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3 day country music festival in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina featuring the biggest names in country music!
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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 4,  2015 /PRNewswire/ — Full House Productions (FHP), Charlotte, N.C.’s premier entertainment and hospitality agency, in conjunction with Visit Myrtle Beach, announce the return of Carolina Country Music Fest (CCMF) to the shores of Myrtle Beach, S.C., June 10-12, 2016.

The three-day country music fest will host a kick-off event on Thursday, June 9, featuring live music and a preview of the weekend’s festivities. While performers are to be determined, the names of headlining artist artists are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

“The inaugural Carolina Country Music Fest was a phenomenal experience,” said Bob Durkin, President of FHP. “The city of Myrtle Beach and concert goers alike loved the city’s first-ever oceanfront country music concert, so we are excited to host CCMF again in 2016. FHP appreciates the continued support, and wants to thank Myrtle Beach in a big way.”

This year, CCMF attracted over 19,000 attendees and featured country music’s biggest names, including Rascal Flatts, Eric Church and Lady Antebellum. Next year’s event will host over 30 of the industry’s biggest stars, and has been described as a bigger and better production than the first.

“The city is thrilled to host the second annual Carolina Country Music Fest on the shores of Myrtle Beach in 2016,” said John Rhodes, Mayor of the City of Myrtle Beach. “The combination of our beautiful beaches and the Southeast’s premier country music concert makes Myrtle Beach the ideal summertime beach destination.”

Due to the overwhelming, positive response and requests, tickets for the second annual CCMF are available now and can be purchased at www.CarolinaCountryMusicFest.com, with discounted, three-day general admission tickets available in limited quantities. For accommodations or more information about Myrtle Beach, go to www.VisitMyrtleBeach.com.  

“The inaugural Carolina Country Music Fest was a huge success, and started our 2015 summer tourism season on a high note,” said Brad Dean, president and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. “Our collaboration and support with the promoters of the Carolina Country Music Fest and the City of Myrtle Beach will continue to position the Myrtle Beach area as an up-and-coming music destination for both visitors and residents alike. We look forward to welcoming the Carolina Country Music Fest for a second summer season.”

Carolina Country Music Fest (CCMF), the Southeast’s premier outdoor country music fest, is located on the shores of Myrtle Beach. A unique blend of today’s country headliners and up-and-comers, CCMF is host to the industry’s biggest stars. With the combination of country music and the scenic Myrtle Beach backdrop, this family-friendly, three-day fest is a summer vacation destination.

Full House Productions is a premier entertainment and production company specializing in the restaurant, nightlife, entertainment and hospitality industries. From producing concerts with the music industry’s biggest stars to partnering with restaurants and bars to achieve their marketing goals, Full House Concerts, a division of Full House Productions, is a full service event production company experienced in planning, marketing and executing concerts, festivals and special events. Since 1998, FHP has produced over 500 events in over a dozen cities around the United States with a leadership team comprised of experienced, innovative, unique and talented individuals.

CarolinaCountryMusicFest.com 

Video – https://youtu.be/7XqHESzTTfE

SOURCE Carolina Country Music Fest

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http://www.CarolinaCountryMusicFest.com

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Babson Capital Management, a leading global asset management firm with over $218 billion in assets under management, today announced that it served as a mandated co-lead arranger of senior secured credit facilities to support Kinderhook Industries’ acquisition of Bestop, Inc.

The financing, which includes a revolving credit facility and a term loan facility, supports Kinderhook’s purchase of Bestop from Magna International and provides additional working capital. Founded in 1954 and headquartered in Louisville, Colorado, Bestop has been the leading supplier of original equipment and aftermarket products and accessories for Jeeps for more than 50 years.

“Kinderhook is pleased to collaborate with Babson on our investment in Bestop,” said Paul Cifelli, Managing Director of Kinderhook Industries. “Babson’s deep expertise in the middle market, along with its flexibility, responsiveness and ability to provide financing solutions across the capital structure have made it a valuable partner for Kinderhook on this and previous transactions.”

“Babson values its relationship with Kinderhook and we look forward to working with them again in the future,” said Brian C. Baldwin, Managing Director in Babson’s U.S. Middle Market Lending Group.  “We are excited about the opportunities for Bestop to grow organically and through acquisition, by leveraging its leading market position and premium brand as well as Kinderhook’s resources and extensive experience in the automotive aftermarket.”

