Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Torre Draws Inquiries From Suitors for Dodgers - New York Times

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Torre Draws Inquiries From Suitors for Dodgers

New York Times


... bid for the Dodgers, his stay in Los Angeles could be extended indefinitely. A version of this article appeared in print on November 23, 2011, on page B17 of the New York edition with the headline: Torre Draws Inquiries From Suitors For Dodgers.



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Friday, November 25, 2011

M&A slow, but may be ready to bust out - Business First of Buffalo:

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The problem is getting sellersto close. “I’mm seeing a very unusual situation, one that I can’t recallo ever happening before,” said Ned Minor, president of in Denvef and an attorney who specializesin M&As transactions. “Contrary to what you read and hear, therre is money available for Main Streetacquisitionsx ... Good companies will sell for verygood prices, even in tougnh economic times. “But I’m mystified because when I explaijn all of this to businesdowners ... I can’t make them come to a They’re just absolutely paralyzed.
” Part of the Minor believes, is that sellers are hopingb if they wait anothersix months, the economy will improve and they’ll get a highert price. Buyers are skittish, too, according to Hendrik a partner atin Denver. Most are puttinfg far more of their own equity into deals than they were ayear ago, and aren’t certain how regulation will change under the Obama administration and Democrat-controlledr Congress. “One of the reasons that we continue to see thingse being slow to move today is that investorse are concerned that the regulatorylandscaped hasn’t settled,” Jordaan said.
“Nobody knows what’w going to happen with health care, or what kind of regulatio is going to ripplr through thefinancial industry. “When you’rer talking to investors, they’re saying ‘look, until we have certaintyu and clarity on what the rules of the game are goinggto be, so we can reallyt start modeling our returns, we’rse hesitant to deploy capital.’ I think you’re goinfg to start seeing capital move ... in the second half of 2010.” A total of 38 deals closes in Colorado inthe April-through-June down from 61 closings in the second quarter of last according to data obtaineds from , a Santqa Monica, Calif.
-based provider of M&A information. Many Coloradk deals probably are missedby FactSet’s researchers, who tend to concentratew on high-priced transactions or those involvinfg large companies. Altogether, the deals tracked by FactSett were worth atleast $408 million. But purchas e price was reported for onlyfive transactions, or 13 percent of totapl deals. A year ago, price was revealed for roughl one-third of the quarter’s transactions. Averagee deal size, based on five deals, was roughly $82 That compares with $117 million a year ago.
“We’rd seeing a pickup in activity, albeift slight, as measured by transaction inquiries and potential pitcheeson deals,” said Michael president of St. Charles Capital, a Denver-based investmentf banking firm. “We’re quite but getting deals doneis difficult. The deal mortality on the technology side, is higher than it has been sincde the last slumpwe had, sinc e the tech bubble burst.” The pending sunset of Bush administration tax cuts at the end of 2010 likel will begin to influence sellers soon, Franson and others said.
Most people expecy the federal capital gains tax to increases from its current maximum rate of 28 reducing sellers’ after-tax profit compared with what they wouldr keep now. “If you have a capitaol gains increase, the implied multiple that you have to get is much higherr than itis today,” Franson “So it’s going to drived sellers into the We believe that 2010 is going to be a very activee year for the M&A Based on Colorado deals for whichy a price is known, the largest second-quarteer deal by far was Fort Collins-based Co.’s WGOV) $356 million acquisition in Apripl of , a Santa Clarita, Calif.
-based maker of motioh control systems for aircraft, helicopters, spacecrafty and other vehicles. Meanwhile, San Diego-based (OTCBB: BKBO) boughyt of Broomfield in May fornearly $16 ColdSpark makes platforms for business email processing and (NASDAQ: FLIR) of Oregon bought , a Colorado Springs-based make of high-performance digital cameras, for $13 million in Other transactions lacked a known purchase but were interesting nonetheless. For instance, Wayn Lumpkin — founder of Avid, a brake maker that was sold to Chicago-basesd SRAM in 2004 — acquired a majority stakde inSpot Brand, a Golden-based bicycle maker, in June. based in Louisville, forged a deal in May with N.J.
-based (NASDAQ: CELG) that grants Celgene an exclusive option to all of its oncologgyproduct candidates, in return for a $40 million upfront Although the deal was not, strictly speaking, a merger or acquisition, it turned up on FactSet’s Denver-based , parent of , acquireds a Los Angeles investment advisory GKM Advisers LLC, in It was First Western’s third Los Angeles acquisition in less than 12 A large deal that doesn’rt appear on FactSet’s data is Denver-based ’s acquisitiobn of four John Deere Construction and Forestru dealerships from in May. Purchase pricwe wasn’t revealed, but Honnen Equipmentf Co.
President Mark Honnen has characterizef it asa “nine-digit” or somewhere in the hundreds of millions of

