Atlanta Economic Development Thread

[cparker73]

https://www.fastcompany.com/90378268...lleys-mistakes

BY J.J. MCCORVEY
...The Atlanta metro area also has the second-fastest-growing economy in the country (behind San Francisco), spurred by its tech industry, which accounts for nearly 12.5% of the city’s revenues, according to CompTIA. Home Depot, UPS, Delta Airlines, the Coca-Cola Company, and Equifax are headquartered here. Twilio, Salesforce, and Pandora have all recently set up outposts, drawn by the talent coming out of Georgia Tech and the Atlanta University Center, the largest and oldest consortium of historically black colleges and universities. And here’s the kicker: In Atlanta’s tech industry, an astounding 25% of employees are black. In San Francisco, it’s 6%.

[Ric 0_0]

Inc 5000
https://www.inc.com/inc5000/2019/top...9-inc5000.html

Georgia had 219 companies on the list. We had more companies on the list than NC and TN, but less than VA and FL.

[Ric 0_0]

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...pact-hits.html

The University System of Georgia had an economic impact of $17.7 billion during fiscal 2018, up nearly 5% over the previous fiscal year.

The system's 26 institutions also generated 168,284 jobs directly and indirectly, up nearly 3%.

Thirty percent of the jobs the university system generated during fiscal 2018 were on campus, while 70% were off-campus in either the public or private sector, according to the annual economic impact report from the Selig Center for Economic Growth at The University of Georgia. Those jobs accounted for 3.8% of all non-farm jobs in Georgia, or about one job in 26.


Just a little tidbit: Dallas just landed a 3k job announcement from Uber that would have been great for ATL, but alas we didn't get it. Oh well...

[Ric 0_0]

https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...urce-Solutions

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Repay Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: RPAY) (“REPAY”) (“the Company”), a leading provider of vertically-integrated payment solutions, today announced the acquisition of TriSource Solutions (“TriSource”), for up to $65 million, which includes a performance based earn out. The acquisition was financed with a combination of cash on hand and proceeds from borrowings under REPAY’s existing credit facility.

[smArTaLlone]

According to the most recent numbers, metro Atlanta added roughly 58,700 jobs over the past 12 months, a 2.12% bump in employment.


https://twitter.com/CushWakeATL/stat...12779368714240

[Ric 0_0]

Electronics manufacturer Barco is investing $5 million to expand its operations in Gwinnett County, the Georgia Department of Economic Development announced Friday.

Headquartered in Belgium, Barco focuses on electronics for business, the health-care industry and entertainment. The planned expansion will create 50 additional jobs at the company's American headquarters in Duluth, Ga.

"Because of our highly skilled workforce and unmatched universities and technical colleges, our state has become a hub for the tech industry," said Pat Wilson, Georgia's commissioner of economic development. "Barco's expansion certainly serves as a testament to that success."

The expansion will permit Barco to upgrade its work space, attract new talent and extend service capabilities. The additional 50 jobs will bring the company's workforce in Gwinnett to 190.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...-gwinnett.html

[Ric 0_0]

Tegra, an apparel manufacturing and supply chain provider, announced today its next phase of capacity and capability expansion in the Western Hemisphere with recently completed projects in the U.S. and Central America. New facilities were onboarded in Virginia and El Salvador to accommodate growing demand from leading global apparel brands. The expansion positions Tegra to serve strategic customers using new, best-in-class equipment and facilities to support passionate fans and athletes worldwide.
https://www.textileworld.com/textile...stomer-demand/

While this isn't a direct expansion in the Atlanta area, this should hopefully lead to a few more trickle down jobs in their headquarters here if they are expanding and doing well.

[Ric 0_0]

Koh Young America officially opened the doors of its new metro Atlanta location on August 8, 2019, with an open house, followed by dinner. Company founder Dr. Kwangill Koh and Juan Arango, managing director of Koh Young America, welcomed customers and friends for an evening of food and drinks at the new training facility in Duluth, Georgia, just north of the city of Atlanta.

The new facility occupies about 11,000 square feet and will be used primarily for training and demos for the company's SPI and AOI solutions. Koh Young America’s training center had been located in Chandler, Arizona, but with 70% of their customers living east of the Mississippi River, Arango said the move to Atlanta would save some of their customers days of travel time.
http://smt.iconnect007.com/index.php...8904/?skin=smt

[Libertarian]

Carl Icahn just relocated himself from New York to Florida. What does this mean to Atlanta? It means he can sell off his assets including the former Bell South building at 699 W. Peachtree and adjacent parking decks at huge profit and save a good portion of the gain by avoiding NY taxes. Icahn may be holding off liquidating certain assets like 699 until the FL move is fully consummated. 699 represents probably 1% of his total wealth but is maybe 10% of the asset group that he would love to unload.

