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Guidehouse to acquire McLean tech company

Tysons-based consulting company announced Wednesday has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire -based company Dovel Technologies Inc. The is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.

“The of Dovel is a strategic step in our journey to create the next generation global consultancy, bringing together best-in-class portfolios, highly talented teams and -first business models,” Guidehouse CEO Scott McIntyre said in a statement. “We look forward to the merger and the journey to come.”

Dovel provides data analytics and artificial intelligence along with other technology services, specializing in health, human services and public safety. Dovel’s 1,800 employees and management team will join Guidehouse.

Dovel is a portfolio company of Macquarie Capital. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

“We are excited by the opportunity to join the Guidehouse platform, given our complementary capabilities and strategically correlated missions to improve, protect and save lives,” Dovel CEO Damon Griggs said in a statement.

Guidehouse is a management, technology and consulting company owned by New York-based private equity firm . It has more than 10,000 employees in more than 50 locations.

Five Va. companies win spots on $556M Navy contract

Five Virginia companies have won spots on an estimated $556 million U.S. multiple-award contract to compete for task orders to provide technical services to the Office of the Chief Naval Operations Department Command Information Office.

Three Fortune 500 contractors — -based Inc., -based and  Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. — along with -based Capstone Corp. and McLean-based 22nd Century Technologies Inc., will be competing for services on the cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract.

The contracts will run concurrently and have a 60-month base ordering period, with an additional six-month ordering period option that, if exercised, would bring the estimated value to $800 million. The base period begins in November and is expected to be completed by October 2026.

Work will be performed in ; Pensacola, Florida; Millington, Tennessee; and other locations in the continental U.S.

Spok reviewing options for potential sale of company

Arlington-based tech company Holdings Inc. announced Friday that is conducting a strategic review of its options, which may include selling the publicly traded company.

California-based Acacia Research Corp. and its partner, New York-based Starboard Value LP, publicly expressed interest in acquiring Spok and have accumulated more than 5% of Spok’s outstanding stock. Spok began the review process after also receiving inquires from multiple private parties interested in acquiring all or part of the company, according to a release. Spok’s board of directors will invite Acacia to participate in the process.

Spok brought in in $148.2 million in revenue for 2020 and $160.3 million in 2019.

Its board of directors approved a shareholder rights plan after market hours on Sept. 2. The plan distributes one right to each outstanding share of common stock and expires Aug. 31. A copy of the plan and a summary of its terms have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Spok’s board is dedicated to maximizing value for all our shareholders,” Royce Yudkoff, chairman of the Spok board, said in a statement. “Our goal in disclosing our ongoing strategic alternatives review and adopting the rights plan is to ensure that all interested parties have the opportunity to participate fairly and to provide the board time to make an informed decision in the best interests of Spok’s shareholders.”

Spok Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings Inc. Spok owns the Spok Go and Spok Care Connect platforms, which enable Secure, HIPAA-compliant messages for clinicians and health care teams. The company’s health care industry customers send more than 100 million messages each month.

Vienna defense contractor wins $600M DISA contract

Vienna-based Trace Systems Inc. won a contract worth up to $600 million from the Defense Information Systems Agency to support U.S. Air Forces Central Command (USAFCENT), the announced Friday.

Under the single-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, Trace will acquire, integrate, install, operate and maintain systems to support USAFCENT-deployed mission requirements.

The contract has a one-year base period — Sept. 20, 2021 through Sept. 19, 2022 — with four one-year optional renewal periods.

Work will primarily be performed at USAFCENT locations in Southwest Asia.

Founded in 2006, Trace offers cybersecurity, communications and services to the Department of Defense and other U.S. agencies.

Richmond’s Universal Corp. to acquire Pennsylvania flavoring company

Richmond-based products supplier has entered into an agreement to acquire specialty ingredient, flavoring and food company Shank’s Extracts Inc., announced Tuesday.

Founded in 1899, Shank’s is a privately-held company specializing in vanilla extract products. The company, which has more than 200 workers, manufactures more than 2,400 extracts, distillates, natural flavors and colors for industrial and private label customers. Based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Shank’s has a 191,000-square-foot manufacturing campus.

