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| December 7, 2000 Headlines-- Jim
Svinth named General Manager/President of GE Capital Colonial Pacific Leasing Jim Svinth has returned to the Pacific Northwest A native of Washington state, Jim takes over at CPL after recently serving as Senior Vice President, Institutional Lending at GE Capital Mortgage Services, Inc. (GECMSI) in Cherry Mill, New Jersey Among his many contributions at GECMSI was the digitization of the business' origination front-end, providing customers with online access to pricing, application, approval, status and funding confirmation. "I'm excited at the opportunity of leading a business that has been so dedicated to the broker market" Jim notes)' I look forward to working with our customers and finding ways to help them grow and succeed, so we can too)' In his role at GE Capital Mortgage Services, Jim was the senior leader of Correspondent and Broker Originations responsible for national sales and operations. In addition, he was responsible for Cooper River Funding] a $1 billion secured warehouse-lending facility. GECMSI, which funded $11 billion in 1999, purchases loans on a flow and bulk basis ($5 million to $100 million) from intermediaries. Prior to joining GE Jim held senior level positions in capital markets] risk management and product management with several leading lending institutions] including Well Fargo (formerly Norwest), Prudential and Citigroup. Jim grew up in the Northwest earning his Bachelors Degree at the University of Washington and his Masters Degree at Washington State University, both in business and finance. United
Capital, Austin, Texas United Capital for three days has not returned any e-mail to us. Allegedly an announcement was to be made. E-Mails were sent to brokers, we are told. We did here from another leasing company, who had a N.S.F. check replaced, but no such luck from another. Another reported similar troubles. One Leasing Insider reports: "My sales contact was pink slipped this morning with a few days of severance. There is a "skeleton" crew in place to "maybe" fund a few deals and do collections. They say they will be back in business 1/1/00. I doubt it. Their senior credit person is gone and so are their sales people. They have not returned our commissions as of yet and many deals that have partially funded are being held from fully funding. Lehman Bro's will not give them any more cash. Per my source, this was the case several days ago and United has been tremendously misleading to everyone. Good News. Manifest is accepting United documentation if the deals approves. It has to be in the broker's name, they need originals and the binder (if applicable) needs to be in their name. Name Withheld From
the following e-mails from United they have Stopped funding transactions effective
immediately. When this happens and unfortunately it can happen to anybody it gives the leasing industry a "black eye". The vendor gets hurt, the customer gets hurt, as well as the broker....I have been in the leasing business for 14 years and can't remember this much negative "carma" in an industry. I read your information and until now thought it could never happen to me. We have great relationships with other sources, and a couple of application only funders, but this was a surprise to me. I hope to get these deals funded elsewhere and hopefully the up-front fees will be returned. Name Withheld Credit
and Dot Com's Kit, Loved the reprinted stories on the dot com "dry-up". Of particular interest to the leasing community is the current status of many of the dot com auction sites and web based lease brokers that were going to drive efficiency through the channel, create the perfect market place, and put those of us that have been around 20 years or more out of business. I am hearing many stories that a lot of them aren't doing too well. n the VC community I understand getting more money from the VCs is about the equivalent of trying to take a chicken from a hungry pit bull. As you know I have several close friends that dabble in that market and they tell me that B2B is now out of vogue and that the new thing is called P2P, (which stands for "path to profit") So if there is no P2P you can forget about money for your B2B idea. Since you are in the heart of the Silicon Valley I thought you might have some excellent commentary on this subject. By the way, has the price of a 2 bedroom bungalow in your area dropped below $600K yet? Not that I'm looking, I was just curious. My personal opinion is that we are just seeing the beginning of this blood bath. I think you should make room for a much bigger list than the one you currently maintain. Bob Rodi drlease@leasenow.com ( You can get a room in a house or apartment for $600 a month, and $600,000 will get you a two bedroom house in a fair neighborhood, but it will be a fixer upper---editor ). Kit
