Memphis Agriliance Site Transferred in CHS Deal

     The Presidents Island operations of agriculture company Agriliance LLC have transferred to a Minnesota-based CHS Inc. as part of a repositioning.
     CHS, based in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., and Land O'Lakes Inc., based in St. Paul, Minn., announced last week they had repositioned two of their Agriliance joint-venture businesses. Agriliance's crop protection products unit was transferred to Land O'Lakes and the wholesale crop nutrients unit - of which the Memphis operations were a part - were transferred to CHS.
     A third Agriliance arm, a general agronomy retail business, will continue to operate as a joint venture, though the companies are in negotiations to sell those operations.
     Agriliance's Presidents Island operations are on 10.7 acres at 2256 Wharf St. at the southeast corner of Channel Avenue on McKellar Lake. The property includes a 10,560-square-foot warehouse, a nearly 38,000-square-foot silo and a 9,500-square-foot silo, all built in 1968. It also includes a warehouse and office building built in 1997, according to real estate information company Chandler Reports.
     The Wharf Street property was bought by CHS Inc. from Agriliance LLC for $1.9 million last week, according to the Shelby County Register of Deeds office.
     The Shelby County Assessor's 2007 appraisal was $1.9 million.
     The Presidents Island property is a fertilizer unloading facility, according to a CHS representative.
     CHS will integrate the crop nutrients business into its Ag Business segment, which also includes grain and local retail operations, according to a CHS statement. Its supply network of primary crop nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium includes a deep-water port in Galveston, Texas, the Memphis facilities and 130 crop nutrients terminals.
     The company also has offices on Quince Road.

First Horizon CEO Buys 5K Shares of Stock

     Gerald Baker, president and CEO of Memphis-based First Horizon National Corp., is the latest top executive at the financial services giant to recently snap up shares of company stock.
     Baker bought 5,000 shares last week for almost $90,000, significantly less than the nearly $145,000 First Horizon chief financial officer Bryan Jordan paid for 5,000 shares about a week prior to that. Baker's recent purchase was reported in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday.
     

Baptist Health Care Donates $1M to Union Univ.

     Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. has donated $1 million to the health care programs at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. Stephen C. Reynolds, president and CEO of Baptist, presented the check to Union University President David S. Dockery during a Friday chapel service on Union's campus.
     The money will be used to establish the Baptist Memorial Health Care Center for Excellence in Health Care and the Baptist Memorial Health Care Professor of Pharmacy in honor of Grover Bowles. Bowles was the longtime director of pharmacy at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Medical Center.
     The four-year doctor of pharmacy degree program could begin as soon as fall 2008. Sheila Mitchell was named as the founding dean of the School of Pharmacy in May.
     

MAAR Elects Board of Directors

     Members of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) elected five directors to the organization's board at last week's annual meeting.
     The new directors are Bill Maury of Hobson Co.; Joe Steffner of Grubb & Ellis; Leon Dickson of Benchmark; Joe Spake of Crye-Leike Inc.; and Melissa Hayes of Re/Max at Mallard Creek.
     They will join the current board members who will continue to serve in 2008: John Snyder of CRESA Partners, president; Elsie Ward of Crye-Leike Inc., vice-president; Harold Blockman of Keller Williams Realty; Kim Hairrell of Crye-Leike Inc.; Gary Lubin of Makowsky Ringel Greenberg LLC; Glenn Moore of Glenn Moore Realty; and Lilly White of BrokerNetwork GMAC Real Estate.
     

Ranking of Hospital Execs Includes Memphians

     Business Tennessee magazine's September issue features hospital executives from across the state who were named "The Top 35 Hospital Leaders in Tennessee."
     The chosen Memphis executives are Bill Evans, CEO of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; Jason Little, CEO of Baptist Memorial Hospital - Memphis; Steve Reynolds, president and CEO of Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp.; Cecelia W. Sawyer, administrator and CEO of Methodist University Hospital; and Gary Shorb, president and CEO of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.
     The first-ever list spotlights both hospital system executives and facility operators, and is put together by the magazine's editor Drew Ruble based on "peer review, physician input, recognized ranking and knowledgeable sources."
     The list represents leaders of multi-facility health systems along with some of the operational administrators working under their auspices, often in small hospitals. Leaders who operate large multi-state hospitals based in Tennessee were excluded from the ranking in favor of in-state subordinates overseeing in-state operations.
     The entire list is available in Business Tennessee's September issue or online at www.businesstn.com.