“ELFA supports the FASB and IASB as they seek to establish a sound, workable accounting standard that applies to the assets and liabilities arising from lease transactions. We find, however, that the lease accounting model as proposed in the long-awaited exposure draft will not result in a significant improvement in the quality or reliability of financial information, will not faithfully depict the economics of equipment leases, is unduly complex and will impose a compliance burden on lessees.

“Lease financing is a critical means of capital formation for U.S. businesses through the acquisition and investment in capital plant and equipment and real estate. ELFA’s overriding concern is that any standard that replaces SFAS13 should improve the clarity in financial reporting of these transactions without undue burden on businesses from an accounting or a financial standpoint.

“ELFA will submit a comment letter to the IASB and FASB detailing the association’s specific concerns before the 120-day comment deadline on September 13. The association will ask the national and international accounting standards-setting bodies to address a number of concerns about the proposal, including issues related to lessee and lessor accounting. The primary issues relate to the new classification criteria for lessees and lessors, lease cost allocation for lessees, and revenue recognition for lessors that will not reflect the legal and economic nature of lease transactions in the financial statements of lessees and lessors.

“The $725 billion equipment finance sector is an engine for U.S. economic growth. Despite the challenges presented by some of the concepts embodied in the exposure draft, the proposed lease accounting rules do not diminish the myriad of benefits enjoyed by companies who choose to acquire the use of productive assets they need through equipment leasing and financing. We consider this issue so critical that we have maintained an industry and association team, coordinated by ELFA’s Chief Operating Officer Ralph Petta, throughout the process thus far. This group will continue to monitor, analyze and communicate the potential impact of these changes to the boards, the lessor and lessee communities and other stakeholders.”

Under current rules, companies are generally able to classify virtually all leases as operating leases and keep them off their balance sheets, something that regulators and accounting critics have long criticized. Some airlines, for example, lease all their airplanes and show no airplane assets on their balance sheets and no liabilities for the money they are committed to pay for those planes in the future.

“The development of an improved standard for leasing is vital,” said Hans Hoogervorst, the chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board. “At present, investors must take an educated guess to determine the hidden leverage from leasing.”

Under the proposal, issued jointly by the international board, which sets rules for many countries around the globe, and by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which writes the United States rules, an airline entering into a lease for a plane would show an asset of the right to use the plane and an equal liability based on the current value of the lease payments it has promised to make. That accounting would be similar to what it would show had it borrowed money to buy the plane.

“The proposal is responsive to the widespread view of investors that leases are liabilities that belong on the balance sheet,” said Leslie F. Seidman, the chairwoman of F.A.S.B., adding that the two boards “have worked together to develop a revised, converged proposal to address the inadequacies of current lease accounting and disclosures.”

There seems to be little doubt that there will be substantial opposition to the new proposal. “This is going to be one of the least popular standards,” Mr. Hoogervorst told reporters. “Companies like off-balance-sheet financing.”

But some accountants said they thought the new rule could succeed where previous efforts had failed. “The F.A.S.B. has made an attempt to keep it as simple as possible,” said Rick Day, the national director of accounting at McGladrey, an American firm that primarily audits smaller companies. “While it will be controversial, I think it will fly.”

There were dissenting votes on both boards, with complaints made that the new proposal went too far to satisfy complaints about the earlier proposal, which was released in 2010.

Many accountants have agreed for decades that lease accounting needed to be reformed, but accounting rule-making is a slow procedure, particularly when there is sharp opposition from companies.

It was not until 2006 that lease accounting was added to the agenda of the I.A.S.B., as well as to the agenda of the American board. That move came after the Securities and Exchange Commission said in 2005 that action needed to be taken.

On Thursday, the two boards asked that comments on the proposed rule be made by Sept. 13. After those comments are analyzed, the boards will decide whether to issue a final rule, most likely in 2014 if they choose to move forward.

There would probably be a considerable delay in making the new rules effective, probably until 2017, to give companies time to comply and, in some cases, to renegotiate loan agreements that put limits on borrowing by the companies — limits that could appear to be violated if leases are put on the balance sheet.

In addition to making balance sheets larger, the proposed rule would also change income statements for many companies. Currently, a company that leased a piece of machinery for $1,000 a year for five years would show a $1,000 expense each year.

Under the new proposal, that company would show a larger expense in early years and a smaller one in later years. That is because the accounting would be similar to what would be shown if the company had borrowed money to buy the asset, paying off the loan in equal payments over five years. In early years, the interest expense would be higher than in later ones.

A significant change from the initial proposal is that most real estate leases would be accounted for differently. While they, too, would go on the balance sheet of the lessee, the value would be based on the expected lease payments over the life of the lease. Unlike in the 2010 proposal, the lessee would not have to assume that it would exercise renewal options, unless those options were at such favorable prices as to clearly give it a financial incentive to renew.

In cases where the lease payment was based on something that would vary — like a store lease where the lessee would pay a fixed rate plus a percentage of sales — the value would not reflect the expected additional payments. That would keep the asset value, and the related debt, lower than it might otherwise be.

If the rent would vary based on an index — like the Consumer Price Index — the initial value would be based on the current level of the index. The values of the asset and liability would be updated every year as the index changed.

The details remain controversial. At the I.A.S.B., the vote was 12 to 2, with two newer members abstaining. The two dissenters, Prabhakar Kalavacherla of India and Zhang Wei-Guo of China, said they opposed allowing real estate leases to be treated differently from other leases.

The American board approved the issuance of the draft on 4-to-3 vote, with one dissenter, Thomas J. Linsmeier, complaining that the rule “will result in financial reporting by the lessee that is so complex that it will hinder” the ability of investors to understand what is going on, in part because there will not be enough disclosures of details.

Source: Dealbrook NY Times

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/significant-changes-proposed-in-lease-accounting/

“We’re glad to establish this relationship with GE Capital’s CDF business because of its long history in the motorsports business”

American SportWorks produces LANDmaster utility vehicles and Zircon, Marauder and Black Widow branded go-carts in Fort Wayne, IN and Roseland, LA. The funds will support the expansion of the company’s dealer network in the U.S. Its products are currently carried by over 200 domestic dealers.

“We’re glad to establish this relationship with GE Capital’s CDF business because of its long history in the motorsports business,” said Kent Rice, president of American SportWorks. “Dealer financing is a cornerstone of our plans to expand our American-made utility vehicles business.”

Inventory financing, also known as floorplan financing, is an important element of a successful manufacturer-lender-dealer business model. Manufacturers benefit from enhanced product flow and increased sales opportunities, and dealers obtain improved credit availability.

“We’re pleased to have this opportunity to help American SportWorks grow its business,” said Sameer Gaur, president of CDF’s motorsports group. “We’ll be working closely with the company to develop financing programs that are right for its dealers.”

Source: Business Wire

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/ge/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&ndmConfigId=1004554&newsId=20130516005216&newsLang=en&vnsId=681

LeaseQ, one of the leading providers of equipment leasing and financing options in the United States, is proud to offer leasing plans for audio visual equipment and supplies. Audio visual presentations are becoming increasingly popular, with more and more diverse companies adding media components to their operations. With this in mind, it becomes important to both small companies and large corporations to have access to the equipment that they need.

The Audio Visual Services and Equipment industry has seen considerable growth in recent years, with rapid advances in not only traditional audio visual equipment, but also multi media technologies and the newest innovations in digital media. These changes are driven in large part by the worldwide demand for quality and cutting edge presentation of information and data.

Unlike years past where AV materials were confined to certain industries, today, it is utilized throughout corporate offices, manufacturing plants, military, government, transportation, and even in peoples’ homes. More traditional venues such as schools and universities have moved from film strips and overheads to high quality, high definition media presentations.

Almost any kind of AV equipment can be leased, including cameras, software, cables & connectors, monitors & displays, lighting, projection screens, recording media, video conferencing, as well as video & audio production. Having access to this kind of equipment means saving time and money on travel, printing, and shipping costs. It can also be used across a wide variety of avenues, sch as employee training, sales, marketing, and various other events.

Leasing offers a number of benefit over traditional loans or purchases, namely the ability to save unnecessary capital, freeing up funds for use in other endeavors such as additional personnel or expansion of the existing business.

LeaseQ offers a number of leasing and financing options for companies wishing to improve their audio visual setup. Approval is done online in just a matter of minutes, at which time the applicant is presented with a number of different leasing and payment options designed to fit their unique needs and budget.

Based in Boston MA, LeaseQ is one of the leading providers of audio visual equipment leasing and financing in the United States, with options available for both small independent businesses and large scale corporations.

Source: PRWeb

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/5/prweb10738391.htm

Fly Leasing has re-priced its 2012 term loan, reducing its interest rate by one per cent to 3.5 per cent, plus LIBOR. In addition, the LIBOR floor has been reduced by 0.25 per cent to one per cent.

