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Editor
jabacon@
baconsrebellion.com
(804) 873-1543

Greater Richmond
Partnership, Inc.

Greg Wingfield
President

Greater Richmond Partnership
gwingfield@grpva.com
901 E. Byrd St.
Richmond, VA

     23219-1234
(804) 643 3227
(800) 229 6332

Partner

Association for

  Corporate Growth - Richmond Chapter

 

Read the Greater Richmond Partnership's other newsletters:

Catalyst: tracking innovation in Richmond, VA's advanced materials/specialty chemicals sector

BioSynthesis: tracking innovation in Richmond, VA's life sciences sector

Logistics: tracking innovation in Richmond, VA's supply chain sector

Risky Niches

Markel Corporation has built itself into a $2.5 billion company by insuring risks for often-obscure activities and groups that no one else is willing to cover.

by Peter Galuszka

On any given Sunday morning, corporate executives from across the nation nervously finger the front page of the New York Times’ business section. They are hunting for the weekly column of Gretchen Morgenson, whose journalistic guillotine has lopped off the heads of CEOs she considers hubristic, wayward or shamefully greedy.

But on May 13, Morgenson was looking for some good news. Scouring the United States coast to coast for a company she considered decent, she hit upon Markel Corporation, a specialty insurance firm that was founded in Richmond in 1930 and now operates out of its global headquarters in nearby Glen Allen. 

Markel “has a superb record of conducting business properly and profitably,” Morgenson wrote. Among the positives: The company keeps executive compensation relatively modest and focuses on the long term partly by refusing to give stock analysts quarterly earnings guidance. Meanwhile, the firm has sidestepped the scandals engulfing more than 125 companies that backdated stock options to benefit top company officials. How? The company doesn’t even have stock options.

The long-term perspective comes naturally to a company that has been associated with three generations of the same family for the better part of a century. Samuel Markel moved to Norfolk after emigrating from Russia around the turn of the 20th century and set up the firm in Richmond. The second-generation leadership consisted of two sets of twin brothers. Now the firm is run by Anthony F. Markel, president and chief operating officer, cousin Steven who is vice chairman, and CEO Alan I. Kirshner. Family members still hold significant shares in the company.

More.

Getting in on the ground floor

Harbert Venture Partners has helped fund Virginia health care, tech startups
 

BY JEFFREY KELLEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

When Harbert Venture Partners was created in 2002, the business wanted to focus its investments on young health-care and information-technology companies from Maryland to Florida.
 

But the venture capital firm's concentration hadn't necessarily been on central Virginia.
 

Yet after 11 deals, three companies in this region -- two in the Richmond suburbs and one in Charlottesville -- have secured financing from the most active venture capital group in the capital city.

Harbert's Wayne Hunter and Tom Roberts have been pleasantly surprised with the quantity and quality of regional companies that hint at high growth.

"Over the long haul, central Virginia is going to turn out to be a very attractive market to invest in," said Hunter, the firm's managing partner. "The current environment for venture investing is good in this region, but we think the next five to 10 years is going to get even better." (April 8, 2007) More.

Agency's stand on expansion

is relative

The family that investigates together, stays together
 

BY DOUG CHILDERS
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The claim was fairly straightforward. According to its owner, the 60-foot yacht struck a coral reef off the Florida coast and sank, destroying the yacht and its expensive electronic equipment.

The insurance company wasn't convinced. It hired the Trident Team, a subsidiary of Bob Livermon's company, Central Virginia Investigations Inc., to investigate the owner's claim.

It was the kind of case that required Livermon to get his feet wet -- a lot. Livermon's private investigation firm, which has offices in Powhatan County and in the Arboretum in Chesterfield County, is one of the few on the East Coast that conducts underwater investigations for insurance companies.

"Pulling the boat up can damage the evidence," he said. "So we dive down and videotape it."

Livermon, who used to produce videos for the Virginia Department of Economic Development, said videotape plays a part in 98 percent of his cases.

Livermon's son Josh, a scuba and technical diving instructor and licensed private investigator, helped investigate the case of the sunken yacht. They soon discovered that the yacht wasn't where the owner said it would be. After less than a week of searching with sonar equipment, Livermon found it 200 to 400 yards away from the owner's claimed site.

"He'd hit a reef, but somehow the boat ended up in 120 feet of water," Livermon said. More.

