Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, July 31, 2017
Vol. 104, No. 184 • One Section
35¢
www.jaxdailyrecord.com
‘ALWAYS THERE TO HELP’
Photo by Fran Ruchalski
Barbara Russell Drake, center, is board treasurer for JASMYN, the Jacksonville Sexual Minority Youth Network. She works closely with Development Officer Angela Strain, left, and CEO Cindy Watson. A local bank provided the stick-on plastic “stained glass window” at the group’s Riverside offices to block the view of the interstate flyover. She serves nonprofits where there is a need, the group uses good business tactics and she can use her skills to effect change.
Barbara Russell Drake has invested 40 years in the recycling industry and nonprofits. She looks for opportunities to make a difference.
By Karen Brune Mathis Editor Barbara Russell Drake didn’t realize until much later that as she tagged along with her dad to haul trash, she was discovering a professional treasure. She grew up poor in Indiana, and her father had less than two years of education in a one-room school. He supplemented his full-time factory work with odd jobs, including using his pickup truck to haul trash for customers in a wealthy neighborhood. “As he unloaded, he pulled out items he thought he could sell, we could use or that might have value at a scrap recy-
cler,” said Drake, who was about 6 years old when she helped unload the truck. “It was many years before I related it to what I have done in my career,” she said. Drake was in her 40s, and owner of Southland Recycling & Shredding Services when she made the connection. “My cousin visited and said, ‘your Daddy would have loved this business,’” Drake recalled. Her career has spanned 40 years in most facets of the recycling business, primarily in Jacksonville. Drake
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FIRST COAST SUCCESS
Barbara Russell Drake The Daily Record interviewed Barbara Russell DrakeI for “First Coast Success,” a regular segment on the award-winning 89.9 FM flagship First Coast Connect program, hosted by Melissa Ross. The interview was scheduled for broadcast this morning and will replay at 8 p.m. on the WJCT Arts Channel and at wjct.org/ondemand.
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Rayonier AM benefits from higher Tembec price Montreal-based company’s shareholders approve deals. Public
Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc.’s stock jumped higher last Monday after the Jacksonvillebased company was forced to raise its price to buy Tembec Inc. Why is paying more money good for Rayonier AM? Well, it’s because the merger is considered a very good strategic move for the company, regardless of how much it has to pay. Investors just want to see the deal get done. “We believe that Rayonier AM made the right choice by
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improving its offer,” Vertical Research Partners analyst Chip Dillon said in a research note as he raised his rating on the company from “hold” to “buy.” “The deal made sense for Rayonier AM even at a significantly higher price due to the significant transaction accretion, the diversification benefit to Rayonier AM, as well as Rayonier AM’s stock price that allowed for a better offer with more moderate dilution,” he said.
Rayonier AM is expected to benefit by combining with Montreal-based Tembec because the two companies produce very different products within the cellulose fibers industry, and the diversification makes Rayonier AM more attractive to investors. Rayonier AM agreed in May to pay either $4.05 in cash or issue 0.2302 shares of its stock for every Tembec share, a deal valued at $807 million. However, two large Tembec
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shareholders said the offer was too low and pledged to vote against it at Tembec’s special meeting Thursday, which would have killed the deal. That prompted Rayonier AM a week ago to increase the offer to either $4.75 in cash or 0.2542 shares of stock. The two large shareholders agreed to that price. Tembec said Thursday the Basch
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consecutive business days