Continued growth: Baton Rouge-based GHC|orcutt winslow, an architecture, engineering and consulting firm, announced that it had acquired Florida-based Straughn Trout Architects, an architecture design firm specializing in the planning and design of education, commercial and municipal projects. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. GHC is backed by Bernhard Capital Partners, a Baton Rouge-based private equity management firm. Bernhard Capital Partners first invested in GHC in September 2022. Read the full announcement.
YEA’s new face: Cason E. “Casey” O’Banion has been tapped to be the new president of Young Entrepreneurs Academy of Baton Rouge, effective April 14. Founder Deborah Sternberg says in the announcement that she is moving to New York to be closer to family. O’Banion was previously director of small business and entrepreneurship at the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. He’s a published author and also teaches creative writing at LSU.
Unexpected surge: U.S. crude oil inventories rose for a second consecutive week amid an increase in net imports, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rose by 2.6 million barrels—higher than analysts expected—to 442.3 million barrels in the week ended April 4, and were about 5% below the five-year average for the time of year, the EIA says. Read more from The Wall Street Journal.