Investment Banking Transactions

Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc. Completes Sales of…

Club Colors, Inc., a provider of licensed collegiate apparel and corporate promotional products, to CID Capital, a private equity firm headquartered in Indianapolis, IN. (July 11, 2007). More.

 

The Spencer Turbine Company, a designer and manufacturer of air handling equipment and systems, to its employees and Alliance Holdings, Inc., an employee-owned holding company. (May 22, 2007) More.

 

Garsite/Progress LLC, a Chicago-based private equity firm, to Insight Equity, a portfolio company of Chicago-based private equity firm, 13i Capital. (May 3, 2007) More.

Cary Street Sells MVP Group International. Cary Street Partners served as the financial advisor for MVP Group International, a designer, manufacturer, and marketer of candles and home fragrance products, in its sale to Najeti Partners. (April 27, 2007) More.

Note on transaction listings: Working Capital has included transactions with a documented Richmond connection. We are unable to determine from its press releases whether the Richmond office of Harris Williams & Co., the region's most active middle market investment banking firm, was involved in the company's many deals. You can review their press releases here.

Business

Wachovia Buys A.G. Edwards. Wachovia Securities has purchased A.G. Edwards, of St. Louis, Mo., growing its organization to 15,000 brokers, 3,350 locations and $1.1 trillion in client assets. The organization will move its headquarters to St. Louis. (May 31, 2007) More.

Scott & Stringfellow Partners With First Mercantile. Scott & Stringfellow, Inc. has joined First Mercantile in co-branding a retirement plan product targeted at small- and medium-sized businesses. (May 31, 2007) More.

Cary Street Partners Merges With Stewart Wealth. Cary Street Partners, an investment banking and wealth management firm, has merged with Stewart Wealth Management Group of Fredericksburg, Va., which manages nearly $650 million in assets for individuals, corporations and endowments. (June 25, 2007) More.

Cap One Cuts Costs. Capital One Financial Corporation has announced its intention to reduce operating expenses by approximately $700 million by 2009. (June 27, 2007) More.

Genworth Financial Launches New Product. Genworth Financial has unveiled a new long-term-care insurance product, New Cornerstone Advantage, that reduces premiums to more affordable levels. (April 30, 2007) More.

Genworth Financial Introduces New Fund. AssetMark Investment Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Genworth Financial, Inc., has partnered with Research Affiliates to advise the AssetMark Fundamental Index Funds, a new series of no-load mutual funds. (June 18, 2007) More.

Senior Financial Buys Liberty. Senior Financial, Inc., a venture investment subsidiary of Genworth Financial, Inc., has acquired Liberty Reverse Mortgage, Inc., an independent reverse mortgage lender headquartered in Rancho Cordova, Calif., for $50 million. (July 19, 2007) More.

People

PrecisionIR Appoints CEO. PrecisionIR Group, a provider of online investor relations services, has named Steven L. Schneider as CEO. (June 26, 2007) More.

Cap One’s CIO Steps Down. Chief Information Officer Gregor Bailar is leaving Capital One Financial Corporation to pursue philanthropic pursuits. Robert M. Alexander, Capital One's executive vice president, will take his place. (May 30, 2007) More.

LandAmerica Announces Executive Appointments …

Michael D. Beverly, senior vice president - associate general counsel and corporate secretary. (May 9, 2007) More.

Janice E. Carpi, senior vice president -  commercial services senior underwriter and transaction counsel. (May 22, 2007) More.

Pam K. Saylors, group senior vice president - national title operations for commercial services. (May 22, 2007) More.

Recognitions

S&S Products Spot-lighted in WSJ. Scott & Stringfellow’s BB&T Special Opportunities Fund A was highlighted in the Wall Street Journal’s “Winners’ Circle” as the top-performing Multi-Cap Growth Fund over the last 12 months. (April 5, 2007) More.

S&S Analysts Ranked. Nine of Scott & Stringfellow, Inc.’s BB&T Capital Markets equity research analysts were recognized in the annual Forbes.com StarMine survey of earnings accuracy and stock picking by securities analysts. (May 30, 2007) More.

Robins School Rated by BusinessWeek. The Robins School of Business was ranked 23rd best undergraduate business program in the country by BusinessWeek. The school scored fourth best for academic quality and ranked well for teaching quality, facilities, and job placement. (June 2007) More.

Robins Named CFA Program Partner. The University of Richmond has been selected as a Chartered Financial Analyst Institute Program Partner. (June 2007) More.