“This agreement with Shank’s marks another important step forward in Universal’s efforts to identify and execute on opportunities that broaden and enhance our plant-based ingredients platform,” Universal Chairman, President and CEO George C. Freeman III said in a statement. “As the domestic natural food flavors market continues to accelerate, we are pleased to be able to expand our customer proposition with Shank’s portfolio of high-quality botanical extracts.”

The is expected to close by the end of 2021. Universal expects to fund the purchase with cash on hand and borrowings under its committed revolving credit facility.

Following the deal’s closing, Shank’s will operate as part of Universal’s plant-based ingredients platform. The existing management team will continue to run the company and will report to J. Patrick O’Keefe, senior vice president of Universal Global Ventures Inc.

Founded in 1918, Universal Corp. supplies agricultural products to consumer product manufacturers. It operates in more than 30 countries and its primary subsidiary is Universal Leaf Inc., which purchases and processes leaf tobaccos for to tobacco product manufacturers. Universal posted $2 billion in revenue for the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2021.

Richmond’s Style Weekly shuts down after nearly 39 years

After close to 39 years, the -based alternative weekly newspaper will shut down this week, Editor-in-Chief Brent Baldwin posted on Style’s Facebook page Tuesday.

The publication’s closing came three years after Norfolk-based Inc. sold its Virginia newspapers — The Virginian-Pilot, Inside Business and Style Weekly — and their associated businesses for $34 million to Co. (then known as Tronc Inc.), which already owned the Daily Press in Newport , as well as the Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg and the Tidewater Review in West Point.

This May, Tribune Publishing was purchased by hedge fund in a $633 million deal that has led to the elimination of more than 250 full-time editorial positions through buyouts offered two days after the finalization of the deal, including at the Pilot and the Daily Press.

Even before Alden’s purchase, Tribune Publishing employment fell by 30%, from 4,114 employees at the end of 2019 to 2,865 at the end of 2020, according to a Chicago Tribune story.

The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press have decreased their newsroom staffs from 101 full-time employees to 36 workers since September 2018, according to the NewsGuild union. Both newspapers’ offices closed last year, with staff working remotely, and the Pilot’s Brambleton Avenue office in Norfolk, its home for 82 years, was sold to residential developers. Style Weekly, too, closed its office in Richmond’s Manchester neighborhood in 2020, and its full-time staff had dwindled to only four full-time staffers working remotely as of April.

Baldwin’s Facebook message announcing the shutdown was short and did not refer to Alden: “Note from the Editor-in-Chief: Style Weekly will cease publishing after the Sept. 8 edition. We thank our talented staff for their award-winning efforts and our loyal readers for their support. Thank you, Richmond.”

Style’s first issue, printed in November 1982. Image courtesy Style Weekly

Started as a monthly publication in November 1982, Style later became a free weekly paper covering Richmond beginning in 1984 with its to Landmark . An alternative to the two daily newspapers — the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the now-defunct Richmond News Leader — Style introduced personal ads, an extensive events calendar, restaurant reviews and annual arts previews to the city, founding publisher and editor Lorna Wyckoff said in an interview Tuesday with Virginia Business. She started the publication in 1982 at her kitchen table. The first issue was a 16-page paper covering the city’s West End, with a very ’80s-appropriate aerobics cover model.

“It is sad, but I’m also proud of our years and proud of what it became,” said Wyckoff, who remained at the weekly through 1992, when it employed 30 or 40 full-time and part-time staffers and ran issues of about 70 or 80 pages. Still, she noted, “it’s kind of an evolution. I think all of us in have seen this coming. When you have so many changes of ownership in a short period of time, as they have, I think it’s hard to find your way.”

Style also was the home of the popular “You’re Very Richmond If” and “Best of Richmond” features, and it garnered awards and praise for its feature profiles, news photography and news coverage, even as its full-time staff shrank in recent years. In April, Style won 32 Virginia Press Association News and Advertising Contest awards for its work in 2020, including a best-in-show photography award won by staff photographer Scott Elmquist.

“The real joy is in continuing the we love and serving the community with useful, insightful, locally produced stories,” Baldwin wrote in April, noting the difficulty Style had producing the publication during the COVID-19 pandemic with a small staff. “Doing that takes serious, around-the-clock commitment and determination — not to mention unselfish attitudes focused on the team — in order to steer a small alt. weekly into its 40th year.”