About Kinderhook Industries

Founded in 2003, Kinderhook Industries is a private equity firm with over $1.25 billion of committed capital and an investment philosophy based on combining senior management and operating experience in a variety of industries with the financial and investment know-how of private equity professionals. Kinderhook primarily makes control investments in companies with transaction values of $25-$250 million in which the firm believes it can achieve significant financial, operational and growth improvements. The firm targets orphaned non-core subsidiaries of corporate parents, existing small capitalization public companies lacking institutional support and management-led recapitalizations of entrepreneur-owned companies. By providing access to capital, strategic advice and an extensive network of relationships, Kinderhook has a history of successfully building privately held firms in partnership with management. For more information please visit: www.kinderhook.com.

About Babson Capital Management

Babson Capital Management is a leading global asset management firm with over $218 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2015. Through proprietary research, analysis and a focus on investment fundamentals, the firm and its global affiliates develop products and strategies that leverage its broad expertise in global fixed income, structured products, middle market finance, commercial real estate, alternatives and equities.  A member of the MassMutual Financial Group, Babson maintains a strong global footprint with operations on four continents and clients in over 20 countries. Learn more at www.babsoncapital.com.

Media Contacts:
Brian Whelan, Babson Capital Management, 704.805.7244, bwhelan@babsoncapital.com
David Coburn, Luquire George Andrews, 704.552.6565, coburn@lgapr.com

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SOURCE Babson Capital Management

RELATED LINKS
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Among the big policy changes stuffed into the state Senate’s budget is a proposal that could take significant revenue away from urban counties and distribute it to rural counties. The idea has a double drawback: it will hurt counties that are the engines of the state’s economy and won’t significantly help rural areas.

The proposal by Sen. Harry Brown (R-Onslow) would allocate much of the local sales tax money based on population, instead of keeping the money where sales occur. The change would cost urban counties and tourism-heavy counties while boosting the budgets of rural counties.

Brown says the change will help bridge the urban-rural divide. Instead it will aggravate it.

Cities would likely be forced to raise property taxes to make up the tax loss, because those taxes don’t just go into the pockets of urban areas. They go for infrastructure such as roads and utilities that support the retail and employment centers that bring in the tax.

And, in making the cities more able to support that infrastructure, the rural areas around them benefit with jobs for their residents. Adding sales tax dollars for rural counties won’t be enough to offset deeper economic problems caused by a loss of businesses and population and a lack of infrastructure.

Gov. Pat McCrory, a former mayor of Charlotte, is vehemently opposed to Brown’s idea and vows to veto it, along with the rest of the budget, if it is in the budget document that reaches his desk.

“This bill,” the governor said, “will result in a tax increase for millions of hard-working, middle-class families and small business owners throughout North Carolina. Redistribution and hidden tax increases are liberal tax-and-spend principles of the past.”

Those are fighting words for Republicans, who usually use them against Democrats.

Brown would better spend his energy working on programs to bring more jobs to rural areas. He could also help rural areas by supporting the expansion of Medicaid and seeking more money for public schools. Why must his plan to help smaller counties consist of taking from big counties, instead of coming up with investment and job initiatives to help the unemployed and underemployed in rural counties?

Instead, too many in the GOP continue to talk about cutting income taxes for the wealthy and corporations as the mainstay of economic stimulus. The problem is, if you don’t have a job or are underemployed, a tax cut doesn’t help you much.

Johnston County and its towns could see their sales-tax revenue soar if state lawmakers approve a plan to reallocate the money.

The plan – crafted by Sen. Harry Brown and baked into the Senate version of the budget – would allocate much of the sales tax money based on population, instead of keeping the money where sales occur. That would benefit smaller and rural counties, while some urban and touristy counties would lose millions.

Last month, Brown brought leaders from 40 rural counties to Raleigh to lobby the legislature for the tax change. Representing Johnston were County Commissioners Chairman Tony Braswell, Commissioner Jeff Carver and County Manager Rick Hester.

Of all the counties that have backed the proposal, Braswell said, Johnston would be one of the biggest winners. On the other side of the equation, Braswell acknowledged that some counties would come out losers.

“It’s sort of good news/bad news, double-edged sword,” he said. “We had to go against other counties, but if it’s going to work for Johnston County, it’s gotta be good.”

According to projected figures, Brown’s plan would boost Johnston’s sales-tax revenue by $1.2 million, or 4 percent, to $31.7 million in the 2016-17 fiscal year. The impact becomes far more dramatic in fiscal year 2019-20, when Johnston would rake in an increase of $5.7 million, or 16.8 percent, for a total of $39.7 million.

