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The Cawton Report: Aundra Wallace reflects on DIA achievements PAGE 10
August 23-29, 2018 jaxdailyrecord.com
JACKSONVILLE
Record & Observer Web.com Group Inc. will be the latest Jacksonville-based JACKSONVILLE company to be taken over by a private equity firm. Why is it happening and what does it mean?
Cultural district proposed Downtown
Record & Observer
GOING PRIVATE JACKSONVILLE
Plan would transform area near courthouse into a public space for art, lectures, food and micro theaters.
Record & Observer BY DAVID CAWTON STAFF WRITER
PUBLIC, FOR NOW JACKSONVILLE
A vacant Downtown lot near the Duval County Courthouse could soon bloom into an arts and cultural district. Jacksonville-based Metropolis Community Development Corp. wants to temporarily lease a 1.52acre city-owned site at 337 W. Adams St. to create La Rue des Arts, a multicultural arts center, incubator and public space. Me t ro p o l i s CEO and President Rafael Caldera said the company would retrofit about 10,000 Caldera square feet of reusable modular buildings on the site to launch the concept. “We’re trying to redesign the space for art, for micro theaters, for more open public space,” Caldera said. “I believe that’s what Downtown needs the most right now.” Caldera said the space could also include cafes and temporary restaurants. “The idea comes from examples I’ve seen around the world,” Caldera said. “This concept is being done all over Europe and in Dade County.” Caldera pointed to the Wynwood Business Improvement District area in Miami, an eclec-
Record & Observer Siris Capital Group, a private equity firm, has reached an agreement to buy Jacksonville-headquartered Web.com Group Inc. for $28 a share. It would beome a privately owned company.
BY MARK BASCH CONTRIBUTING WRITER
I
n a few months, Web.com Group Inc. will be the latest Jacksonville-based company to be taken over by a private equity firm. Affiliates of Siris Capital Group have agreed to spend more than $2 billion to buy the website services company. Another firm may come in with a higher bid but regardless of who makes the highest offer, Web.com will become privately owned. That’s not unusual because the number of private equity-owned businesses dwarfs the number of publicly traded companies in the Jacksonville area. Only 15 companies headquartered in Northeast Florida are traded on major stock exchanges and a handful of others are traded in over-the-counter markets. But research from private equity data firms PitchBook Data Inc. and S&P Capital IQ shows there are about 125 to 150 companies backed by investment sponsors. SEE PRIVATE, PAGE 6
Photo by Karen Brune Mathis
“In real estate it’s location, location, location. For private equity it’s grow, grow, grow.” DON WIGGINS, PRESIDENT OF HERITAGE CAPITAL GROUP, A CHAIRMAN OF THE OAKLINS INVESTMENT BANKING GROUP AND FOUNDER OF BUSINESS VALUATION INC.
THEY WERE PUBLIC ONCE
A look at Jacksonville companies now in the hands of private equity firms. Pages 6 & 7
SEE CALDERA, PAGE 5
The Mathis Report: Apartments planned along AC Skinner PAGE 4 Basch Report: ParkerVision stock slumps as sales slide PAGE 8 OBSERVER MEDIA GROUP
YOU SHOULD KNOW
Top-producing real estate agent Katrina Watkins PAGE 12 VOLUME 1, NO. 12 • ONE SECTION