Westfield buys nine malls for $756 million

Westfield America recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of nine regional shopping centers from the Richard E. Jacobs Group. With this transaction, the Westfield America portfolio now includes 48 shopping centers with more than 48 million square feet of retail space.

Westfield owns Westfield Shoppingtown West Park in Cape Girardeau.

The purchase price for the new shopping centers is valued at $756 million, including $41 million in cash, $210 million in equity and $505 million of mortgage debt.

Among those purchased is one in Chesterfield, Mo. as well as centers in Ohio, North Carolina, Nebraska, Washington and Indiana.

Big River makes Internet donation to Notre Dame

Big River Telephone Co., based in Cape Girardeau, recently announced an $18,000 grant to Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau. The grant provides for high-speed Internet access to the school for a three-year period. The high-speed Internet access will be used primarily by the students for educational purposes, but will also be available to the faculty and staff for other administrative needs.

In addition, Big River also introduced its SchoolGrant program to the Notre Dame community. The SchoolGrant program provides further financial support to Notre Dame through Big River's contributions based on services sold to Notre Dame families and supporters. Under the SchoolGrant program, Big River will donate an additional amount of money based on the Big River services used by individuals and businesses that identify themselves as Notre Dame supporters.

"We think Notre Dame does an excellent job of educating and preparing our youth to be excellent citizens for the future. We wanted to help out in the best way we could to support their mission," stated Jerry Howe, chief executive officer of Big River Telephone.

Schnucks to buy 12 Albertsons-owned stores

St. Louis-based Schnucks Markets, Inc., has announced a deal to buy 12 Seessel's stores in the Memphis metropolitan area. The properties, owned by Albertsons Inc., based in Boise, Idaho, were purchased for an undisclosed sum.

The transaction should be finalized by June 3.

The Seessel's stores range in size from 26,000 to 69,000 square feet. Six of the stores were opened within the past three years. Nine have in-store pharmacies and six operate full-service gas stations. The gas stations will be a new venture for Schucks.

Schnucks has grown to include 90 stores in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, including one in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Annual sales exceed $2.1 billion. Schnucks is currently ranked 83rd on Family Business Magazine's list of 150 largest family companies.

-- From staff, wire reports