--- Good articles. My sentiments exactly. Time to look a little harder at the credits and the concepts. Paul Torres BVCL AVP -- Credit T 650-294-6605 F 650-638-9889 www.BVCL.com PTorres@BVCL.com Insider
Reports: Capital Associates is in liquidation. They no longer file with the SEC because their number of shareholders is less than 200, but in their most recent SEC report they lost nearly $11 million in the quarter ended Feb. 2000. name withheld 58
Leasing Companies Major Changes Advanta Leasing ( 9/2000 for sale, former prez now at eOriginals,others let go like Kaye Lee.) Affinity Leasing, Washington ( 12/2000 to close and concentrate on Financial Pacific biz ) American Business Leasing ( gone ) Balboa Capital ( 9/2000 Founder Pat Byrne "...office available any time he wants to use it" ). The Bancorp Group, Inc. (Southfield, MI) (Not accepting news business. The BOD of the parent bank is assessing what to do with the leasing subsidiary.....currently servicing portfolio but not originating. no longer in business ) Bankvest (bankrupt) Bombadier ( 12/2000 reported having leasing problems, not confirmed, company strong in other divisions, but appears backing out of leasing division ) BSB Leasing (11/2000 closed to accepting new business ) Capital Associates ( 12/2000 reportedly in liquidation ) Charter Financial ( purchased by Wells Fargo 9/5/2000 ) Colonial Pacific (11/98) purchased by GE Capital 5/2000 no more re-brokered applications, except from one or two sources, such as Steve Dunham's Leasing Associates ) Commerce Security ( 9/99 closed to leasing broker program )(11/99 last fundings) Comstock Leasing ( 3/2000 Unicapital then Linc and discontinued operation this date ) Copelco ( 4/2000 sold to Citibank/10/2000 stock down rated/10/2000 ceases broker business, many complaints in manner turning off faucet ) Dana ( 7/2000 sold off portfolio, active as captive lessor ) DVI Capital (12/2000 out of broker ) El Camino Leasing, Woodland Hills, Caifornia (10/2000 No longer taking broker business 11/2000 struggling to stay in leasing business, according to insider reports ) eLease ( June/July/2000 senior management changes ) Finantra (11/2000 will eliminate its commercial finance operations in order to focus on its two core finance platforms, consumer finance and services and consumer mortgage lending. ) FMA Finance ( 4/2000 reportedly closed to brokers ) Fidelity ( 4/2000 acquired by EAB, a wholly owned subsidiary of ABN AMRO Bank N.V., headquartered in the Netherlands, raising funds ) Finova ( out of market place ( 10/2000 Dow Jones headlines "Finova Stock Falls As Buyout Hopes Wane 10/2000 Dow Jones notes stock falling and problems at Finova 11/2000 Announces they will discontinue business, sell units 11/2000 Suspends Dividend 11/2000 Leucadia National to Invest $350 Million in Finova 11/2000 reports $274 million loss )) First State Bancorp, Albuquerque, N.M ( 3/2000 sold leasing division-$64 million---) Franklin Leasing, Des Moines, Iowa--owned by Liberty Bank-- (2/2000)-no longer writing leases ( limited by regulations and leases are for sale ). Franchise Mortagage Acceptance Corporation (FMAC) 11/1999 purchased by Bay View Commercial Corporation (Bay View Bank) 9/2000 discontinuing all franchise loan and lease production. Golden Gate Funding ( 2/99 purchased by Westover Financial ) Heller Financial's Commercial Services Unit ( 10/99 purchased by CIT ) Imperial Credit Industries (ICII) ( sold portfolio ) Japan Leasing Credit claims ( JLC --6/99 purchased by Orix ) Lease Acceptance Corp---( ceases broker business 7/26/2000 ) Leasing Solutions ( bankrupt ) Liberty Leasing ( closed, California company ) Linc Capital ( out of vendor and broker business, Nasdaq halts stock sales, $13.4 loss last quarter,10/2000 assets for sale ) Lyon Credit Corporation ( 9/99 purchased by Hudson United Bancorp ) Manifest Group--( 9/1/2000 purchased by US Bancorp Leasing and Financial, "...a win for all the parties involved," Brian Bjella. Matsco Financial (12/2000 purchased by Greater Bay Bank ) Merit Leasing ( gone ) Metwest Leasing, Spokane Wa. ( 9/2000 advising brokers that they have run out of funds so they are unable to fund a transaction we have there for funding. 