If adopted, the changes could affect retailers and restaurant chains, which lease real estate at hundreds or thousands of locations. Other companies that may feel the impact are airlines and package-delivery companies, which finance aircraft through leases, and companies that lease printers, copiers and other office equipment.

The new proposal from the Financial Accounting Standards Board and International Accounting Standards Board, which set accounting rules for the U.S. and most of the rest of the world, respectively, would require companies to add all but the shortest leases to their balance sheets as obligations akin to debt. That could have a major impact, experts said, given the estimated $800 billion in new lease contracts world-wide every year.

Current rules allow companies to keep many leases off their books. That makes them look less indebted than they really are, regulators and critics say, and doesn’t offer investors a true portrait of their financial health.

“Leases convey valuable rights and obligations that belong on the balance sheet,” said FASB Chairman Leslie Seidman. The proposal represents “a significant enhancement in disclosures for investors,” she said.

The proposal also would change how some companies reflect the costs from leases in calculating their earnings. It would set up a two-track system in which the costs of leasing real estate would be recognized evenly over the term of the lease, while costs of leasing other items would be more frontloaded toward the early years of a lease.

The proposal also would revamp the accounting for companies that lease out real estate, planes or equipment to those who use them.

The two boards are accepting public comment on the lease-accounting proposal until Sept. 13. They hope to issue a final rule in 2014, though changes aren’t expected to take effect until 2017.

“It’s mostly a good proposal,” said J. Edward Ketz, a Penn State University associate professor of accounting. “We get some transparency we haven’t had in the past.”

The proposal is likely to provoke some opposition from companies and their advocates, who fear the rules would be too burdensome and complex. The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association said the proposal “will not result in a significant improvement in the quality or reliability of financial information” and “will not faithfully depict the economics of equipment leases.”

“Obviously this standard is not a very popular one…. Generally companies like off balance sheet financing and this is going to put an end to a lot of that,” IASB Chairman Hans Hoogervorst said.

The move could force some companies to have to revise their debt agreements, which often are based on measurements that could be affected by the addition of leases to the balance sheet, said Rich Stuart, an accounting-standards partner at McGladrey LLP. Some companies have already started discussions with their lenders about the eventual need to adjust debt agreements, he said.

The proposal is the latest step in a long effort by the two boards to revamp lease-accounting rules. An overhaul has been in the works since 2005, when a Securities and Exchange Commission report identified lease accounting as an area that rule makers should address.

The two boards issued a previous proposal for a lease-accounting revamp in 2010. But the boards revised some aspects of that proposal after companies and others raised concerns, though the idea of adding most leases to the balance sheet was in the first proposal and remains there.

Source: WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323582904578487111647250882.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The new Proposed Accounting Standards Update, Leases (Topic 842) — A revision of the 2010 Proposed FASB Accounting Standards Update, Leases (Topic 840), would create a new approach to lease accounting that would remove the old distinction between operating and capital leases, and require instead that all assets and liabilities arising from leases be recognized on the balance sheet.

How leases with terms of more than 12 months are treated will now depend on how much of the economic benefit of the underlying asset the lessee is expected to consume, which in practice will generally come down to whether it’s a lease for real estate, including land and buildings, or for other property, such as equipment, aircraft or trucks. (For leases of under 12 months, the preparer can elect not apply the proposed standard.)

The current operating-versus-capital-lease standards have been criticized for not accurately representing leasing transactions, and for allowing too many lease assets and liabilities to go unrecognized in financial statements. In response to concerns expressed by the users of financial statements, the boards began developing new proposals in 2005.

The new exposure draft reflects the boards’ redeliberations and stakeholder feedback on an earlier exposure draft that was put out for comment in 2010.

One of the main distinctions between the earlier ED and the new release was that the prior draft would have required the same treatment for all leases, while the current version offers the dual approach that offers different treatments to reflect the underlying economics of the transaction.

The new draft also includes a number of revisions that are aimed at making the standards less expensive and less complex to apply, including the exception for short-term leases; the removal of the requirement to include most variable lease payments in liability, due to the complexity of estimating them; and simplifications to the accounting for renewal options.

The details

For most leases of property, the proposal would require lessees to recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, initially measured at the present value of the lease payments, and also recognize a single lease cost, combining the interest on the lease liability with the amortization of the right-of-use asset, on a straight-line basis.

For most leases of assets other than property, the lessee would recognize a right-of-use asset and a lease liability, initially measured at the present value of lease payments, and would recognize and present the interest on the lease liability separately from the amortization of the right-of-use asset.

The boards have also proposed new accounting for lessors, which follows similar distinctions based on the degree of consumption of the underlying leased asset.

While the boards are quick to point out that this is a converged standard, FASB’s version does have two minor points of difference: The U.S. standard-setter has “tentatively” decided that private companies and non-public nonprofit organizations can elect to use a risk-free rate when discounting their lease liabilities, and they don’t have to disclose a reconciliation of lease liability from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

The boards will host a live webcast on the revised exposure draft on Monday, May 20, at 10:30 a.m. EST. Attendees can register for the webcast here. More details, including the revised ED itself, are available on theIASB Web site and the (newly revamped) FASB Web site.

Source: Accounting Today

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/FASB-IASB-Propose-Major-Changes-to-Lease-Accounting-66718-1.html

analysts

EFN has been the subject of a number of other recent research reports. Analysts at BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Element Financial from C$10.50 to C$11.50 in a research note to investors on Wednesday. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock. Separately, analysts at TD Securities initiated coverage on shares of Element Financial in a research note to investors on Wednesday, May 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a C$11.00 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at RBC Capital raised their price target on shares of Element Financial from C$10.00 to C$11.00 in a research note to investors on Thursday, March 21st. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.

Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, The company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of C$10.85.

Shares of Element Financial (TSE: EFN) traded up 1.46% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.40. Element Financial has a 52 week low of $4.98 and a 52 week high of $10.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $8.80.

Source: Utah People’s Post

http://utahpeoplespost.com/2013/05/element-financial-given-sector-outperform-rating-at-scotiabank-efn/

If the revised draft the International Accounting Standards Board and U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board issued on Thursday is adopted, tens of thousands of firms worldwide will have to add all leases over a year to their balance sheets.

The proposals signal their refusal to back down further in the face of opposition from companies, who worry that bigger balance sheets will make them look more indebted and bump up their borrowing costs.

The bulk of leases are currently only mentioned in footnotes.

“The proposal is responsive to the widespread view of investors that leases are liabilities that belong on the balance sheet,” FASB Chairman Leslie Seidman said in a statement on Thursday accompanying a revised draft of the rules.

The reform, which may not take effect until 2016 in view of the corporate opposition it faces, is part of efforts to align international and U.S. book-keeping rules so markets can compare firms more easily and get a clearer view of their liabilities.

“At present, investors must take an educated guess to determine the hidden leverage from leasing by using basic disclosures in financial statements and applying arbitrary multiples,” IASB chief Hans Hoogervorst said in the statement.

More clarity on lease liabilities could break some corporations’ loan covenants, which are linked to balance sheet size limits, or even trigger credit rating changes, accounting experts say.

And the sums involved are huge.

In Europe, outstanding leases totalled $928 billion (609 billion pounds) in 2011, according to Leaseurope, which represents over 90 percent of the European leasing market.

In the United States, companies have about $1.5 trillion of operating leases according to a study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and real estate groups.

The two boards have backed down from their original plan to treat all leases in the same way, and confirmed on Thursday that they would pursue a “dual track” approach to distinguish between property and equipment leases, as reported by Reuters.

Instead of the current “straight line” rental expense that stays the same throughout the life of a lease, the new standard would treat most equipment leases like loans, with the highest costs in the earlier years.

Property leases would still be treated as a straight line expense, but there is no change to the basic principle that all types of leases longer than a year must be put on balance sheets.

Industry bodies had been hoping for further concessions.

“Leaseurope consider that they will not bring about a sufficient improvement in financial reporting to warrant the cost and complexity of changing the existing approach,” the industry body said.

(Reporting by Huw Jones in London and Dena Aubin in New York; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

By Huw Jones and Dena Aubin

Source: 4-Traders

http://www.4-traders.com/news/Global-accountants-stick-to-plan-to-get-leases-on-balance-sheets–16866557/

Randol Jackson has been named Business Development Major Account Manager at GSG Financial’s Westwood, NJ office. He is responsible for expanding vendor relationships with a focus on the office products and graphic arts industries. “As we continue to expand our sales team, our organization is able to help further develop relationships with our customers,” said Andrew A. Bender, chief executive officer.  With a focus on customer service, GSG continues to provide clients with unmatched support. Prior to joining GSG, Jackson was a member of Konica Minolta Business Solutions National Accounts and the Account Executive sales teams at Canon Solutions America in NJ. With over 14 years of sales experience, Jackson has an excellent track record managing relationships with mid to large-size companies and identifying technology solutions.

