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September 5, 2001 Kit Menkin’s Leasing News www.leasingnews.org Tuesday, Sept 5,2001 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Headlines--- Charlie Lester---So you want to be a “discounter?” U.S.Comerce Dept Reports Online Sales Dwindling Analysts dispute effect of H-P/Compaq merger in regard to Gateway British “The Banker'' Again Presents Nordea With Global Award for Best E-banking Strategy New Wachovia--Creates Nation’s Fourth Largest Bank and Premier East Coast Financial Service Company Heller Financial Acquires Golf Course Lending Portfolio
Leasing News List is Up-dated 118 Changes--- Sean Wheeler Drives 2001 BMW X-5 #### denotes press release _________________________________________________________ Mark III Credit Kit, Thanks for running the update. The email response and phone calls were overwhelming. My wife said it reminded her of Valentines Day at the flower shop we used to own. Your efforts to keep everyone in our industry" in the know" are greatly appreciated. Don <dshadel@markiiicredit.com __________________________________________________________________ Leasing News gets mail back from American Express, ATEL, Balboa and more and more “employers” are blocking the newsletter. I can’t reach them to let them know this. Some of blocking may be not against Leasing News, but e-mail in general such as this one:: AEGONUSA.COM's (or one of it's affiliates) e-mail content filtering software has blocked an e-mail from kitmenkin@leasingnews.org with the subject Leasing News---Textron, Charles Lester on AmX/BuyIt Software/. We're sorry, but content/files of this type are not allowed into our e-mail system - our e-mail system is for business use only. This is an automated response - please contact postmaster@aegonusa.com for more information. In our new Frequently Asked Question section to be finished soon, this will be on top as it is one of the most asked questions: I used to be on your mailing list, but I don’t receive it anymore---why? Leasing News is available on line, or we may suggest, you receive it at home. Many of our East Coast readers have told us they read us after dinner. editor --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Online Sales Dwindling - Commerce Dept. -- By David McGuire, Newsbytes. In the first two fiscal quarters of 2001, business-to-consumer e-commerce sales dwindled, both as a whole and as a percentage of overall U.S. retail figures, according to a report published by the U.S. Commerce Department. Internet retailers reported total sales of $7.46 billion in the second quarter of 2001, down from an all-time quarterly high of $8.88 billion in the fourth quarter of 2000, according to the report. The $7.46 billion figure also marked a drop-off from the first quarter of this year, when retail sales topped $7.59 billion. Despite the e-commerce sales malaise, overall U.S. retail sales actually increased from roughly $729 billion in the first quarter of 2001 to more than $807 billion in the second quarter, according to the report. That means that e-commerce sales accounted for less than 1 percent of U.S. retail sales in the second quarter. E-commerce sales first passed the 1 percent threshold in the fourth quarter of 2000, when e-commerce sales accounted for 1.09 percent of nationwide retail revenues. Details of the Commerce Department report are online at http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/current.html . __________________________________________________________________ Sean Wheeler Drives 2001 BMW X-5 Long time no talk. Just wanted to touch base and the cars I drive. I have a 2001 BMW X-5 (just got it),but my treasure is a 2001 Dodge Viper Rt/10 I have had it for 5 months but have only put 400 miles on it. We will see you at the UAEL show in S.A. Sean Wheeler, CLP One Lease Franchise Group _______________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ United Association of Equipment Leasing Extends Early Bird Discount Update Update Update Registrations for the UAEL Annual Conference & Exposition, October 25-28 in San Antonio is ahead of schedule. To keep the momentum going and as many of you are just returning from holidays, we are extending the Early Bird registration time until September 15th. Register now and take advantage of these lower prices. Visit the UAEL website for complete information on this year's Annual Conference & Exposition at www.uael.org. While you are online you can: *Register for the conference *Set-up your one-on-one appointments with Funding Source & Service Providers *Visit the San Antonio Convention & Bureau website to get tourist information *Read Newsline Online! *Update your Online Member Profile! *Check-out the Bulletin Boards! *Post a Job! *Look for a Job! *Find out what is happening in YOUR association! See you in San Antonio! Joanie Dalton - Managing Director UAEL - United Association of Equipment Leasing 520 Third Street, #201 Oakland, CA 94607 (510) 444-9235 x27 (510) 444-1346 fax joanie@uael.org www.uael.