In addition to the county’s coffers, projections show all 11 of Johnston’s towns would benefit as well.

For fiscal year 2016-17, all but one town would collect close to 3 percent more in sales taxes. For the towns’ 2019-20 budgets, the gains would be about 12 percent across the board. The exception is Archer Lodge, which stands to collect increases at rates similar to the county.

That means an extra $63,543 for Smithfield’s next budget, and $291,903 for fiscal year 2019-20. In Selma, the respective annual boosts are $22,594 and $103,790. In Clayton, the impact is $87,275 and $400,934.

Added together, Johnston and its towns would reap more than $1.4 million in extra sales-tax revenue next fiscal year, and more than $6.7 million in fiscal year 2019-20.

Based on how much retail shopping occurs in Smithfield, Town Manager Paul Sabiston said neither the current distribution formula nor Brown’s proposal gives Smithfield a big enough share of the sales taxes it generates. Sabiston would love to have the extra money that Brown’s plan promises to give Smithfield in the short term, he said, but it raises new concerns down the road.

Namely, Sabiston said, the proposal restructures sales taxes so that all monies flow through Raleigh before reaching local jurisdictions. That worries Sabiston and other local leaders around the state, who prefer the present system, where local dollars are collected locally. The current structure makes it difficult for lawmakers in Raleigh to keep funds originally promised to counties, cities and towns.

“Let’s face it, if the money is coming across your desk in Raleigh, it’s a lot easier to take larger and larger shares of it,” Sabiston said.

McCrory vows veto

Not everyone in Raleigh has hoped on board with Brown’s plan, and some of the harshest criticism has come from House Republicans.

On the same day as Brown’s news conference, Gov. Pat McCrory issued a news release vowing to veto the proposal.

McCrory called the legislation the “Tax Increase, Redistribution and Spending Act.” It’s the first time this session that the governor has promised a veto before a bill passed both the House and Senate. His spokesman also said he plans to veto the entire state budget if the sales tax provision is included.

“This bill will result in a tax increase for millions of hardworking middle-class families and small business owners throughout North Carolina,” the governor said in the release. “Redistribution and hidden tax increases are liberal tax-and-spend principles of the past that simply don’t work. More importantly, this bill will cripple the economic and trade centers of our state that power our economy.”

McCrory has criticized the plan before, but the news release was his first formal rebuke.

Brown says it’s wrong to view his plan as a “redistribution” of sales tax dollars.

“This plan finally corrects that decades-long redistribution of wealth from poor areas to urban areas,” the Senate majority leader said. “It helps ensure all North Carolina counties benefit from tax dollars.”

Brown says that criticism of the change has been overblown. “I think a lot of the attention given to this bill has been focused on the exaggerated and the extreme,” he said. “We’ve heard it called a lot of unfair names like the Robin Hood plan.”

Asked about McCrory’s opposition, Brown called on the governor to propose a different solution to the state’s urban-rural divide.

McCrory said his “N.C. Competes” jobs incentive plan would address the problem. “The best thing the Senate and General Assembly can do for the less populated areas across our state is to pass and allow us to implement the N.C. Competes jobs strategy which will benefit travel and tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and nearly every economic sector in our state,” he said the day of Brown’s rally.

The N.C. Competes plan passed the House months ago, but the Senate wants to tweak the incentives program to direct a higher percentage of jobs funds to rural counties.

The sharp words highlight a bitter divide between the executive branch and the Senate. Brown issued a response to McCrory’s criticism late that afternoon.

“I can’t figure out if Pat thinks he is the governor of Charlotte or the mayor of North Carolina,” Brown said. “Today, over 100 local officials from across the state came out in support of sales tax fairness. Sadly, the governor’s tone-deaf response to their overwhelming support is doubling down on a 2007 sales tax policy change that kicked rural North Carolina in the teeth.”

Sen. Tommy Tucker, a Union County Republican, suggested his own renaming of the sales tax distribution bill.

“I call this the Tax Reclamation Act,” he said. “We are reclaiming the dollars we’re spending in Charlotte.”

How would the sales-tax changes affect Johnston?

Based on projections, a reallocation of sales taxes included in the Senate’s budget would mean more dollars for Johnston County and each of its towns. Here’s how the changes would affect local coffers next fiscal year, and in fiscal year 2019-20, when the impact is expected to grow.

Source: Gov. Pat McCrory’s Office.