Katharine Harris joins GSG Financial as Project Manager assisting the marketing and documentation departments. She will be responsible for managing lease documentation and developing marketing initiatives as GSG continues its rapid growth. “As GSG Financial undergoes an official name change, Katharine will spearhead the rebranding effort to better position the company in the industry,” said Jessie Geltzeiler, AVP of Operations.  “With a strong background in marketing, she brings a fresh perspective to further GSG’s growth as we expand into new territories and product offerings.”  Concurrently, Harris was selected to participate in the first class of GSG’s Leadership Training Program, a rotation through the company’s key business segments. Harris has previously performed non-profit energy efficiency outreach in Manhattan, assisting small businesses through the contracting, retrofitting and incentive procurement process.

Source: What They Think

http://whattheythink.com/news/63628-gsg-financial-expands-sales-marketing-team/

“Over the years, we’ve seen many jobs in the machine tool sector move overseas,” said Ken Rector, executive vice president, U.S. Bank Equipment Finance – Manufacturing Vendor Services. “We’re glad to see the movement of these jobs back to the U.S. due in part to the work of the Reshoring Initiative. We are delighted to help in this effort through a key sponsorship of the Initiative.”

“It is meaningful that U.S. Bank Equipment Finance, a financial leader in the machine tool arena, has stepped up as the first bank to sponsor the Initiative” said Harry Moser, President of the Reshoring Initiative. “We believe that about 25 percent of what has been offshored would come back now if companies used our Total Cost of Ownership Estimator™ to compare domestic to offshore manufacturing and sourcing.  We expect that the visible support of U.S. Bank Equipment Finance will accelerate investment in machine tools, helping companies, employees and our country.”

The Reshoring Initiative assists manufacturers in understanding the benefits of reshoring and U.S. Bank works with manufacturers to facilitate their acquisition of machine tool and other new equipment to help maintain their competitive advantage.

Source: Manufacturing.net

http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2013/05/us-bank-equipment-finance-to-sponsor-the-reshoring-initiative

Under existing rules, companies are generally able to classify virtually all leases as operating leases and keep them off their balance sheets, something regulators and accounting critics have long criticized. Some airlines, for example, lease all their airplanes and show no airplane assets on their balance sheets and no liabilities for the money they are committed to pay for those planes in the future.

“The development of an improved standard for leasing is vital,” said Hans Hoogervorst, chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board. “At present, investors must take an educated guess to determine the hidden leverage from leasing.”

Under the proposal, issued jointly by the international board, which sets rules for many countries around the globe, and by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which writes the United States rules, an airline entering into a lease for a plane would show an asset of the right to use the plane and an equal liability based on the current value of the lease payments it has promised to make. That accounting would be similar to what it would show had it borrowed money to buy the plane.

“The proposal is responsive to the widespread view of investors that leases are liabilities that belong on the balance sheet,” said Leslie Seidman, the chairman of F.A.S.B., adding that the two boards “have worked together to develop a revised, converged proposal to address the inadequacies of current lease accounting and disclosures.”

Many accountants have agreed for decades that lease accounting needed to be reformed, but accounting rule-making is a slow procedure, particularly when there is sharp opposition from companies.

In 1992, the Accounting Standards Board, which set British accounting rules, said it was considering changing the leasing rules, prompting howls of protest. The rule was not changed, and nine years later the board’s departing chairman, Sir David Tweedie, lamented that fact. “I would have liked to have gone into lease accounting, which is a mess,” he said. “Airlines have got hardly any aircraft on the balance sheets.”

Mr. Tweedie became the chairman of the I.A.S.B. in 2001, but it was not until 2006 that lease accounting was added to that board’s agenda, as well as to the agenda of the American board. That move came after the Securities and Exchange Commission said in 2005 that action needed to be taken.

On Thursday, the two boards asked that comments on the proposed rule be made by Sept. 13. After those comments are analyzed, the boards will decide whether to issue a final rule, most likely in 2014 if they choose to move forward. There would likely be a considerable delay in making the new rules effective, probably until 2017, to give companies time to comply and, in some cases, to renegotiate loan agreements that put limits on borrowing by the companies — limits that could appear to be violated if leases were put on the balance sheet.

If that is the timetable, the new rule would take effect 25 years after Mr. Tweedie first tried to take action.

In addition to making balance sheets larger, the proposed rule would also change income statements for many companies. Currently, a company that leased a piece of machinery for $1,000 a year for five years would show a $1,000 expense each year. Under the new proposal, that company would show a larger expense in early years and a smaller one in later years. That is because the accounting would be similar to what would be shown if the company had borrowed money to buy the asset, paying the loan in equal payments over five years. In early years, the interest expense would be higher than in later ones.

A significant change from the initial proposal, which was made in 2010, is that most real estate leases would be accounted for differently. While they, too, would go on the balance sheet of the lessee, the value would be based on the expected lease payments over the life of the lease. Unlike in the 2010 proposal, the lessee would not have to assume that it would exercise renewal options, unless those options were at such favorable prices as to clearly give it a financial incentive to renew.

In cases where the lease payment was based on something that would vary — like a store lease where the lessee would pay a fixed rate plus a percentage of sales — the value would not reflect the expected additional payments. That would keep the asset value, and the related debt, lower than it might otherwise be. If the rent would vary based on an index — like the Consumer Price Index — the initial value would be based on the current level of the index. The values of the asset and liability would be updated every year as the index changed.

In another concession to complaints, the boards said that leases with durations of one year or less could be treated the old way, with no asset put on the balance sheet.

Source: Dealbook NY Times

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/significant-changes-proposed-in-lease-accounting/

The new strategy of Estonian Air with reduced destination network shows that the airline only needs five aircraft, while at present it operates seven, of which 3 are Bombardiers and four are Embraers.

Ilona Eskelinen, press spokesperson of Estonian Air, did not say at what terms or when the aircraft could be delivered to Air Lituania, but confirmed that negotiations were ongoing.

Lithuanian Civil Aviation Authority has not yet granted Air Lituanica a civil aviation permit and is conducting compliance inspection of requirements.

Air Lituanica has said it plans to start flights at the end of June, making the first flight to Brussels and later adding Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Munich and Moscow.

In 2013, the airline expects to carry 70,000 passengers and reach 40m litas in revenue. 2014 targets are 140m litas in revenue.

By 2016, the airline plans to fly to 16 destinations.

Air Lituanica also plans to lease another Embraer, an E175 that has 86 seats.

CEO of Air Lituanica is Erikas Zubrus. 83% of Air Lithuanica belongs to Air Vilnius Group that is being funded by the City of Vilnius. The remaining 17% belong to Air Lituanica Club which includes several prominent private persons and companies.

Lithuania’s own airline FlyLAL went bankrupt in 2009, with most of its routes being taken over by Ryanair and Wizz Air.

Source: Baltic Business News

http://balticbusinessnews.com/article/2013/5/16/lithuanian-airline-may-lease-an-aircraft-from-estonian-air

American SportWorks produces LANDmaster utility vehicles and Zircon, Marauder and Black Widow branded go-carts in Fort Wayne, IN and Roseland, LA. The funds will support the expansion of the company’s dealer network in the U.S. Its products are currently carried by over 200 domestic dealers.

“We’re glad to establish this relationship with GE Capital’s CDF business because of its long history in the motorsports business,” said Kent Rice, president of American SportWorks. “Dealer financing is a cornerstone of our plans to expand our American-made utility vehicles business.”

Inventory financing, also known as floorplan financing, is an important element of a successful manufacturer-lender-dealer business model. Manufacturers benefit from enhanced product flow and increased sales opportunities, and dealers obtain improved credit availability.

“We’re pleased to have this opportunity to help American SportWorks grow its business,” said Sameer Gaur, president of CDF’s motorsports group. “We’ll be working closely with the company to develop financing programs that are right for its dealers.”

Source: MarketWatchhttp://www.marketwatch.com/story/ge-capital-provides-financing-to-support-growth-of-american-sportworks-2013-05-16

• The first annual conference held in November 2012 was a sell-out!
• Though we have expanded capacity, based on the success of the 2012 event and the continued growing interest in operating leases, we truly expect OLC 2013 to also sell out!
• If there is only one leasing conference you can attend, we recommend you budget to attend OLC 2013.

SUMMARY OF OLC 2012

• Attended by 120 leasing professionals from 27 countries
• 20 speakers and panellists – operating leasing practitioners and service providers

SAMPLE TESTIMONIALS

• “One of the best conferences I have ever attended.”

                Phil Gerrard, Associate Director, Grant Thornton, U.K.

• “Excellent content covered by expert speakers – it could not be any better!”

                Bulent Tasar, Managing Director, Siemens Leasing, Turkey

• “An excellent networking event, particularly in the context of emerging market players.”

