Roanoke-based Luna Innovations Inc. has acquired California-based General Photonics Corp. for $20 million.
Luna, a provider of advanced, fiber optic-based technology, says the deal will accelerate its growth in the communications test market.
General Photonics provides components, modules and test equipment focused on the generation, measurement and control of polarized light critical in fiber optic-based applications.
In a statement, Scott Graeff, Luna’s president and CEO, described the deal as “another step in the execution of our core strategy. This acquisition brings a highly complementary product portfolio to the capabilities of Luna’s communications test products.”
“We have created a broader, stronger product portfolio that is centered around what we do best: measure and manage light in optical fiber,” Brian Soller, vice president and general manager of Luna’s Lightwave Division, said in statement. “The complementary nature of our combined product lines will allow Luna to leverage existing channels to market and provide solutions across more of the value chain in our key target markets.”
Luna posted revenue of $13.5 million for the quarter ending Dec. 31, an increase of 37 percent from the same period in 2017. Total revenues for fiscal year 2018 were $42.9 million, up 30 percent from the previous year.
A Norfolk office complex has been sold for $24.9 million.
Colliers International said that SF Partners, a Florida-based real estate investment firm, bought Twin Oaks, a Class A office portfolio at 5700 and 5800 Lake Wright Drive in Norfolk.
The seller was an affiliate of Guardian Realty Investors LLC of Bethesda, Md.
Twin Oaks includes two adjacent, four-story buildings totaling about 171,000 square feet.
Colliers arranged the sale, which was led by J. Scott Adams, president of Colliers | Virginia in association with the Colliers International leasing team of Don Crigger and Mac Weaver.
Twin Oaks is located in the Lake Wright Executive Center, a corporate campus adjacent to Interstate 64, at the intersection of Military Highway and Northampton Boulevard.
The property’s tenants include Booz Allen Hamilton and Titan America.
In November, Seattle-based Amazon announced that Arlington would be the site for half of the tech giant’s second headquarters. (The Long Island City area of Queens in New York was picked up for the other half, but Amazon dropped those plans in the face of political opposition.)
The project, known as HQ2, was the most sought-after economic development prize seen in the U.S. in decades.
Amazon expects to create 25,000 jobs paying an average of $150,000 as the company invests $2 billion in its National Landing site straddling Arlington and Alexandria.
As part of the deal, Virginia Tech is creating a $1 billion Innovation campus in Alexandria to help generate a pipeline of workers with degrees in computer sciences and related fields.
Other Virginia universities also plan to beef up their computer-science programs. Amazon officials said the commonwealth’s emphasis on the creation of a skilled workforce set it apart from other bidders.
Increasingly, Virginia’s educational institutions and its workforce development programs are key factors in its economic development.
Their importance is seen in two recent record-breaking philanthropic gifts.
In December, Virginia Tech announced a $50 million gift, the largest in the school’s history, from the Horace G. Fralin Charitable Trust and Heywood and Cynthia Fralin of Roanoke.
The money will be used to support research at the newly renamed Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Roanoke, formerly the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. Construction of a $90 million, 139,000-square-foot Biomedical Research Addition building at the VTC Health Sciences and Technology Campus is expected to be finished in spring 2020.
Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said the Fralins’ gift “will broaden our research profile dramatically and elevate Roanoke’s ability to compete and thrive in a knowledge-based economy.”
The economic impact of the Health Sciences and Technology Campus in Virginia was $214 million in 2017 and is projected to more than double, approaching half-a-billion dollars per year, by 2026.
Nearly 1,700 people worked at the Health Sciences and Technology Campus in fiscal year 2017. The number is expected to rise to nearly 3,150, by 2026, according to a study by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service’s Center for Economic and Policy Studies.
In January, the University of Virginia announced plans to establish a $200 million School of Data Science with the help of a $120 million donation.
The gift, likewise the largest private gift in the university’s history, is from the Quantitative Foundation. Jaffray Woodriff, a 1991 graduate of the U.Va. McIntire School of Commerce, is trustee of the foundation, and his wife, Merrill Woodriff, also a U.Va. graduate, is a director. Jaffray Woodriff is founder and CEO of Quantitative Investment Management in Charlottesville.
The data science school, which will require approval from the board of visitors and the state, will incorporate U.Va.’s Data Science Institute, established by a previous Quantitative grant.
The new school is expected to help the commonwealth meet growing demand for data science professionals in a field that plays a central role in an information-based economy.
The following pages of The Big Book look at the recent growth of Virginia’s economy in many sectors, including lists of top economic projects; Port of Virginia statistics; Virginia leaders in architecture, engineering, construction and commercial real estate; the commonwealth’s largest publicly traded and private companies; enrollments at public and private colleges and universities; largest accounting and law firms; top banks and credit unions; and the biggest conference hotels and busiest airports.