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charlie Lester American Express and Private Label Programs. GC: First you called me Charles. It is Charlie. Second, you called me Grandpa Charlie. Third, you said I handled the lease of equipment and tools for Noah to build his ark. If I did, you placed the funding. LN: To Rick Wilbur at Budget Finance. I also know you are a proud grandfather. GC: You’ve got that right. More seriously, the two people most responsible for making the Private Label Recourse Program successful were Bob Quinn and Peter Smith. After they were forced out, the program quickly deteriorated by top manager. The discounters bought by First Sierra and the Private Label Recourse Program were two separate and distinct programs at First Sierra. Although the discounters acquired continued to operate under their old names for a number of months, any recourse liability shifted to First Sierra on date of acquisition. The Private Label Recourse Program I was addressing is the one with large brokers like RW Professional who continued to fund deals under recourse into the year 2000. As I understand, this program has been cutback, but is still in operation today. LN: It sounds like the Private Label Recourse Program could be taken to a community bank or to any lender so interested, in a recourse or non recourse manner. The broker is a “discounter”. How does the recourse program work: GC. Private Label Recourse Programs—the recourse part is critical since American Express does have non-recourse private label and they are totally different. In a recourse program, the broker is given a credit window by the funding source that commits to buy the lease paper if deals fit the window. The broker does the entire credit workup, makes the credit decision and documents all leases in its name. The broker also pays all vendors and sub-brokers. Periodically, the broker forwards the leases to the funding source where an analyst verifies the deals do in fact fit the credit window and the broker is then paid. Part of the broker proceeds is usually withheld as a loss reserve. After the deal is booked, the monthly payments are billed in the name of the broker with payments going to a lock box. Normally, the broker also receives 50% of all late fees. LN. What are the major advantages and risks to brokers and funding sources in a recourse program? GC. The overriding advantage for everyone is higher volume and higher profits. In addition, the broker has more name recognition since the broker’s name is on everything received by the lessee with the funding source being the silent partner. The major risk for the broker is the possible failure of the funding source to provide timely delinquency reports so problem accounts can be spotted early and collection efforts stepped up. Another broker risk occurs if the funding source picks and chooses deals to buy instead of honoring the credit window provided. In this case, the broker has to find another funding source or fund the deal out of his own pocket. The funding source has a number of risks including the possibility that the broker will not have the financial strength to repurchase deals in default. Undisclosed split deals are another major risk. In addition, there is dependence on the broker not to manipulate the portfolio delinquencies. LN. How does the broker know when the funding source has failed to provide timely data? GC. Unfortunately, it can take 6-24 months before problems become apparent. The ATT fiasco in the mid-90’s is a classic example of a funding source that had so many computer platforms and data bases that reports were full of errors and corrections almost impossible to fix. In some cases, personal property taxes were not billed for a two-year period and when they were billed, the responsibility to collect them fell back on the recourse broker. In cases like the one with ATT, it is almost impossible to determine how many additional deals went into default as a result of poor quality delinquency reports, but common sense says the damage has to be high. LN. How does a funding source know when they have problems with a recourse broker and how do they verify them? GC. Again, it can take time and constant monitoring before problems surface. Most recourse brokers are strong financially and honest to a fault, but they do have a much larger window of opportunity to cheat the system. This window includes hidden early payoffs, sales taxes not paid, split deals and monthly payments made for lessees in default to prevent a repurchase. Once a funding source has serious questions about the honesty of a recourse broker, the normal procedure would be to “drop the corporate veil”. This is a drastic step since it means converting all monthly invoices to the name of the funding source instead of the recourse broker. The funding source then waits to see what if any complaints are received from the lessees. They also compare monthly invoices with checks received to see if there is a match. In addition, UCC filings may be audited to see if deals have been split or duplicated. Last, but not least, the deals and financial statements of the broker are audited to see if the required reserves have been maintained and contract terms have been honored. LN. To your fellow brokers, would you recommend they pursue recourse relationships? GC. No. In my opinion based on ten years experience as a recourse broker with ATT, CIT and First Sierra, the extra upfront profit and name recognition is not worth it. Being on recourse is like making love to a gorilla, you stop when the gorilla wants to, not when you want to. No matter how much you plan and reserve for losses, even the strongest broker will have a hard time meeting it repurchase obligations in a down economy. A poor economy with