                Ian Robertson, SVP Global Asset Management, De Lage Landen, The Netherlands

BENEFIT OF ACTING NOW

• Requesting further information now will place you, sequentially, on a mailing list.
• You will be guaranteed a seat with no obligation on your part as long as we receive your registration form and payment by September 15, 2013.  Even after you register and pay, you may cancel prior to October 20, 2013 without any penalty.

ESSENTIALLY, YOU HAVE EVERY THING TO GAIN AND NOTHING TO LOSE BY ASKING US TO PLACE YOU (AND YOUR COLLEAGUES) ON A SPECIAL NO OBLIGATION WAITING LIST TO ATTEND WHAT PROMISES TO BE THE BEST LEASING CONFERENCE IN 2013!

For more information, please visit www.olconference2013.com.

“Julia’s unselfish contributions to ELFA’s advocacy efforts, policy endeavors and the equipment finance industry as a whole are tremendous,” said William G. Sutton, ELFA President and CEO. “We are delighted to present this honor to her in acknowledgment and appreciation of her outstanding advocacy efforts at the state and federal levels, one of the cornerstones of ELFA’s mission.”

Pierce has been an active participant in ELFA for nearly 20 years. During this time, she has served in many capacities to support the industry’s policy objectives. Pierce served as a founding member and Chair of the ELFA State Government Relations Committee, which reviews legislative proposals from all 50 states and the U.S. territories, determines the impact to the industry and gives guidance on the association’s response to the state relations team.

Pierce was a leader on the ELFA team that successfully negotiated with the state of California for the establishment of the GS $Mart, which is California’s award-winning government financing program facilitating state and local government leasing. She also has been very active in Sacramento with the California legislature on issues such as making an Investment Tax Credit available to leasing and enactment of the ELFA Vendor Amendment to the electronic recycling law.

In addition to her many state policy activities, Pierce has provided support to the federal government team. She is a regular attendee at the annual Capitol Connections program, leveraging her relationships with key California federal legislators to bring higher awareness of the industry at the federal level. She is a long-time contributor to LeasePAC, the political action committee of ELFA, and has always shown a dedication to grassroots activities as a cornerstone of a sound government relations strategy.

Pierce served as Chairperson of the ELFA’s Municipal Leasing Forum in 2001, 2005 and 2006. She served on the ELFA Captive and Vendor Finance Business Council Steering Committee from 2009-2012. She also has presented at multiple ELFA conferences, including the Tax Professionals Roundtable and the Public Sector Forum.

Pierce has been active in industry and community service organizations throughout her career. She served from 1997 through 2004 on the California Secretary of State’s Advisory Board for the Uniform Commercial Code, and on the Seismic Task Force for the City of San Luis Obispo, California.

“I am deeply honored to receive this award from ELFA, particularly given that I had the honor of knowing David Fenig for many years,” said Pierce. “I look forward to continuing to work with ELFA’s state and federal government relations teams. Their expertise makes it possible for me to get involved and contribute to our industry’s overall success.”

Pierce received her Bachelor of Arts in political science fom the University of Santa Barbara and completed a graduate program in engineering management at California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo. She began her leasing career at Pierce Capital, Inc. as a credit and operations manager. Over her career, she served as a Manager of Municipal Programs at El Camino Resources and as a Senior Account Manager for Verizon Credit. Most recently, Pierce was a Financial Solutions Manager at Cisco Capital, working as part of their municipal finance team to develop tax-exempt financing of municipal mult-year service agreements. This year, Pierce has set out to re-open Pierce Capital, an independent equipment leasing company that her father operated for more than 25 years. Pierce Capital is located in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and focuses on the financing of equipment for healthcare, technology, agriculture and hospitality.

Source: ELFA Online

http://www.elfaonline.org/News/press/pressreleases_report.cfm?ID=20910

Management is aiming for more, and the time might be right to really press the pedal to the metal. Banks remain less than fully engaged when it comes to lending to small companies, and the economy seems to be on the mend. Sensing opportunity, GE Capital is embarking on a unique roadshow, according to the New York Times.

The firm is collaborating with SlateCustom, the custom-publishing arm of Slate.com, on a “native” campaign that will feature plenty of online collateral. The centerpiece, however, may well be an ambitious six-month roadshow.

The Roadshow for Growth calls for a “bus tour through various cities across the United States. After Kansas City, it moves on to St. Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, Dallas, Atlanta and Los Angeles, among others. It will end in Columbus, Ohio, in late October.”

The article notes that, “At each stop, the roadshow will host different events, like town hall discussions, conversations with the city’s mayor, and visits with middle-market businesses. In Kansas City on Monday, for example, there was a meeting with Mayor Sly James and a town hall session with GE Capital employees, while the Chicago visit on Thursday is to include a discussion moderated by Jacob Weisberg, chairman of the Slate Group, and featuring Mayor Rahm Emanuel and economist Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the first term of the Obama administration.”

The Times adds that, “Daily blog posts, video and commentary on the roadshow will be published on a special Web site, roadshow.slate.com. The Web site is being promoted as a ‘sponsored section’ on slate.com.”

It would be nice to see some banks do some counter-advertising in interesting ways as the roadshow rolls through specific towns. But that might be asking too much at a time like this.

Read more: GE Financial’s new marketing concept – FierceFinance http://www.fiercefinance.com/story/ge-financials-new-marketing-concept/2013-05-14#ixzz2TMbm0UAR
Subscribe at FierceFinance

Read more: GE Financial’s new marketing concept – FierceFinance http://www.fiercefinance.com/story/ge-financials-new-marketing-concept/2013-05-14#ixzz2TMbjdLQw
Subscribe at FierceFinance

Direct Capital has been recognized as one of the 25 Most Active Players in the Vendor Finance Channel, according to Monitor. With 2012 new volume growth rate of 56%, the company continued its ascent up the Monitor’s annual list. Based on new volume, Direct Capital is now the 2nd largest independent vendor finance company and among the Top 5 in overall organic growth.

The company, one of the nation’s leading providers ofvendor financing, has committed $500 million in vendor financing for 2013 to meet rapidly increasing demand in the space.

“Vendors who have access to Direct Capital’s cutting-edge financial solutions are better positioned to close sales and deliver value to customers,” said John Donohue, Senior Vice President at Direct Capital. “Our goal is and always has been to provide vendors and their customers with competitive pricing, fast turnaround and a truly remarkable experience throughout the finance process.”

Direct Capital’s Net Promoter Score—which measures customer satisfaction—reached 65% versus a financial industry average of 23%. That score is driven by the company’s commitment to providing affordable, easy-to-use finance solutions to help vendor partners ranging from Apple to Ryder, and to help local small businesses like InfoStep obtain needed equipment upgrades

“Over the past six years, our business has purchased phone systems, computer software and hardware and various pieces of networking equipment. We’re very pleased with the work we’ve done with Direct Capital, and we know that our next equipment purchase will be as simple as the last,” said Latha Anisingaraju of InfoStep.

Source: PR Web

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/5/prweb10732533.htm

Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, PacWest will acquire First California for $8.00 per First California common share. The exchange ratio is calculated based on the volume-weighted average share price of PacWest common stock for the 20 consecutive trading days ending on the second full trading day prior to the receipt of the last of the regulatory approvals required under the merger agreement.

As a result, each share of First California common stock shall be converted into the right to receive 0.2966 of a share of PacWest common stock. PacWest will issue an aggregate of approximately 8.4 million shares of PacWest common stock to First California stockholders (which includes PacWest common shares issuable in exchange for First California’s Series A Preferred Stock). Approximately $537,000 in cash will be delivered to holders of outstanding and unexercised First California options. In addition, approximately one million shares of First California common stock currently owned by PacWest will be cancelled in the merger. Based on the closing price of PacWest’s common stock on May 13, 2013 of $27.61 per share, the aggregate consideration to be paid to First California common stockholders and holders of options to acquire First California common stock plus the cost of the First California shares of common stock cancelled in the merger is approximately $237.1 million.

Stockholders of PacWest and First California overwhelmingly approved the merger on March 20, 2013.

PacWest and First California expect to complete the merger on May 31, 2013. Completion of the merger remains subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions set forth in the merger agreement. The integration of First California’s systems and the conversion of First California’s branches to PacWest’s operating platform are scheduled to be completed over the weekend of June 14, 2013.

As of March 31, 2013, on a pro forma consolidated basis with First California, PacWest would have had approximately $7.0 billion in assets with 82 branches throughout California.

Source: Global Newswire

http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/05/14/547141/10032810/en/PacWest-Bancorp-and-First-California-Financial-Group-Inc-Announce-Receipt-of-All-Regulatory-Approvals-and-Timing-for-Closing-of-the-Acquisition.html

“This edition covers many of the financial, tax, and operational impacts of the new standard on equipment and real-estate leases and explains how to prepare and manage them. It serves as a a step-by-step pathway for lessees from current GAAP to the new FASB/IASB accounting standard,” stated Michael Keeler, LeaseAccelerator’s CEO and The Lessee Advocate’s publisher. “Lessees will need 6-18 months to implement processes and systems to comply with the new standard. But it’s not all about compliance. Lessees can also capture significant savings by adopting the best practices described in the whitepaper and generate a positive ROI for the transition project.”

