Atlanta Economic Development Thread

[Ric 0_0]

Rollins, Inc. (NYSE: ROL), a premier global consumer and commercial services company, reported strong unaudited financial results for its fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2019.

The Company recorded fourth quarter revenues of $506.0 million, an increase of 13.8% over the prior year's fourth quarter revenue of $444.6 million. Rollins reported net income of $50.8 million or $0.16 per diluted share in the fourth quarter that ended December 31, 2019, compared to $51.0 million or $0.16 per diluted share for the same period in 2018.

Eddie Northen, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Rollins, Inc. stated, "We continue to invest in innovative technology as well as seeking out strong acquisitions that fit well into the Rollins family of brands. As a result of these investments, we have experienced record amounts of amortization and depreciation that will deliver positive results for years to come."

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases...ar-2019-financial-results-300994955.html

Rollins released their Q4 earnings and has announced that they broke the 2 billion dollar revenue threshold. We might see Rollins sneek into the bottom of the F1000 or just barely miss it.

[Ric 0_0]

ATLANTA - Rollins, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Clark Pest Control of Stockton, has entered into an agreement to acquire Clark Pest Control, based in Bakersfield, CA. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter.

In 2019, Rollins acquired Charlie Clark’s business, Clark Pest Control of Stockton.

Today, Jim Clark Sr.’s business, Clark Pest Control, Inc., has more than 160 employees operating from offices in Bakersfield, Fresno, Lancaster, Santa Clarita, and Visalia. Completion of this acquisition will rejoin the two companies. Once integrated, Clark Pest Control will have over 1,300 dedicated employees providing exceptional customer service from 28 locations throughout California and northern Nevada

https://www.pctonline.com/article/rollins-acquire-clark-bakersfield/

[Ric 0_0]

Intercontinental Exchange, known as ICE, has approached eBay in the past and did so again recently, the people said. The companies aren’t currently in formal talks and there is no guarantee eBay would agree to a deal.

Should there be one, it would be big, given eBay’s market value of more than $28 billion and the premium ICE would likely have to pay.

ICE is primarily interested in owning eBay’s core marketplace business, the people said, and not its classified unit, which eBay has been considering selling. The classified unit could fetch around $10 billion in a sale, people familiar with the matter have said.

ICE is best known for operating the NYSE as well as futures exchanges around the world. Chief Executive Jeffrey Sprecher founded the company in 2000 and has turned it into a global exchange empire by acquiring stock and futures markets including the London-based International Petroleum Exchange in 2001 and the Chicago Stock Exchange in 2018. ICE also runs a number of financial-data businesses and clearinghouses for derivatives trades.

ICE’s interest in eBay comes as the traditional way that exchange groups have grown—through cross-border takeovers of rival market operators—has gotten tougher, due to the increasing consolidation of the business and regulatory obstacles. In 2016, ICE explored a possible offer for London Stock Exchange Group PLC, but retreated, allowing Deutsche Börse AG to pursue a bid for the LSE that was ultimately scuttled by European Union regulators. In 2017, ICE was forced to unwind its acquisition of Trayport, a European energy-trading platform, after opposition from U.K. antitrust authorities.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/intercontinental-exchange-approaches-ebay-about-a-takeover-11580845016

This would be awesome news as an acquisition of this kind would most definitely require new jobs at the HQ in the ATL. It would also cement Atlanta's position as an emerging technology powerhouse with Global Payments, ICE, large google office, possible Veeam headquarters, etc.

[Ric 0_0]

A software company with strong ties to IBM is opening its first metro Atlanta office in Dunwoody, adding 300 jobs.

Acoustic, formerly known as IBM’s Watson Marketing, an independent marketing cloud platform, will put the new regional office at the Terraces project, a pair of 11-story towers located in Dunwoody near Perimeter Mall.

Acoustic is headquartered in New York City. Its new regional office in Dunwoody is slated to open this spring.

Behind Paywall
https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news...nta-office-add.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoo

[Ric 0_0]

CoStar Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGP) the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire RentPath’s business for $588 million in cash, in connection with RentPath’s recently announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.

RentPath’s primary service is digital marketing for rental properties through a network of Internet listing websites, including Rent.com, ApartmentGuide.com, Rentals.com and Lovely.com. The RentPath network of websites generated over 21 million monthly visits and almost 9 million monthly unique visitors in 2019, according to comScore, and had approximately 28,000 properties advertised on its network as of December, 2019. RentPath is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and has approximately 770 employees.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/costar-group-agrees-acquire-rentpath-000700562.html

[Ric 0_0]

Payment-services provider Repay Holdings Corp. continued its run of acquisitions Monday when it announced it bought Ventanex for up to $50 million. Ventanex is an integrated-payments provider operating in consumer finance, especially mortgage-loan servicing, business-to-business health-care payments, and some other segments.

Founded in 2012 and based in the Dallas suburb of The Colony, Texas, Ventanex enables its clients to send and receive funds across such payment types as automated clearing house, debit and credit card, virtual card, checks, and others.

“The acquisition of Ventanex advances Repay’s overarching strategy of being the preferred payments provider to high-growth verticals where our technology and payment capabilities serve as differentiators,” John Morris, chief executive of Atlanta-based Repay, said in a statement. “The consumer-finance and B2B health-care markets will provide significant growth opportunities, as these verticals are in the early stages of a secular shift from legacy payment mediums to the more innovative and varied payment solutions in which we specialize. Additionally, Ventanex’s consumer-finance and B2B focus aligns well with our existing client base, allowing us to provide both customer sets with more robust offerings.”

http://www.digitaltransactions.net/repay-expands-its-footprint-with-ventanex-acquisition/

[Ric 0_0]

Macy’s Inc. confirmed Friday it will open a $14 million technology hub in Midtown that will employ 630.

