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Woden’s
Day—The Leasing God is Angry!!!
Kit Menkin’s Leasing News
www.leasingnews.org Wednesday,
June 5, 2002 Accurate,
fair and unbiased news for the equipment Leasing Industry
Headlines---- Commercial
Money Center Files Voluntary Bankruptcy
Bleeding Continues---Centerpoint Financial Services Calls It “Quits”
MSM Capital, Irvine, California Down to Skeleton Staff
Telemark Sale Falls Apart with GE Capital
Saddleback Financial Sold to Precom Technology
Former Tyco CEO Faces Charges of Tax Dodging
(Wrap-up from major US Newspapers) OneSource
Financial Hires Mark Zimmerman as Director of Finance Nara
Bancorp, Inc., Declares $0.10 Dividend for the Second Quarter of 2002
HP Ups Savings Target, Details Job Cuts
TransAmerican Selects Techfi’s Tech Platform
SafeCheck Adds Check Platforms
International Decision Systems Strengthens Management
Thomas Ware Joins PAYNET as VP Marketing
Irwin Capital Promotes LaLeggia to President
Joe Cool Visit 49er Practice Field ####
Denotes Press Release (CNBC
ran a story Tuesday morning on CIT; how the sale is so important to
TYCO because of the debt they have coming due. David Faber did the
story and says
that he has information that there is a major "foreign buyer"
at CIT
right now. They have a due diligence team of 60 people looking at the
portfolio. Leasing News cannot get a confirmation or denial. We did hear
the CEO---Mr. Gamper scream from the East Coast, thus the headline yesterday
(actually, we cleaned it up.) Editor ) Commercial
Money Center Files Voluntary Bankruptcy BK
Filing number 02-24068 filed in Broward County FL at 2:37 May 30, 2002.
Debtor: Commercial Money Center, Inc. Chapter 11 The
filing address is:
1408 Westshore Blvd #904
Tampa FL 33607 for
background information on CMC, please go here: http://www.leasingnews.org/Conscious-Top%20Stories/CMC_stories.htm __________________________________________________________________ Bleeding
Continues---Centerpoint Financial Services Calls It “Quits” Leasing
News reported on COO Randy Schiell leaving, then interviewed John Otto,
who said he was not pulling the plug. Rumors that Chuck Brazier, CLP,
director of Customer Relations was leaving, then Leasing News began
receiving complaints of deals not being funded by Centerpoint. Tuesday
morning this fax was sent to Centerpoint brokers: From:
Chuck Brazier
To: ****** Effectively
immediately, Centerpoint Financial Services, LLC will no longer be accepting
new credit applications. We would like to thank you for your valued
relationship and appreciate your patience and understanding in this
matter. No
funding will take place until Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at which time,
we will be notifying you of the steps Centerpoint will be able to take
to assist you in funding your current backlog. Shortly, we will be
sending you a copy of your backlog report and would appreciate if you
would indicate which deals are still active and when you anticipate
they will be ready to fund. Again,
we would like to thank you for your past business and appreciate your
patience as we try to work through this difficult time. If you have
any questions, please contact Chuck Brazier at (888) 615-5099 ext. 6115. 1675
Larimer St., Suite 880 – Denver, CO 80202 / Tel 303/615-5099 /
888/615-5099 Fax # 303/615-9790 Centerpoint
was financed by John Otto of Heritage Leasing fame. It started in 1997,
working exclusively with leasing brokers, and in its hay day had up
to 25 employees. Sandi Gibson was listed as director of Leasing Broker
Relations, and Mark Speros was director of sales. Chuck Brazier took
over these responsibilities. Chuck
Brazier, reached by telephone, said he could make no comment; it would have
to come from Gordon Robert, president. . Chuck
is past president of United Association of Equipment Leasing, sitting
on the executive
committee, formerly with Sierra Cities, Heritage Leasing, Oakmont Financial,
and Denrich Financial. Gordon Roberts is also a past president of the
United Association of Equipment Leasing, active with the Eastern Association
of Equipment Leasing, formerly with First Concord Acceptance, First
Centennial Leasing, Colonial Pacific Leasing. Leasing
News called many times, each time told Gordon Roberts was in a meeting
with auditors. There were rumors about a one and a half million dollar
“write-off” carried forward, and not until “recently,”
was the bank informed of this, it is reported. There
were also rumors simply, as being experienced elsewhere in the leasing
industry, lack of sales and continuing overhead. “I
suspect John Otto had enough check writing on their bad credit decisions.