“This second edition reflects the contents of the May 2013 FASB exposure draft. It also includes feedback from many readers about how to make the document more useful to controllers, accountants, treasurers, procurement, and other executives responsible for lease portfolios.”

Keeler explains, “The whitepaper describes how to create and maintain a database of documents and data in order to ensure completeness, accuracy, and auditability of your data on a sustainable basis. We added a new section to explain how lessees can apply asset-based lease accounting and portfolio management software to simplify the process and enable all stakeholders to contribute to accurate and timely financial reporting.”

Bruce Conway, VP of Operations at LeaseAccelerator, a lease accounting specialist and whitepaper contributor, states, “Most leases will soon be capitalized, and applying the new FASB standard to equipment leases will be administratively more complex and nuanced than real-estate leases. As a result, lessees must be able to perform accounting at the asset level. For example, if there is a clear economic inventive to renew asset(s), the renewal term must be included as part of the accounting amortization term, which means that the accounting term may differ from the contractual lease term on an asset-by-asset basis within the same lease. For this reason, the whitepaper focuses on equipment leasing examples.”

Conway explains, “The whitepaper presents a comprehensive 9-step plan for implementing a transition project and improving the financial performance and visibility of your lease portfolio in the process. Lessees can take immediate action with this document. If you have not done anything to prepare, this will help you get started. If it is already a work-in-process, it will help you sharpen your strategy and tactics.”

“We learned from our Year 2000 and SOX compliance experiences that a well-informed implementation plan reduces fear, risk, and cost. Changes like this don’t have to be scary,” Keeler assures.

Source: Tipp News

http://tippnews.com/national-news/leaseaccelerator-publishes-new-whitepaper-on-lease-accounting-standard-changes-for-lessees-to-explain-may-2013-fasb-exposure-draft/

Direct Capital is bringing cutting-edge technology to a partnership with Choice Hotels, making it easier and faster than ever for franchisees to obtain needed financing.

The company, a leading national provider of franchise financing, will unveil a brand new way to access capital for Choice Hotels franchisees at the Choice Annual Conference in Los Angeles, California, from May 14-16. This new online platform is part of Direct Capital’s strong commitment to the franchise space, which also includes more than $300 million in financing for 2013.

“We know that Choice Hotels franchisees have major capital needs in 2013 and beyond. We’re attacking that problem with a combination of a strong commitment of dollars and constantly improving finance solutions,” said Matthew Goyette, Vice President for Business Development at Direct Capital. “We’re excited to unveil this game-changing technology for franchisees this week.”

Direct Capital, a qualified Choice Hotels vendor for several years, is dedicated to the growth of franchisees and the successful completion of their major projects. With a strong commitment to the franchise space and a new online platform that makes it easy and quick to obtain financing, Direct Capital is able to make real-time approvals of up to $200,000. That makes life easier for Choice Hotels franchisees like Mahendrakumar (Mac) Patel.

“Working with Direct Capital was a great experience. I will definitely be working with them again for my next project,” said Patel.

Source: PR Web

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/5/prweb10727005.htm

The jet-leasing company, which owns 159 aircraft, plans to invest $850 million this year, Chief Executive Officer Ron Wainshal said in an interview in Tokyo yesterday.

Aircastle, based at Stamford, Connecticut, joins Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. (8316), Asia’s largest aviation leasing company, and Orix Corp. (8591) in expanding business as economic growth in Asia boosts travel demand. Asia-Pacificair travel will expand 6.4 percent a year and the region will drive almost half of the world’s air traffic growth in the next two decades, Boeing Co. has forecast.

“There is nowhere in the world that has more demand for wide-body aircraft than Asia,” Wainshal said. “It’s not a number set in stone. If the market gets too high we will sell more planes.”

The leasing company’s revenue may increase to $703.8 million this year, according to the average of nine analysts’ estimatescompiled by Bloomberg. Profit will probably almost triple to $93.6 million, the average of six analysts’ estimates showed.

Aircastle’s stock rose 0.8 percent to $15.55 in New York yesterday. It has gained 24 percent this year, compared with a 16 percent increase in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

The leasing company, which employs 85 people worldwide, increased the number of staff at its Singapore office to eight this year from two, Wainshal said.

Bond Sale

The company, rated BB+ by Standard & Poor’s, may take advantage of increased demand for speculative-grade corporate bonds that pushed rates on the securities to a record low last week. A bond sale could be for new capital or refinancing, Wainshal said.

The yield to maturity on high-yield corporate bonds worldwide fell below 6 percent last week, compared with a record high of 23.2 percent in December 2008, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global High Yield index.

Aircastle, whose biggest shareholder is the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, has four bonds outstanding and is paying a 9.75 percent coupon on $450 million of fixed-income securities issued in 2010 that mature in August 2018, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“At the moment the bond market is incredibly attractive,” Wainshal said. “I expect we could do something in the bond market this year for growth or refinancing. The refinancing is driven by what you have to pay to get out of existing financing.”

Aircastle is interested in buying used planes or new wide-body planes, such as Boeing 777s, he said. The company isn’t interested in ordering directly from Boeing and Airbus SAS at the moment, Wainshal said.

“It has the strongest possibility of still being in production at the end of the decade,” he said about the Boeing 777. “It still has a very good value.”

Source: Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-15/aircastle-aims-to-double-plane-leasing-assets-to-10-billion.html

After initially agreeing on the proposed changes they wanted to make in the standards, FASB and the IASB parted ways during a contentious meeting last year (see FASB Splits with IASB on Impairment Standards). The two boards have since issued differing exposure drafts on their proposed changes in the accounting standards for loan loss provisioning and expected credit losses for loan impairment, but said they hope to come together after receiving feedback from their stakeholders (see FASB Proposes More Timely Recognition of Expected Credit Losses and IASB Diverges from FASB in Revised Loan Loss Proposals).

The banks weighed in with a joint letter last Friday addressed to FASB chair Leslie Seidman and IASB chairman Hans Hoogervorst. “In an increasingly global financial marketplace, market participants, users and prudential regulators all recognize the need for a common set of high quality accounting standards related to credit impairment,” the banks wrote. While we acknowledge the difficulty inherent in reconciling disparate points of view, we strongly encourage the boards to achieve convergence on what we believe is the most important [memorandum of understanding] project.

Although we continue to support an event-driven accounting framework for recognizing credit losses consistent with the proposal previously provided by members of the U.S. banking industry, we acknowledge the need for a balanced approach that will broadly appeal to numerous constituents. While a converged standard may not necessarily lead to fully comparable results in practice, the differences between the models proposed by the boards are far too great and will generate vastly different results. Ultimately, we believe compromise will be necessary by both boards in order to achieve a converged credit impairment standard. We strongly encourage the boards to renew their cooperation on this critically important matter.”

The banks, which include Bank of America, Capital One, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, PNC Financial, SunTrust and Wells Fargo, noted that there are several differences between the models proposed by FASB and the IASB and said they have several concerns with each of the proposed models. However, they said they believe a single fundamental change would help facilitate a compromise between the two boards while simultaneously addressing many of the core concerns with the proposed mode

“Rather than measuring expected losses over the next 12 months or over the remaining contractual life, we recommend that the boards amend the expected loss measurement period to the greater of 12 months or the period that is reliably estimable and predictable,” they wrote.

They said such a compromise would offer the following benefits: The conceptual basis for the recognition of credit losses would be maintained as credit quality would be more fully considered in the determination of the estimate of credit losses. Credit quality could be evaluated with commonly used credit quality indicators and portfolio and product characteristics, combined with appropriate loss estimation periods that contemplate expectations regarding current and future economic conditions. “As a result, performing assets would not require immediate recognition of a less reliable estimate of expected lifetime credit loss content,” said the comment letter. “The period that is reliably estimable and predictable would capture a substantial portion of expected credit losses for performing assets and all of the expected credit losses for non-performing assets as loss content tends to materialize earlier rather than later in the life of a financial asset. Moreover, during stressed economic environments, allowance levels would not be adversely impacted as expected credit losses should emerge more quickly and would already be reflected in the allowance, supplemented by oversight provided by internal risk management and prudential regulators.”

The banks also predicted that reliability of expected credit loss estimates would be improved, particularly for “long tenor” and evergreen assets.

“Credit risk managers would be better able to validate and back test estimates to their satisfaction and to the satisfaction of banking regulators and auditors,” they predicted. “Loss forecasting models must satisfy rigorous internal and regulatory modeling standards, including demonstrated accuracy in backtesting to historical results. Accordingly, reliable and predictable credit loss estimates would be measured in a well-controlled environment with a reasonable level of confidence.”

