Rayonier Inc. scheduled its special shareholders meeting for Jan. 27 to vote on the company’s proposed merger with PotlatchDeltic Corp.
The companies agreed to a merger of equals in October.
Spokane, Washington-based PotlatchDeltic has also scheduled a virtual Jan. 27 meeting for its stockholders to vote on the deal.
Rayonier said in a Dec. 23 proxy filing it will hold its meeting at the company’s headquarters in Wildlight in Nassau County.
The deal is structured so that current Rayonier shareholders will own 54% of the merged company, which will have a new name and be headquartered in Atlanta.
According to the proxy, the merger process began in March 2025 when timber and real estate company Rayonier agreed to sell its interest in a New Zealand timber joint venture for $710 million.
That deal prompted PotlatchDeltic to look into the possibility of a merger with Rayonier, but the company decided to not begin discussions with Rayonier until the New Zealand timber sale was closed.
Meanwhile, Rayonier officials in May began considering strategic alternatives after the New Zealand sale, which included the possibility of a merger with PotlatchDeltic.
Rayonier CEO Mark McHugh then reached out to PotlatchDeltic CEO Eric Cremers and they met June 30 to discuss a possible merger.
The New Zealand timber sale was completed June 30 and the companies engaged in negotiations that resulted in the merger agreement.
The companies are hoping to complete the merger in the first quarter of 2026.
Jacksonville-based APR Energy is doubling the size of its credit line to help fund deployment of its mobile energy assets to support power demand from data centers and other users.
Wingspire Capital announced Dec. 22 it increased APR’s revolving line of credit to $300 million, after announcing a $150 million credit line in June.
APR operates mobile gas turbine fleets to provide power around the world on a fast-track basis.
“Demand for fast, reliable power continues to accelerate, particularly from data center customers,” CEO Chuck Ferry said in a news release.
“This expanded revolver from Wingspire Capital supports our ability to expand our fleet, scale quickly, and deliver power on the timelines our data center and infrastructure customers require,” he said.
APR was a publicly traded company before a buyout by a group of private equity firms in 2016.
The company was sold again in February 2020 for $750 million to Atlas Corp., a Hong Kong-based holding company.
A year ago, Fortress Investment Group announced funds managed by its affiliates acquired APR’s assets. In conjunction with that deal, Fortress signed an agreement with Jacksonville-based Duos Technologies Group Inc. to assist in managing and deploying the assets.
Duos, which provided technology mainly for railroads, expanded in 2024 with a subsidiary to provide data centers and another to provide energy services.
Duos agreed to a two-year deal with APR that it said would provide an estimated $42 million in revenue.
Ferry had left APR after the 2020 acquisition and joined Duos as chief executive. He rejoined APR with the Fortress deal and now is CEO of both companies.
Redwire Corp.’s revenue growth has been disappointing investors since it went public in 2021, but H.C. Wainwright analyst Scott Buck remains optimistic on the Jacksonville-based space technology company.
“With Redwire shares down 48.2% in 2025, versus a 14.7% increase in the Russell 2000, we believe shares are positioned for material improvement in 2026 as revenue and profitability improve materially from 2025 levels,” Buck said in a Dec. 23 research note.
He maintains a “buy” rating with a $22 price target on Redwire, with the stock trading at $8.52 at the time of his report.
Redwire was projecting annual revenue of $535 million to $605 million when it completed its $925 million acquisition of uncrewed airborne system technology company Edge Autonomy in June.
However, Buck said he and other analysts are projecting 2026 revenue below that range, with his forecast at $475 million.
“This suggests, in our view, current Street estimates, including our own, may not be fully capturing the potential revenue opportunity of the combined entity and suggests potential upside to forecasts for 2026,” he said.
“Looking towards 2026, we do not expect another federal government shutdown, which negatively impacted 2H25 results but should result in improving growth optics in 2H26,” he said.
“In addition, over the past two months the company has been awarded multiple new contracts, including an approximately $40 million UAS contract to support Croatian Border Patrol and an eight-figure contract to provide two International Berthing and Docking Mechanism systems for The Exploration Company’s reusable Nyx European space capsule.”
Buck said Redwire is also bidding for contracts from President Donald Trump’s proposed Golden Dome missile defense program.
Buck called the Golden Dome opportunity “a potential material revenue driver in 2026 and beyond.”
Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys said in a Dec. 22 research report that Intercontinental Exchange Inc. is an “attractive secular grower, but mortgage exposure to weigh on shares near-term.”
Atlanta-based ICE, best known as operator of the New York Stock Exchange, expanded its mortgage technology business with the September 2023 acquisition of Jacksonville-based Black Knight Inc.
It then announced in December 2024 it would establish its mortgage technology division headquarters in Jacksonville.
The mortgage unit produced $1.57 billion of ICE’s total revenue of $9.5 billion in the first nine months of 2025.
“While declining interest rates presents a better macro backdrop for mortgage revenues, we still see uncertainty as to the timing and magnitude of a cyclical US housing recovery,” Cyprys said in his report on brokers and exchanges.
“Long-term we still see an attractive opportunity to digitize mortgage, but may take longer for the market to fully appreciate until revenues re-accelerate,” he said.
Cyprys maintained his “equal weight” rating on ICE’s stock but raised his price target by $5 to $174, with the stock trading in the low $160s recently.
In an overall strong year for the stock market, Tapestry Inc. stood out in 2025.
The parent company of the Coach brand of handbags and other accessories doubled in price, and its 100% increase through Christmas ranked 15th among all Standard & Poor’s 500 companies, according to slickcharts.com.
New York-based Tapestry handles most of its North American distribution for Coach products from a 1.05 million-square-foot warehouse at Jacksonville International Tradeport near Jacksonville International Airport.
Tapestry also owns the Kate Spade handbag brand but Coach is much bigger, accounting for 85% of Tapestry’s $1.69 billion in sales in the first quarter ended Sept. 27.
While Kate Spade sales declined, Coach sales jumped 22% in the quarter.
“The firm has turned Coach around through store closures, restrictions on discounting, and increased e-commerce,” Morningstar analyst David Swartz said in a Dec. 15 report on Tapestry.
Swartz expects growth in Coach sales of complementary products but the handbag market remains the core.
“While many firms manufacture handbags, we view Coach as the category leader in the mass premium handbag market in North America and other markets,” he said.
“We believe women see it as a prestige brand and are willing to pay more for its bags despite the widespread availability of competing products.”