[Ric 0_0]

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), a leading worldwide provider of payments technology and software solutions, announced today that it has completed its merger with TSYS, forming the premier pure play payments technology company with extensive scale and unmatched global reach. The combined company, Global Payments Inc., provides innovative payments and software solutions to approximately 3.5 million predominantly small to mid-sized merchant locations, services over 1,300 financial institutions across more than 100 countries and enables digital interactions with over 600 million cardholders globally.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/ho...ing-Preeminent

Georgia has a new Fortune 500 company while losing TSYS in the process.

[Ric 0_0]

A unit of Atlanta’s Roark Capital is buying another fitness company.

Self Esteem Brands LLC, a portfolio company of Roark, is buying The Bar Method, adding to its holdings, which also include Anytime Fitness, Waxing the City and Basecamp Fitness. Roark bought Fitness Connection in February.

The Bar Method will remain a standalone business and brand within Self Esteem Brands.

Private equity firm Roark owns a variety of brands including Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic, Massage Envy, Corner Bakery and Seattle’s Best Coffee.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...s-company.html

[Ric 0_0]

Huddle House has agreed to buy the rights to Perkins Restaurant & Bakery with the intention of operating the family chains as distinct but sister family restaurant brands.

Bankruptcy court documents reveal that Huddle House has agreed to pay $51.5 million for Perkins.

Perkins has been operating under court supervision since its parent, Perkins & Marie Callender’s, filed for Chapter 11 protection in early August.


The combination of the brands will result in a 700-restaurant operation with collective sales of about $800 million, Huddle House said in announcing the deal. About 220 of Perkins' units and roughly 315 of Huddle House's 351 units are franchised.

Perkins will be run by Huddle House’s leadership team out of the buyer’s Atlanta headquarters, the announcement indicated. It specified that Huddle House has no plans to turn any Perkins units into Huddle Houses, nor vice versa, and indicated that both brands would be expanded.

https://www.restaurantbusinessonline...y-perkins-515m

[Ric 0_0]

Rivian, the adventure-minded electric automaker that plans to produce a pickup truck and SUV, has raised $350 million from global automotive services company Cox Automotive.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/10/ri...ox-automotive/

Amazon will be stepping up its efforts to reduce its climate impact, CEO Jeff Bezos announced on Thursday. The company will be ordering 100,000 electric delivery trucks from Michigan’s Rivian as part of this commitment, Bezos said. The commerce giant will seek to meet its goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2040 — 10 years earlier than is outlined by the United Nations Paris Agreement.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/am...utral-by-2040/

This seems like it was a pretty smart investment from Cox. They have gotten burned a few times, but I think this will end up paying great dividens for them. Rivian also got 700 million from Amazon and 500 million from Ford.

[Ric 0_0]

Atlanta-based HD Supply Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HDS) says it intends to separate its Facilities Maintenance and Construction & Industrial businesses into two independent publicly traded companies.

The separation will be achieved through a distribution, which is expected to be tax-free to HD Supply shareholders for U.S. tax purposes, the conpany said in an announcement Sept. 24. The separation is expected to be completed by the middle of fiscal 2020.

Both HD Supply Facilities Maintenance and Construction & Industrial are expected to remain headquartered in Atlanta.

Facilities Maintenance operates a distribution center-based model and sells its products primarily through a professional sales force, e-commerce and print catalogs. HD Supply Facilities Maintenance generated approximately $3 billion in net sales in fiscal 2018, ended Feb. 3, 2019.

Construction & Industrial-White Cap business will continue to provide concrete accessories and chemicals, tools and equipment, building materials and fasteners, erosion and waterproofing and safety products to professional contractors. Construction & Industrial generated approximately $3 billion in net sales in fiscal 2018.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...companies.html

[Ric 0_0]

Inspire Brands, launched in 2018 as an affiliate of powerhouse Atlanta private equity firm Roark Capital Group, has acquired Jimmy John’s Sandwiches.

The acquisition of Jimmy John’s will make Inspire the fourth-largest U.S. restaurant company, with more than $14 billion in sales across 11,200 restaurants.