They also said that the compromise would allow existing loss estimation techniques to be leveraged. “Many existing loss estimation methodologies are not suitable for long-term loss estimates and would not satisfy prudent model risk and validation requirements,” said the banks. “Limiting the loss estimation period to the period of time which is reliably estimable and predictable would retain the ability of financial institutions to utilize many existing methodologies and retain the ability to capture all or a substantial portion of the expected loss content. Moreover, this would allow smaller, or less sophisticated, institutions to develop and implement loss estimation techniques that meet the standard.”

The banks warned that measurement of losses over the remaining contractual life could adversely impact lending and directly inhibit long-term investment, adding that this factor will be critically evaluated by the Financial Stability Board in their assessment of the implications of accounting standard setting.

“We believe this compromise will resolve this potential unintended consequence,” they wrote. “The reliably estimable period will allay concerns that limiting measurement of expected credit losses to just 12 months would perpetuate the ‘too-little-too-late’ concerns associated with the incurred loss model.”

An explicit transfer principle, as proposed by the IASB, would not be necessary, they added, as the period that is reliably estimable and predictable would consider the credit quality of financial assets at the reporting date, along with reasonable and supportable assumptions regarding current and forecasted events and conditions.

They said the ability to scrutinize the judgments of management through transparent disclosure of the assumptions used to measure expected losses, including the period that is reliably estimable and predictable, by asset class, would allay any “concerns related to earnings management and ultimately promote and improve comparability and consistency among preparers.”

The banks urged the standard-setting board to unite around a common set of standards for credit impairment.

“All parties agree that convergence on credit impairment is critically important,” they wrote. “Accordingly, we encourage the boards to renew their cooperation and consider incorporating our recommendation into their respective proposals. We acknowledge that no accounting model will completely resolve procyclical reserving concerns and loss estimates and estimation periods may vary, by product and across organizations. However, we believe that consistent practice will develop quickly through robust disclosure, coupled with the existence of proper risk governance and regulatory oversight. We believe our recommendation has a solid foundation in existing credit risk management practices in our industry, will more reliably reflect credit losses expected in the portfolio, better align recognition of credit losses to those periods where credit losses are expected in the portfolio, and provide more decision useful information about expected credit losses for investors and other users.”

Source: Accounting Today

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/Banks-Urge-FASB-IASB-Agree-Credit-Loss-Impairment-Standards-66700-1.html

Read more: AIG airplane leasing operation International Lease Finance Corporation

AIG is extending its agreement to sell up to 90% of its International Lease Finance Corporation, its aircraft leasing operation, by another month.

The $5.28bn sale to an investor group was set to close by May 15, but has been extended to June 14, according to a filing with the US…

Source: Reactions

http://www.reactionsnet.com/Article/3205328/Sectors/23074/AIG-delays-aircraft-leasing-sale.html

Kohler has been an active member of ELFA for more than a decade. He served on the Legal Committee from 2006 to 2009. In 2007, he joined the Legislative and Regulatory Subcommittee of the Legal Committee, which monitors and examines relevant proposals emerging from legislative and regulatory bodies at the local, state and federal levels of government. He assumed the Chairmanship of the subcommittee in 2008.  In this capacity, Kohler leads the subcommittee in analyzing and developing positions on policy matters impacting the equipment finance industry in general and ELFA members’ businesses in particular.

Kohler also has participated in the activities of other legal subcommittees, made numerous presentations at the annual ELFA Legal Forum, and authored articles in the association’s Equipment Leasing & Finance magazine.

The award is named for ELFA’s long-time Secretary and General Counsel Edward A. Groobert, who was active in the legal affairs of the association from the mid-1960s until his retirement in 2010.

About ELFA

The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association is the trade association that represents companies in the $725 billion equipment finance sector, which includes financial services companies and manufacturers engaged in financing capital goods. ELFA members are the driving force behind the growth in the commercial equipment finance market and contribute to capital formation in the U.S. and abroad. Its more than 575 members include independent and captive leasing and finance companies, banks, financial services corporations, broker/packagers and investment banks, as well as manufacturers and service providers. ELFA has been equipping business for success for more than 50 years. For more information, please visit www.elfaonline.org and follow ELFA on Twitter @elfaonline.

###

“This edition covers many of the financial, tax, and operational impacts of the new standard on equipment and real-estate leases and explains how to prepare and manage them. It serves as a step-by-step pathway for lessees from current GAAP to the new FASB/IASB accounting standard,” statedMichael Keeler, LeaseAccelerator’s CEO and The Lessee Advocate’s publisher. “Lessees will need 6-18 months to implement processes and systems to comply with the new standard. But it’s not all about compliance. Lessees can also capture significant savings by adopting the best practices described in the whitepaper and generate a positive ROI for the transition project.”

“This second edition reflects the contents of the May 2013 FASB exposure draft. It also includes feedback from many readers about how to make the document more useful to controllers, accountants, treasurers, procurement, and other executives responsible for lease portfolios.”

Keeler explains, “The whitepaper describes how to create and maintain a database of documents and data in order to ensure completeness, accuracy, and auditability of your data on a sustainable basis. We added a new section to explain how lessees can apply asset-based lease accounting and portfolio management software to simplify the process and enable all stakeholders to contribute to accurate and timely financial reporting.”

Bruce Conway, VP of Operations at LeaseAccelerator, a lease accounting specialist and whitepaper contributor, states, “Most leases will soon be capitalized, and applying the new FASB standard to equipment leases will be administratively more complex and nuanced than real-estate leases. As a result, lessees must be able to perform accounting at the asset level. For example, if there is a clear economic inventive to renew asset(s), the renewal term must be included as part of the accounting amortization term, which means that the accounting term may differ from the contractual lease term on an asset-by-asset basis within the same lease. For this reason, the whitepaper focuses on equipment leasing examples.”

Conway explains, “The whitepaper presents a comprehensive 9-step plan for implementing a transition project and improving the financial performance and visibility of your lease portfolio in the process. Lessees can take immediate action with this document. If you have not done anything to prepare, this will help you get started. If it is already a work-in-process, it will help you sharpen your strategy and tactics.”

“We learned from our Year 2000 and SOX compliance experiences that a well-informed implementation plan reduces fear, risk, and cost. Changes like this don’t have to be scary,” Keeler assures.

About LeaseAccelerator:

LeaseAccelerator develops, sells, and supports a suite of software services for global equipment lessees called “LeaseAccelerator.” LeaseAccelerator software services are available today over the web atwww.leaseaccelerator.com. In addition to complete lease accounting capabilities for current GAAP and the news standard, LeaseAccelerator offers global capital sourcing for leased equipment including access to The Global Lessor Network (GLN), a community of more than 500 lessors around the world who compete to win our clients business. Using the GLN, global companies with a need for in-country leasing expertise and financing can identify and transact with local lessors. Since 2001, LeaseAccelerator has supported transactions in 45 countries, spanning a wide variety of asset types, including corporate aircraft, construction, forklifts, furniture, IT, manufacturing, mining, networking, and transportation equipment. Lessors are encouraged to register for the GLN at www.lessornetwork.com.

Source: Sys.con Media

http://www.sys-con.com/node/2657009

Highlighting fleet managers’ increased focus on keeping operating expenses in check, additional concerns include meeting cost savings goals (24 percent) and understanding the impact of new vehicle technologies, such as alternative fuel vehicles (20 percent). When fleet managers were asked to name the single most important area of focus in maximizing fleet productivity, 29 percent cited specifying the right truck for the job. Similarly, 22 percent said specifying the right truck was the most important service their fleet management company could provide. The next most important areas cited were tracking downtime and reducing total cost of ownership (both 18 percent).

“Unexpected downtime can result in lost time and money, and cause unnecessary difficulties for fleet managers and drivers alike,” said Ken Gillies, manager of truck purchasing and engineering for GE Capital Fleet Services. “Our truck engineers make it a priority to help our customers find the right truck for the job, which will in turn help them minimize downtime and maximize productivity.”

Source: Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/article/2013-05-13/aAzrjBeWog2A.html

Logging more than 20 million miles annually throughout the Southeast, the Red Classic fleet includes 300 over-the-road tractors. Working with Fleet Advantage, the company has replaced nearly 20 percent of its fleet with new fuel-efficient clean diesel power units, and transitioned to the Fleet Advantage business model for lifecycle management which emphasizes economic obsolescence — how many years should I operate this truck– rather than functional obsolescence –how many years could I operate this truck.

“Fleet Advantage has provided our company with excellent systems for managing and interpreting our data in ways that yield immediate and long-term efficiencies,” said Justin Perdelwitz, Finance Director of Red Classic. “They compile and interpret that data, and leverage it with new equipment specifications and flexible lease financing to maximize our return on investment,” he said. “Now we can pinpoint exactly when to replace a vehicle as soon as fuel economy, maintenance costs or market conditions indicate that it is more advantageous to replace it rather than continue to operate; as market conditions change, so can our lifecycle strategy. The Fleet Advantage program is a natural complement to our other fleet management initiatives and provides us with additional tools to improve productivity and better manage our fleet.”