The landscape of Virginia’s banking industry is changing.
Two of the biggest banking companies operating in Virginia, SunTrust Banks Inc. and BB&T Corp., have announced a $66 billion merger.
The resulting Charlotte-based bank would be the sixth-largest in the U.S., with total assets of $42 billion. The combined bank will have a new name, which will be decided before the deal is completed in the fourth quarter.
In Virginia, Atlanta-based SunTrust and Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T ranked as the fifth and seventh biggest banks, respectively, in terms of deposits held on June 30, 2018, according to the FDIC.
The merger would create a financial institution with combined Virginia deposits of more than $44 billion, vaulting it ahead of third-ranked Wells Fargo & Co., whose state deposit total was $35.5 billion at end of June.
The combined bank would become the de-facto state market leader. The top two companies on the FDIC’s Virginia list, Capital One Bank USA and E*Trade Bank, are based in Virginia but provide banking services throughout the country.
On June 30, BB&T had 303 branches in Virginia, while SunTrust had 181. Those numbers could fall as the merger partners seek ways to cut $1.6 billion in annual expenses by 2022.
SunTrust Mortgage is based in Richmond as is the brokerage and investment banking firm BB&T Scott & Stringfellow.
While SunTrust and BB&T make plans to combine, Richmond-based Union Bankshares is absorbing its latest acquisition, Reston-based Access Bank.
The $500 million, all-stock deal secured what Union CEO John Asbury describes as the “last piece of the puzzle” in creating a statewide, Virginia-based regional bank. There hasn’t been a regional bank with headquarters in the commonwealth since banks such as Crestar, Signet and Sovran were sold to out-of-state companies more than 20 years ago.
Union now has total assets of approximately $16.8 billion and deposits of about $12.2 billion.
With its acquisition of Access Bank and Xenith Bank last year, Union plans to rebrand its operations as Atlantic Union Bank starting in May.
Meanwhile, another Virginia-based bank is expanding. The parent company of Danville-based American National Bank and Trust is acquiring Roanoke-based HomeTown Bank. The $95.6 million deal is scheduled to close this year.
The biggest news in Virginia health care is the expansion of Medicaid coverage.
Expansion, which began Jan. 1, made Medicaid coverage available to an estimated 400,000 Virginians. By the beginning of the year, 200,000 had signed up.
Medicaid coverage now is available to men and women ages 19 through 64 who are not eligible for Medicare and meet income requirements that vary with family size.
Virginia became the 33rd state to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The move was the result of a compromise reached by the Virginia General Assembly last May to end a budget deadlock. The Republican-controlled legislature had previously rejected attempts at expansion for five years.
Meanwhile, many Virginia health systems are involved in major construction projects.
The Richmond-based Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, for example, announced in February that it plans to build an 86-bed, $350 million inpatient children’s hospital.
The facility in downtown Richmond will replace VCU’s existing pediatric inpatient unit. The new hospital will offer private patient rooms and new operating rooms, imaging facilities and emergency services.
Construction will begin this spring and is scheduled to be completed in 2022.
In Northern Virginia, Fairfax-based Inova Health System is proceeding with plans to build a campus of up to 15 million square feet on the 117-acre former ExxonMobil corporate site it acquired in 2015.
Inova has been renovating existing buildings and plans to begin the first phase of new construction this year.
In Charlottesville, a $394 million renovation and expansion of the U.Va. Medical Center is underway. The project will add 440,000 square feet and renovate another 95,000 square feet.
The work will expand the emergency department from 43 to about 80 beds and include dedicated space for mental health services. The project increases space for interventional services for patients needing surgeries or other procedures, including four new operating rooms. That portion of the work is scheduled to be completed by fall.
In Norfolk, work continues on the $93.5 million Sentara Cancer Center. Construction, which began in March, is expected to be completed in 2020.
Major philanthropic gifts are reshaping educational and research programs throughout Virginia.
In January, the University of Virginia announced plans to establish a $200 million School of Data Science with the help of a $120 million donation from a Charlottesville investor who credits data analysis for his success.
Jaffray Woodriff, a 1991 graduate of the U.Va. McIntire School of Commerce, said he “first glimpsed the remarkably broad possibilities of data science” at U.Va. Woodriff is co-founder and CEO of Quantitative Investment Management.
His donation — the largest private gift in the university’s history — is from the Quantitative Foundation, of which he is trustee, and his wife, Merrill Woodriff, also a U.Va. graduate, is a director.
The data science school, which will require approval from the board of visitors and the state, will incorporate U.Va.’s Data Science Institute, established by a previous Quantitative grant.