Editor’s Note: Virginia Business Associate Publisher Lori Collier Waran, Editor Richard Foster, Art Director Joel Smith, Graphic Designer Kira Jenkins and Account Manager Toni McCracken all previously worked at Style Weekly. 

Caravati’s building in Richmond sells for $2.03M

The former Caravati’s Inc. building in sold for $2.03 million, Colliers International in Virginia announced Sept. 2.

Located at 104 E. Second St. in the Manchester area, the two-story building has 38,000 square feet. The buyer, 104 E. Second St. LLC, plans to develop the building into 42 apartment units. Construction is expected to begin in September.

Caravati’s, an architectural supply company founded in Richmond in 1939, moved from the historic warehouse to downtown Ashland this year.

Charles Wentworth, an executive vice president; Garrison Gore, an associate; Hank Hankins, an executive vice president; Victoria Pickett, first vice president; and Matt Anderson, an executive vice president, represented the seller, Recent Ruins LLC.

Manassas direct mail company to cut ribbon on new headquarters

Prince William County and production company Mail will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday afternoon Planet Direct’s new  in .

The county announced the company’s into its new 115,000-square-foot headquarters, located at 11050 Challenger Court in Innovation Park, on Aug. 25. The expansion retained 130 and is estimated to create 100 more.

“We are most excited about the efficiency, safety and expansion capacity that will come with our new building,” Planet Direct President Ryan Gutman said in a statement. “Innovation Park offered us a strategic location to meet the specific needs of a manufacturing business, and the county was able to meet our critical timelines.

Planet Direct has operated in since 2008.

Christina Winn, executive director of the Prince William County Department of , said, “By expanding their business here in Prince William County, Planet Direct is offering our residents good jobs and providing a direct impact to our local economy, with an estimated $15 million in capital investment. We know how much Planet Direct invests in their employees, and we are excited to host a ribbon-cutting event to celebrate the leadership, staff and their new home in Innovation Park.”

VPM hires news director

VPM, Central Virginia’s and affiliate, has hired former Tomorrow Editor Elliott Robinson as news director.

“We are thrilled that Elliott will be leading News,” VPM President and CEO Jayme Swain said in a statement. “With his impressive background in local news, extensive knowledge of the issues that matter to diverse communities across Virginia and experience in digital, Elliott is uniquely positioned to help strengthen VPM News across platforms.”

Robinson is a Hampton native. He started his career at The Progress-Index in Petersburg and went on to hold leadership roles at The Hopewell News, The Daily Progress and Charlottesville Tomorrow, a nonprofit public service journalism website. He helped launch the Charlottesville Inclusive project, a partnership aimed at created to bring more inclusive representation to Charlottesville-area media.

Robinson is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, a life member of the NAACP and a board member of the Virginia Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Based in , VPM (short for VPM Media Corp.) reaches nearly 2 million people across Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. operates the VPM News public radio station at WCVE 88.9 FM and stations WCVE -TV and WCVW in Richmond and WHTJ in Charlottesville, airing VPM PBS, VPM Plus, VPM PBS KIDS, lifestyle channel VPM Create and international program channel VPM WORLD.

Amazon to open delivery station in Stafford

Amazon.com Inc. announced Friday will open a 200,000-square-foot delivery station in later this month, creating 100 full- and part-time associate at the station, plus hundreds of driver jobs for ‘s Delivery Service Partners and Amazon Flex drivers, according to the company.

The new facility will be located at 25 Strategy Drive in Stafford. Amazon delivery stations, which receive packages from neighboring fulfillment and sortation centers, are the last stop for packages before final delivery to customers.

“This is a major announcement for Stafford County,” said Crystal Vanuch, chairwoman of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, in a statement. “Amazon is the leader in 21st century retail shopping. This new facility will have a lasting positive impact on our community and workforce.”

Amazon will hold a job fair on Sept. 13 to hire for roles at the new center.

The e-commerce giant also announced two delivery centers career center in Hampton Roads this week. A 111,600-square foot facility opened in mid-August in Hampton and 165,000-square-foot facility in Norfolk in mid-June. This will be the 16th delivery center in Virginia, an Amazon spokeswoman said.

Additionally this week, Amazon announced it has hired 3,000 of the expected 25,000 employees it expects to recruit by 2030 for its multibillion-dollar East Coast H2Q in .