“As companies like Red Classic continue to grow it is increasingly challenging for them to manage the huge amounts of unstructured data involved in modern fleet management,” said John Flynn, CEO of Fleet Advantage.  “At Fleet Advantage, we help these large fleet owners tap the power of Big Data, make sense of all this information, and achieve real-time savings – fuel reductions, dramatically lower emissions, greater profitability, less downtime, improved safety and driver satisfaction and more,” he said. “By adopting a new lifecycle philosophy, Red Classic has positioned itself to be one of the cleanest, most efficiently run mega-fleets in the country.”

Red Classic Services is a full service transportation company specializing in van truckload shipping and is committed to providing top quality service at a competitive price. Red Classic Services offers transportation, brokerage, and maintenance services through a group of five companies spread over the United States. Red Classic Transit, the asset based company, is highly concentrated in the southeast while its freight brokerage group, Red Classic Transportation Services, has an extensive network throughout North America.

Red Classic Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coca-Cola Bottling Company Consolidated.

Fleet Advantage serves the needs of Fortune 500 companies with private truck fleets operating in North America.  In 2011, Flynn was awarded the Florida Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the “Emerging” category.  The award recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities.

Source: Equipment FA

http://www.equipmentfa.com/news/1830/fleet-advantage-partners-with-red-classic-to-provide-fleet-optimization-program

• Origination volumes increased 27% over the previous quarter to $296 million
• Element Finance increased originations by 69% over the previous period to $186 million
• Financial revenue increased 45% over the previous period to $31.8 million
• Average annualized cost of borrowing decreased to 3.33% for the period versus 3.44% for the previous period
• Operating income increased 80% over the previous period to $12 million
• After tax operating income per share was $0.08 versus $0.06 for the previous period
• Operating expenses were 3.08% of average portfolio assets for the period versus 3.16% for the previous period
• Total assets increased by 17% over the immediately previous quarter to $1.8 billion
• Element Capital pipeline exceeds $1.6 billion

TORONTO , May 13, 2013 /CNW/ – Element Financial Corporation (EFN.TO) (“Element” or “the Company”), one of North America’s leading independent equipment finance companies, today reported strong financial results across all of its business segments generating operating income of $12 million for the three month period on finance revenue of $31.8 million resulting in after tax operating income per share of $0.08 . Total assets increased to $1.8 billion and book value per share increased to $4.75 .

Element Finance accounted for $186 million or 63% of the $296 million originated during the period.  Element Capital accounted for $51 million or 17% of the new business volume while Element Fleet originated $59 million or 20% of the period’s new business volume. In addition to these organic origination volumes, the Company acquired $84 million of loan originations during the period as a result of closing the previously announced acquisition of Nexcap Finance Corp. Finance receivables increased to $1.5 billion at the end of the period versus $1.3 billion reported at the end of the previous period.

In addition to closing the Nexcap acquisition in early January, during the period the Company announced plans to establish the Element Equipment Finance Fund (the Fund) as a funding vehicle to more efficiently finance transactions in the $1.5 million to $25 million range. The Company closed a $173 million bought deal equity financing in mid-March in conjunction with the capitalization of the Fund which is designed to complement the Company’s existing securitization and syndication arrangements.

“We have made very substantial progress on developing the capital foundations for the Fund since we first outlined our intentions to pursue this strategy several weeks ago,” said Steven Hudson , Element’s Chairman and CEO. “All of the work that has been completed since then by our bankers and the rating agencies continues to support our enhanced return expectations and we remain on track to operationalize this facility in the second quarter,” noted Mr. Hudson .

Average gross interest income yield was 9.92% during the quarter compared to 9.03% during the immediate quarter ended December 31, 2012 benefiting from ancillary revenue from the two most recent acquisitions. Delinquencies continue to perform as expected and represented 0.26% of total finance receivables as at March 31, 2013 compared to 0.28% as at December 31, 2012 .

Operating expenses as a percentage of average portfolio assets decreased to 3.08% from 3.16% during the previous period.  Element’s financial leverage ratio decreased to 1.73:1 at the end of the first quarter from 2.34:1 at the end of the previous period.

“We continue to see strong and profitable business opportunities across each of our market segments and the results from the first quarter affirm our new business origination, operating income and earnings outlook for the year,” added Mr. Hudson .

Selected Financial Information and Financial Ratios

The following table summarizes key financial data to be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements of the Company as at and for three-month period ended March 31, 2013 . Such financial statements are prepared in accordance with IFRS and are reported in Canadian dollars.

The Company continued to execute on its growth plan and strategy during the quarter ended March 31, 2013 and is reporting improved performance from operations both over the comparable period of the previous year and the immediate previous quarter.  The improved performance is a result of the acquisition of TLS, CoActiv and NexCap that were completed on June 30, 2012 , November 30, 2012 and January 18, 2013 , respectively, and their integration into the Company. After tax operating income per share was $0.08 for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 compared to $0.01 for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 and $0.06 for the immediate quarter ended December 31, 2012 .

Operating income was $12.0 million during the three months ended March 31, 2013 compared to $0.9 million for the same quarter in 2012, and $6.7 million in the prior quarter ended December 31, 2012 . Management believes that this metric is the true measure of the Company’s performance as it excludes non-cash items that have not and will never require cash settlement and it excludes business acquisition costs that used to be capitalized as part of the costs of acquisition in the past under Canadian GAAP but that are now required to be expensed under IFRS. This translates to a yield to average outstanding finance receivables of 3.45% during the quarter ended March 31, 2013 compared to 1.45% for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 and 2.55% for the prior quarter, reflecting the substantial improvement of the Company’s performance year over year and quarter over quarter resulting from a larger balance sheet.

Financial revenue for the three month period ended march 31, 2013 was  $31.8 million , an increase of $26.3 million or 475.4% over the amount of $5.5 million reported during the quarter ended March 31, 2012 , and an increase of $9.9 million or 45.4% over the amount of $21.9 million reported during the immediate quarter ended December 31, 2012 . These increases result from increases in average finance receivables outstanding during the periods which grew to $1,396.2 million during quarter ended March 31, 2013 , from $249.2 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2012 and from $1,052.7 million during the immediate preceding quarter ended December 31 , 2012.Finance receivables have increased to $1,468.6 million as at March 31, 2013 compared to $358.6 as at March 31, 2012 and $1,294.6 million reflecting respective increases of 309.5% and 13.4% resulting from a combination of (i) the acquisition of TLS on June 29, 2012 , (ii) the acquisition of CoActiv on November 30, 2012 , (iii) the acquisition of NexCap on January 18, 2013 (iv) the continued organic growth in originations which reached a total of $296.3 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2013 compared to $156.6 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2012 and $233.6 million during the immediate preceding quarter ended December 31, 2012 .

Gross average yield (financial revenues before provision for credit losses) on average finance receivables was 9.57% for the quarter ended march 31, 2013 compared to 8.70% reported for the immediate quarter ended December 31, 2012 and 9.35% for the comparable quarter ended March 31, 2012 . A proper comparison against the results for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 is not meaningful as a result of the numerous acquisitions completed subsequent to that comparative quarter and the resulting different mix of businesses. The increase in gross yields of 0.87% compared to the immediate quarter ended December 31, 2012 is also impacted from the acquisitions of CoActiv which was completed in November 2012 and the more recent acquisition of NexCap which closed on January 18, 2013 which have slightly different business mix profiles. However, the overall increase can be more explained by the increase in other revenues resulting from added contribution to this category from both CoActiv and NexCap and related more specifically to accessory services at CoActiv and the wholesale program acquired at NexCap.

Financial expenses were $9.0 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 compared to $1.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 and $6.9 million for the immediate preceding quarter ended December 31, 2012 reflecting respective increases of $7.5 million and $2.1 million over the amount reported for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 . These increases are the result of increases in average outstanding debt outstanding during the periods the periods which increased to $1,085.6 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2013 from $799.5 million during the quarter ended December 31, 2012 and $159.0 million during the quarter ended March 31 , 2012.The average cost of borrowing has however reduced slightly to 3.33% for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 versus 3.44% reported during the immediate preceding quarter ended December 31, 2012 and the 3.93% reported for the comparative quarter ended March 31, 2012 reflecting the continued improvement in borrowing costs as the Company continue its expansion and is able to negotiate better rates.

Operating expenses were $10.8 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 compared to $8.3 million for the immediate preceding quarter ended December 31, 2012 and $3.1 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2012 reflecting increases of 29.0% and 250.7% respectively. However operating expenses as a percent of average outstanding finance receivable has decreased to 3.08% during the quarter ended March 31, 2013 from 3.16% reported for the preceding quarter ended December 31, 2012 and 4.92% during the quarter ended March 31 , 2012.  The continued improvements reflect the growing balance sheet of the Company and the impact of the integration of the recent acquisitions. Management expects continued improvement in this statistics as it continues to expand its business and operations.

