The Commercial Appeal from Memphis, Tennessee • 13

Thi Commercial Appeal Tuctday Auyuit 5 2003 B7 wwgomcinphixoni firm buys Belz outlet mall along with Las Vegas center By PEborsk Oubfc kjb6ggomemphtscom DAILY BRIEFING a LOCAL Patriot Bank to open in Collierville Patriot Bank of Millington plans to open an office in Col' lierville this month chairman Charles Ennis said The bank's second location at 354 New Byhalia Road will begin operations with four employees when building renovations are completed expected to be al month Michael Nabors will be Collierville president and senior banking officer He is former vice president of Citizens Bank of Collierville and Collierville president of National Bank of Commerce The branch will include BancPlus Mortgage an affiliate of the bank under mortgage lender Larry Boyd with two other employees Insider trades about the middle of the Memphis-based Belz Enterprises managed both the Lakeland and Las Vegas outlet centers for Estein Chelsea has assumed management of both Belz opened the Lakeland mall in 1979 as the first fully enclosed air-conditioned outlet mail in the country and had continued to manage it Belz opened the Las Vegas center with 255000 square feet of leasable space in November 1993 and added to it in 1996 and 1997 Andy Groveman president of Belz Factory Outlet said Belz retained ownership of a 51374-square-foot annex at the Las atives including a second phase of its factory mall in San Juan Puerto Rica Belz owns more than 100 acres adjacent to the Lakeland mall and is discussing with city officials a future multi-use development with a Groveman said The sale did not include Belz Factory Outlet Worlds in Orlando and St Augustine Fla Pigeon Forge Term and San Juan Belz Designer Outlet Centre in Orlando and 100 Oaks Mall in Nashville Family-owned Belz has more than 40 shopping centers plus a group of premier hotels and other real estate Chelsea Property Group wholly or partially owns 163 million square feet in shopping centers in 32 states and Japan Deborah Oubb: 529-2351 The Belz Factory Outlet Mall in Lakeland has been bought for $35 million by a real estate investment trust based in Roseland NJ Chelsea Property Group Inc acquired the Lakeland mall and the 477000-square-foot Belz Factory Outlet World -Las Vegas from privately held Estein Associates USA Ltd of Orlando on Friday Total sale price was $1075 million Chelsea expects to remarket the Lakeland property soon Chelsea spokesman Michelle Rothstein did not know current occupancy for the Lakeland mall but it was about 50 percent a year ago The Las Vegas center is 99 percent leased to approximately 130 tenants direc- re- Open market stock purchases and sales by officers tors and major shareholders of Mid-South companies i ported recently to include: the Securities and Exchange Commission Vegas mall and 12 acres of outparcel property fronting Las Vegas Boulevard ana the mail AutoZone Inc Charlie Pleas III vice president made an option related sale of 3000 shares for $8369 to $8370 each on July 29 leaving him with 352 shares Groveman said Las retail sector is so Belz chose to concentrate on other development initi I Hist Tennessee National Corp Marlin Mosby III an option rela Augl for $4322 each reducing his stake to 13225 shares vice president made an option related sale of 3652 shares on Big-league investors build team with financial World Series in mind National Commerce Financial Corp David Popwell vice president bought 4200 shares each on luly 29 bringing his holdings to 54002 shares John Mistretta officer bought 2000 shares on July 30 for $2402 apiece increasing his ownership to 17733 shares Thomas Garrott director bought 10975 shares for $2371 each on July 29 giving him 2083020 shares Wright Medical Group Inc Richard Emmitt director sold 300000 shares for $2457 apiece on July 29 retaining 609223 shares Briefly CHUCKJAFFE Your Funds you didn't write down your reasons for investing and your expectations for a fond make the list now In this way you can answer the question I buy this fund again If you get ill while writing the ust because the fund has been a complete letdown it's time for a change Once you know there is a fund you might want to replace do what big-league general managers do and scour the world for talent Using sites like Momingstar com or Lipperleaderscom look for funds that have the cost and performance credentials that excite you Now decide what kind of deals interest you: Swap players at the same position This is the most straightforward kind of dealing where dump the fund that has As a result investors looking to spread their money around might pull cash from the crowded asset class to buy into something where they have no player Trade for a player to be named later or for cash If your evaluation tells you that a player is holding your portfolio back and you're not sure where to put the money you can bail out on the fund while you contemplate the next move Ideally you won't keep the money idle for long unless you are looking to increase the cash in your portfolia Fire the coach and general manager OK it's not a trade but it sometimes is just what a team needs In the case of your financial team this may mean replacing yourself with a financial adviser (or it may involve dumping your current broker or planner because their decisions have proven problematic) not an easy decision but if you're not on the road to reaching the World Series and if you can't see yourself rebuilding the team in short order it may be the right move to improve performance Chuck Jaffe is senior columnist far CBS