OCTOBER 24, 2005
Hendrix Expands
in SW Arkansas
(Continued From Page 1)
The $92.6 million acquisition of
First Community Banking Corp. of
Hot Springs in April 2005 made First
National Security the ninth-largest
Arkansas-based banking concern, trailing Doyle Rogers’ Rogers Bancshares
and ahead of more recognizable bank
names like John Chambers’ Chambers
Bancshares of Danville and Ross
Whipple’s Summit Bancorp of
Arkadelphia.
So what’s an oil maven in Midland,
Texas, doing amassing bank holdings
in Arkansas?
“I’m a born and raised hillbilly, and
I love the state,” said Hendrix, who
grew up near Gillham in Sevier
County.
His route from Arkansas to Midland
began with stints at Eastern Oklahoma
A&M, (now Eastern Oklahoma State
College) in Wilburton and Oklahoma
State University in Stillwater.
While earning his bachelor’s and
master’s in mechanical engineering,
Hendrix spent summers in the oils
fields as a pulling unit hand, roustabout
and geophysical computer analyst.
During the early 1960s, he landed in
Midland as a district petroleum engineer working for Texas Pacific Oil Co.
During the mid-1960s, Hendrix went
out on his own, working as an independent oil and gas developer and a
consulting petroleum engineer.
He formed John H. Hendrix Corp.
in 1976 and did OK for himself. In fact,
Hendrix did so well that he made the
inaugural Forbes 400 list of wealthiest
Americans in 1982.
“Woke up one day and just felt it
was time to leave,” Hendrix told
Forbes of his decision to go into business for himself when he was 30.
In 2004, his namesake firm ranked
as the 28th-largest producer of natural
gas (6.8 billion cubic feet) and 33rdlargest producer of crude oil (322,957
barrels) in New Mexico.
Back in ’82, his wealth was estimated at more than $150 million, based
largely on oil and gas holdings in Texas
and New Mexico. Also listed among
his assets 23 years ago were Arkansas
banks and timber.
Banking Tradition
Hendrix doesn’t recall what sparked
his interest in banking. But he points
out that his family’s banking roots date
back 100 years when his grandfather
and a great-uncle helped organize the
Bank of Gillham.
Today, the lender is known as
Horatio State Bank, and his kin dot the
bank’s organizational chart.
Hendrix said his first bank investment was First National Bank in De
Queen around 1970 or so. The lender
became the flagship for his First
National Security Co.
ARKANSAS BUSINESS
Hendrix Bank Investments
First National Security Co., De Queen
91.65 percent owned by John H. Hendrix Family
(All dollars in thousands)
First National Bank, Hot Springs*
Staff: 130
2004
2003
2002
Total Assets
$375,820 $368,121 $ 331,489
Net Income
$4,574
$3,718
$ 3,554
First National Bank, De Queen
Staff: 26
Total Assets
$126,362 $114,790 $102,149
Net Income
$1,900
$1,675
$1,584
First National Bank, Waldron
Staff: 18
Total Assets
$90,109 $89,263
$80,524
Net Income
$1,403
$1,353
$1,245
First National Bank, Ashdown
Staff: 31
Total Assets
$84,867 $89,751
$86,068
Net Income
$203
$1,461
$1,382
First National Bank, Idabel, Okla.
Staff: 17
2004
2003
2002
Total Assets
$52,409 $50,693
$49,640
Net Income
$693
$814
$698
Citizens National Bank, Nashville**
Staff: 13
Total Assets
$45,949 $48,223
$44,437
Net Income
$706
$678
$728
American State Bank, Broken Bow, Okla.***
Staff: 14
Total Assets
$44,789 $45,387
$44,751
Net Income
$619
$712
$600
First National Bank of Howard County, Dierks**
Staff: 10
Total Assets
$38,460 $39,246
$38,286
Net Income
$420
$475
$481
*Acquired in April 2005. The bank was originally known as Caddo State Bank, renamed and moved headquarters
from Glenwood to Hot Springs in 1999. It now represents the consolidation of three separate bank charters in Mena,
Mt. Ida and Glenwood.
**Merged into First National Bank, De Queen on Jan. 20, 2005.
***Merged into First National Bank, Idabel, Okla., on Jan. 13, 2005
First National Bancshares of Hempstead County Inc.