a few bad credit decisions can bankrupt any recourse broker unless they have a strong parent bank or just happen to be the favorite relative of Bill Gates. Being a non-recourse broker is three tranquilizers a day, but recourse is ten per day with a bottle of Tums for dessert. LN: Sounds like there are a lot of pitfalls. GC: Everything can go wrong at both the funding source and broker levels if either side is incompetent, dishonest or if either one does not live up to its commitments. The funding source must honor the credit window they assign and not pick and choose what they will buy on a subjective basis outside the window. The funding source must also have adequate computer systems that keep the recourse broker updated on almost a real time basis as to what is happening in his portfolio so problem accounts can be spotted early on and cured. The longer it takes to detect a problem account, the greater the odds that the broker will have to repurchase the entire contract and legal recoveries after the repurchase average less than 30% of the repurchase amount. Only the collection attorneys who charge 30-45% of the amounts recovered love a repurchase. To protect itself, the funding source must have high quality people to monitor the recourse brokers for financial strength, honesty and operating practices. Unfortunately, the relationship between the funding source and broker can get so warm and personal that reserves are reduced, PG's are released and company financial statements are not closely monitored on a timely basis to see if there are changes in financial strength. They also must have very competent analysts to assure that all deals bought are in the credit window and free of fraud. Everyone loves a good war story--so here is one I know first hand from 1991 when Lease Pro, Inc. signed the first recourse agreement with Denrich until August 30, 2001 when we received our check for late fees from CIT and closed the portfolio. Due to long recourse period, I have always compared recourse to making love to a gorilla--you stop when the gorilla wants to, not when you want to. The gorilla is now gone and I am slowly beginning to heal. A good example of a funding source failing to meet it commitments to its recourse brokers was the ATT fiasco in the mid-90's. A situation that did not get much better as the portfolio moved to Newcourt and then to CIT. With each move, fewer and fewer people knew how to manage the recourse relationships. A simple payoff request could take 3-5 days to receive. After ATT had purchased Denrich Leasing and the qualified portfolio managers like Bob Quinn and Pete Smith had resigned, recourse brokers had to live with delayed and incorrect reporting caused by inexperienced personnel hampered by the ATT data bases being on three different computer platforms. Misapplication of monthly payments was a common occurrence and getting corrections made was like trying to make the sun rise in the west. The real disaster came when the ATT system failed to bill for personal property taxes for as much as two years and the burden of collecting the back taxes was placed back on the broker. As you might guess, the broker paid most of these taxes without going back to the lessee. As you can see, funding sources have responsibilities that could bankrupt a good recourse broker if they do not live up to there part of the bargain. I did not go bankrupt due to the ATT problems, but I sure bled a lot. ( Tomorrow, Grandpa Charlie concludes the interview with more details and inside information. ) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The full list is available on line in Alphabetical and Chronological order. http://www.leasingnews.org/list.htm Here are recent changes: Leasing News List Chronological 118 changes American Express/ SierraCities (8/2001) Discovers up to $20 million write-off with RW Leasing portfolio, other portfolio’s, alleged stock fraud, AmX declares they are investigating ( 7/2001 ) pretax write-down of $826 million that will pummel second-quarter profits. The company also unveiled plans to cut as many as 5,000 more jobs because of the weak economy. Rumors abound about portfolio performance and major problems in the woodpile/going the way Rockford Industries went. (5/2001) New Name: “ American Express Business Finance” (4/2001) Merger complete, Depping resigns as “gazelle” (3/31/2001) American Express completes purchase/merger (3/2001) Sierra Cities-Amex Merger Gets Green Light (2/2001) offer by American Express for $5.68 per share in cash. We predicted this last week, naming the company and floor price. American Express active in equipment leasing, likes what it sees, and Sierra Cities is the vehicle, not Advanta or others that it has viewed to purchase. (1/2001 VerticalNet Merger falls apart (1/16/01) Sells Off UK Assets, (7/2000_ 2nd quarter loss, see report http://www.leasingnews.org/articles.doc/newsletter3.htm Textron Financial (8/2001) First Corp, Portland, OR, announces Jim Merrilees will join on Sept. 4 as executive vice-president www.firstcorp.com, has left Textron. (7/2001) small ticket equipment financing functions will be moved to its Small Business Direct group that was acquired in early June and is based in Little Rock, Arkansas. As a result, Textron Financial will eliminate its Lake Oswego, OR and Providence, RI functions that previously handled small ticket equipment financing as support