Marketumtch He can be reached at affe marketwatchcom or Box 70 Gohasset Mass 02025-0070 Major League Baseball's trading deadline passed last week and the exercise of swapping players for the stretch run is something fund investors can learn from Think of your portfolio of funds as a team each fund type as a different position and reaching your goals to be your financial World Series Viewed through that lens it makes sense to examine your holdings and available on the market and see if making swaps can improve your squad As with any evaluation of talent you have to be careful not to fell in love with what you don't have The most popular player on any athletic team is the backup who shows a flash of potential that hints at being better than the starter the problem with that player often is that a reason why they're a backup Too many moves disrupt any team and short-circuit efforts to win Too few can mean you're sticking with losers who give you no chance to win the Big One Trading investment players starts with self-evaluation Examine your portfolio to see if you have all of the positions covered appropriately Review your asset allocation consider rebalancing the portfolio to keep it in line with your financial jilan and think about which fond types you have been meaning to buy but haven't gotten around to purchasing That overall view deter- mines the scope of moves you might make If you have been following a long-term investment plan the tweaking you need to make should be minimal Next measure each fund on its relative merits and how they measure up to your expectations If a fund has been below average for its asset category for a significant stretch of time thats when you start looking to make a change dump a player based on a current slump because the logic that leads investors to make a change after a short disap-intment also leads them to uy what's hot a move that typically leads to an out-ofcontrol portfolio filled with hot funds about to cool off When you buy a new fund you should start your file on it with a list of things that led you to make the decision ranging from the characteristics at the time it was purchased to your expectations If you made this checklist compare the fond against it If been disappointing and replace it with something from the exact same asset class that you believe has better potential This kind of trade keeps your asset allocation in place but simply upgrades your batting order Shorten your bench but fill holes in your lineup Many investors have more than one fond in a certain asset class There are worse things than owning say two or three large-cap growth funds but having thisldnd of overlap does reduce your portfolio's diversification Fbrthe best Factory orders rise sector may be healing ith Inc of Tupelo Miss has completed the purchase of Ramsey Krug Farrell Lenslng Inc a Little Rock insurance firm Terms of the deal were not disclosed The insurance company founded in 1980 has 100 employees REGIONAL Union Pacific to sell Ovemite Railroad giant Union Pacific Corp on Monday said it will sell its trucking unit Ovemite Corp through an initial public offering The sale of Ovemite based in Richmond Va could be approved by die end of the year or sooner company spokesman Kathryn Blackwell said Ovemite is a less-than-truckload carrier meaning its trucks transport freight from multiple customers The company has a fleet of more than 6000 vehicles and employs more than 14400 people Blackwell said Union Pacific decided to sell its trucking operations because it does not consider Ovemite a core asset Ovemite had $13 billion in revenue last year and net income of $55 million NATIONAL WorldCom denies accusations Accusations by Corp that rival WorldCom Inc routed long-distance calls through Canada to avoid paying access fees are groundless and were made only for competitive gain WorldCom said Monday made the accusations simply to and efforts to emerge from bankruptcy the telecom said in a filing in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan In a court filing last week claimed it had evidence WorldCom was shifting calls to carriers in Canada which sent them back to the United States on lines forcing to pay access fees that WorldCom should have paid Qwest strikes wireless deal with Sprint Debt-laden Qwest Communications International Inc struck a deal Monday to move its wireless phone customers onto Sprint's national network allowing it to sell off its related assets while still offering wireless services Under the deal with Sprint Denver-based Qwest will offer Sprint PCS Vision under its own brand by next year to local residential customers and to business customers nationwide Qwest will handle sales billing and customer service The terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed but Qwest said it would purchase minutes from Sprint Pricing plans have not been decided Qwest serves 1 million wireless customers but its network is limited to its 14-state region The companies said they expect most of wireless customers to move onto Sprint's network by next year MetLife posts 58 rise in profits MetLife Inc reported a 58 percent increase in second-quarter profits Monday with help from smaller Investment losses The New York-based insurer reported net income of $611 million or 84 cents per share compared with $387 million or 53 cents per share in the same quarter last year Bor the quarter ended June 30 net income included after-tax net Investment losses of $40 million compared with after-tax net investment losses of $117 million in the second quarter of 2002 Operating earnings came to $651 