When your credit and pricing is targeted at challenged credits without
adequate holdbacks or constant review by management, the train will
eventually fly off the tracks.
“ (
Name With held ) “The
money issue is the same as for any firm, more capital needed to go into
the
company to keep it going. I expect that Otto got in too deep, everyone
has
a limit, and decided that he wasn't willing to support it any more. “I
expect that he will be honorable about funding deals, and either do
them or get
them placed somewhere else. There is a bunch of good people in that
operation.
I don't think many of them would relocate. There is nothing except
maybe San Diego to compare with Denver.” Reached
at his Southern California office, John Otto said he had no comment
to make today. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MSM
Capital, Irvine, California Down to Skeleton Staff A
highly reliable informed source has told Leasing News on Tuesday evening, MSM
Capital laid all its employees off without severance, except for one
credit person
and computer person, help in the “close down.” There are
rumors that Robert Pardini and Mike Cingari, former president of Colonial
Pacific, will be joining their third “partner” Dan Milinor
in NSBA Leasing. This has not been confirmed or denied, as Mike Cingari
is not available for comment. one credit person, as they wind things
down. . Leasing
News reported a Bulletin Board complaint that the company had been keeping
advance rentals and not returning to lessess as far as June of last
year. http://www.leasingnews.org/bulletin_board.htm MSM
President Mike Cingari did not appear at the first Appeals Hearing for
the California State Labor Commission on May 28. The bond held by the
California Labor commission court was reportedly awarded to the ex-employee,
in the amount of $15,000. There
are other cases waiting for the Appeal deadline. Leasing News will have
more on this story in later editions, as we need to confirm Dun and
Bradstreet information, plus we are trying to learn if Mr. Cingari is
available for a comment. It is our attempt to be both “fair and
accurate” in reporting this story. We have held the stories from
the ex-employees in an attempt to be “fair” to all sides. “The
three remaining employees who had cases up at the Labor Board now have
also
WON their cases. Total decision amount just over $125k for all involved
plus another previous decision in favor of a former employee two
months ago for 23k, grand total $148K give or take. Of course he could
be mad about the fact that all the judgments are now on his DNB. I
am sure the debt sources he has left love that. Some discussion around
this office circles around whether or not he violated his covenant
with PNC when he lost at the labor board. I believe they fronted him
500k to do the mass mailings and that may be a violation on his part
of the contract signed with them. I had a look at his DNB last week
and it shows him currently behind 500k (30 day late).” (Name
With Held) “That's
an interesting point Mike made stating that employees brokered out deals,
but upon asking for proof of this Mike had none. In fact, I had received
a letter of recommendation from Mike Cingari upon my termination and
he had referred me over to MacArthur Business Credit, and had put in
a good word for me. That is very interesting that a man that went of
his way to do all this would have done so for an employee that "brokered"
out business? During the Labor Board case, once I pulled out this evidence
and questioned Mike, he stated that he didn't find out until later that
I was brokering out business, or he wouldn't have done all that for
me. That's an interesting point, since he stated the reason he fired
me was because I was brokering out business. some
of the stories that happened to some of the salesmen could make you
cry. I mean to one day just have all your "receivables" cut
off, and
you have car payments, rent, bills, and it is Christmas, so you have
been buying presents, and knowing you had these commission coming in
and then not, and no job, and to start back on the system in this
season doesn't turn out cash right away...it was a terrible position
to put anyone into.” (name
with held ) “
I was a commission only sales rep making 40/50% based upon the amount
of GM I funded. If I don't fund, I don't get paid. On December 15th,
2001 I get a call from my boss who's company I help build at one point
up to almost 80 employees and he lets me go. Reason.....Were getting
out of the small ticket business. Is that the truth....no. He shorted
my paycheck on the 14th of December and decided he didn't want to pay
me on a commercial deal I spent a year on putting together for 280k.