Most of the new positions will be centered on software development and software architects. Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported on the expansion on Feb. 6.

It will be among the first tenants of a newly constructed $80 million building called T3 West Midtown building. Macy’s will also retain its large tech campus in Johns Creek, which is about 20 miles north of Midtown in the Atlanta suburbs.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news...0-plus.html?iana=hpmvp_atl_news_headline

[Libertarian]

current status of BOA 600 Peachtree

59% occupied

[Ric 0_0]

Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday that Toyota Financial Services will open a new office in Alpharetta to become the company's East Dealer Service Center. The investment of more than $8 million will bring 150 new jobs to Fulton County.

Toyota Financial Services, the finance and insurance brand for Toyota in the United States, will open at 11625 Rainwater Dr. in Alpharetta. This East Dealer Service Center will be one of three "hub" locations for the company that support automotive dealers across the nation.

https://patch.com/georgia/alpharetta/toyota-financial-services-brings-8m-150-jobs-alpharetta

[Ric 0_0]

U.S. regional TV station operator Gray Television Inc (GTN.N) has made an offer to acquire larger peer Tegna Inc (TGNA.N) for approximately $8.5 billion, including debt, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

A successful bid by Atlanta-based Gray would significantly expand its footprint in several TV markets. It underscores the pressure Gray and other companies in the TV station industry are under to gain scale and pricing power with advertisers and the major networks.

Gray, which has a market capitalization of $1.5 billion, has offered about $20 per share in cash and stock for Tegna, two of the sources said. After Reuters reported on Gray’s bid on Friday, private equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.N) informed Tegna it was also prepared to offer $20 per share to buy the company, but its bid would be all-cash, the sources said. Apollo made a big bet on the sector last year, acquiring the TV and radio stations of Cox Enterprises Inc for more than $3 billion, including debt.

There is no certainty that Tegna, which has a market capitalization of $3.7 billion and outstanding debt of $4.2 billion, will accept either offer, or that it will successfully negotiate a deal, the sources said. A deal with Gray or Apollo would require divestitures, according to the sources.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tegna...d-to-acquire-tegna-sources-idUSKBN20T1QT

If Gray Television does acquire TEGNA, we would get ourselves a new Fortune 1000 companies since both companies each have around $2 billion. Although, Gray would walk away with quite a bit more debt especially after their large acquisition of Raycom Media.

[atlHawks]

So let's talk COVID-19 and the impact it might have on stuff getting built. Will construction slow down?

[Ric 0_0]

Originally Posted by atlHawks

So let's talk COVID-19 and the impact it might have on stuff getting built. Will construction slow down?

I think it all depends on how long COVID-19 spreads and weathers the upcoming heat. If COVID becomes more manageable within the next month or so I think we will come out fairly unscathed, but i it continues I do believe we might see construction slow. I think we could even get hit a "little harder" than some other cities due to many of our companies being greatly affected by the COVID outbreak around the world and in the US (Delta, IHG, Norfolk, etc.)

[Atlriser]

Um I think at this point anything that hasn’t broken ground is pretty much stopped for now. No other means around it with DOW down 20% and travel and convention business essentially completely shut down. No way projects that aren’t already coming out of the ground will get financed or start in the current environment. We are already seeing work being delayed or cancelled just this week and my company focuses on schools and medical construction.

[Ric 0_0]

Delta Air Lines Inc. is cutting flights further, slashing spending and seeking government aid to contend with the coronavirus outbreak — and Chief Executive Ed Bastian warned employees that the situation is likely to get worse.

The carrier is “optimistic” about U.S. support after discussions with the White House and Congress, Bastian said Friday in an internal memo. Delta will park as many as 300 planes and cut its seating capacity by 40% in the next few months as demand evaporates. That’s the biggest reduction in company history, including after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he said.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-03-13/delta-cuts-flights-coronavirus

[Libertarian]

This too shall pass.

[Libertarian]

Trump and the Dems are blowing the dollar to hell. Nobody considers that angle. Your food and housing will be costing quite a lot more.

[jct3]

Originally Posted by Libertarian

Trump and the Dems are blowing the dollar to hell. Nobody considers that angle. Your food and housing will be costing quite a lot more.

Just like in the Great Recession, right? The hard right was screaming about runaway inflation.

Oh yeah, that didn't happen.

[Libertarian]

Well yes, it did.

[Libertarian]

CMBS defaults will finish off brick-and-mortar retailing

[Ric 0_0]

Spain's CaixaBank is teaming up with Global Payments on a European prepaid card joint venture called MoneyToPay.

Global Payments will own 51% of the new brand, with CaixaBank Payments & Consumer holding the remaining 49%.

The MoneyToPay name has been used by CaixaBank for its prepaid business since 2012 in Spain, where it has almost two million cards and a sales volume of over EUR700 million.

Global Payments brings its experience in the US prepaid market through its NetSpend business to the venture. NetSpend president Kelley Knutson will be MoneyToPay's chairman.

https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/35622/caixabank-and-global-payments-form-prepaid-jv