In December, the Horace G. Fralin Charitable Trust and Heywood and Cynthia Fralin committed to giving a record $50 million to Virginia Tech to support research at the newly renamed Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Roanoke.
The donation will support recruiting and retaining biomedical researchers. The gift is twice as large as any other single donation to Virginia Tech.
Construction of a $90 million, 139,000-square-foot Biomedical Research Addition building at the VTC Health Sciences and Technology Campus is expected to finish in spring 2020.
The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute and the VTC School of Medicine also are on the campus. The statewide economic impact of the complex was $214 million in 2017. That figure is expected to more than double, approaching $500 million annually by 2026.
In November, Old Dominion University opened the Barry Art Museum on its Norfolk campus.
The 24,000-square-foot, two-story museum is the result of art and financial contributions valued at $37 million from Richard and Carolyn Barry of Suffolk.
Richard Barry is the retired vice chairman of Landmark Media Enterprises (formerly Landmark Communications).
The Barrys’ collection includes 123 glass-art objects; 70 paintings, prints and drawings; and 90 antique dolls.
The collection is expected to add to Norfolk’s prominence as an art-glass mecca. The Chrysler Museum of Art has a highly regarded glass-art collection.
A Chesapeake-based company has been sold to Hoffman Southwest Corp., a construction company based in Mission Viejo, Calif.
The sale was reported by Matrix Capital Markets Group Inc., a Richmond-based investment bank that served as Tri-State’s exclusive financial adviser.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1990 by Steve McSweeney, Tri-State is a regional provider of trenchless repair, rehabilitation, inspection and other maintenance services to the municipal utility market.
McSweeney passed leadership of the company to his sons, Andy and Joe McSweeney, in 2007.
Hoffman Southwest Corp., a portfolio company of Dallas-based ORIX Capital Partners LLC, provides underground pipe inspection, trenchless pipe repair, excavation and cleaning services for municipal and utility customers.
The transaction was led by David Shoulders, Matrix’s managing director who also is head of its Consumer & Industrial Products Group, and William O’Flaherty, a vice president at the firm. Robbie Nickle, a Matrix associate, and John Mosser, an analyst, also advised on the transaction.
Troutman Sanders served as legal counsel for Tri-State.
A outparcel of Peninsula Town Center in Hampton has sold for $1.08 million.
The commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer said Prayosha Hampton Retail LLC purchased the land at 2033 Coliseum Drive from Peninsula Main VA LLC.
The buyer plans to develop the property into a 5,760-square-foot, multitenant, retail building.
Rob Wright of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer handled the sale negotiations on behalf of the purchaser. Dean Martin, David Tunnicliffe and Connie Jordan Nielsen, also with Thalhimer, represented the seller.
Winchester-based Yount, Hyde and Barbour (YHB), a certified public accounting and consulting firm, has merged with Murray, Jonson, White & Associates Ltd. PC (MJW) in Falls Church.
The 20 members of the MJW professional staff will joining YHB, which employs 75 CPAs in Virginia.
Scott Moulden, YHB’s managing partner, said the merger will allow the firm to expand its presence in the Washington, D.C., area while positioning staff to more easily serve existing clients in the region.
MJW, founded in 1959, provides a wide range of accounting and tax services to private-sector companies, not-for-profit organizations, individuals and fiduciaries.
The merger will make the Falls Church office YHB’s seventh location in Virginia.
Edinburg-based Shentel plans to purchase Big Sandy Broadband, a cable television, broadband Internet and phone provider in eastern Kentucky’s Floyd and Johnson counties.
“Big Sandy has been family-owned for nearly 60 years, “ Dave Heimbach, Shentel’s COO, said in a statement. “We appreciate those strong roots. Shentel was founded in 1902, and has a long history of serving rural areas like Floyd and Johnson counties.”
The purchase price was not disclosed.
Shentel said the deal will include all of Big Sandy’s assets along with current customers. Employees of Big Sandy have been offered jobs with Shentel.
The integration of Big Sandy, which is based in West Van Lear, Ky., into Shentel is expected to be completed by the second quarter this year.
Shentel provides cable television, broadband Internet, and voice services through its high-speed network to customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.
The company also is an affiliate of Sprint, with wireless coverage in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio.
Shentel provides fiber services to commercial and wholesale customers along its 5,641-mile network in four states.
Big Sandy Broadband will add approximately 4,700 revenue generating units (RGUs) to Shentel’s cable segment, including more than 2,200 broadband RGUs.
The Big Sandy system is adjacent to existing Shentel cable markets in West Virginia, and it is part of the Charleston, W.Va., television market.
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