I had 34k in margin in that deal that he decided he didn't want to pay.
He asked me on Friday the 14th of Dec if that deal was closed and signed
and I said yes. I spent almost 3 years at MSM and he doesn't even have
the courage to fire me in person. I was the last person on that
Friday to leave the office and all 4 partners were there waiting for
us to leave. I left at 4:45pm and they started calling reps at 5pm.
Next day I get the call and I'm gone. “ (Name
with held ) “He
fired 10 guys one week before Christmas and shorted all of our paychecks.
Me personally I had blown my savings on an engagement ring the first
week of December and paid off all my student loans (30k) in one year
and the last check I cut was DEC 12th. 2001. Mike knew this and didn't
care. No paycheck for Dec, Jan or Feb. I went 3 months without anything
but unemployment which paid my rent barely. My credit was ruined, car
almost repossessed and I had to move. This is the damage he did to
one guy. Imagine what it did to 9 other guys and their family during
Christmas time. Mike knew what he was doing, he just didn't expect
the backlash from us to this extent. I lectured him in front of the
six in the lobby while were awaiting the judge to call us in. He sat
there with an embarrassed smug look on his face and didn't say a word.” (
Name with held ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Telemark
Sale Falls Apart with GE Capital “The
Telemark story sounds about right. I spoke with a senior official at Telemark
not long ago and the message was: too late, don't even bother. Since
then I've had 3 calls from Goldman. “The
GE part surprised me though. I heard that the prospective buyer was going
to leave the company intact.” Name
withheld please. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saddleback
Financial Sold to Precom Technology Precom
Technology announced that it has acquired the equipment leasing business
of Saddleback Financial, based in Orange CA. Saddleback has been engaged
in the equipment leasing business since 1983. The acquisition was an
all stock transaction, with two million shares of common stock, at an
agreed valuation of $1.00 per share for purposes of the exchange, and
one million shares of preferred stock of Precom issued to Saddleback
at closing in exchange for all of the assets of Saddleback, including
fixed assets, work in process, contracts, the Saddleback name and all
other operating assets. The existing business acquired by Precom will
be operated through a new subsidiary of Precom, Saddleback Finance,
Inc., which has been formed to continue the business. “
New owners will give us more resources, “Philip Walden, CEO of
Saddleback told Leasing News.” With the reliability, good funding
sources, we will do better this year. This will enable us to expand
our client base.” The
name Saddleback will remain, according to Walden, who will continue
in his same position. Former
Tyco CEO Faces Charges of Tax Dodging Washington
Post Staff Writer NEW
YORK-- Former Tyco International Ltd. chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski,
who helped build the Bermuda-based firm into one of the nation's largest
conglomerates before resigning abruptly on Monday, was charged Tuesday
with avoiding more than $1 million in sales taxes on valuable works
of art, including paintings by Renoir and Monet. (The
Internal Revenue Service has also started a separate investigation.
editor) Kozlowski
surrendered to authorities Tuesday morning and later pleaded not guilty
to state charges of conspiracy, tampering with physical evidence, falsifying
business records and sales tax violations. The charges carry prison
sentences of up to four years.( This does not include Internal Revenue
charges or possible Security Exchange Commission charges.) The
indictment was a dramatic new turn in months of turmoil for Kozlowski
and Tyco, whose shares have plummeted 72 percent from a December high
of $60. Tyco stock closed today at $16.77, up 72 cents, after a 27 percent
drop Monday following Kozlowski's resignation. Tyco,
perhaps best known for its ADT home security systems, manufactures a
wide variety of products, including undersea telecommunications systems,
disposable medical products and clothes hangers. Earlier
in his career, Kozlowski was compared to Neutron Jack Welch, the legendary
former chief executive of General Electric Co., because of his zeal
and initial success in expanding Tyco with a rapid acquisition strategy.
