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July 25, 2001 Headlines--- eFinance Receives Credit Application/Workflow Patent CapitalStream & LeaseForum Form Strategic Alliance Berkshire Hathaway to Acquire XTRA for $587.9M Marlin Leasing Celebrates 4th Year—Press Release The Vaughn Group, Inc. Announces New Hires Who’s Hiring Today—Fred St. Laurent List of On Line Job Opportunity Sites Analysis of GE Buying Heller---SLMA ( best one we have seen ) Certified Leasing Professional Course---Northwest Oct 4-7 Code Red Tonight---Do You Have “the patch? “ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Code Red Tonight Named after a caffeinated soft drink favored by computer programmers, Code Red works by installing itself on server computers that are then instructed to blitz government Web sites and others with data, which can slow them down. It is hitting the leasing servers and some work stations, as evidenced by this report from a software professional: Thanks for your email. You have been a head of the pack for over a week. Yes, the virus has been a major problem for a lot of people. I was allowing one of my customers to demo the Recourse Technologies software which I sell and fortunately for him he was in the middle of doing the demo when the virus hit. Since he had the Recourse software installed (www.recourse.com) he was able to see the virus and take care of the problem before his 100 + servers were infected. His competitor didn't have the software and was down for over 24 hours which meant 100's of customers were down too. For enterprise level customers the Recourse is a great solution! Check out more at www.recourse.com. Also, I have attached a PDF that talks about the virus you may want to read it. Thanks, Todd Krepick National Account Manager, Web Services Yipes ... that's fast! Dir: 408.235.1476 Fax: 408.235.8881 Toll Free: 888.442.2932 x. 476 todd.krepick@yipes.com ( If you want the PDF file, ask me and I will send it. If you didn’t get the patch from Microsoft, ask me, and I will send it to you. editor ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- eFinance Receives Credit Application/Workflow Patent eFinance Corp. is announcing today that its Transaction Finance System for real-time credit application processing and credit workflow management has received a U.S. Patent. Details below. . Sam Folsom AgencyLogic 915 Battery St. San Francisco, CA 94111 415.399.1138 tel 415.989.2908 fax amsam@pacbell.net
### ########## ################# ##################### eFINANCE CORP. RECEIVES PATENT FOR TRANSACTION FINANCE SYSTEM Proprietary Technology Enables Online Credit Application Processing in Real-Time PALO ALTO, Calif. – The U.S. Patent Office has awarded a patent to eFinance Corporation for its Transaction Finance System™ (TFS). The eFinance TFS is a technology process that gives businesses involved in lending, financing, or extending credit a technological solution for incorporating their own complex credit policies into their sales initiatives. Used by manufacturers, vendors, and financial institutions, the eFinance TFS provides real-time credit decisioning and the fulfillment of credit applications at the Web point-of-sale, in addition to providing tools for fraud detection and management of complex credit workflows. Companies such as ADP and NEC have seamlessly integrated the eFinance technology platform into their businesses for transparent processing of credit approvals and lease financing. "The strength of our technology sets eFinance apart in the online credit business, and we’re delighted to receive formal recognition for this technological achievement through a U.S. patent," said Karen Wendel, CEO of eFinance. "Credit policies can be very complex, and most manufacturers and vendors do not have a way to fully embed their policies into a technology that offers real-time credit approvals to accelerate the sales process. Our TFS solves this problem while at the same time improving our customers’ credit portfolio quality through its fraud detection features." Developed by eFinance engineers in 1999 and launched in 2000, the TFS enables companies to incorporate their own underwriting policies into a technology that can evaluate a credit application and return a credit decision and documentation back to the applicant in a timely fashion. eFinance licenses its TFS to customers and incorporates the technology into their corporate sales processes. Rakesh Sood, general partner at CSFB’s Sprout Group, an investor in eFinance, said, "Credit decisions are key to the sales and profitability of large enterprises, yet many organizations treat them as a necessary, cumbersome evil. eFinance’s technology accelerates the move to a more controlled credit process, and it makes credit decisioning and accounts receivable management a strategic advantage for enterprises, not just an operational gate. The result is increased sales and profitability for eFinance enterprise customers." The patent that was awarded to eFinance (U.S. Patent #M-8706) covers the process of running a credit application against multiple credit policies simultaneously and delivering risk-adjusted credit approvals and pricing that reflect the unique, full underwriting criteria of the eFinance customer and the unique credit profile of the credit applicant. This process evaluates credit applicant information in phases as the information is presented. By evaluating the application in multiple phases, the TFS streamlines the credit approval process and minimizes the underwriting expense associated with credit reports, fraud detection, and documentation. eFinance’s proprietary fraud detection technology is an important part of this process. The TFS accesses multiple data sources, analyzing the applicant information and third party data through proprietary business rules, and determining the likelihood that the application is a fraudulent transaction. The TFS performs real-time business and address verification and accesses multiple fraud databases to verify credit applicant information. In addition, the TFS uses eFinance’s Critical Equipment Matrix, which ranks appropriate types of equipment for financing with the business and industry profile of credit applicants, resulting in more intelligent credit decisions. About eFinance Corporation With headquarters in Palo Alto, California, eFinance is a privately held company led by seasoned professionals with extensive experience in credit, financing, risk management, and technology. eFinance's investors include CSFB's Sprout Group, NIF Ventures USA, Sanchez Capital Partners, and DigitalVentures. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.efinance.com. About Sprout Group Sprout Group (www.sproutgroup.com) has been an institution in venture capital for more than thirty years and is one of the largest firms focused on emerging technologies. The firm actively invests in communications, healthcare technology, Internet infrastructure, and software. Sprout Group has helped to establish such household names as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Staples, VeriFone, StrataCom, Corporate Express, SDL, and mySimon. ### CapitalStream and LeaseForum Form Strategic Alliance to Cross Promote Offerings Leveraging complementary offerings, the alliance enhances the technical and financial services available to potential customers.
