FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 19, 2010

Contact: Courtney Rowe, Ben Becker (202) 224-9315

 

Lincoln Announces Nearly $12 Million in Loan Guarantees Awarded to Two Arkansas Businesses

Funding will secure nearly 400 Arkansas jobs

NOTE: Caption for attached photo below

 

(Left to right) Sam Walls, CEO of the Arkansas Capital Corporation; 
U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln and Judy Canales, USDA Administrator
for Rural Business and Cooperative Programs.  participate in a rural business roundtable.

 

 

 

 

Little Rock – U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today announced the awarding of nearly $12 million in loan guarantees for two Arkansas-based businesses: Bright Harvest Sweet Potato Co., in Clarksville, and South Arkansas Oil Company, Inc., in El Dorado. The loans were made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and were provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Business and Industry Loan Program. They will preserve 370 jobs across Arkansas. Lincoln made the announcement at the U. S. Department of Agriculture Business and Industry Loan Program Roundtable hosted by the Arkansas Capital Corporation. At the event, Lincoln discussed with Arkansas community bankers how to improve the USDA Business and Industry Loan Program in order to save even more Arkansas jobs.  

“Creating jobs and putting our economy back on track is my number one priority as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and these loan programs are a critical part of that effort,” Lincoln said. “By providing rural communities with access to capital, we’re giving them the tools they need to make better business decisions to create job opportunities for Arkansans across the state. These two awards will help to preserve the jobs of hundreds of hard-working Arkansans, boosting the economy of communities across the state.” 

Bright Harvest Sweet Potato Co. produces sweet potato casseroles, patties, french fries, and other products and will utilize the $6.7 million loan to improve cash flows, allowing the company to improve its equity position. The company, owned by Donald Kerr, has been in existence since 1999 when the facility was purchased from Ore-Ida. The initial purchase of the company from Ore-Ida was completed using a Guaranteed Business and Industry Loan, which has since been paid in full. 

South Arkansas Oil Company, Inc. owns and operates gasoline stations with convenience stores in nine locations across Union County and will utilize its $5.25 million loan to improve cash flows, allowing the company to improve its equity position for future expansion and help reduce the risk of downsizing. The company is locally-owned and managed by Douglas Hendricks, Howard Skinner and Gary and Karen Millican, previous employees who purchased the company three years ago. 

The Business and Industry Guaranteed Loans, administered by the USDA’s Rural Business and Cooperative Programs office, are designed to improve, develop, or finance rural businesses and industry in order to improve the economic climate in rural communities. More information on the loan program can be found on the USDA’s website here http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/busp/b&i_gar.htm.