|
| October 31, 2000
Headlines:
Bob Rodi on Unicapital Report I was familiar with the operations of several of the Unicpaital acquisitions and I recall asking "What is the plan for this company?". I didn't see any discernable business plan emerging. One can only assume that most of them laughed all the way to the bank, with the possible exception of BSB who was the last in. Jonathan Ledeke, who was basically a boutique investment banking, "roll-up specialist" who had a success with a similar roll-up in the floral industry. This, of course, proved to all of the geniuses on Wall Street that he was abundantly qualified to do the same thing in the equipment leasing industry. Ledeke took his money and purchased an interest in the Washington Capitols hockey team, I believe(maybe it was the Washington Senators of Baseball)so we know he may now be in a less speculative business than refurbished aircraft engines. What will happen to all of the other Unicpaital companies? I imagine some of them will re-surface under different names. Between this fiasco, Sierra Cities and some of the dot com leasing companies who are bound to fail as soon as the initial venture money runs out, we'll be lucky if anybody in the investment banking community will ever talk to a leasing company--no matter how viable the business plan. Ledeke, and others, did not understand the leasing business. They at the time, as another terribly fragmented and inefficient business populated by small, entrepreneurial companies who dared to build their reputations by actually providing a valuable service to their customers. ( Very profound comments, Bob. What is more surprising to me is the eLease companies are saying the same thing today. They can organize the process, make it more simple, cost effective, and pass this on to the applicant, lower price, faster service, and approve everyone at the rate and term they want---- thus the claim of many on the online leasing brokers ( and superbrokers )---. I personally see the industry moving more to automated processing, but with special programs for large vendors and manufacturers. The modern lease broker is adding the "on line" service to thier sales kit; and going after smaller vendors the major companies are not interested in servicing, plus working their local advantage: see the customer face-to-face-- ---editor ) Kit: Thanks for the article by Laura Lorek. Many of the brokers I talk with about e-commerce are concerned about an issue she raises in her article. Toward the bottom it states "Yet on the Net, leasing is fast, convenient and cuts out most middleman fees, says Joe Loll, ..." Many brokers feel e-commerce will provide a stage for larger companies to bid against them directly. If cost is the only consideration, the larger company will take the business and cut out the middleman (broker). Others argue that e-commerce will take over whether the broker embraces it or not. Usually neither the most optimistic or pessimistic predition occur. Often the future brings something between the best and worst. I know one broker who uses the internet to assist sales and enhance his position (middleman - broker)in servicing a particular vendor. The vendor has become wedded to him because of his understanding and use of the internet and the way he uses it to assist the vendor's salespeople. Maybe that's where we need to go - improve our understanding so we can better service our clients. Archie
Julian Kit, just wanted to say "Thanks" for the kind comments regarding BSB and the hard working - long suffering staff, who are trying very, very hard to keep BSB viable long enough for the Bank of America or UCP Headquarters to make a decision regarding our fate...ANY DECISION!!! As you have pointed out this is a "relationship" business, and the value of this and the other divisions is the relationships we have made with the broker community over the last 20 years, various funding sources and assorted vendors. The indecisiveness regarding the fate of the "at risk" divisions is driving a huge wedge between these various relationships, and further diminishes the "sale value" of the particular division. (Note that this is being sent from my home computer for obvious reasons. I still need my paycheck.) Name with held by request The above was in response to a statement I made to stockholders who send me e-mails and go on chat boards to ask me what is happening. Here is one statement made to the Yahoo UCP chatroom: "You do not understand the leasing business. Leasing is relationships. Leasing is people. Leasing is know what goes where and why and how to keep the customer "happy". It is a people business. Advanta is a very fine company and worth a lot of money, even though they do not have a portfolio. They are for sale. Republic of South Carolina is for sale, a great company with great management. BSB is a viable, excellent company with excellent people, and has a value. The other "division" have excellent staff and the reason this company has lasted as long as it has is because of its staff, certainly not its top management. You are correct in one thing. The main group from BSB can open an office tomorrow and be in business; however, they would rather buy their company back, give it a try, and keep their identity...otherwise, they would have left, because most likely the president is the only one who has a covenant not to compete---unless Unicapital files bankruptcy---and therefore, you should give the Unicapital staff, such as at BSB a lot of respect---because that is what the buyer is getting. Not just accounts receivable, good or bad, but the staff who can make leasing work. My hat is off to them. Kit Menkin Kit- Please put me on your list to receive Leasing News. Always good to see someone letting people know about the industry.
