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Way to Go, Pats!!!! What an exciting Super Bowl Congratulations! “Never Give Up! “ Kit Menkin’s Leasing News www.leasingnews.org Monday, February 4,2002 Ask Kenneth I. Chenault this Wednesday---- Comdisco-Tyco deal falls apart Cat Financial
Acquires FCC Equipment Financing Major business/economic events
this week Monday---Odds and Ends
Amtrak
Finances Near End of Line ###denotes press release Ask Kenneth I. Chenault this Wednesday---- American Express
Company plans to host its
semi-annual Financial Community Meeting on Wednesday, February 6th
at 2:30 p.m. (ET). At the meeting, Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and
chief executive officer, and Edward P. Gilligan, group president of
Global Corporate Services, will update the financial community on
the company’s performance and senior management will be available
to answer questions. There
were reportedly several lawsuits with ex First Sierra officers and
directors. They were scheduled
to be completed by the end of the year.
If anyone is going to attend the conference, whatever happened
to the alleged lawsuits with Thomas Depping, Mark McQuitty, and Fred
Van Etten? Was there any resolution to the Mid Am portfolio,
Republic Group of Anaheim or RW Professional portfolio’s, mentioned
by an American Express spokesman last October to Leasing News? __________________________________________________________________ If
you know an investor, stockholder ( through a trust, Christopher Menkin is
a stockholder of American Express.) or financial reporter who will be
attending the meeting with Mr. Chenault, please ask him about the First
Sierra acquisition and how it has affected American Express, including
any lawsuits or settlements. Assuming
there were “problems,” are
there more to come from this acquisition? _________________________________________________________________ Comdisco-Tyco deal falls apart -------------------- Accord shatters on sale of key IT leasing operation By Rob Kaiser Chicago Tribune staff reporter Talks to sell bankrupt Comdisco Inc.'s largest remaining unit to Tyco International Ltd. fell apart late Thursday, according to a source familiar with the discussions. ( No other news, denials, or follow-up to the original story from the Chicago Tribune over the weekend. editor ) Tyco's bid for Comdisco's information technology leasing business was set to expire at midnight . While earlier in the day the deal appeared to be complete--and Comdisco set a Friday morning meeting to announce it to employees--the transaction later dissolved. TheDeal.com, which reports on bankruptcies, attributed the breakup to Tyco's recent stock plunge. Shares of the conglomerate tumbled late in January as Enron-inspired fears of suspect accounting spread to Tyco. Trading at $52.40 as recently as Jan. 14, Tyco's shares closed Thursday at $35.15, up 30 cents for the day. Amid the sharp decline, Tyco announced last week plans to split itself into four pieces. The company's chief executive officer and chief financial officer also sought to reestablish confidence in the company Wednesday by saying they each planned to buy an additional 500,000 Tyco shares. The fate of the Comdisco leasing unit is now unknown. The company, which is trying to emerge from bankruptcy protection by this summer, could try to strike another deal to sell the unit or work out repayment arrangements with creditors so it could hold on to the operation. Comdisco President Michael Fazio and other company officials had been lobbying to keep the unit, although the company's creditors tried to squelch that plan, according to people familiar with the situation. The Comdisco executives hoped that by retaining the information technology leasing business, they could rebuild the company into a leasing power. "He always felt they would keep the IT leasing business and it would be part of a going concern," said one former Comdisco employee. Whether Chief Executive Officer Norm Blake agreed is unknown, several former employees said. Blake is expected to leave the company later this year and Fazio is slated to take over. Comdisco's roots rest in leasing information technology equipment, such as computers and mainframes. Soon after Ken Pontikes started the company in 1969, Comdisco became the nation's largest dealer of IBM computer equipment. Under the direction of the founder's son, Nick Pontikes, the company shed its mainframe leasing business in 1999, but leasing remained the company's largest division. Forays into a wealth of Internet ventures doomed the company, which filed for bankruptcy in July. In November, Comdisco sold its disaster recovery business, which helps firms recover digital data, to SunGard Data Systems Inc. for $825 million. The Rosemont-based company then sold its electronics equipment and laboratory and scientific equipment units in January to GE Capital for $665 million. Comdisco previously held an auction for the information technology leasing business as well as two smaller leasing units, which operate in the telecommunications and health-care industries. What will happen with those two leasing businesses is also unknown. ____________________________________________________________________ “ Meet the Leasing News Maker” If you want to move the day and time, please cast your vote: http://www.leasingnews.org/poll.htm ### ############################### ###################### Cat Financial Acquires FCC Equipment Financing Services has signed an agreement to purchase
substantially all of the assets and business of FCC Equipment Financing
(FCC), a commercial finance company specializing in direct financing
and leasing of heavy equipment in the construction industry. #### ############################################## ############## Classified Ads===New Criteria Response As of January 1, 2002, Leasing News instituted a new policy for “Help Wanted,” “Attorney,” and “Recruiter” listings. This does not apply to “Job Wanted” or “Outsourcing.” The policy requiring membership in a leasing association is only for Help Wanted, Attorney and Recruiter listings. ( which we verify before posting...one posting we caught lying to us, by the way. ). We gave a grace period of January, not thirty days, just the month of January. These listings are free. The end of the month we sent an e-mail to all that did not have their affiliation, perhaps being posted in December, and some earlier. To date, we have removed six. We were at 47 help wanted ads and now we are at 41. There are twelve who did not response. We have given them to February 5th to respond, or we will remove their classified ad as we will assume their response is they do not belong to a leasing association.
