Factoring from Marketplace on Vimeo.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Eddie Bauer files for bankruptcy protection
known for outdoorsy clothing but serving a distinctly more domestic clientele of students and other mall patrons, the company said Wednesday that a bidder has agreed to keep the majority of its 371 stores open and honor its gift cards and hold onto most employees.
The company said CCMP Capital Advisors LLC has bid $202 million in cash for its assets. Other buyers may also make bids while the company is under court protection.
Bankruptcy rumors had been swirling as Bellevue, Washington-based Eddie Bauer struggled with slumping sales amid the recession. It reported a loss for the first quarter of $44.5 million as sales fell 16 percent to $179.8 million.
It had $476.1 million in assets and $426.7 million in debt at the time of the filing Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the District of Delaware.
The company said CCMP Capital Advisors LLC has bid $202 million in cash for its assets. Other buyers may also make bids while the company is under court protection.
Bankruptcy rumors had been swirling as Bellevue, Washington-based Eddie Bauer struggled with slumping sales amid the recession. It reported a loss for the first quarter of $44.5 million as sales fell 16 percent to $179.8 million.
It had $476.1 million in assets and $426.7 million in debt at the time of the filing Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the District of Delaware.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Senator Durbin Used Information Gleaned from Meeting with Fed to Protect (Ass)ets
As U.S. stock markets plummeted last September, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, sold more than $115,000 worth of stocks and mutual-fund shares and used much of the money to invest in Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
The Illinois senator’s 2008 financial disclosure statement shows he sold mutual-fund shares worth $42,696 on Sept. 19, the day after then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged congressional leaders in a closed meeting to craft legislation to help financially troubled banks. The same day, he bought $43,562 worth of Berkshire Hathaway’s Class B stock, the disclosure shows. Altogether, Durbin sold investments worth $116,000 in September. By Oct. 2, he had invested $98,046 in Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway, the form shows.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index plunged 4.7 percent last Sept. 15 after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bank of America Corp.’s government-engineered takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. By the end of October, the index had fallen 22.6 percent.
“Durbin was doing what a lot of other people were doing, taking a look at their savings” and seeing it “start to tank and trying to preserve some level of wealth by getting out of the market,” said his spokesman, Joe Shoemaker.
Shoemaker said Durbin didn’t capitalize on anything Paulson and Bernanke told congressional leaders at the Sept. 18 meeting.
Whatever information Paulson gave lawmakers wasn’t secret or classified and was disclosed publicly the next day, Shoemaker said.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Median Home Prices In Detroit Fall To $6,000
In 2008 Detroit ranked as the United States's eleventh most populous city, with 916,952 residents. At its peak in 1950 the city was the fourth largest in America. The name Detroit sometimes refers to the Metro Detroit area, a sprawling region with a population of 4,425,110
Although I am a deflationist, I must admit surprise that the median home price in Detroit has fallen to a stunningly low $6,000.
Metro Detroit home sales rose by 12.6% in May as compared with last year, yet home prices continued their fall -- an indication that the market hasn't hit bottom yet.
Overall, 5,955 homes were sold in May, compared with 5,288 sold in May 2008, according to Realcomp, a Farmington Hills-based multiple listing service. The median sales price for homes sold in May was $50,000, a 44.3% drop from $89,700 in May 2008.
Foreclosures continue to drag down prices. In May, foreclosure sales accounted for 60% of all homes sold. And the median price of foreclosed sales in the metro area was $26,400 compared with a median sales price of $110,000 on non-foreclosed homes.
In the city of Detroit, the median sales price in May was $6,000, down 29.4% from May 2008.
Although I am a deflationist, I must admit surprise that the median home price in Detroit has fallen to a stunningly low $6,000.
Metro Detroit home sales rose by 12.6% in May as compared with last year, yet home prices continued their fall -- an indication that the market hasn't hit bottom yet.
Overall, 5,955 homes were sold in May, compared with 5,288 sold in May 2008, according to Realcomp, a Farmington Hills-based multiple listing service. The median sales price for homes sold in May was $50,000, a 44.3% drop from $89,700 in May 2008.
Foreclosures continue to drag down prices. In May, foreclosure sales accounted for 60% of all homes sold. And the median price of foreclosed sales in the metro area was $26,400 compared with a median sales price of $110,000 on non-foreclosed homes.
In the city of Detroit, the median sales price in May was $6,000, down 29.4% from May 2008.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Frank Partnoy: Derivative Dangers
Frank Partnoy: Derivative Dangers
This is a must listen from NPR
Partnoy joins Fresh Air to explain derivatives, credit default swaps and how they led to the current financial crisis.
