Beneficial Partnerships: Fueling Independent Growth With Non-Recourse Debt
By Rachel B. Marotta, Non-recourse Debt & Syndication Manager, ICX Corporation
As asset finance and equipment leasing companies continue to consolidate, especially among those that are bank-owned, one cannot help but ask the question: What will be the role of independent leasing companies going forward? However, in spite of it all and for various reasons, leasing companies continue to thrive. And bank-owned lessors can play a complementary role by supporting an independent leasing company’s efforts to serve specific markets.

Ingenuity & Creativity... Essential to Portfolio Management Software Solutions
By Thomas Matlon, Independent Consultant, New Millennium Associates
As ingenuity and creativity are essential in developing solutions in every industry today, they are also essential to portfolio management issues faced within the leasing world. As lessors are currently evaluating when/if to migrate to the next operating system, the major determinates will be functionality and ROI. This article identifies some of the processes and resources used by lessors to help them make this determination.

Securitization of Financial Assets
By Timothy C. Leixner, Esq., Partner, Banking & Finance, Holland + Knight LLP
Asset-backed (ABS) and mortgagebacked (MBS) securitizations, or more generally, the securitization of financial assets, is a form of structured finance initially developed in the early 1980s in MBS format and is now a $2 trillion industry in the U.S. alone. In recent years, it has spread to Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia, and the worldwide market is estimated to be in excess of $4 trillion.

Determining the Proper Path... Machinery & Equipment Liquidation Versus Auction
By James Carlson, Appraiser & Auctioneer, Buxbaum/Century
When it comes to loans involving machinery and equipment (M&E), most lenders insist on an Orderly Liquidation Value (OLV) appraisal. Admittedly, rules enforced by their own institutions compel some of these lenders to take such a stance. However, even lenders that are not bound by mandates of any kind will often refuse to waive an OLV appraisal requirement. While OLV may very well be the most prudent way to go in many cases, other considerations bear weighing before definitive action is taken.

Ten Hiding Places for Business Credit Risk
By Robert Wanuga, Senior Specialist Risk Manager, Atradius Trade Credit Insurance
The high-profile collapses of Worldcom, Adelphia and Parmalat clearly demonstrate the crucial need for financial professionals to look beyond the figures issued in corporate financial statements to get a true picture of a company’s current and future financial health. To help with assessments of risk in borrowers’ A/R, Atradius Trade Credit Insurance has developed a list of “Ten Hiding Places for Business Credit Risk.”

COLUMNS


ALTERNATE PERSPECTIVES
The Hiring Process: Trusting Your Gut Could Lead to Indigestion
By Michael A. Toglia, Senior Vice President, Molloy Associates
Almost everyone who has been in a hiring role has felt the pressureand, at times, pain associated with undergoing the hiring process. As a result, many managers naturally search for ways to ease this pressure and pain by using various shortcuts in the hiring process — one of which is known as the “gut hire.” In the final analysis, skipping consistent hiring procedures can end up costing a company more since the cost of a bad hire can far exceed the cost of leaving the position open for a bit longer.

LEGAL WATCH
Equitable Subordination: Often Threatened, Seldom Imposed
By Lesley Anne Hawes, Partner, Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato, LC
Despite what appears to be fairly well-settled law, claims of equitable subordination under Section 510(c) continue to be filed and litigated, at great time and expense for the parties involved, because the stakes raised by an equitable subordination claim are so high. In addition, the determination of what is “egregious” conduct is clearly fact-specific, decided on a case-by-case basis, leaving room for uncertainty as to the ultimate outcome when such a claim is brought against a creditor in a particular case.

DISPATCHES FROM THE TRENCHES
More About “Boilerplate”... Skip At Your Own Risk!
By Kenneth P. Weinberg, Esq., Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz
The last edition of Dispatches from the Trenches addressed a few areas of boilerplate that are frequently overlooked — namely amendment and waiver, merger and integration and severability provisions. This edition continues that theme by discussing further assurances clauses, notice provisions, counterpart language and miscellaneous interpretive provisions.