But more recently Kozlowski joined a lengthening list of executives
being vilified by investor groups for their lavish compensation packages
and scrutinized by regulators for their accounting methods. According
to a study by Pearl Meyer & Partners, Kozlowski received more than
$325 million in compensation from Tyco over the past four years. That
included $18.1 million in salary and bonuses, as well as $97.5 million
in restricted and long-term stock grants and $203.5 million in stock
options. In 2000 alone, he sold nearly $100 million in Tyco shares,
according to SEC filings, while publicly maintaining that he rarely
sold shares in the company. Earlier
this year, Graef Crystal, a columnist and authority on executive compensation,
awarded Kozlowski's a "pay for non-performance award" because
the firm's shares rose just 0.59 percent in 2000 -- compared with a
13.3 percent increase in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index --
and fell 12.2 percent in 2001. The
indictment adds Kozlowski to a relatively short list of major chief
executives to be hit with criminal charges. A. Alfred Taubman, the former
chairman of Sotheby's, was sentenced in April to a year and a day in
prison for his role in a price-fixing scheme with rival Christie's. In
announcing the indictment, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau
suggested that he took Kozlowski's performance at Tyco into account
in deciding to pursue him on personal tax-evasion charges. The prosecutor
repeatedly criticized Tyco's decision, made under Kozlowski in 1997,
to relocate its official headquarters from New Hampshire to Bermuda
to reduce its U.S. taxes on profits made overseas. And
Morganthau expressed anger over the heavily compensated Kozlowski's
alleged evasion of a relatively small amount of taxes. "It makes
me sore as hell, frankly, that people with high incomes are sometimes
paying almost nothing in taxes," he said, adding: "The whole
movement to shift headquarters overseas is something everyone should
be paying more attention to." The
indictment contends that between Aug. 11, 2001, and June 3, 2002, Kozlowski
and unnamed "co-conspirators" avoided sales tax due on at
least six expensive paintings valued at $13.2 million, including "Fleurs
et Fruits" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and "Pres Monte Carlo"
by Claude Monet. Prosecutors
would not name the alleged co-conspirators because the inquiry is continuing.
They said no art auction houses were involved. According
to the indictment, Kozlowski and others "agreed to generate false
documents, such as invoices and shipping documents, to make it appear
as though the art work was to be shipped out of state and therefore
not covered by New York state sales tax provisions." Tyco employees
were allegedly told to sign false documents reflecting receipt of the
paintings in New Hampshire, only to ship them back to New York. On
Dec. 11 of last year, the indictment says, an "art consultant employee"
had a trucker "de-install" a work by John LaFarge, valued
at $425,000, from Kozlowski's apartment, ship it to Tyco headquarters,
where it was signed for by a Tyco employee, and then ship it back to
Manhattan and put it back in Kozlowski's apartment. The indictment says
the work was purchased by Kozlowski's wife but that no sales tax was
paid on it. In
mid-December last year, according to the indictment, an "art business"
authorized the release of a $3.95 million Monet to Kozlowski's Manhattan
apartment. The art business owner then "prepared an invoice falsely
asserting that no sales tax was due because the work of art was being
shipped to New Hampshire." Also
in mid-December, Kozlowski allegedly purchased four more paintings valued
at $8.8 million and "asked an art consultant not to ship the four
paintings and the Monet, but instead to ship empty boxes to New Hampshire."
