a shopping center that opened last year, and a recently announced...

Whirlpool picks Alliance for distribution facility. (Whirlpool Corp.; Alliance Development Corp.)
June 2, 1995... After searching for almost 18 months, Whirlpool Corp. has selected a site for the expansion of its Metroplex distribution operation. The home-appliance giant has signed a contract to buy just under 30 acres near Alliance Airport from Ross Perot...

Attorneys forced to rethink breast-implant suits vs. Dow. (Dow Corning Corp.)
June 2, 1995... Dallas attorney Kip Petroff and his clients weren't surprised when Dow Corning Corp. sought bankruptcy protection from escalating legal fees. While trying a breast-implant case against Dow Corning last August, Petroff said he realized how hard...

Doctors who sell practices have to watch valuations.
June 2, 1995... Many doctors who got into medicine to hang their own shingle are selling their practices to hospitals, insurance companies and other physicians. And as managed health care gains strength in the Metroplex, more and more doctors are giving up...

Free port: trade zones ease Customs burdens.(Special Report: International Trade)
June 2, 1995... After a long haul from the Pacific Rim, a 747 cargo plane begins its final approach to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's runway 17-L. The aircraft lands routinely and taxis to its destination, where a group of men move silently toward it....

Peso affects Dallas businesses differently. (Mexican peso)(Special Report: International Trade)
June 2, 1995... The devaluation of the peso has had varying effects on Dallas business who do business in, or export to, Mexico. It has hurt some more than others, and a few have felt nothing at all. The following four companies profiled below all have been...

Cookie craze: specialty foods help sisters to worldwide markets. (Susan and Mary Alizon Walton of Lady Walton's Gourmet Cookies)
June 2, 1995... To sisters Susan and Mary Alizon Walton, the specialty food business is immediately gratifying. Customer satisfaction can be determined after just one bite. The sisters are owners of Lady Walton's Gourmet Cookies, a Dallas company that...

LaSalle to acquire Stemmons Place. (LaSalle Partners Ltd. to buy Dallas office building)
June 9, 1995... Chicago real estate firm to pay about $20 million for biggest office on Stemmons Freeway corridor Chicago-based real estate giant LaSalle Partners has signed a contract to buy Stemmons Place, the largest multitenant office building on Stemmons...

Kilgore sues 'em when they're down. (law firm Kilgore & Kilgore)(includes related article)
June 9, 1995... If a local public company is accused of stock fraud, this law firm probably filed the case Dallas attorney Bill Masterson might not have immediately realized the doors he opened for his firm when he sued his first public company more than 20...

Financiers plan IPOs to fuel loans. (Jayhawk Acceptance Corp.; Fidelity Funding Financial Group Inc.)
June 9, 1995... Jayhawk, Fidelity Funding target spotty-credit niche A pair of Dallas finance outfits are taking their respective companies public to raise capital and meet a surging demand for loans to consumers with spotty credit. Used-auto financier...

Polyphase buys food manufacturer. (Polyphase Corp.; Overhill Farms)
June 9, 1995... CEO: 'We look at any company that has a strong profit' Polyphase Corp. has added a California-based food manufacturing company to its menagerie of acquired businesses and even as the deal is finalized, corporate management says it has no desire...

First Bancorp offer may not satisfy United shareholders. (United Commerce Bank of Highland Village)
June 9, 1995... First Bancorp Inc. is making a run at buying United Commerce Bank of Highland Village, whose holding company may find resistance from shareholders who want a higher price. So far First Bancorp, the Denton-based holding company of First State...

Health management company buying physician practices. (EmCare Holdings Inc.)
June 9, 1995... A longtime Dallas health care management company is going from the emergency room to the outpatient clinic with the purchase of Metroplex primary care physician practices. The emergency room historically has been EmCare Holding Comparty's...

Sky Chefs to buy D.C.-based Caterair Int'l. (Sky Chefs Inc.; Caterair International Corp.)
June 9, 1995... Caterair International, Washington, D.C.'s fourth-largest private company, is being bought out by Dallas-based Sky Chefs, a smaller but more profitable competitor in the rapidly shrinking airline food-service industry. In a $550 million deal...

Dallas-based Behringer closes in on Austin property. (Behringer Partners)
June 9, 1995... A Dallas real estate investment partnership expects to close on $16 million in Austin real estate in the next two months, the beginning of what executives say will be a $17 million to $35 million annual trend for the partnership. Robert...

Firm marks turnaround with giant acquisition. (Maxim Engineers Inc. acquiresHuntingdon International Holdings)
June 9, 1995... Want to grow your company? How about multiplying the size of your work force by 18 and increasing revenues by 1,200%? Maxim Engineers Inc. did just that by purchasing Huntingdon International Holdings USA Inc., a firm that dwarfed Maxim in...

On the fast track. (profits made by companies based in Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area)
June 9, 1995... In 1994, quite a few of the area's fastest-growing firms pumped up revenue by going the acquisition route. But others, most notably those in the booming technology biz, took the fast track to high growth with the tools they already had. Cyrix...

Columbia/HCA plots psych network. (Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.)
June 16, 1995... For-profit health giant would butt heads with recently formed Presby-Baylor-Methodist psych venture Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. plans to use the broad geographic coverage of its 14 Dallas-area hospitals to create a regional psychiatric...

United Bank plans to buy Commercial. (United Bank and Trust Co.; Commercial National Bank)
June 16, 1995... Buyout of East Dallas bank forms $113 million asset pool Dallas-based United Bank & Trust is negotiating to buy Commercial National Bank, a move that would nearly double United's size and give it a presence in East Dallas. The bank wants to...

