|
|
Kit
Menkin’s Leasing News
www.leasingnews.org Tuesday,
May 7, 2002 Accurate,
fair and unbiased news for the equipment Leasing Industry
Headlines---- Gold prices exceed $310 and stay there Fed Expected to Keep Rates Low Milestone Cap Acquire Capital Financial Resources CIT Tyco IPO Continues to Get Bad Press Goldman Sachs to Market the CIT IPO FleetBoston to Pay $2.4 Million in Bankvest Bankruptcy Ruling ( Hello, John Colton!!! ) Tuesday---Odds and Ends IKON's Captive Leasing Arm, Private Placement of $250 Million ( yes, they are hiring! ) ePlus Network Center Delivers Secure Network Managed Services Fitch To Release Finance, Leasing & Credit Card Company Annual Special: Tax Receipts--- As paper piles up, which do you keep? ### Denotes: Press Release ( Say, Al Gamper, you have a great company, dedicated employees, but I hope you read Leasing News comments about your public relations/press department. It sucks. editor ) __________________________________________________________________ Gold prices exceed $310 and stay there, pleasing Nevada mines
ASSOCIATED PRESS ELKO, Nev. – Gold watchers are expressing optimism for the first time in months, as prices not only sit at their highest level in more than two years, but because they're staying there. "Before, we saw a spike. But this has been sustained over several months' time. It speaks to stronger fundamentals," said Gold Institute President Paul Bateman. "It's nice to be back above $300 and gaining." The metal climbed $2.50 a troy ounce to $311.65 Monday in Hong Kong and added $2.06 an ounce in Paris to $309.15. Its spot price closed at $311.20, off $1 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where trading was dulled by holiday market closures in London and Tokyo. Friday's London close of $310.45 marked gold's best showing since $312.70 on Feb. 7, 2000, the Elko Daily Free Press reported. "There are a number of factors at play. The dollar is getting weaker. The equities market is certainly a factor. And we see economic uncertainty in Argentina and the Japanese are turning to gold as a safe heaven," Bateman said from his Washington office. Shareholders in mining companies also are winning as stock prices follow gold's upward curve. Morgan Stanley financial adviser Jon Wahrenbrock said in Elko that share prices were hovering around 52-week highs. Newmont Mining Co. exceeded that milestone on Monday, bucking a widespread sell off on the New York Stock Exchange to close at $30.29 a share, up 34 cents. Barrick Gold Corp. rose 43 cents to $21.54, 12 cents below its high for the past year. Newmont spokesman Doug Hock said from Denver that the prices underscore that "gold's enduring value is being recognized in the marketplace once again." Wahrenbrock said he hasn't seen any new interest among his clients for buying into mining companies, but he is hearing from people with options who want to take advantage of the robust prices. __________________________________________________________________ Fed Expected to Keep Rates Low Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON –– As the economic recovery slows a bit, Americans can expect to see short- term interest rates – now at 40-year lows – stay low in months ahead. That would give consumers an incentive to keep on spending, and businesses might be motivated to step up investment in new equipment and plants. Both are crucial ingredients to help along the recovery, economists said. Even though the economy is on the mend, the healing process can be painful. The nation's unemployment rate shot up almost to an eight-year high of 6 percent in April and is expected to climb to as high as 6.5 percent by June. Making sure that the American shopper, whose spending accounts for two- thirds of all economic activity in the United States, doesn't get spooked by rising unemployment is a key worry. Low interest rates may be the tonic, even if a psychological one, to persuade consumers to keep their pocketbooks and wallets open, analysts said. Companies whose battered revenues and profits still suffer lingering effects from last year's recession are worried about the recovery's staying power and are reluctant to hire workers back, crank up spending and make other big commitments until they are convinced the turnaround is for real. "The economic recovery is under way, but questions remain regarding the strength of the recovery going forward," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist for Banc of America Capital Management. Against this backdrop, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues are expected to leave the federal funds rate – the interest that banks charge each other – unchanged at 1.75 percent, a 40-year low, at their meeting Tuesday, economists predicted. The Fed's chief policy-making group, the Federal Open Market Committee, was to announce its decision in the afternoon. The last Fed rate cut came Dec. 11 and pushed the funds rate down to 1.75 percent. To rescue the economy from the clutches of a recession that began in March 2001, the Fed slashed rates 11 times last year. Citing signs of an economic turnaround, the Fed decided to leave rates alone at its January and March meetings. If the Fed continues to hold the funds rate steady, that would allow the prime lending rate – a benchmark for many consumer and business loans – to remain at 4.75 percent, a level last seen in November 1965. Greenspan recently indicated that the Fed is in no rush to raise interest rates. That means borrowers will have more time to take advantage of low-cost financing, but savers will have to continue to deal with measly returns. Breaking out of the doldrums, the economy grew in the first quarter at a 5.8 percent annual rate, its strongest performance in more than two years and confirmation that last year's recession is history. Many economists believe that the economy is growing at a more moderate rate of 3 percent to 3.5 percent in the current quarter. Recent economic reports that showed a slower growth in manufacturing, weaker home sales and construction activity and higher unemployment are consistent with that forecast, economists said. "That's all convincing evidence to the Federal Reserve to watch and wait," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. Even with the rebound slowing, economists said they weren't worried that the economy might backslide into a downturn, a "double-dip" recession. Since the recovery has been spotty and inflation remains under control except for a burst of recent energy price increases, economists believe the Fed will wait until August or September at the earliest to begin raising interest rates. Just two months ago, many economists, buoyed by forecasts of a sizzling first- quarter growth, were predicting that the Fed's first rate increase could come as early as May. Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo, said the Fed would proceed with caution when it comes to pushing up rates. "We are in the midst so far of a jobless recovery and a profitless recovery," he said. "That is a double whammy on financial markets, and the Fed doesn't want to make it a triple whammy by raising interest rates." ––– On the Net: Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov ### ########################################### ####################### Milestone
Capital Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Privately Held Capital
Financial Resources, Ltd. - Acquisition
expected to generate substantial revenues - William
Stuckert appointed Vice President of Sales Milestone
Capital, Inc. (OTCBB: MLSP) announced today that it has entered
into a letter of intent to acquire Capital Financial Resources,
Ltd. (CFR) a privately held financial services organization. CFR
offers equipment leasing, information technology services, asset
management and creative financing for public sector, federal and
commercial entities. The acquisition, which is expected to close
before the end of May, will be an all stock transaction. William
J. Stuckert, CFR's Chief Executive will be joining Milestone Capital's
EliteAgents Leasing division as Vice President of Sales, effective
May 6, 2002. Mr. Stuckert will be specializing in federal, state,
and local government leasing programs along with vendor programs
in commercial accounts. Mr.
Stuckert was a division president for public sector sales at Comdisco,
Inc. (OTCBB: CDSO). His division grew from $4 million in sales when
he joined in 1991 to over $180 million in sales in 1999. During
that period he was responsible for the company being awarded the
first General Services Administration (GSA) contract for leasing
services and business continuity services. "I
am excited about the opportunity to join Milestone and to be able
to work with Chuck DeMory again," said Bill Stuckert. "At
Comdisco we worked together and built an extremely successful leasing
company and I look forward to helping build a great company."