The indictment says sales tax of 8.25 percent should have been collected
on all of the paintings. (The
New York Times reports: Tyco is cooperating with the investigation and
has opened an internal inquiry into whether Mr. Kozlowski improperly
used the company's money to pay his personal bills, a person close to
Tyco's board said. The company hopes to determine whether Tyco paid
for the upkeep of the apartment at Fifth Avenue and 77th Street, which
Mr. Kozlowski bought for $18.5 million two years ago. Mr. Kozlowski
also spent at least $2 million of Tyco's cash to buy several other paintings
in the apartment, according to two people close to the investigation. (Brad
McGee, a spokesman for Tyco, said the company would announce the findings
of its investigation as quickly as possible.) At
the arraignment, Assistant District Attorney John W. Moscow said his
office had an "extremely strong case" backed up by significant
documentary evidence. Stephen
E. Kaufman, Kozlowski's attorney, disputed that evaluation, saying:
"It is nothing more than an allegation. . . . It is an unproven
case, and when all of the facts are carefully and fully presented, a
court or jury may find them lacking in substance." More
from By
FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press Writer Manhattan
District Attorney Robert Morganthau quoted from a memo from an art dealer,
who was not identified, involved in the purchases: "Here is a list
of the five paintings to go to New Hampshire (wink, wink)." "I
think over the years there has been too much winking at this kind of
activity," Morgenthau said. "We don't intend to wink." "At
a time when the city is in a fiscal crisis, the state is in a fiscal
crisis ... for somebody who was highly paid to fail to pay over a million
dollars in sales tax is a serious crime and will be treated seriously,"
he said. He
said the investigation was ongoing, and prosecutors were also looking
at the activities of dealers and collectors. Tyco
executive vice president Brad McGee said the company has started an
internal review. Morganthau said Kozlowski had unidentified employees
sign false documents as part of the alleged scheme. The
paintings hanging in Kozlowski's $18 million, two-story apartment next
to Central Park include "Fleurs and Fruits" by Pierre Auguste
Renoir and "Pres Monte Carlo" by Claude Monet, according to
prosecutors. Others include "Hollyhocks" by John La Farge,
"Still Life with Three Vases of Flowers" by Osias Beert the
elder and "The Young Entry on a Snowy Road at Woolsthorp." Tyco
was already under fire for Enron-inspired questions about how it accounted
for the huge number of corporate acquisitions Kozlowski made in the
1990s as he turned Tyco into a corporate behemoth producing products
ranging from undersea fiberoptic cable to coat hangers. Tyco
stock, which has lost more than 70 percent of its value over the last
12 months, rose 72 cents, or 4.5 percent, to close at $16.77 Tuesday
on the New York Stock. The shares plunged 27 percent a day earlier on
news of the investigation of Kozlowski and his resignation. Critics
say Tyco used accounting tricks when it bought companies to make its
profits appear to grow faster than they actually did. (
Insider loans for millions of dollars were made, and there is more to
learn about
the leadership of Tyco. editor ) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "CIT's
Value Undermined?" Investment
Dealers Digest Hahn,
Avital Louria Lehman
Brothers has irked many in Wall Street by offering a $5 billion
bid for Tyco's CIT Group and immediately withdrawing it, according
to reports.
CIT is expected to garner at least $6.5 billion
in an initial public offering. CIT offers services, such as
asset-based lending, equipment leasing, and factoring. However,
the company is not compatible with Lehman, says one analyst,
which is also an underwriter for CIT. "It
wouldn't advance what Lehman wants to do, it is not the kind of thing
that would
make Lehman a better company," he says. In any case, a valuation
of $6.5 billion for CIT appears less certain now. Last year,
CIT was purchased by Tyco for $9.5 billion. Meanwhile, bidders
such as GE Capital have shown interest in buying CIT but have
not offered an adequate price, bankers say. "Industry
News Weekly" <industrynewsweekly@lists.elaonline.com> (No
one has confirmed that Lehman made any offer, just as GE Capital allegedly made
an offer,as reportedly others, who also want to “steal” the
company for
less than what Tyco paid for it. ---
Now
Comes the Sorting Out of the Chief Executive's Legacy By
FLOYD NORRIS (Leasing
News has learned John F. Fort held a telephone conference with all CIT
Group Employees who wanted to get on line. The telephone number is available,
and due to all the news today, we have not had time to report on this.
Ironically, one of his neighbors in New Hampshire is visiting this area. We
have more “inside” news. Looks like this is going to get
worse before it
gets better. The media is about to uncover a lot more. editor ) More
than nearly any other chief executive, L. Dennis Kozlowski will probably
find his reputation shaped after he leaves the company. For what happens
now will determine which of two competing views of his long tenure at
Tyco International prevails. There
is no question that Tyco grew rapidly during his tenure, as the company
made acquisition after acquisition. The question is how well the company
will perform, and how much cash it can generate, in the condition in
which he leaves it. The
positive view of Tyco was well stated yesterday by John F. Fort, Mr.
Kozlowski's predecessor as chief executive and his temporary successor.