This is a must listen from NPR
Partnoy joins Fresh Air to explain derivatives, credit default swaps and how they led to the current financial crisis.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Quote of the day
“To have the freedom to succeed, we must preserve the freedom to fail. Any solution to our present crisis must preserve our essential economic freedom.”
“The morning after the banking bailout last fall, I was back home at a Boy Scout Jamboree. And a man of very modest means approached me on that hillside in Henry county. Hat in his hand, he told me he’d been fired from his job the day before.
And then he said words that I’ll never forget. He said , “Congressman, I came by to thank you for voting against that wall street bailout. Cause, he said, I can get another job - I can’t get another country”
Mike Pence
is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Indiana's 6th congressional district.
“The morning after the banking bailout last fall, I was back home at a Boy Scout Jamboree. And a man of very modest means approached me on that hillside in Henry county. Hat in his hand, he told me he’d been fired from his job the day before.
And then he said words that I’ll never forget. He said , “Congressman, I came by to thank you for voting against that wall street bailout. Cause, he said, I can get another job - I can’t get another country”
Mike Pence
is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Indiana's 6th congressional district.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Bye Bye Blockbuster? Shares Tank 77%
Blockbuster (BBI) shares fell off a cliff today tanking 77% after a report was released saying the company had hired lawyers to explore filing for bankruptcy.
According to the Associated Press, Blockbuster “has hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis and is also working with investment bank Rothschild, said the source, who asked not to be named.”
The selling began at 2:01 PM EST and the stock bottomed at 2:09 PM EST. That is the fasted 50%+ fall we have seen in quite some time. Trading continued until continued until what looks to be 2:25 PM before being suspended.
The stock closed at $.21. Intraday chart below (5 minute intervals).
Monday, March 2, 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Ritz Camera on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
Ritz Camera Centers Inc, which said it is the largest U.S. specialty camera and imaging chain, on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, hurt by the recession and consumers' shift to digital photography.
The Beltsville, Maryland-based company filed for protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware. Ritz said it has between $100 million and $500 million of both assets and liabilities.
Ritz operates under such names as Ritz Camera, Wolf Camera, Kits Cameras, Inkley's and The Camera Shops, and also operates the 130-store Boater's World Marine Centers chain. It said it had nearly $1 billion of revenue in the year ended Nov. 30, 2008.
In an affidavit, Chief Restructuring Officer Marc Weinsweig said the company's lenders ordered the company in January to boost reserves, thereby reducing available credit.
He said this came after the recession caused Ritz's 2008 holiday sales to be "materially lower" than a year earlier. Ritz was also hurt by losses at Boater's World, which suffered falling sales in 2008 as gas prices soared.
"The loss of revenues and profit margins from the diminution in the photo-finishing business proved too much of a burden, coupled with the losses experienced by the Boater's World business in 2008," he wrote.
Ritz said it will seek court permission to obtain $85 million of financing to keep operating while it restructures.
Among the largest unsecured creditors are Nikon Inc (7731.T: Quote, Profile, Research), with a $26.6 million claim, and Canon USA Inc (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research), with a $13.7 million claim, the bankruptcy petition shows.
The Beltsville, Maryland-based company filed for protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Wilmington, Delaware. Ritz said it has between $100 million and $500 million of both assets and liabilities.
Ritz operates under such names as Ritz Camera, Wolf Camera, Kits Cameras, Inkley's and The Camera Shops, and also operates the 130-store Boater's World Marine Centers chain. It said it had nearly $1 billion of revenue in the year ended Nov. 30, 2008.
In an affidavit, Chief Restructuring Officer Marc Weinsweig said the company's lenders ordered the company in January to boost reserves, thereby reducing available credit.
He said this came after the recession caused Ritz's 2008 holiday sales to be "materially lower" than a year earlier. Ritz was also hurt by losses at Boater's World, which suffered falling sales in 2008 as gas prices soared.
"The loss of revenues and profit margins from the diminution in the photo-finishing business proved too much of a burden, coupled with the losses experienced by the Boater's World business in 2008," he wrote.
Ritz said it will seek court permission to obtain $85 million of financing to keep operating while it restructures.
Among the largest unsecured creditors are Nikon Inc (7731.T: Quote, Profile, Research), with a $26.6 million claim, and Canon USA Inc (7751.T: Quote, Profile, Research), with a $13.7 million claim, the bankruptcy petition shows.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Just one more Time Bomb
The amount of speculative-grade debt maturities will increase in the next three years, Moodys said, from $26bn in 2009, to $44bn in 2010, and $120bn in 2011.In finance, a high yield bond (non-investment grade bond, speculative grade bond or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade at the time of purchase. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit events, but typically pay higher yields than better quality bonds in order to make them attractive to investors.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