million or 89 cents a share compared with $504 million or 69 cents per share during the same period last yean The provider of financial services and insurance services beat the expectations of analysts for 70 cents a share Total revenues rose to $888 billion from $82 billion Mediator works on Vferizon pact Nearly 80000 Verizon employees remained on the job Monday as contract negotiations continued under a federal mediator A three-year contract expired at midnight Saturday and the union had threatened a strike but telephone operators and trhnlriang avoided any disruption of service at the largest provider of local and wireless phone service The Communications Workers of America represents about 60000 workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Wbrkers represents another 18000 The talks are taking place against the backdrop of a July arbitration ruling that required Verizon to rehire 2300 people in New York state who had been laid off in December Following the ruling Verizon brought back about 1100 laid-off employees in three other states Pennsylvania New Jersey and Massachusetts who had also asked arbitrators to overturn the dismissals Ex-Enron chief sells fourth Aspen home Former Enron chairman Ken Lay unloaded the last of his four Aspen Cola properties last Thursday when he closed on the sale of a four-bedroom 5 Vfc-bath home listing broker Joshua Saslove said Lay and his wife Linda sold the 5000-square-foot home for $5525 million about $620000 less than what they paid for it three years aga The Lays have been selling their Aspen holdings since he resigned as chairman and CEO He quit the Houston-based energy giant in December 2001 when the company revealed huge financial losses that had been shielded by accounting abuses and then filed for bankruptcy The Lays' other properties included two homes and a vacant lot One of the homes a so-called cottage near the posh sld townk center that was valued at about $31 million sold for $10 million The vacant lot near the Aspen Art Institute sold for $215 million The third home sold in May for $47 million Compiled from our press service! and staff reports i i have throttled back production and cut jobs Even with indications that manufacturing is picking up employment in that sector expected to show improvement any time soon economists say Productivity gains in manufacturing have meant factories can produce more with fewer people a factor in the sectors job losses Economists say employers will be wary about hiring back some workers until they are certain the economic recovery has staying power With scattered signs that the economy is getting better the Federal Reserve probably will hold a key short-term interest rate at a 45-year low of 1 percent at its next meeting on Aug 12 analysts said Near rock-bottom shortterm interest rates combined with fatter paychecks and other tax incentives coming from President Bush's third round of tax cuts may spur consumers and businesses to spend and invest more helping to lift the economy in the second half of this year Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and private economists are hopeful that the economy will stage a solid rebound in the current third quarter and the final quarter of this year You are invited to attend a no cost no obligation Financial Planning Workshop Every Tuenfay and Thunday in Augurt at 530 pm Workshop topics Retirement Pension maximisation 401(k) rollover Seating Smiled Call Shoemaker Financial now at (901) 757-5757 to rasarva a taat Refreshments provided Shoemaker By laiiilii Bmmu JVBHHIOT aWBwiB The Associated Press WASHINGTON manufacturers saw demand for their products rise in June by the latest amount in three months another encouraging sign that the fragile factory sector is on the mend along with the rest of the economy The Commerce Department reported Monday that orders to U3 factories rose 17 percent from May the second month in a row that orders went up Gains were fairly broad-based with orders rising for machinery household appliances and automobiles as well as goods such as food products and chemicals performance which followed a 03 percent rise in May was stronger than economists were expecting they were forecasting a 13 percent increase in factory orders Monday report along with other recent data on factory activity suggest the industry is turning a comer A report released Friday showed that manufacturing expanded in July for the first time in five months The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose to 513 in July up from 498 in June A reading below 50 indicates that manufacturing activity is slowing and a reading above 50 indicates it is growing is healing" said Gifford Waldman an economist at the Manufacturers AllianceMAPL a research group it is not entirely clear to me that we can yet say we reached a new cycle of selt-sustainini of this reflects a from the war period and pent-up business Manufacturing has had the hardest time trying to get back on firmer footing after being knocked down by the 2001 recession Faced with lackluster demand at home and abroad as well as competition from a flood of imports factories Fir eial Serving the hMSouth't financial planning naadt tinea 1978 Fineneelplennng eenicee ana provided through Sacurian financial Samoa he A RegetetedhvetonentAdmoc 9730-2003-6371 OOFU 72003 2176 Wnt Street Suit 110 Gwmantown TN 38138 wwwatomkffinnctanorxom AM 16 UaGmVO On VVVR al MIMVin Aqpiar and fopiarftfce Landers Dodge wants to welcome Dennis Marr to their Sales Team invite All of Dennis? 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