11/2000 Metwest Leasing Spokane, WA. is pulling the plug, confirmed by five sources. ) MetroLease--( 5/2000 reports closing operation, John Blazek at Evergreen Leasing, Hathcock losing assets, will not confirm nor deny; many serious rumors of serious fraud floating around the marketplace, including debt to Textron Financial, reported to file bk.) Nations Credit, Business Leasing Group (1/29/99 sold to Textron**) *"The Business Leasing Group of Nations Credit was sold to Textron and we still do broker business," say Jim Merrilees, past UAEL president. NIA National Leasing ( 3/2000 purchased by Lakeland Bancorp ) New England Capital ( 6/2000 sold to Network Capital Alliance a division of Sovereign Bank. Sovereign did hire two people who will run a sales office in CT, doing basically the same deals with the same people as before. Little will change in that aspect. Newcourt ( 8/2000 sold off ) Onset Capital ( 9/2000 Irwin buys 87% equity ) Orix 11/10 First Six Month Profits up 14% at Orix! ) 10/2000 "long-term Outlook has been revised from Stable to Negative" Credit Allianchat it has changed its name to ORIX Financial Services, 9/2000 Japanese Bank President Commits Suicide (Orix is a 14.7% shareholder in bank having problems ), ( 8/2000 closes small ticket vendor division in Portland, Oregon, "Business as usual (in New Jersey and with brokers)," says Steve Geller 11/8 New President at Orix appointed 11/10 First Six Month Profits up 14% at Orix! No negative reports, company appears to be doing very well. ) Phoenix ( 5/2000 both divisions closed ) Republic Leasing, South Carolina 9/27/2000 ( "The expected result will be a sale of Republic Leasing"---Dwight Galloway ) Resource Leasing, Herndon, Virginia ( 11/2000 MicroFinancial/Leasecomm acquires major portion of the assets.) Rockford ( sold to American Express ) Scripp Financial ( 6/29/2000 ( purchased by US Bancorp ) Signature Leasing, Dublin, California ( 11/2000 no longer in small ticket marketplace ) SDI ( 5/2000 closed to broker programs ) SFC Capital ( 9/15/2000 purchased by Trinity Capital ) Sierra Cities (11/2000 acquired by Vertical Net Credit ) T&W, Washington (10/2000 filed Chapter 11. Creditors meeting on 12-4-00 Seattle. Case # 00-10868 US Bankruptcy Court Western District of Wash. 206-553-7545. Debtor Attorney-Marc Barreca 206-623-7580) Transamerica ( 11/2000 for sale, but no buyers, so taken off marketplace, no longer for sale ) Unicapital ( 11/2000 NY Stock Exchanges Suspends Sale of Stock, Dow Jones reports 248 employees let go, divisions are closing, BofA credit until December 1. We have received several conflicting reports of what is open or closed, so we are printing their original purchase of various companies to let you know who might be no longer taking new business, because of the difficulties of the parents--at the end of this report ) United Capital, Austin Texas ( 12/2000 e-mail to brokers no more deals until 1/2001; many reports of deals not getting funded.) Varilease ( 11/2000 closed down ) USA Capital Leasing ( gone-bk ) any corrections, additions, comments will be appreciated. We are presently working on dividing the list into last twelve months and prior. We are close to completion on this project ***Original Purchases by Date by Unicapital American Capital Resources 2/98 Boulder Capital Group 2/98 Cauff, Lippman Aviation 2/98 Jacom Computer Services 2/98 Matrix Funding 2/98 Merrimac Financial Associates 2/98 Municipal Capital Markets Group 2/98 The NSJ Group 2/98 Portfolio Financial Servicing 2/98 Vanlease 2/98 The Walden Group 2/98 K.L.C., Inc. dba Keystone Leasing 5/98 Jumbo Jet 7/98 HLC Financial 7/98 Saddleback Financial Corporation 7/98 U.S. Turbine Engine Corp. 7/98 The Myerson Companies dba BSB Leasing 9/98 Please note, we are continuing to fill in the dates, so we can break this list into a "current" and " recent" list to give it more relevant---editor. Note:
We have four complaints for Leasing News Bulletin Board, but our main effort is
to try to get the issues resolved, be it commissions owed or money returned to
lessees for leases not funded. It appears there are more brokers not getting paid
for deals signed. These appear to be from what are known in the trade as "super
brokers." Fluor
Forms E-Commerce Venture to Sell Construction Equipment
ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Fluor Global Services, a unit of Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR), today announced the formation of GlobEquip, a wholly owned e-commerce venture designed to transact the sale of surplus heavy construction and mining equipment to high-demand regions that lack the access to and benefits from such services. GlobEquip's strategic partners include Citibank, which will provide global banking services; Stukes-Atwood, which will provide commodity exchange services; and American Equipment Company (AMECO), which will provide logistics support and linkage to the global construction and equipment community. "The new venture, the first e-commerce venture to centrally catalogue and then make available for sale the world's surplus construction and mining equipment, will redefine the global movement of capital equipment," said Jim Stein, president and chief executive officer of Fluor Global Services. "By combining internet information, currency and commodity exchange, logistical services and product support, GlobEquip provides a service bundle unmatched in the marketplace. "We are pleased that Citibank has joined us in this new endeavor as the bank's global reach, leadership in currency exchange and its ability to support our global marketplace will be instrumental to our success," Stein added. Regions to be targeted initially include China, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, India, Southeast Asia and the Russian Federation. Jeff Putman will serve as president and chief executive officer of Atlanta, Georgia-based GlobEquip. Putman, a recognized leader in the heavy equipment industry, is the former senior vice president of business development and strategic planning for Fluor Global Services, as well as president and chief executive officer of AMECO. There is a tremendous global demand in developing nations for surplus construction and mining equipment, which resides primarily in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. However, the distribution networks in some high-demand regions are ineffective or do not exist. By leveraging Fluor's world-caliber logistics and AMECO's after-market support expertise, GlobEquip will be a full-service capital equipment broker between suppliers and high demand markets and will allow countries of any size or social condition to have access to the scope of surplus equipment available, Putman noted. "We are striving to balance out the distribution and utilization of the world's surplus equipment, generating revenues for those who own the equipment and tangible results for those needing it," Putman added. "In addition, the venture also will ultimately offer related components such as financing, leasing, escrow, and both foreign currency and commodity exchanges, a natural outgrowth of the collective expertise of GlobEquip and its strategic partners." About Fluor Global Services Fluor Global Services (FGS), a business enterprise of Fluor Corporation, is among the world's premier asset management solutions companies. Specifically, FGS provides operations, maintenance, asset management and consulting services; construction and industrial equipment rental and maintenance across a variety of industries globally. FGS offers telecommunications services in the areas of wireless, wireline and network design, and build and integration of applications. It also provides engineering, construction, operations, maintenance and integration services to United States government agencies. About Fluor Corporation With fiscal 2000 revenues from continuing operations of $10 billion, Fluor Corporation provides services on a global basis in the fields of engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance, operations, project management, and business services. About Citigroup Citigroup (NYSE: C), the most global financial services company, provides some 100 million consumers, corporations, governments and institutions in more than 100 countries with a broad range of financial products and services including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, insurance, securities brokerage and asset management. The 1998 merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group brought together such brand names as Citigroup, Travelers, Salomon Smith Barney, CitiFinancial and Primerica under Citigroup's trademark red umbrella. Additional information can be found at http://www.citigroup.com. For further information please contact: media relations, Keith Karpe, 949-349-7661, or Lori Serrato, 949-349-7420, both of Fluor Corporation. SOURCE Fluor Corporation CO: Fluor Corporation; Fluor Global Services; GlobEquip; Citigroup ST: California, Georgia
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