Sioux Falls Business Journal

NorthWestern Corp. today announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has approved the company’s motion to acquire shares from the dispute claims reserve.

Holders of former debt and allowed unsecured claims will receive a surplus distribution in cash rather than stock and accruals from the disputed claims reserve established under NorthWestern’s confirmed plan of reorganization from its 2004 Chapter 11 reorganization.

Participating creditors who would like to receive their share of the surplus distribution in stocks and accruals must elect to by Aug. 22.

The creditors’ reserve holds more than 2.3 million shares of NorthWestern’s common stock, which is listed on the New York

Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NWE, plus cash dividends and interest in respect of shares.

NorthWestern estimates that the surplus distribution will be made in late August or September.

HF Financial Corp. (Nasdaq: HFFC) has reported a 45 percent increase in earnings for its fourth quarter compared with a year ago.

HF Financial, parent company of Home Federal Bank, reported earnings of $1.6 million for the quarter that ended June 30. Last year during the same period, its earnings were $1.1 million.

“The continued improvement in revenue growth has been an important driver of overall net income growth. Our balance sheet was structured to benefit a positively sloped yield curve, and we have been pleased with the results in our net interest margin,” said Curt Hage, chairman, president and chief executive officer of HF Financial. “We are also pleased with our longer term increase in our recurring non-interest revenue.”

Other factors were a decrease in net health care costs and an increase in total loans and leases receivable.

The company’s noninterest income decreased 2.6 percent compared to a year ago.

The company will pay a quarterly dividend of 11.25 cents per share for the fourth quarter on Aug. 15.

HF Financial earnings for fiscal year 2008 totaled $5.8 million, an increase of 7 percent from fiscal year 2007.

Construction of the first phase of a $20.8 million water-treatment facility for the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System is scheduled to begin this fall near Vermillion and the Missouri River.

The water system’s board of directors recently awarded the contract for phase one of the water-treatment plant to Foley Co., of Kansas City, Mo.

Nine bids were received. All of them were below the engineering estimate, according to the system.

The first phase of construction will include a 3 million gallon reservoir, high-capacity pumps, electrical switchgear building and standby generators. The structures involved are separate from the main treatment plant.

The second phase of the plant is scheduled to go to bid in mid-2009. That phase will include construction of the main plant.
Completion of the second phase, which will allow the system to begin delivering water, is scheduled for mid-2012.

Ultimately, the Lewis & Clark pipeline will transport water to 15 cities and five rural water systems in South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. Sioux Falls is among the communities that will be served.

This portion of Highway 11 between 26th Street and Highway 42 will be part of S.D. 100. (Inertia/for SFBJ)

After more than a dozen years of planning, construction is moving ahead on the first leg of a $200 million roadway that will skirt along eastern and southern Sioux Falls.

South Dakota 100 will be a 17-mile highway that connects Interstate 29 south of Sioux Falls with Interstate 90 on the city’s east side. The four-lane path will run more than two miles outside of Interstate 229.

The first section of the project is under construction on Highway 11, also known as Powder House Road, from 26th Street to Arrowhead Parkway.