Fifth Third Bancorp said Thursday that it will buy South Florida Bank Holding Corp. in Fort Myers, expanding the Cincinnati bank's presence in Florida.
The deal will bring Fifth Third the parent of South Florida Bank, which operates four branches with assets of $87 million, deposits of $78 million and which has 10,000 customers. The stock deal was valued at $26 million, based on Fifth Third's closing price of $64.46 7/8 Thursday.
South Florida Bank will be merged with Fifth Third Bank of Florida, which has assets of $221 million and deposits of $173 million in deposits. The acquisition will increase the number of customers that Fifth Third serves in Florida to 28,000. The deal means that Fifth Third will have operations in Collier and Lee counties in Florida.
Jacor will add two Calif. radio stations
Covington-based Jacor Communications Inc. Thursday signed an agreement to purchase two California radio stations owned by Spectacular Broadcasting.
Jacor agreed to buy KBKO-AM and KSPE-FM for $4.6 million. The two Ellwood, Calif., stations have a Spanish format.
Jorgensen Broadcast Brokerage assisted Jacor in the transaction, which is subject to governmental review.
Jacor owns, operates or represents 236 radio stations in 56 broadcast areas.
Convergys will supply software to licensee
Convergys Corp., the Cincinnati Bell Inc. spinoff, has won a contract to supply billing and customer-care software to Triton PCS, licensed operator of AT&T's Digital Wireless network in the region from Washington, D.C., to Atlanta.
Terms of the contract weren't disclosed, but Convergys said Malvern, Pa.-based Triton's territory covers more than 13 million people.
Franchisee accuses Wendy's of racial bias
A black franchise owner filed a $150 million lawsuit against Wendy's Corp. Thursday, charging that the fast-food company discriminates against black franchisees.
Theldon Branch, who owns three Wendy's restaurants in Houston, called racism the company's "dirty little secret." He said the company forces black franchisees to build restaurants from scratch, thereby taking on piles of debt, while it sells corporate-owned restaurants to whites for hundreds of thousands of dollars less. "There is a very big disparity in the type of deals they do for African-American franchisees and the type of deals they do for Anglos," Mr. Branch said.
Fritz Reed, Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's executive vice president, said he had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment on the specific charges.
Vencor's loss less than had been expected
Vencor Inc. Thursday said it had a third-quarter loss, excluding a gain from sale of an investment and charges, as the nursing home operator worked to adapt to a new Medicare payment system.
Louisville-based Vencor said it had a loss of $1.1 million, or 2 cents a share, excluding the charges and gains and a change in its tax rate. In the same period a year ago, Vencor had profit of $36.9 million, or 52 cents a share, excluding a loss on debt refinancing. The company was expected to have a loss of 7 cents in the quarter, based on the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp.