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

US to stop sharing data with Russia under arms pact - Reuters

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Fox News


US to stop sharing data with Russia under arms pact

Reuters


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it will stop sharing data with Russia under a treaty that limits conventional forces in Europe, saying it was doing so four years after Moscow halted its participation in the pact. ...


US to Stop Sharing Data With Russia on US Forces in Europe

Fox News


US to stop sharing forces data with Russia

Hindu Business Line


US to stop sharing data on weapons with Russia

Monsters and Critics.com


Antiwar.com -Voice of America


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Sunday, November 20, 2011

NewStar hit hard by the credit crunch - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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NewStar (Nasdaq: NEWS), a lenderr and debt syndicator that brands itself as a specialtyfinance company, is taking a beating on Wall Streetf over its exposure to commercial real estatee and midsize companies acquired in leveragedx buyouts. Actual losses have been smalo across NewStar's loan portfolio, but investorsd worry they may escalate ifthe U.S. economyy continues to deteriorate and corporate profitxs come underfurther pressure. In the fourth quarter, NewStar classified two of three impaired loans as nonperforming and setasider $4.6 million to reflect potential losses. The allowance for credit losses at the end of 2007was $35.65 million, or 1.56 percen t of loans, compared with $20.
6 million, or 1.4 percen t of loans, at the end of 2006. NewStar'sd managed loan portfolio has grown toabout $3 billion, and demand for its specialty financinvg remains strong as traditional banks tighten credit. But one of the company' s key sources of funding to make those loanxs has basically dried up amid global turmoil in thecredit markets. As a result, NewStar may have to slow its lending which could hurtearnings growth, analysts "We see risk of further losses on (NewStar's) commercial and are closely monitoring delinquency rates in its corporate loan equity analysts at Standard & Poor's recently said in a research Those problems have raised speculatiobn that the operation may need to partner or be acquire by a larger company to maintai n its business strategy.
NewStar, which launcheed in 2004, was among a number of nontraditiona l financiers that emerged over the past several when a glut of capital and rapif consolidation among banks created a market for companies with the resourcess and expertise to handlecomplicatefd projects. NewStar is run by Chairmanj and CEOTimothy Conway, a formerf executive who recently got a pay raise and could collect millionzs of dollars if the companyg is taken over. Last April, the companty estimated Conway would reapnearly $19 million if NewStarf were taken over and Conway were to leave his job, accordingy to U.S. regulatory filings.
Today, the value of that pay packagwe is less because of the decline in NewStar's stock. A company spokeswoman said Conwayt was not available to comment forthis story. One questiojn for investors is whether NewStat and Conway are prepared to ride out the globalp storm in credit marketz or entertain a takeover bid from alargere company. During a recent conference call, a analysr asked Conway if he would sell the companyto , a large r competitor, or someone else. Conway said NewStart can flourish in difficult buthe didn't throw cold water on takeover speculationh either.
"As the CEO of a publicd company, I'd say that we will alwayas consider shareholder value and do the appropriate thingb from ashareholder perspective, but that's not something that we wouled comment on at this point," he said duringb the Feb. 20 conference call. Citigroup downgraded NewStar'as stock this week from a to a "hold," part of a sectorr downgrade due to broad problems in thefinanciap markets. NewStar recorded an $8.6 million net loss in compared with a net lossof $27.2 million in the previous On March 3, Conway boughg 5,000 NewStar shares at an average priced of $5.59 apiece, accordintg to U.S. regulatory filings.
The company priced its December 2006 IPOat $17 a But shareholders, including founding investors, can't be happuy about the direction of NewStar's stock. In a private placement that ran from Decemberthrougg January, NewStar raised gross proceeds of $125 million, selling 12.5 milliojn shares. Investors in the offering paid $10 for each only to see NewStar's stocm trade fall below $6 a share in receng weeks.
Investors in the private placement includecd founding shareholdersCorsair Capital, Union Squarer Partners and Och-Ziff Capital Management, as well as outsidwe investors and