Mark ( Thank you. We get about ten requests a day. November, we have decided to start promoting new readers. Until now, it has been word of mouth. This is a "non-profit" effort, and the promotion will be small, but the point is we were doing no promotion before, and welcome new readers who want the inside news about our industry ). $99 a month---and automatically sends you your commission---just turn it on and wait for the money. Their press release: "Ecommercesoft Introduces DUIT! Ecommercesoft (http://www.Ecommercesoft), a leading software developer of tailored eBusiness solutions, announced the release of DUIT!, a turnkey leasing solution designed to enable leasing companies to process more qualified applications and increase the number of approved leases. DUIT! is a self contained Web site that can be utilized either as a standalone solution or be integrated into an existing Web site. Duit! includes the following standard features: A Home page with up to 5 paragraphs of text, 5 active links, 3 images and a company logo. A Contact Us page with the company's contact information and 1 image. A Why Lease/Why Us page with up to 5 paragraphs of text, and 1 image. A Online Rate Calculator to enable customers to enter an amount and instantly receive a quote with various buyout options. The customer can then select the option that they prefer and be automatically linked to the online application page, with the lease amount and buyout option already entered. An Online Application allowing the customer to enter needed information to automatically submit a lease application to your company. A Custom Quote page allowing the customer to request a special lease quotation. Automatic email notification will send the applications directly to the company instantly! Designed for leasing companies with less than 20 employees and annual lease amounts not exceeding $20 million dollars, DUIT! will streamline the quoting process and dramatically reduce the time and cost of qualifying a potential lease candidate. Often, a leasing agent will be asked to calculate a lease several times before acceptable terms are reached. During that process, there are delays due to lack of information from the client, time lag in producing the quote and inability to reach the customer. The worst thing is that after this process and all of the work, the client may not have been really interested in leasing after all, or were impatient and signed a lease with another leasing company. Studies have shown this to be one of the most inefficient areas in many leasing companies at this time. By offering instant rate calculation online, the customer can receive multiple quotes in virtually any configuration so that they can custom tailor their leasing plans before contacting the leasing company. The real-time lease application form will automatically fill out the lease terms that the customer has selected and prompt for the customer for required information to be sent to the leasing company. Once the lease application is received, the leasing agent will have complete information on the customer, the lease terms, and authorization to pull credit reports for the customer and can spend more of their time and resources approving the leases, and thereby increasing revenues. \DUIT! is a Web based application and no programming is needed. The graphical administration interfaces enabling the leasing company to instantly change their leasing rates on-the-fly. 3 email accounts and hosting is also included to provide a total turnkey solution. Monthly hosting and support is only $99 and includes standard upgrades at no additional charge. Bridgecom Establishes New Service Level Offering to LeasePoint.com; Online Leasing Site Becomes First in Industry to Provide Unified Messaging MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2000--Bridgecom and LeasePoint.com today announced that Bridgecom is providing its unified messaging services to LeasePoint's online leasing services. This partnership creates a first-of-its-kind application for B-to-B automated business platforms. LeasePoint provides businesses with multiple leasing options for a wide range of technology equipment, such as computers, servers, peripherals and software. During an applicant's leasing process, Bridgecom's unified messaging platform allows the applicant to attach a voice mail or fax file to the application. The lender and applicant can communicate more efficiently with each other to expedite application processing. This integration speaks to Bridgecom and LeasePoint's core technology and opens up innumerable market opportunities for both companies. "We have established a new high-water mark in this e-business economy with the visionary application from LeasePoint," said Marc Keepman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bridgecom. "This will separate them from their competition and accelerate their growth. We're very pleased to be a part of that effort." "Bridgecom's unified messaging contributes to LeasePoint's overall goal of giving our customers a simpler way to lease," said Elen Bahr, Vice President of Marketing for LeasePoint. "Traditional leasing methods were slow and clumsy. Bridgecom's technology enhances our own platform by providing a means of faster communication between lease applicants and lending companies. With this partnership, LeasePoint becomes the only online leasing company to offer unified messaging." Unified messaging combines and simplifies voice, fax and e-mail messages in a single mailbox. Users can access and manage these messages at any time using any available wired or mobile phone, PC or web-enabled device. Based in Minneapolis, LeasePoint.com is rapidly emerging as an industry-leading Internet site for businesses seeking to lease technology equipment. LeasePoint.com matches these businesses with vendors and lenders to give businesses the best lease options available. LeasePoint does this with specially developed technology that removes obstacles of traditional leasing and makes the process fast and easy. The company's website is www.leasepoint.com. Bridgecom develops and markets carrier-grade unified messaging solutions serving the ISP, ASP, CLEC, wireless and education markets. Plymouth-based Bridgecom is a rapidly growing provider of unified messaging services, an explosive industry estimated to reach $31 billion by 2006. More information is available at www.bridgecom.com CONTACT: Bridgecom, Minneapolis Mike Vacanti mike@bridgecom.com 763-225-3005 or LeasePoint.com Elen Bahr ebahr@leasepoint.com 952-841-7500 KEYWORD: MINNESOTA
American River completes merger American River Holdings has completed its $9 million merger with North Coast Bank, a community business bank in Sonoma County. Under terms of the deal, North Coast Bank will keep its name and become a subsidiary of American River Holdings, which now has more than $270 million in assets. The combined companies will have eight offices in three Northern California counties. American River Holdings also is parent to American River Bank and first source capital, a company that arranges equipment lease financing for businesses. Under the merger, each North Coast Bank shareholder will receive 0.96 shares of American River Holdings common stock for each North Coast Bank share they own. Also, American River Holdings on Thursday began trading on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol AMRB. Previously, the company traded on the OTC Bulletin Board. |
 |
||||||
| ||||||
|
 |
|
|
|