Milestone
CEO Chuck DeMory said, "We expect to become one of the leading
leasing management company's in the industry and this transaction
is another essential building block to achieve that goal. Bill brings
significant skills to our organization and we expect to close several
large transactions he has developed in the near future." Milestone
Capital, Inc. completed a reverse acquisition in early January in
which it acquired the assets of EliteAgents, Inc. EliteAgents (http://www.eliteagents.com) was established
in 1999 as a mortgage banker and has spent the last three years
and over $6 million developing several sophisticated computer systems
to implement its strategic objective. One of these systems, for
which a patent has been applied, allows a non-experienced individual
to easily qualify a borrower for a mortgage and to evaluate offerings
from numerous financial institutions to find the one which best
fits the borrower. Once determined, the system allows the originator
to obtain the necessary information to initiate the mortgage as
well as perform the necessary steps to be eligible to receive a
portion of the commission. Experienced
loan officers utilize this system to develop a network of realtors,
financial planners, accountants, attorney's, home builders and other
professionals to originate mortgages and receive a portion of the
commission which this network generates in addition to their own
commissions. This system is currently being modified to support
leasing transactions. ( courtesy of ELAonline.com ) ############## ################################################### _____________________________________________________________ CIT
Tyco IPO Continues to Get Bad Press ------------ Future
Bodes Ill for Interest in CIT By
Greg Cresci, Reuters Executives
at Tyco International are racing to prevent a detonation of the
conglomerate's massive debt. The
latest plan: Raise $6.5 billion through an initial public offering
of commercial finance arm CIT Group. But experts say the IPO, which
would rank as the third-largest U.S. stock offering ever, might
not happen. CIT could yet be sold outright, they say, or be left
to a cashless spin-off. "All
options are open, and we're down to the last chance," Prudential
Securities analyst Nicholas Heymann said. Tyco
- which makes everything from diapers to burglar alarms, and whose
units include AMP Inc., of Harrisburg, and Central Sprinkler Corp.,
of Lansdale - is pulling out all the stops. The Bermuda company
has $3.25 billion in debt coming due February and is desperately
looking for cash. But
getting rid of CIT through an IPO will not be easy. The 94-year-old
finance company - which specializes in aircraft leasing and other
commercial financing - already has been analyzed and rejected in
recent months by several potential buyers, including GE's GE Capital. That
no buyer has come forward bodes ill for future interest in CIT among
institutional investors, whose support is critical to any successful
share offering, analysts said. "You're
fighting an uphill battle to do an IPO," Heymann said. "You'll
have to be extremely creative in how you structure it because a
standard IPO of this business, in this market, at this time, is
not going to go down very easily." A
spin-off of New York-based CIT to Tyco shareholders has also been
an option from the start, but it is not considered a desirable transaction
because spin-offs do not generate any cash. Representatives
of Tyco and CIT declined to comment. Tyco
last June bought CIT for nearly $10 billion. Industry analysts said
the franchise was worth as little as $5 billion now and even Tyco
acknowledged that CIT was worth about 30 percent less than it paid. "We
think that what Tyco wants to get accomplished is aggressive given
CIT's core earnings," David Hendler, an analyst at bond research
firm CreditSights, said of the planned IPO. "It's
a challenge to understand CIT's core earnings rate," Hendler
said. "There have been so many transactions, so many merger-related
accounting issues, and you might say CIT has overly benefited from
the low interest-rate environment and they've not really set aside
the right provisions for potential loan losses." Tyco
chief financial officer Mark Swartz told investors recently that
Tyco already had enough cash on its balance sheet to satisfy its
near-term debt obligations. CIT has about $50 billion in assets. As with any big lender, the main concern is potentially bad loans. Among CIT's problems are $200 million tied up in chaotic Argentina, a focus on the suffering commercial and industrial sectors, and a murky home-equity lending business. ( CIT has cut off Leasing News from their e-mail system, and perhaps other news media, and has not been pro-active. Their website had an year old story featured (CIT Broker Edge), few press releases, little“friendliness” and a lot of hostility, Leasing News experience. It is also like the PR guys are former GE credit managers, who look forward to turning down a credit submitted to them. In our experience, they won’t even make it in the collection department---too much hostility Even in the telephone conference with CIT President/CEO Al Gamper and CIT CFO Joe Leone, employees “complained” about the “bad press.” Gamper’s attitude was this was a “Quiet Period.” Perhaps he is Muhammad Ali fighting George Foreman, waiting for George Foreman to get worn out in the later rounds, so he can deliver the knockout punches to a tired press. (Leasing News, your employees, and others have been advising new tactics need to be put forward to win this prize fight. The press doesn’t get tired, as it is not