for these programs are migrated to the Small Business Direct operation over the next 30-60 days. The unofficial target date is August 1, 2001. Insider reports: “"Jim Merrilees of Colonial Pacific, Grayrock, Nations Credit fame, Randy Ernst, Denise Mann, and company have all departed TFC. Jim is on the payroll until the end of the year as he has a contract but I don't think he is working here anymore." ( 7/2001) reported to end broker business on August 1,2001 (5/2001) Textron announces a new division to serve the capital requirements of independent, middle-market lenders. (4/2001) complaints Textron doing repeat business with leases submitted to Nations, but now being serviced by Textron (common in such situations. editor) (1/2001) complaints from brokers regarding getting information for NationsCredit and GrayRock Capital on FMV, payoffs, residuals from Textron who is servicing the portfolio (1/29/99) sold to Textron *** Textron does "broker business." ( formerly on list as Nations Credit, Business Leasing Group ) European American Bank (8/2001) Fred Anderson announces as of Sept. 17” “We are looking to move as a group to another bank or finance company to start our operation up all over again and provide funding for lessors. can be reached at 516-822-2008 (my home telephone number) and my e-mail address at home will be LAnder9170@aol.com. (7/2001-Citigroup finalizes acquisition of American European Bank, whose subsidiaries include Fidelity Leasing, American Equipment Leasing and Wasco Funding (7/2001) made the announcement official, Romoff will be leaving the Company at the end of the summer. The company's leasing activities will be run by CitiCapital, with its Lease Lending Division headed by Dave Frankel at the head of the Leasing Lending Division. It is reported that within CitiCapital, Frank McCaughey will continue to head up the Vehicle Lease Financing unit. It is also reported that EAB's leasing subsidiaries in the U.S. will continue to originate equipment leasing and financing transactions for CitiCapital. Fisher-Anderson (8/2001) Many sales people let go the last few months, company cuts back, Don Shadel, former Commercial Vehicle Division Manager of Fisher Anderson L C, and several CVD staff members, have started a new company named Mark III Credit Corp. The focus will continue to be new and used work oriented vehicles in the small ticket range from $15,000 to $150,000. Our prior company, Atlas Funding Group, Inc. was acquired by Fisher Anderson L C in September of 1998 to market a national titled vehicle program for brokers and lessors. Our affiliation with Fisher Anderson L C the last three years has been a pleasant experience, however recent changes in the transportation industry dictated that we both move in different directions." dshadel@markiiicredit.com CIT (8/2001) Many opt to move to Tempe, AZ, stay with CIT, become bold, challenge GE and others in the marketplace, morale up, company on the move. ( ( 5/2001) CIT Shareholders Approve Proposed Tyco-CIT Acquisition (3/2001) Tyco International Ltd. makes offer for about $9.2 billion in cash and stock in a deal that would allow the manufacturer to finance purchases of its wide array of products. Bermuda Hq., N.H. operation office. ( 2/2001) Closing Atlanta office and others, "freeze" on new broker business from this office ( 5/2001) Bruce Nelson, Tempe, Arizona seeking broker business. “We are an asset based lender and provide equipment financing in the following industries: Construction, Transportation, Logging, Material Handling, Corporate Aircraft, Mining, Energy, & Marine.” Capital Stream, (8/2001) John Kruse, VP, Account Development, announces another reduction of staff as “... precautionary measures because we don't see an immediate resolution to the economic downturn. We still remain financially healthy, and believe that reducing our capacity is a prudent business decision.” Hal Hayden , Jim Buckles, Randy Anderson, many sales people gone. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analysts dispute effect of H-P/Compaq merger in regard to Gateway By Bruce V. Bigelow SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER Hewlett-Packard's $20.3 billion buyout of Compaq Computer Corp. is only the latest upheaval in a protracted shakeout of the personal computer industry. In the beginning, the fallen companies included Osborne and Atari. Then came Wang, Commodore and Kaypro. More recently, it's been Packard-Bell, NEC and Digital Equipment Corp. For at least a year, analysts have been predicting the latest round of consolidation, and last week San Diego-based Gateway revealed its plans to substantially shrink and restructure its build-to-order PC business. But while the H-P/Compaq deal ranks as the largest merger in the short and mercurial history of the PC industry, analysts disagreed over how the combination of two Goliaths might affect Gateway. Some said H-P's acquisition of Compaq could give Gateway some short-term breathing room. Others said the computer maker will come under immediate pressure as the combined companies mount a major push to sell more desktop PCs to consumers. The stock-swap deal would create a giant manufacturer of PCs, computer servers, printers and high-tech services with $87 billion in revenue. Despite the industry consolidation, however, few analysts view Gateway as a buyout candidate. "What's there to buy?" said Daniel Kunstler, a