Roark, which owns an array of food and other brands, bought a majority stake in Jimmy John’s in 2016. At that time, founder Jimmy John Liautaud remained chairman and the single largest individual shareholder. At the close of the transaction, which is expected by the end of October, Liautaud will step down as chairman and transition to an advisor to the brand, according to an announcement.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...mmy-johns.html

[Ric 0_0]

We're gonna have to start calling Atlanta the fast food empire. From the two Roark Capital companies Focus and Inspire brands to Chik-fil-A, Waffle House, Zaxby's, Huddle House, etc. we have a lot.

[Ric 0_0]

Delta Air Lines plans to spend $1.9 billion to buy a 20 percent stake in South American airline group LATAM, in its largest acquisition since the Delta-Northwest merger in 2008.
If approved, Atlanta-based Delta expects the deal to make it stronger in South America, a crucial region of the world where it trails behind competitors. With the partnership, Delta said travelers would have access to more destinations around the world.

As part of the deal, Delta and LATAM Airlines Group plan to form a joint venture for flights between the United States and Latin America that would become the largest player in the U.S.-South America airline market.
That would put Delta and LATAM ahead of the current No. 1 American Airlines and No. 2 United Airlines, Bastian said.

The deal is subject to regulatory approvals for the acquisition of a stake in LATAM and for antitrust immunity for the joint venture. The full regulatory review is expected to take one to two years.

https://www.ajc.com/business/delta-s...DH7mu2Nf4rSO/#

[Ric 0_0]

Almost 4,000 North Texas apartments have changed hands as part of a $1.2 billion rental industry merger.

Canada-based apartment owner Pure Multi-Family REIT has been bought by Cortland, an Atlanta-based real estate investor.
The acquisition includes ownership of 11 Dallas-Fort Worth apartment communities, making it one of the largest such recent sales.

The local properties sold in the merger include the Pure Farmers Market apartments in downtown Dallas, Avenue on Fairmount in Oak Lawn, Amalfi Stonebriar in Frisco and Pure La Villita in Irving. Apartments in Allen, Plano, Euless, North Dallas and Richardson also traded as part of the huge deal.

The cash transaction will make Cortland the largest apartment owner in the D-FW, according to the company.

Cortland already had more than two dozen North Texas rental communities stretching from West Fort Worth to Prosper and McKinney.

"We're excited to bring Pure Multi-Family's communities, associates and 11,000 new residents into the Cortland family," Cortland founder and CEO Steven DeFrancis said in a statement. "This transaction represents a unique growth opportunity for us, but more importantly, it's an opportunity to build on Pure Multi-Family's operational foundation to further our commitment to our residents as we work to set the standard for the apartment living experience."

Vancouver-based Pure Multi-Family and Cortland announced plans to merge in July. Pure Multi-Family owned 22 apartment communities in Texas and Arizona.

Since 2018, Cortland has completed more than $3.7 billion in acquisitions of 20,639 apartment units. It owns and manages more than 60,000 apartment homes nationwide.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/...illion-merger/

[Ric 0_0]

Atlanta-based Arrow Exterminators is expanding its nationwide footprint through the purchase of a Virginia pest and termite control company.

Arrow Exterminators said Thursday it's merging with and acquiring Richmond, Va.-based Exterminating Unlimited Inc. The dal represents Arrow‘s first location in Virginia and sets the stage for further expansion into the Commonwealth.

Financial terms of the deal were not released, but Exterminating Unlimited will now operate as Arrow Exterminators.

Arrow reports revenues topping $245 million, making it the sixth-largest pest and termite control company in the United States. Beyond Georgia, the company has a presence in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...xpands-to.html

[Ric 0_0]

A Fortune 500 mechanical and electrical construction and building services giant has made a big acquisition in Atlanta.

Connecticut-based EMCOR Group Inc. (NYSE: EME) on Oct. 4 announced it's buying Atlanta-based Batchelor & Kimball Inc., or BKI, one of the preeminent full-service U.S. commercial and industrial mechanical construction and maintenance service companies.

Founded in 1979, Batchelor & Kimball's projects include the international concourse at the Atlanta airport, work for Delta Air Lines Inc. at the Atlanta airport, Emory University's campus, Georgia Tech's Tech Square, and The University of Georgia's Sanford Stadium.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but EMCOR said the deal will be all-cash and that for 2020, BKI is expected to contribute revenues of approximately $400 million.

EMCOR has 33,000 employees and expects to generate 2019 revenues of about $8.8 billion.

https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...-services.html