The classified ads do work. They are free. But now as a “reward” only to members of an equipment leasing association. Again, this does not apply to people looking for work in “job wanted” or those that have skills, primarily “free lancers” in “Outsourcing.” You will find independents and companies here. Anyone can receive Leasing News as per our policy. Anyone can read the news on our website www.leasingnews.org. It is free. When it comes to the classified, we want to insure to readers that advertisers meet a certain criteria. When you belong to a leasing association, you must abide by their code of ethics and standards. There is a course of action should the company not follow them. Those seeking a job, should also ask questions of a prospective employer. To my way of thinking, if they do not belong to a leasing association, you should think twice about management and its responsibilities to the business community and its employees. We will continue to help you find work. It is your decision on where you work. And where you want to work three to five years from now. Kit Menkin, Editor/Publisher ... Major business/economic events this week By
Associated Press/Leasing News Major business events
and economic events scheduled for the coming week (some dates are
tentative; times, where known, are Eastern time): MONDAY, Feb. 4 WASHINGTON President
Bush unveils 2003 budget proposal; Treasury bill auction, 2 p.m. TUESDAY, Feb. 5 WASHINGTON Commerce Department
reports on factory orders for December, 10 a.m. WEDNESDAY, Feb. 6 WASHINGTON Labor Department
reports on productivity and costs for fourth quarter, 8:30 a.m. AMERICAN EXPRESS 2:30pm Kenneth
I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer, and Edward P. Gilligan,
group president of Global Corporate Services, will update the financial
community on the company’s performance and senior management
will be available to answer questions. THURSDAY, Feb. 7 WASHINGTON Labor Department
reports on weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Federal Reserve reports
on consumer credit for December, 3 p.m. AMTRAK Council to decide whether
to continue national service. FRIDAY, Feb. 8 OTTAWA Group of Seven
finance ministers meet to assess state of global economy. Through
Feb. 9. SUNDAY Equipment Management Conference Feb. 10 Marriott Desert Springs Resort Palm Desert, CA http://www.elaonline.com/events/2002/EquipMgmt/ SUNDAY EVENING/MONDAY Feb 10/11 Atlanta Gathering NAELB Joint Meeting with EAEL Atlanta Airport Marriott 4711 Best Road, College Park, GA http://www.naelb.org/events020501Reg.asp __________________________________________________________- Monday---Odds and Ends New Research Survey Thanks for the request. We have received numerous requests for the survey, some even mentioning hearing about it from your website. Here is the survey. If you have any questions let me know. Best Regards, _________________ Matthew Hill * www.wiredcapital.com * mhill@WiredCapital.com * 949.251.4848 ext 406 · 425.675.4352 New Research Survey From Northern Consulting and WiredCapital Reveals Front Office Inefficiencies in Equipment Leasing and Finance ( send e-mail to: survey@wiredcapital.com with name, company, and telephone number and request "free" copy of the survey---32 pages Adobe download ) · The top issues facing the leasing industry in originating new leases · The current best practices for the Front Office
· How leasing companies like yours are identifying more sales opportunities --------------- “The Misfits” I always enjoy reading your "This Day in History" segment. Thanks for the nod of recognition to Langston Hughes, easily one of the most important but least familiar American poets of the 20th century. I also want to add my trivia twist about "The Misfits", in that it holds the distinction of being the final film for Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe . The troubled Montgomery Clift completed two films after "The Misfits", both of which did not receive much notice, as the death of Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable bothered him. The movies were. "Freud", a John Huston bio of the father of modern psychiatry that went way over budget and nose-dived at the box office and a French-German film called "The Defector". Since both films were largely forgotten and somewhat obscure. The Misfits was not Clift's last film. Jim Fleming nationalbusinesscredit@yahoo.com ____ Tyco Leasing for Sale? A good friend of mine who works for Tyco Capital told me that they already looking to sell off the CIT unit that they just bought last year. Possible buyers are GE Capital, Citigroup and Alliance Capital. Tyco wants to "return" to doing business in only their core industry's. ( Name With Held ) ( This person should know, but our contacts tell us otherwise. We have friends who have moved to Arizona, and others who are working very hard. I personally can’t believe Tyco bought the company to sell right away---GE Capital is cutting down to the bone on what they have now, too. editor ) ____ Procedural Suggestion ..... on a procedural note, it would nice to have a line to click on that reads "Remove ad" so I don't have to bother you with the request in your "contact us" section. Thanks again, Tom Gerner TGerner@IFCCREDIT.COM VP Human Resources IFC Credit ( We discussed this when we designed the system of placing an ad. We decided against an automated system for placing ads and for deleting them. We would like to verify that the person who has asked us to delete the ad is the one who took it out in the first place. In practice, we learned over fifty percent exceed the word count. Some ask about categories or have questions. Others don’t complete the form. And we have gotten phony ads with phony hotmail addresses. I also must admit I like to hear from readers, such as yourself, when a job is fulfilled.. I like the feedback. Thank you for your suggestion. editor ) ______ World Leasing Book A very good book not only on leasing in the United States, but especially foreign countries. Lists all the leasing associations, key leasing companies in the countries, who to contact, what they are interested in: World Leasing Yearbook edited by Lisa Paul World Publications Services 1 Maple Street—Unit BA East Rutherford, NJ 07073 Tel. 201-531-0760 fax: 201-0827
Amtrak
Finances Near End of Line Funding Boost Sought to Avert Route Shutdown By
Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune transportation reporter. Tribune staff
reporter Karen Rivedal contributed to this report
Tom
Brady, MVP http://www.superbowl.com/ www.leasingnews.org |
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