Seattle, WA - CapitalStream ( www.CapitalStream.com <http://www.capitalstream.com/> ), a Seattle-based provider of commercial finance automation technology for banks, financial institutions and manufacturers, today announced a strategic alliance with LeaseForum, Inc. (www.leaseforum.com), a Boston-based lease advisory and asset services firm. CapitalStream and LeaseForum will promote each other's solutions and expand their market base by joint-selling complementary products and services.
CapitalStream delivers a suite of highly configurable browser-based applications that link workflow, enterprise applications, and legacy systems. CapitalStream - FinanceCenter* reduces processing time, lowers costs, and enables companies to cost effectively take advantage of new business opportunities by automating manual processes for leases, loans, lines of credit, and credit cards. Simplifying the leasing process, LeaseForum enables companies to dramatically reduce the all-in-cost of leasing by proactively managing each stage of the leasing lifecycle. Combining leasing expertise with a suite of integrated Web-based products, LeaseForum helps companies increase control over their lease portfolio management. "CapitalStream and LeaseForum bring the benefits of automation technology to commercial finance." Said Stephen Campbell, president and CEO of CapitalStream. "By joint-marketing our solutions, we will continue to reduce costs, streamline business processes and make technology available to everyone in our industry."
"Facilitating the leasing process through Web-enabled technology, allows LeaseForum and CapitalStream to optimize our client's performance." Said Susan Franklin, president and CEO of LeaseForum. "As the focus on improving the leasing process continues to intensify, there are many opportunities for both companies to joint-market our complementary solutions to the industry."
About LeaseForum Headquartered in Boston's financial district, LeaseForum is the market leader in end-to-end lease management offering a comprehensive integrated suite of Web-based applications for managing the leasing lifecycle. Providing unsurpassed lease management support, LeaseForum enables clients to dramatically reduce both the direct and indirect cost of lease management. For more information visit www.leaseforum.com <http://www.leaseforum.com/> .
About CapitalStream Seattle-based CapitalStream (http://www.capitalstream.com) automates and streamlines commercial finance processes for banks, finance companies, and manufacturers. CapitalStream - FinanceCenter* reduces processing time, lowers costs, and enables companies to cost effectively take advantage of new business opportunities by automating manual processes for leases, loans, lines of credit, and credit cards. CapitalStream, an established industry leader for more than five years with deep knowledge about the inner workings of the financing world, has helped hundreds of financial organizations increase their competitiveness, customer service and profitability.