San Francisco analyst who follows Gateway for J.P. Morgan. "The brand probably has limited value at this point. I just don't see who would do it, or why." Kunstler, like many analysts, has become increasingly critical of Gateway's financial performance over the past nine months. Yet despite Gateway's $1.2 billion in losses, the company's share of the U.S. market has declined only slightly -- from 8.9 percent in 1999 to 8.3 percent this year, according to IDC, an industry research firm. In comparison, IDC shows that Compaq's share of the U.S. market has declined from 16 percent to 13.3 percent over the same period. H-P went from 11.6 percent last year to 10 percent this year. In contrast, Dell's share of the U.S. market has gone from 16.6 percent in 1999 to 24.2 percent this year. Dell's strong performance helps explain why Bear Stearns raised its recommendation on Dell to "buy" from "attractive," saying Dell could benefit from problems expected to ensue from the tricky integration of H-P and Compaq. But analysts say the same factors are unlikely to be of much help to Gateway, even though the San Diego company shares much of Dell's direct-sales business model. That's because Gateway, unlike Dell, sells most of its computers to consumers, and consumer sales represent the weakest segment of the U.S. market. Another reason is that Gateway operates almost 300 company-owned retail stores throughout the United States, which many analysts view as a drag on Gateway's profit margin. Still, "while H-P and Compaq are hammering out the details of this deal, it gives Dell and Gateway an opportunity," said Anne Bui, a senior analyst for IDC's personal computing group in Mountain View. "It gives them time to swoop down on the consumer dollars that are out there." Todd Kort, principal analyst for Gartner Dataquest, another industry research firm, agreed, saying the H-P/Compaq deal "might take some of the pricing pressure off them in the retail space. It might give Gateway a bit of a reprieve, especially once the merger takes place, with a year or so of consolidation." Gateway's ability to exploit any opportunity, of course, rests on its ability to execute its restructuring plan. Ted Waitt, Gateway's founding chairman and chief executive, has said the company's new strategy has focused on providing technology "solutions" to its consumer and small-business customers. Such solutions include providing Internet service, financing, software computer training and technical support. Asked during a Salomon Smith Barney investors conference in New York if the H-P/Compaq deal puts Gateway into play, Waitt said the best thing Gateway can do is to become a profitable and fast-growing enterprise again. "In this business, you don't own market share," he said. "You're only renting it." In his speech, Waitt said he was looking forward to leading a "smaller" and "nimbler" Gateway, and that a lack of bulk wouldn't hurt the company. More important, he said, is: "You have to be fast-moving. You have to lead rather than follow." Investors and analysts had their doubts yesterday about the combination of H-P and Compaq. Shares of Compaq fell $1.27 to close at $11.08, a drop of 10.3 percent. H-P's shares plunged $4.21 to close at $19, an 18 percent decline. The value of the deal dropped almost $5 billion, from $25 billion when it was announced Monday night. Some analysts questioned whether the two companies can achieve the huge cost savings they anticipate, and maintain market share while being forced to cut overlapping products amid a slump in technology sales. "The combined company isn't going to address a larger market than they have today," said Martin Reynolds, research fellow at Gartner Dataquest. Both Palo Alto-based H-P and Houston-based Compaq have been hard hit by technology sector downturns in the past year. Each had already imposed layoffs to deal with shrinking profits. The Associated Press and Dow Jones News Service contributed to this report. Bruce Bigelow's e-mail address is bruce.bigelow@uniontrib.com. His phone number is (619) 293-1314. ### ############################### #################### ############ FIRST UNION AND WACHOVIA COMPLETE MERGER TO BECOME THE NEW WACHOVIA
Creates Nation’s Fourth Largest Bank and Premier East Coast Financial Service Company Baker and Thompson to Ring NYSE Opening Bell to Mark First Day of Trading of New Wachovia Charlotte, N.C. – First Union Corporation and Wachovia Corporation today announced that they have formally completed their merger of equals to create the new Wachovia Corporation. The new Wachovia will trade under the ticker symbol WB on the New York Stock Exchange beginning today. The combined company, which is known as Wachovia Corporation, is the largest financial holding company in its Southeast/East Coast region and the fourth largest nationwide with total assets of approximately $322 billion and a market capitalization of $46 billion. The company offers its 19 million customers superior corporate banking, retail banking, asset and wealth management, capital markets and securities brokerage services and products. The company is headquartered in Charlotte. “This is a defining moment for Wachovia and First Union, providing the opportunity to create one of the finest companies in the world,” said L.M. Baker Jr., chairman of Wachovia. “We look forward to leveraging combined strengths to realize the potential of