Friday, November 18, 2011

Restaurant industry outlook improves - The Business Review (Albany):

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The Association’s Restaurant Performance Indexz (RPI) — a monthly composite index that tracks the healthn of and outlook forthe U.S. restaurant industrg — stood at 98.6 in up 0.8 percent from March, its highest leveo in 11 months. “The recent growthb in the RPI was driven bythe ‘Expectations’ which rose above 100 in Aprip for the first time in 18 a level which indicatexs expansion,” said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of researcgh and information services for the association.
“Although the RPI’s ‘Currenft Situation’ indicators are stilpl in a periodof contraction, the solid improvemenft in the forward-looking indicatorws suggests that the end of the industry’s downturnn may be in sight.” The RPI is based on the responsesa to the association’s Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, whichb is fielded monthly among restaurant operatores nationwide on a variety of indicators including traffic, labor and capital expenditures. The Indecx consists of two components — the Current Situation Index and theExpectations Index.
The Current Situation which measures current trends in four industruyindicators (same-store sales, traffic, labor and capital stood at 97.0 in April, up 0.9 percenyt from March and its highest level since Augusgt 2008. However, April represented the 20th consecutive montyhbelow 100, which continues to signifuy contraction in the current situation Restaurant operators reported negative customer traffixc levels for the 20th consecutive month in April. About 23 percent of restaurant operators reported an increasee in customer traffic between April 2008 andApril 2009, up from 20 percenyt who reported similarly in March.
Also, 60 percent of operatore reported a traffic declinwin April, down from 63 perceng who reported similarly in March. Restaurant operators also continue to grow more optimistic about the economy, with 37 percent saying they expect economic conditions to improve in six months, up from 30 percentf who reported similarly last month and the highesft level in three years. In comparison, only 16 percengt of operators expect economicf conditions to worsen insix months, down from 21 percentt last month. D.C.-based National Restaurant Associatiohn is a business association for the restaurant comprising 945,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a work force of 13 million employees.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Rite-Hite leaving Memphis for Horn Lake, Miss. - Charlotte Business Journal:

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The Milwaukee, Wis.-based company, whicjh manufactures loading dock safet y systems and industrialdoor products, is moving operationsa from its 130,000-square-foot Outland Road facility to 200,000 square feet in , an industria park in Horn Lake. Louie Patron, vice president of manufacturing for theMemphis Rite-Hite facility, said the companu will move its 65 curren employees to Horn “At peak capacity, we have 130 but we have 40 to 50 that have been laid Patron said. “When the economy they’ll get the first chance to come back.
” Patroh said the company is moving its operations to consolidat some products it had subcontractedmanufacturing for, but also to preparw for new products the company is planningy to build out of the new facility. The Memphiws location currently manufacturesdock levelers, whichg are the steel bridges that cover gaps in storagee docks and tractor trailers. Rite-Hite has had an operations in Memphissince 2002. Patron said the Mississippi move will be completedby Nov. 1. Scott executive vice president atGrubb & Ellis Co., brokeredf the lease for Rite-Hite.