"Tyco's strong fundamental businesses and talented work force position
the company to prosper in the years ahead," he said in announcing
that Mr. Kozlowski had resigned for "personal reasons," a
reference to his tax problems in New York. To
Mr. Kozlowski's many supporters in the investment community, he was
an executive who could acquire companies — often manufacturers
in somewhat humdrum industries — and improve operations while cutting
costs. Reported profits and cash flow looked good, and he was often
compared with Jack Welch, the legendary manager of General Electric. The
alternative view is that Tyco's accomplishments reflected more accounting
smoke and mirrors than reality. Albert Meyer, an analyst with David
Tice & Associates and a longtime critic of Tyco, yesterday called
the company's accounting "aggressive and creative, but technically
correct" under what he views as overly permissive accounting rules. To
the critics, some of Tyco's acquisitions were manipulated to make a
company's first year of operations under Tyco look better than it was,
simply by making the company's final period before acquisition look
worse than it was. The critics contend that if Tyco stopped acquiring
companies, the operations might not look as good as Tyco's fans expected. That
view was strongly disputed by Mr. Kozlowski and by Tyco's chief financial
officer, Mark H. Swartz, who said the company's accounting was proper
and who took pride that an investigation by the Securities and Exchange
Commission in 2000 produced accounting changes they viewed as minor. In
the near future, the two views are likely to be sorted out. Mr. Fort
spoke yesterday of "the evolution of the company's long-term operating
strategy to focus more on organic growth" than on acquisitions.
He may have no choice but to support that strategy. Tyco is now trying
to reduce debt, ruling out substantial borrowing for new acquisitions,
and its stock is down 75 percent from its high of $63.21 in January
2001, making the shares a less attractive currency for purchases. The
bulls on the company continue to expect good profits, and the company
reiterated yesterday that it expected to earn $2.60 to $2.70 a share
this year, before any adjustments for the planned sale of CIT, its financial
company. Yesterday's closing share price of $16.05, down $5.90, is just
six times expected annual profits, an unusually low number. If the company
is able to produce profits like that in coming years, then the stock
is cheap by any measure. But
what has happened this year has caused some to doubt that Tyco can make
that kind of money. In January, with the stock at about $46, Mr. Kozlowski
announced plans to split Tyco into five companies, selling one outright
and spinning off three others to shareholders in initial public offerings.
To some, the important part of that strategy was that the company hoped
to take in $11 billion in cash to pay down debt. That
plan fizzled, and the share price fell further. Tyco now plans to sell
CIT in an offering, raising $5 billion to $6 billion, most of which
will go to pay debts. It reiterated those plans yesterday. When
Mr. Kozlowski became president of Tyco in December 1989, it had $2 billion
in annual revenue and a market capitalization of about $2.6 billion.
Its share price, adjusted for later splits, was $6.30 a share. He became
chief executive in 1992 and chairman the following January. In
the last fiscal year, ended in September, Tyco reported $36 billion
in revenue. Even at its current depressed level, the company's market
value is $32 billion. At $16.05, the stock price is two and a half times
what it was when he took over. In
January, when Tyco announced its plans to split up, Mr. Kozlowski said
he would continue running one of the companies. "You're going to
have Mark Swartz and me to kick around for many years to come,"
Mr. Kozlowski said. That
forecast proved wrong. How good his outlook was for Tyco's profits will
probably become clear in coming months, and with it Mr. Kozlowski's
legacy. (Ethics!!!!
A Bermuda based company to avoid taxes---what can you expect. How many
rotten apples are in the barrel when the leadership believes they are
“gods” and can do no wrong---they believe they can manipulate
the law, as it does not apply to them. editor ). Tyco
needs less debt, outside leadership to recover By
Harry R. Weber, Associated Press CONCORD,
N.H. (AP) Tyco International Ltd. must trim its debt quickly and bring
in someone from outside the company to end the crisis in confidence
left by just- departed chief executive Dennis Kozlowski. The
shock of Kozlowski's resignation after 10 years at the helm was still
being felt Tuesday at the huge conglomerate's offices in Exeter, where
executives launched an internal investigation. Prosecutors in New York
said Tuesday that Kozlowski had unidentified employees sign false documents
to help him avoid paying New York sales taxes on multimillion-dollar
paintings he bought. ''Right
now Tyco is in a high state of instability,'' said turnaround specialist
William Brandt. ''Is it going to go under? The near-term lever that
will determine that ... is how fast they can restore financial health.''