our new company and to build sustained value for our shareholders, customers, employees and communities.” “The closing of the merger marks the culmination of months of hard work,” said G. Kennedy Thompson, Wachovia’s chief executive officer. “We are creating a powerful new force in the industry with the size and scope to offer the very best in financial services to our customers. Our immediate focus is on the thoughtful, deliberate integration of our two companies in a way that best serves our customers, presents new opportunities for our employees and continues to grow our businesses.” Wachovia has leading market share in numerous high-growth markets, with an extensive product offering – the No. 1 retail bank in the East, among the top three in small business banking, a leading national brokerage and fund manager, an investment bank focused on growth companies and a well-positioned corporate bank. Wachovia has total deposits of $181 billion, assets under management of $221 billion and mutual fund assets of $101 billion. The company’s 19 million customers (3.1 million of them online) are served by 88,000 total employees, 2,900 banking branches, 4,800 ATMs, nearly 600 brokerage offices and 8,300 registered representatives. “The completion of this merger is due in great part to the hard work and dedication of all of our employees, who maintained their focus on providing superior service to our customers throughout this entire process. We are also truly grateful for the commitment and tremendous support from our shareholders, who recognized the value of this combined company,” said Baker. To commemorate the formation of the new Wachovia, and the first day of trading of the combined company’s shares under the WB symbol, Baker and Thompson today will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Shareholder Information As a result of the merger, Wachovia shareholders will receive 2.0 shares of the new Wachovia for each share of Wachovia stock they own. In addition, they are entitled to receive either a $0.48 per share cash payment or two Dividend Equalization Preferred Shares (DEPs) for each share of former Wachovia common stock they own, at their election. They will receive information about the exchange of shares and the election procedures beginning no later than the first week of October. First Union shareholders will not need to exchange their stock certificates. Information about Wachovia’s common stock (including performance versus a year ago, 52-week highs and lows, etc.) will be First Union’s historical information and will be picked up automatically by market data providers. Shareholders may access additional information at an interim Investor Relations Web Site, wachovia.firstunion.com, which launches today. The site will provide access to the most current news and financial information on the new company. Integration The company said that integration planning teams formed earlier this year are continuing to work to implement best practices, identify new marketing opportunities and explore efficiencies. As previously announced, the merger integration process is scheduled to be completed in three years. “Our similar cultures, vision and values have allowed us to create a smooth and deliberate integration process to combine the best of our companies,” said Thompson. “During this integration, our goal is to continue to offer best-in-class customer service with the least amount of disruption possible.” As an immediate benefit of the merger, Wachovia and First Union bank customers are now able to use their current ATM cards and PIN numbers at nearly 4,800 Wachovia and First Union ATMs around the country to make cash withdrawals or check account balances without incurring a fee. First Union and Wachovia announced their intention to merge in April 2001. First Union shareholders approved the merger on July 31 and Wachovia shareholders approved the merger Aug. 3. Wachovia was represented by Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. First Union was represented by Merrill Lynch and Sullivan & Cromwell. Wachovia Corporation, with pro forma assets of $322 billion as of June 30, is a leading provider of financial services to 19 million retail and corporate customers throughout the East Coast and the nation. The company operates full-service banking offices in 11 East Coast states and Washington, D.C., and offers full-service brokerage with offices in 47 states and global services through more than 30 international offices. ( courtesy ELAonline.com ) ### ############################## ################################## Heller Financial Acquires Golf Course Lending Portfolio