one, but a group, and they start a band wagon with momentum that will be more and more difficult to turn around---especially in this world wide economy where there seems to be more negative business exposures every day... Al, you may have a winning personality, but your PR/Press Department does not. Editor ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Goldman Sachs to Market the CIT IPO By Reuters In a market where fees generated by IPOs have declined, Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs Group is getting a shot at a deal that could land it $200 million. Last week troubled conglomerate Tyco International announced it would keep Goldman as its investment bank to sell its finance arm CIT Group's offering by late June. The news came after previous Goldman-advised plans to break Tyco into several companies failed to pass muster with investors. The CIT initial public offering - if it happens - is expected to be the third largest ever, a major score for Goldman and co-lead book runner Lehman Brothers. If commissions and fees keep in step with similar sized IPOs priced last year, the sale - which according to the company could raise as much as $7.15 billion in all - would generate between $193 million and $208 million. "The market's going to watch this closely," said Joel Gomberg, an analyst who covers Goldman for Chicago-based William Blair & Co. "There's the sheer size of the deal, and the high profile because of what's happening with Tyco." This one deal would dwarf the $46 million in banking fees and commissions - known as the gross spread - generated by the six sales that Goldman and Lehman brought to market so far this year, according to data from Dealogic LLC. Goldman could use the business. After bringing $2.3 billion worth of IPOs to market in 2001, second only to Morgan Stanley, the bank has lagged behind competitors this year. It's currently seventh, according to Dealogic's 2002 league tables, having managed two IPOs worth $437.6 million. Goldman is absent again in the five IPOs slated this week. Movie theater chain Regal Entertainment Group, managed by Credit Suisse First Boston, expects to price shares on Wednesday in the only stock to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Both Aderis Pharmaceuticals and Innovative Drug Delivery Systems, being managed by UBS Warburg and Thomas Weisel Partners respectively, hope to go public sometime this week after they postponed last week. Quinton Cardiology Systems, another sale postponed from last week, expects to price on Monday in a sale led by Adams Harkness & Hill. Printcafe Software, managed by UBS Warburg, expects to price on Tuesday. The 94-year-old finance company - which specializes in aircraft leasing and other commercial financing - already has been rejected in recent months by several potential buyers, including GE's GE Capital. That bodes ill for future interest in CIT among institutional investors, whose support is critical to any successful share offering, analysts said. "You can expect investors to be looking at CIT with a microscope," said Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at University of Florida. The IPO business is important for Wall Street banks, not only for the initial sale. Commissions made trading the stock in the aftermarket and business from follow-on stock sales can dwarf what's made in the IPO. "That's the beauty of the business, you generally get the aftermarket trading business," said William Blair's Gomberg. Goldman has a history of landing the marquis IPOs. It was a lead manager for AT&T Wireless Services' $10.6 billion stock sale in April of 2000, the biggest IPO ever. For IPOs of several hundred million dollars or less, bankers typically charge 7 percent of the offering's total value. From there, it declines as the size of the deal increases. For AT&T Wireless, bankers made a 2.92 percent gross spread, or $309.6 million. Kraft Foods $8.7 billion spin off from Philip Morris Cos. in June of 2001, the second largest IPO, generated $237 million for lead manager Credit Suisse First Boston and its partners, a 2.73 percent gross spread. Business has dropped off since the heady dotcom days, leaving less business to go around and forcing banks to lay off staff. Banks competed for just $571 million in total IPOs fees so far this year. While that's a step up from the $427 million made in the same period last year, it's still just a third of the $1.54 billion generated in 2000, and half of the $1.15 billion made in 1999. Fees in general have declined, from an average gross spread of 7.17 percent in 1998 to 6.24 percent in 2002. In part, that's because of a rising number of larger companies going public, which pay a smaller gross spread, and the declining number of smaller start-up IPOs. But some banks are also competing on fees in order to grab business. __________________________________________________________________ FleetBoston to Pay $2.4 Million in Bankvest Bankruptcy Ruling ( Hello, John Colton!!! ) By Rachel Layne, Bloomberg FleetBoston Financial was ordered to pay more than $2.4 million for violating bankruptcy rules that prevent creditors from acting on a debtors' assets, the Boston Herald reported, citing a bankruptcy judge's ruling. Assets of Bankvest Capital, an equipment-leasing company that went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000, were protected by an automatic stay, Judge Joel Rosenthal wrote in his order, the paper said. Between December 1999, when Bankvest ended leasing operations and converted to voluntary bankruptcy on Jan. 25, 2000, Fleet got $2.2 million in proceeds from a lease portfolio sale and from payments, the Herald said, citing court papers. Fleet used that to pay down Bankvest loans, the paper said. Boston-based Fleet is appealing the decision, the paper said, citing an unidentified spokesman. Fleet claimed Bankvest owed it $15.6 million, the paper said, citing court papers. (Are former officers involved? Perhaps more of the story will come out in the appeal, as banks generally like to not tell all. This may be an exception, due to the appeal process. ( LincCapital may find themselves in a similar boat in bankruptcy, it is rumored. Editor.