Rob
Plaza, an analyst with Morningstar Inc. in Chicago, said Tyco needs
to bring in an outsider to lead the company. Board member and former
chief executive John Fort, who was named interim chief, won't be able
to restore investor confidence, Plaza said. ''The
fear is some of Kozlowski's behavior spilled over into his professional
life,'' Plaza said. ''The best way to look at it is guilt by association.
You really need to bring in an outside leader with some credibility
who wouldn't be afraid to clean house.'' In
a decade as chairman, Kozlowski built Tyco into a massive conglomerate
with as many as 277,000 employees. Based
in Bermuda but run from Exeter, Tyco's divisions include plastics, electronics,
telecommunications and health care products. Its products range from
electronic equipment, fire and security systems and disposable medical
supplies, to undersea fiber-optic cable and coat hangers. Tyco
already was under fire for Enron-inspired questions about how it accounted
for the huge number of corporate acquisitions Kozlowski made in the
1990s. Critics say Tyco used accounting tricks when it bought companies
to make its profits appear to grow faster than they actually did, a
charge Tyco denied. Tyco
said in January it planned to split into four parts, but its stock kept
falling and it abruptly scrapped the plan in April a reversal that raised
new questions about leadership. At
the time it said it would lay off 7,100 people instead. Tyco blamed
a ''fierce decline'' in the electronics and telecommunications markets.
Tyco
stock rose 72 cents, or 4.5 percent, to close Tuesday on the New York
Stock Exchance at $16.77, a fraction of its 27 percent plunge the day
before as the investigation was revealed and Kozlowski resigned. The
shares have fallen more than 70 percent from their 52-week high of $60.09
late last year. Tyco
executive vice president Brad McGee said Tyco is reviewing Kozlowski's
activities at the company to see if other employees were involved. ''Tyco
is conducting an internal investigation and is cooperating with the
Manhattan District Attorney's office,'' McGee said. ''We will make our
findings public when we are done.'' He
could not say how long the process would take. He said the company had
not been informed by prosecutors that other employees were targets of
the investigation. McGee
said the search for a permanent chief executive could take several months,
and that Fort would remain the interim chief in the meantime. ''The
object is not speed. The object is finding a qualified candidate,''
he said. ''And we owe it to our shareholders to make sure that happens.''
Fort,
60, was Tyco's chief executive from 1983 to 1992. He became a senior
vice president after joining the company in 1979 and previously held
management positions in the wire and cable industry. Steven
Altman, an analyst with Commerzbank in New York, said Tyco must follow
through by the end of June with its planned sale or spinoff of its lending
division, CIT, to help pay down the company's $27 billion in debt. ''Mr.
Fort is an interim solution,'' Altman said. ''Tyco needs to look for
a seasoned executive from the outside to restore credibility. I would
think that would be mandatory.'' On
the Net: Tyco:
http://www.tyco.com OneSource
Financial Hires Mark Zimmerman as Director of Finance Mark
Zimmerman joined OneSource Financial Corp. as Director of Finance as
of June 3, 2002. In that role he will be responsible for raising additional
working capital and permanent debt facilities. Mr. Zimmerman comes
to OSFC with 14 years of equipment finance experience, having most recently
served as the Account Manager of the Dell Venture Lease program for
The CIT Group. Zimmerman’s prior leasing career included
management assignments with LINC Capital, Inc. and The LINC Group.
"We
are extremely excited to be able to bring someone of Mark's diverse
experience to OneSource as he will help us grow and enhance our Business
Development and Financing initiatives," stated Louis Manitzas,
President and Chief Executive Officer of OneSource in a company announcement.
Mark Zimmerman
Address = 9420 Research Blvd. #120
City = Austin
State = TX
Zipcode = 78759
Phone = 512-4581300x227
Fax = 512-372-9156
Email = mzimmerma “WOW!”
from Fred St.Laurent I
don't think you can post this (otherwise everybody will send you Job Openings) ...BUT your news letter from this morning was given to the friend of a friend, who passed to someone who was perfect for the job!!! He interviewed on the phone today and will go in for an interview in person ne |