Business briefs

Workplace safety office opened in Lafayette
LAFAYETTE — The Louisiana Workforce Commission recently opened a new Louisiana Workplace Safety office in Lafayette to provide free assistance to help small businesses implement and maintain effective safety and health management systems, a commission news release stated.
The new office, located at 706 East Vermilion St. in Lafayette, is staffed by two professional safety consultants to help businesses identify workplace hazards and ways to prevent them.
“With more than 50,000 new and existing jobs in the oil and gas and construction industries projected in the region, our Workplace Safety office is an asset for Acadiana,” said Curt Eysink, LWC executive director. “Our goal is to be a partner with the business community and a resource to improve workplace safety for employers and employees.”
The office provides free training, including fall protection, recordkeeping, scaffolding, electrical and machine guarding.
Small businesses with 500 or fewer employees qualify for services from the LWC’s Louisiana Workplace Safety offices. Current clientele in the Lafayette area includes small businesses in the oil and gas, construction, logging and machining sectors.
The office also offers the Louisiana Cost Containment Program to assist qualified employers reduce their workers’ compensation premiums and the OSHA SHARP Award, a deferred inspection program for qualifying employers who meet specific safety requirements.
All Louisiana Workplace Safety services are confidential and provided at no cost to the employer. Call 1-800-201-2495 to learn more about how your small business can benefit from Workplace Safety services.

Daigle marks 10 years at 1st Franklin Financial
MORGAN CITY — Pat Daigle, branch manager for 1st Franklin Financial’s Morgan City office, was recognized for 10 years of service with the company on June 29.
Daigle joined the company on June 29, 2004. She resides in Pierre Part.
1st Franklin Financial Corp. has been in the consumer finance business since 1941. The business is headquartered in Toccoa, Ga., and operates through 277 branch loan offices located in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The Morgan City office is located at 1009 Clothilde St.; phone, 985-384-1691.

LHC to acquire Life Care
Home Health
LAFAYETTE (AP) — Lafayette-based home nursing firm LHC Group will buy 14 home health agencies from a Tennessee company for $10 million in cash.
Life Care Home Health Inc.’s agencies are spread across seven states. LHC said the deal will increase its footprint to 352 locations across 30 states. LHC expects to close the acquisition on Sept. 1, and that the deal will increase earnings in 2015.
The Life Care agencies are in Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah and Washington. The home health agencies produced revenues of approximately $28.5 million in 2013 and for the 12 months ended in May.

Albemarle buying Rockwood
in $6.2B deal
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Specialty chemicals company Albemarle is buying counterpart Rockwood Holdings Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $6.2 billion.
Rockwood shareholders will receive $50.65 in cash and 0.4803 of a share of Albemarle common stock for each share they own. The deal values Rockwood at $85.53 per share.
There has been some consolidation in the sector in recent years and heavyweights like Dow Chemical focus more on higher-margin specialty chemicals. To compete and lower costs, competitors are growing through significant acquisitions.
Huntsman in September announced it would spend more than a billion to acquire Rockwood Holdings, based in Princeton, N.J. The company makes specialty chemicals and advanced materials for customers including the auto, electronics and construction industries.
Cabot Corp. bought the Dutch company Norit NV for $1.1 billion to strengthen its specialty chemicals portfolio.
Eastman Chemical spent more than $3 billion on Solutia, a St. Louis company that makes materials and specialty chemicals used in the automotive and architectural industries.
Albemarle Corp., based in Baton Rouge, said Tuesday that it expects about $100 million in annual cost savings by 2016 through its acquisition of Rockwood. It anticipates maintaining its current quarterly dividend and lowering debt in the near-term.
Albemarle shareholders will own approximately 70 percent of the combined business, with Rockwood stockholders owning the remaining 30 percent.
The boards of both companies have approved the deal, which is targeted to close in the first quarter of next year. It still needs shareholder approval.
The combined company will operate under the Albemarle name.
Albemarle President and CEO Luke Kissam will serve in those same roles for the combined business. The board will include eight Albemarle directors and three Rockwood directors. Jim Nokes will remain Albemarle’s non-executive chairman.
Rockwood is based in Princeton, New Jersey.