CHICAGO, / -- Heller Financial, Inc. (NYSE: HF), a leading provider of commercial finance products and services, today announced that its Real Estate Finance group has acquired a portfolio of golf course loans from Bank of America, N.A., Banc of America Commercial Finance Corporation and Bank of America Canada representing approximately $185 million in loan commitments. Heller's Golf Lending Group targets existing middle-market golf course properties across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean and provides floating rate debt ranging from 50% to 75% loan-to-value (LTV). "The assets of the Bank of America portfolio encompass the attributes and returns Heller is actively targeting, and thus accelerates our ability to meet the overall business goals for the group," said Christy Lockridge, Director and Product Manager of Heller's Golf Lending Group. "It further positions us to become the leading lender in the golf course industry, making it a highly strategic purchase." The acquired portfolio is diversified in terms of geographic location and consists largely of daily fee mid-level golf courses. Heller is highly selective in the golf opportunities it pursues, focusing on financing stabilized or transitional daily fee, semi-private and non-equity private golf courses. The company offers competitive, specialized debt financing for acquisitions, turnarounds, refinancings and recapitalizations. The purchase follows Heller's entrance into the golf course finance arena earlier this year. Explained Lockridge, "As a number of debt and equity providers have left the market, financing golf courses has become an under-served niche. Heller recognized this as an opportunity to exhibit its strengths in providing products and services to counter cyclical and specialty markets and has been aggressively building its golf-lending program." Lockridge, headquartered in Chicago, leads Heller Financial's Golf Lending Group. Other key team members include Rick Nekoroski, who operates out of Heller's Boston office and is responsible for business originations efforts for the eastern United States and John Seeburger, who operates out of Heller's Costa Mesa office and is responsible for new business development for the western half of the country. Heller Real Estate Finance provides a variety of interim financing products to real estate developers and investors in all property types for the acquisition and refinancing of existing, or to-be-built, income-producing properties. The group also provides financing for the vacation ownership industry (project finance and receivable finance); financing for affordable housing tax credits; financing for hotels; financing for the acquisition of portfolios of mortgages and properties; and financing for build-to-suit developments. Offices located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Costa Mesa, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto give Heller Real Estate Finance the local resources to respond to market needs and provide flexible and creative real estate financing. Heller Financial, Inc., is a worldwide commercial finance company providing a broad range of sophisticated financing solutions. With nearly $20 billion in total assets, Heller offers equipment financing and leasing, sales finance programs, cash flow and collateral- based financing, financing for healthcare companies and financing for commercial real estate. Heller also offers trade finance, factoring, asset-based lending, leasing and vendor finance products and programs to clients in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Heller's common stock is listed as "HF" on the New York and Chicago Stock Exchanges. Heller can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hellerfinancial.com . ### ############################## ######################### ############### `The Banker'' Again Presents Nordea With Global Award for Best E-banking Strategy
STOCKHOLM, Sweden--The British magazine "The Banker" has for the second year running granted Nordea a global award for "Best Online Business Strategy." The Banker's jury regards Nordea as the pathfinder in e-banking. "Receiving the award last year was a great achievement but receiving it twice in a row is of course excellent news. The fact that we were awarded a second time confirms our ability to hold on to our top position in the world of e-banking. We truly appreciate this award since it comes from one of the most respected appraisers of the banking industry," states Bo Harald, Head of Nordea's E-banking. The key reason for the award is the broad usage of the Nordea e-services. By the end of August this year Nordea's customers made 17.3 million more payments via the Internet compared to the same period last year. A total of 54.9 million payments were made from January to August 2001. "The extent to which our e-services are utilised shows to the best of our knowledge that we have by far the best figures in the world, and it also highlights the part of our strategy aimed at promoting e-habits for a broader public. Another dimension is our multichannel approach which enables customers to select different means, including pc, phone, wap phone, tv and mobile phones, to access services. There is one service agreement for all channels and this is an integrated part of our branch- related sales activities. The third point of relevance is our efforts to strengthen our commitment to e-services as symbolised by the Solo market and to help corporate customers streamline their own e-processes faster by growing the e-habit and providing a number of new tools," says Bo Harald. Nordea today has almost 2.5 million e-banking customers and near to 240,000 customers who trade in equities via the Internet. Around 1,700 e-merchants use Nordea's e-payment to sell their services. In addition to the global award for Best Online Business Strategy, Nordea won two other awards. Nordea's banking arms in both Merita Bank in Finland and Unibank in Denmark, both part of the Nordea Group, received the awards for "Bank of the Year in Finland" and "Bank of the Year in Denmark," respectively.
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