At AMR, the mutual funds are flying, too. (AMR Investments)(Company Profile)
June 16, 1995... After years of successfully managing the pension funds of American Airlines employees, AMR Investments decided to go retail last year, peddling shares in its own mutual funds to the public. Nine months later, the investment firm has brought in...

Big D's income growth among best in U.S. (Dallas-Forth Worth Metropolitan Area's per capita income)
June 16, 1995... While defense cutbacks and recession hammered away at personal income on both coasts, the Metroplex realized nearly 4% [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] growth in inflation-adjusted, per-capita income from 1991-93, a Dallas Business Journal study shows....

Terse Green Oaks drops venture with Timberlawn.
June 16, 1995... A proposed affiliation between two local psychiatric hospitals has collapsed in acrimony. Green Oaks at Medical City wants $40,000 from Timberlawn psychiatric hospital, claiming that's how much Green Oaks spent on a January joint operating...

Pre-paid legal plans tap growing Texas market. (Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc.)
June 16, 1995... For eight years Fort Worth law firm Ross & Matthews has sold legal services to consumers for a monthly fee. The firm was ahead of its time. But after years of seeing little growth in a stagnant market, the demand for pre-paid legal services...

Developer starts subdivision on 5 acres in North Dallas. (Watson-Stringer LLC; Dallas, Texas)
June 16, 1995... A recently formed development firm has broken ground on its first project, a subdivision of single-family homes in North Dallas. The eight-month-old firm, Watson-Stringer L.L.C., is building 40 zero lot-line homes - detached homes with very...

Local leaders voice optimism for Mexico.
June 16, 1995... A four-day International Women's Forum conference in Mexico City gave nine Metroplex business leaders a first-hand look at the economic climate south of the border. Despite Mexico's monetary woes, the participants returned with a positive...

United Artists plans Garland theater. (Garland, Texas)
June 16, 1995... United Artists has bought nearly 10 acres near Garland with plans to build a 10-screen theater with interactive capabilities. The theater will be near Interstate 635 and Jupiter Road near Cinemark USA Inc.'s 15-screen Hollywood USA theater....

Utilities say Austin strung them along to get info on power plant. (electric utilities; Austin, Texas)
June 16, 1995... Utility companies who answered a City of Austin request for proposals to replace electricity lost in the closing of a city power plant say they feel like jilted lovers led on by the city to the tune of $250,000 each. But city officials say...

Simon says it will build the mall. (Simon Property Group Inc.'s planned shopping mall in Garland, Texas).
June 23, 1995... Indianapolis developer picked for 1-million-square-foot center in Garland Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc. has agreed to develop a shopping mall in Garland on land owned by a group led by local real estate firm Colliers Baldwin...

Home Express targets Big D for expansion. (Home Express Inc. to open stores in Dallas, Texas)
June 23, 1995... California-based Home Express is moving into the Metroplex with at least four of its big home-furnishing stores by the end of 1996. The company has plans for up to seven stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, said Mike Stevens with CB...

Aggressive OpTel brings HQ to Dallas. (OpTel Communications Inc.'s relocation of its headquarters to Dallas, Texas)
June 23, 1995... OpTel Communications Inc., one of the biggest independent providers of cable-television and telephone services in the country, is relocating its corporate headquarters to Dallas from Los Angeles. OpTel executives said the move will mean 100 new...

Beal Bank files to raise $57 million. (Beal Bank's public debt offering)
June 23, 1995... Hoping to capitalize on its 20-fold growth over last five years, the parent of Dallas-based Beal Bank is floating a $57.5-million public debt offering. Beal Financial Corp. filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an offering...

Currency sells equity stake. (G.D. Group's purchase of Currency Systems International Inc. stock)
June 23, 1995... Fast-growing Currency Systems International Inc., the Irving company that makes money-sorting machines, has a new equity partner to lean on. Italy's G.D. Group acquired a significant chunk of Currency's stock for an undisclosed amount, said...

Building a better margarita. (Luna Importing's importation of a Mexican orange liqour for margaritas)
June 23, 1995... Dallas couple touts new ingredient as an easy sell A chance trip to Mexico and an appreciation for good margaritas led a Dallas couple on a quest for a secret ingredient and a business opportunity. Denise and Rusty Fenton founded Luna...

Aviation insurers plot new course with merger. (sale of Cooper Aviation Insurance to Aero Insurance Inc.)
June 23, 1995... For aviation insurance pioneers Susan Cooper and Roy Murray, the need for a long-term flight plan has been met by a once fierce competitor. The pair sold 19-year-old Cooper Aviation Insurance to Aero Insurance Inc., creating Aero Cooper...

Massimo keeps financing deal despite bankruptcy petition. (continued financing for Massimo da Milano Inc. restaurants)
June 23, 1995... Massimo's restaurants will continue to receive financing from a creditor despite filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Massimo da Milano Inc. and its subsidiary, Massimo Management Corp., filed a Chapter 11 petition after the company got...

Eye care HMO targets Metroplex. (Total Vision Health Plan of Texas' application for a license to sell eye care plans)
June 23, 1995... A health maintenance organization specializing in eye care plans to start selling its services to the Metroplex in late August. Total Vision Health Plan of Texas, based in Rocky Mount, N.C., would be the first single-service eye care HMO in the...

Fair game. (Texas telecommunications reform law)
June 23, 1995... Competition heats up for local phone service Come Sept. 1, Texas will shed her wallflower image and join the rest of the party in the dance of local telephone competition. The state's telecom reform law - debated and passed in the last...

Going public was hazardous to CEO's health. (7th Level Inc. CEO George Grayson)
June 23, 1995... Taking 7th Level Inc. public gave George Grayson a case of pneumonia. But it wasn't the constant pressure from regulators that gave the company president his mind-numbing headaches. And it wasn't paying one-third of his company's annual revenue...