For more information visit www.capitalstream.com <http://www.capitalstream.com/> ###
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MARLIN LEASING CELEBRATES FOURTH ANNIVERSARY AND CONTINUED GROWTH MOUNT LAUREL, NJ – Despite a consolidating market, Marlin Leasing continues to flourish. Celebrating its fourth anniversary this month, Marlin has grown to become a major competitor in the equipment leasing market, with aggressive growth strategies in place going forward. "This is a very exciting time for us," says Gary Shivers, President of Marlin Leasing Corp. "We’ve exceeded our growth expectations each year, and based on current figures, will do so again this year." Shivers attributes their success to a cohesive management team that has worked together for over twelve years. "We combined our expertise with a quality staff that is equally committed to success. Because we focus on relationship building both internally and externally, both our employees and our customers are motivated to stay with us. And that only makes us better." In Marlin’s first four years they’ve --hired and trained over 150 employees, --grown assets to over $250 million, --successfully accessed capital markets to support growth and, --achieved profitability in their second year. Marlin’s goals moving forward include --doubling the size of the company in the next three years, --being listed among the top five small ticket leasing companies and, --expanding geographically. Marlin Leasing provides creative funding programs to vendors, brokers and end-users nationwide. Today they employ over 150 individuals in three locations: Mount Laurel, NJ, Denver, CO and Atlanta, GA. For more information, call Marlin Leasing’s corporate headquarters at 1-888-479-9111, or visit their web site at www.marlinleasing.com Sites of Reference: courtesy ELAonline.com ########### ################# ##################### ####### ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You may quote any or all of Leasing News without our permission. We encourage you to send to a colleague. We have no advertising or banners. Our news is primarily from our readers, although we print press releases, too ( abbrievated in e-mail, but all the press release information is on our website version: www.leasingnews.org ) Berkshire Hathaway to Acquire XTRA for $587.9M Specialty Lender Merger & Acquisitions Berkshire
Hathaway Inc. has announced
it will acquire XTRA Corp.,
a lessor of over-the-road
trailers, intern,odal
equipment and marine containers,
in a cash tender offer
valued at $587.9M. For
XTRA shareholders, the
deal is a good price tag
for a business that at
least one equity analyst
said has been long undervalued
by Wall Street. Berkshire
will pay $55
for each share of
XTRA — a 5%
premium over the company’s
July 30 closing price. “it
may he a humble premium,
but I’ve Followed
the company for 36 years,
and unless ‘ni mistaken,
it’s nearly the best
price the company has
ever sold at,” said
Fahnestock & Co. analyst
Edward Tavlin. “In
that sense, its an excellent
exit strategy for the
large holders of the company. Large
shareholders include hedge
funds Tiger Management
and Tiger Performance,
which agreed to sell their
combined 27% of XTRA to
Berkshire Hathaway. “This
has never been a company
that has been understood
by Wall Street, because
the earnings tend to be
volatile, but the cash-flow
tends not to be volatile,”
Tavlin said. favlin, once
a director on XTRA’s
board, said he was removed
from that position in
the course of a proxy
fight about 13 years ago.
He currently has a “hold”
rating on the company. As
with the week’s earlier
deal, involving commercial
lender Heller Financial
Inc. and acquirer GE Capital
Corp., XTRA will gain
a funding advantage from
its new parent. “XTRA
is a strong operating
business in a strong industry
position worldwide. There
is no ease of entry [For
potential competitors],”
Tavlin said. “Furthermore,
there is financial synergism
in that XTRA can borrow
cheaper with Berkshire
than it can on its own “To
me it makes sense that
the buyer be somebody
who understands finance
as well as [Berkshire
Hathaway CEO Warren] Buffett
does,” he added. Since
acquiring reinsurer General
Re Corp. in 1998, Berkshire
has focused its acquisitive
energies on noninsurance
businesses, including,
most recently, a $7.4B
buy-cut of bankrupt commercial
lender FINOVA Group Inc. XTRA,
however, seems more in
line with Buffett’s
preference For value investing,.
“There are hard assets
behind transportation
equipment leasing companies,”
said U.S. Bancorp Piper
Jaffray analyst Michael
Grondahl. “its not
cash-flow lending. There’s
a hunk 0f metal
there that’s worth
something.” By its account, XTRA has 25%
of the domestic trailer
leasing market, providing
highway and storage trailers
across North America.
XTRA’s intermadal
division has a total fleet
of 50000 units, including
chassis trailers and containers.
Finally, XTRA operates
a marine-leasing business,
which, ft says, holds
15% of the international
market share. Five whole.company transportation-leasing
deals have been announced
in the post year. XTRA’s
transaction leaves only
one independent, publicly
traded company: lnterpool
tnc. Tovlin predicted
additional “synergistic
acquisitions” in
the industry Grondohl, who characterized
transportation-leasing
companies as being in
a “trough,”
said, “We’re
at that lower point in
valuations. it’s
better to buy at the lower
point than the higher
point.” Berkshire Hathaway expects
to begin the cash tender
offer for XTRA shares
on Aug. 14. “it seems
pretty fast,” Ioviin
said. “I would guess
this company will be gone
a month from now. from: http://www.snl.com/mergers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analysis of GE buying Heller Specialty Lender Merger & Acquisitions The third time seemingly is the charm for GE Capital Corp., the financial services arm of General Electric Co., which was twice spurned earlier this year in its efforts to grow its commercial finance operations through acquisition. This morning the company announced it will acquire stalwart commercial lender Heller Financial Inc. for $5.6B in cash. |