34.72 percent owned by First National Security Co.
(All dollars in thousands)
First National Bank, Hope
Bank of Blevins (Hempstead County)
Staff: 53
2004
2003
2002 Staff: 8
2004
2003
Total Assets
$127,437 $126,917 $124,392 Total Assets
$17,376 $16,123
Net Income
$994
$953
$1,146 Net Income
$138
$122
First National Bank, Lewisville
Staff: 12
Total Assets
$37,395 $36,734
$28,051
Net Income
$400
$375
$368
2002
$16,609
$77
Waldron
Scott
Garland
Mena
Mt. Ida
Hot Springs
Mountain Pine
Montgomery Royal
Cove
Polk
Howard Pike
Dierks
De Queen
Waldron
Greenwood
Murfreesboro
Nashville
Scott
Garland
Mena
Mt. Ida
Cove
Montgomery
Polk
Hot Springs
Mountain Pine
Royal
Howard Pike
Sevier
Blevins
Ashdown
Dierks
De Queen
Hempstead
Little River
Foreman
Sevier
Blevins
Ashdown
Hope
Hempstead
Little River
Foreman
Hope
Texarkana
Texarkana
Greenwood
Murfreesboro
Nashville
Lewisville
Lewisville
Miller
Lafayette
Miller
Lafayette
Over the years, his ownership in the
De Queen bank grew along with the
number of his bank investments.
At one time, he was the secondlargest shareholder in First National
Bank of Midland. His 6 percent stake
was blown away like west Texas tumbleweed when federal regulators closed
the bank in Oct. 13, 1983.
The near $2 billion-asset bank was
one of the first big casualties of the
nose-diving oil-based economy. Oncesecure loans went south as the value of
the collateral backing the loans followed the plunging petroleum market.
Back in the early 1980s, Hendrix
also owned more than 20 percent of
Worthen Banking Corp., then the
largest bank holding company in
Arkansas. He ended up selling his stake
in the Little Rock bank holding company to Witt and Jackson T. “Jack”
Stephens and the Riady family.
“Jack and Witt overwhelmed me,
and we struck a deal,” Hendrix said
last week. “Two of the finest guys I ever
met. A man of vision is that man,
Jackson.”
The timing was propitious. Worthen
later encountered serious financial
15
troubles, and a one-two punch from
First National Bank in Midland and
Worthen combined with the oil slump
could have proven disastrous for
Hendrix.
“I don’t know if I could’ve stood
that,” he said.
Hendrix proved to be a survivor,
and his interest in banking remained
despite setbacks. His business interests
go beyond oil and banking, too.
“It’s been a lot of things,” Hendrix
said. “I stay active. I enjoy timberland
and have a good timber operation. I
love livestock and have a good cattle
operation. I love the oil business
because it’s an extreme challenge.”
His timber, cattle and banking
investments are a big reason Hendrix is
often found in Arkansas rather than
Texas.
“Jack and Witt overwhelmed me, and we struck
a deal. Two of the finest
guys I ever met. A man of
vision is that man,
Jackson.”
— John Hendrix
His interest in timber dates back to
his youth. During high school, he
helped cut pulpwood and logs. His
interest in ranching began as he cut and
baled hay while growing up in Arkansas, and it blossomed during his
years in Midland.
His business life in Texas has been
exciting and rewarding, but he’s
always had an eye for his home state.
Hendrix points out that west Texas is
a place of extremes, from the weather
to business.
He recalls long, hot, dry spells mixed
with gully washers on the mesquiteladen high plains and harsh, blustery
winters. The opportunity to lose or
make lots of money pervaded the landscape.
“In those days, I was primarily a
money-grubber, so I tolerated it,”
Hendrix said. “I got to love it. But I
love the hills and rivers better.”
The topography of his boyhood
helped keep him coming back to
Arkansas and expanding his business
interests here.
Hendrix doesn’t profess to any
grand plans for his growing collection
of banks. The bank investments could
indicate he merely is shifting his
wealth into a more conservative arena
as he heads into the latter years of his
career.
That would jibe with his comment
when Forbes revisited him in 2001:
“Ego drives lots of people to do strange
things. Control your investments.”
Hendrix was one of eight Midland
businessmen who made the Forbes list
in 1982. But by 2001, they all were
absent from the magazine’s roster. ■