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday---Odds and Ends Anthony Gaiie, the Las Vegas conference's feature speaker The speaker at the meeting was so well received, the audience and those who did not see him may like to view his streaming video which is a 20 minute presentation very similar to what he presented at the convention. It works with real player.com. Since this is not sent in html, the link has to be cut and pasted before it works. http://www.speakersquest.com/speakers/Galie.htm Steven B. Geller, CLP Leasing Solutions LLC 20 Dike Drive Wesley Hills, New York 10952 845-362-6106 fax 845-354-2803 cell 914-552-0842 --- Frontario Joins Forum Financial Frank Frontario has joined our firm, Forum Financial Services, Inc., as Vice President of Vendor Leasing. Frank has been active in equipment leasing in the Dallas area for 20 years most recently as Vice President with Affiliated Corporate Services/BankPartners Leasing. Frank can be reached at 972-690-9444 ext. 240 or frank@forumleasing.com.
Tim O'Connor 2140 Lake Park Blvd Richardson Texas 75080 Phone = 972-690-9444 Fax = 972-690-9464 Email = tim@forumleasing.com ---- BancPartner’s Confusion? Kit, just got back from Las Vegas and I thought it was a great conference, sorry I missed you. I received your 5-6 requests for confirmation of BancPartners information and Rick & I will be having a conference call with them today and I will ask one of them to call you. In the meantime, please print my response to your 5-1 Leasing News about Affiliated Corporate Services, Inc (CSI. )I was surprised by how many people came up to me in Vegas to ask about the closing of our Lewsiville office. We will be issuing a full Press Release shortly and will keep you informed. Thanks again for your support. Jim Lahti ( We did print it. I think readers may be confused with the former parent company story. Perhaps you can help us all straighten this out. Editor ) --- Ty Hanson e-Mail Using one's name to sign an article or response has no relationship to backbone (sorry Ty). It is just common courtesy. Duane and Charles Loftus LMT Financing ----- Please let Barry ( Reitman) know that I don't appreciate being stuffed into a soft sided whatever, even though I understand that flying in coach is like "... being crammed into a soft-sided bag." However, I appreciate being referred to as having "... intelligence and sweet sensitivity..." and as a "... wonderful companion..." Archie Julian ( Sorry, Archie, this “Archie” is much cuter. Take a look yourself by going to the following url address. Editor ) http://www.keystoneleasing.com/newkid.html ### ########################################### IOS Capital, IKON's Captive Leasing Arm, Announces a Private Placement of $250 Million of Convertible Subordinated Notes VALLEY FORGE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 2002--IKON Office Solutions (NYSE:IKN) today announced that IOS Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of IKON, intends to offer convertible subordinated notes in a private placement, subject to market and other conditions.
The notes will be convertible into shares of IKON common stock at a price to be determined. The offering is expected to raise $250,000,000 (or up to $300,000,000 to the extent an option to purchase additional shares is exercised), which will be used for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of certain indebtedness.
The convertible subordinated notes have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act, and will be offered and may only be sold to qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A and to non-U.S. persons outside the U.S. in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933.
The IKON common stock issuable upon conversion of the notes has not been registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold except in compliance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act or pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.
This press release does not and will not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the convertible subordinated notes, nor shall there be any sale of the convertible subordinated notes in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.
IKON Office Solutions is one of the world's leading providers of products and services that help businesses communicate.
IKON provides customers with total business solutions for every office, production and outsourcing need, including copiers and printers, color solutions, distributed printing, facilities management, imaging and legal document solutions, as well as network design and consulting, and e-business development.
IOS Capital, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of IKON, provides lease financing to customers and is one of the largest captive finance companies in North America. With Fiscal 2001 revenues of $5.3 billion, IKON has approximately 600 locations worldwide including the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland and Denmark. CONTACT:
IKON Office Solutions |