Share-based compensation, which is a non-cash item reflecting the fair value of options granted, was $1.5 million during the three-months ended March 31, 2013 compared to $0.9 million during the three-months ended March 31, 2012 and $0.9 million reported in the prior quarter. The increase is reflective of additional options granted during the intervening period and the impact of the amortization of the fair value options granted over the service periods.

Business acquisition costs, which consist of the amortization of certain acquired intangibles from the acquisition of TLS, and integration costs associated with the NexCap acquisition were $3.3 million during the quarter ended March 31 , 2013.  These costs would have been capitalized as part of such acquisitions under Canadian GAAP but are required to be expensed under IFRS. As we have noted previously, these types of expenses will continue to negatively impact the Company’s performance going forward as it continues on its growth plan and where such costs will continue to be expensed as incurred under IFRS.

Operating income for the three month period ended March 31, 2013 was $12.0 million , an increase of $11.1 million from the amount reported during the quarter ended March 31, 2012 and an increase of $5.3 million over the amount reported during the immediate previous quarter ended December 31, 2012 . The increase over the quarter ended December 31, 2012 reflects impact of the acquisitions of CoActiv and NexCap at the end of November 2012 and January 2013respectively and the continued impact of the organic growth on the Company’s finance receivable portfolio.

Net income before income taxes for the three-months ended March 31, 2013 is $7.3 million compared to a loss of $0.02 million reported for the three-months ended March 31, 2012 and a loss of $8.0 million reported in the prior quarter. The net income before income taxes for the three-months ended March 31, 2013 was negatively impacted by the one-time integration costs associated with the acquisition of NexCap while the loss during the quarter ended December 31, 2012 was also impacted by acquisition and integration costs associated with the two acquisitions during that quarter. Management believes that readers should focus on the Operating Income as the better performance indicator as it removes the negative impacts associated with acquisition transaction accounting under IFRS.

Source: Yahoo Finance

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/element-financial-continues-growth-trajectory-235400880.html

The company said it will deliver three additional A330-343s to the airline by the end of 2013, while the remaining two aircraft will be delivered in 2014.

According to ILF, the aircraft are equipped with Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines. The aircraft will be operated on the airline´s expanding network in Asia Pacific, which includes the markets of Australia, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and its surrounding regions.

AirAsia, a low-cost carrier in Asia, offers services to a network with 85 destinations. AirAsia X is the low-cost, long-haul affiliate carrier of the AirAsia Group that currently flies to destinations in Jeddah, China, Australia, Taiwan¸ Korea, Japan and Nepal.

The airline currently flies to 14 destinations across 7 countries and operates a fleet of 10 Airbus A330-300s.

Find out more at www.ilfc.com.

Source: Financial News U.K.

http://www.financial-news.co.uk/14722/2013/05/international-lease-finance-starts-airasia-x-a330-343-d/

The deal will be signed “very soon,” the privately-owned Al-Watan newspaper said quoting sources close to decision-makers.

Last week Kuwait Airways Co. (KAC) board of directors decided to choose an offer made by Airbus because it carried a price tag $280 million lower than one made by Boeing, the report said. The deal includes 10 Airbus A-350-900 and 15 A-320 neo and the delivery of the planes will startafter six years, Al-Watan said. KAC made no comment on the report but its new chairman Sami al-Nasef told AFP in January, after parliament passed a bill to transform the airline into acommercial company, that they planned to buy around 21 new aircrafts within two years.

In the meantime, KAC will lease 13 big and small Airbus planes with the first two A320 due to arrive in July, Al-Watan said.

In addition to modernising its fleet, the loss-making company wants to make the airline profitable before offering a local or foreign investor a 40 percent stake in KAC. Nasef told MPs in January that only 10-12 aircraft of the carrier’s ageing fleet were operational and the remainder were under “extended maintenance.” Under the KAC privatisation bill, initially issued by the emir in October when parliament was dissolved.—Agencies

Source: Pakistan Observer

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=206632

The acquisition includes Accession’s principal trading subsidiary Eve Trakway, the rental equipment provider. Private equity investor LDC’s Leeds office has been afforded an exit from Eve Trakway through the move.

Accession Group also has offices in Lanark and Wimbledon, and supplies roadways, footpaths, bridges, crowd control barriers and ground protection systems for major rail, communications and utilities infrastructure projects and high-profile outdoor events.

Eve Trakway will join Ashstead Group’s A-Plant, the UK’s second largest equipment rental company with 110 locations.

LDC increased Eve Trakway’s revenues by 58% to £26m in the financial year ended March 2012, fuelled by development of the company’s products and services, as well as bolt-on acquisitions of fencing supplier, Vincehire; mobile lighting tower providers, Brightlights; and traffic control and management business ATM Traffic Solutions.

Last year, LDC invested over £280 million of equity across 18 new businesses and £86 million of additional equity supporting portfolio company acquisitions.

So far this year, the Yorkshire and North East team invested in NRS Healthcare, the outsourced provider of specialist community healthcare equipment and services, and exited its investment in international engineering group MB Aerospace through a secondary buyout to US based Arlington Capital Partners.

The shareholders and LDC were advised by David Hardless and Ian Hale from Park Place Corporate Finance. The Leeds office of Squire Sanders advised the shareholders on this transaction and the team was led by Corporate Partner Paul Mann who was assisted by Craig Pettit. Tax advice was provided by Partner Peter Morley.

Source: B Daily

http://bdaily.co.uk/finance/13-05-2013/ashstead-group-buy-rental-equipment-provider-for-28m/

Bosco added that FASB staff says barring any last minute issues the lease project exposure draft will be issued on May 16.

In a news release issued by Trinity Industries on May 7, the Dallas, TX-based company states that “this joint venture allows Trinity to further grow its leasing platform and maintain its core relationship with its customers, while reducing the amount of capital investment required to grow the lease fleet.”

Jack Bycraft, Vedder Price Shareholder and lead attorney for Trinity stated, “We are pleased to have worked with Trinity on the formation of RIV and the long-term capitalization of TRIP. TRIP and RIV provide Trinity with structurally innovative financing vehicles.”

In addition to Mr. Bycraft, the Vedder Price team representing Trinity Industries in all aspects of the joint venture and related railcar portfolio acquisitions and financings included Shareholders Dalius Vasys and Timothy O’Donnell and Associates Christopher Barrett, Clay Thomas and Michael Draz, among others.

About Vedder Price:

Vedder Price is a thriving general-practice law firm with a proud tradition of maintaining long-term relationships with its clients, many of whom have been with the firm since its founding in 1952. With approximately 300 attorneys and growing, Vedder Price serves clients of all sizes and in virtually all industries from offices in Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, London and San Francisco.

###

Shares fell 11% after hours to $27.20, however, as the company’s earnings met analyst expectations but revenue fell short. Through the close, the stock was up 42% since the start of the year.

“Although macroeconomic indicators remain mixed, we continue to see strong global growth of passenger traffic led by the emerging markets, which drives demand for new aircraft,” said Chief Executive Steve Udvar-Hazy. “We see that strength continuing for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, we increased our order positions to meet that demand.”

The Los-Angeles based company last month unveiled its first order for the new wide body jet under development by Airbus, ordering 25 jets for $7.4 billion. The order came six years after Mr. Udvar-Hazy, the company’s influential founder, said the plane had to be redesigned to keep up with the Boeing Co. (BA) Dreamliner.

Air Lease reported a profit of $40 million, or 38 cents a share, up from $26.9 million, or 26 cents a share. Revenue increased 45% to $192 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a per-share earnings of 38 cents on revenue of $196 million.

Interest expenses jumped 83% in the latest quarter to $45.4 million.

The company bought seven aircraft in the latest period, ending the quarter with a fleet of 162 planes.

The Asia Pacific region, the company’s largest, accounted for 39% of net book value in the latest quarter, up from 36%.

Write to Kristin Jones at kristin.jones@dowjones.com

Order free Annual Report for The Boeing Co.

Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=US0970231058 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

Copyright © 2013 Dow Jones Newswires

Read more at SOURCE: http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2013/05/09/air-lease-1st-quarter-net-up-4-as-rental-revenue-jumps-shares-off/#ixzz2StLUBIeW

The stake could have been sold by TPG Capital, but this could not be independently confirmed. TPG Capital, through its arm Newbridge India Investments II, currently owns 10.07 per cent stake in Shriram Transport and has been looking to sell its remaining stake after the first round of sale in February.

TPG Capital is expected to make 6x-7x returns on this exit.

The scrip of Shriram Transport, part of the $9 billion Shriram Group, moved up 4.94 per cent to Rs 770.4 in morning trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. Piramal paid Rs 723 per share, a 1.15 per cent discount to the closing price on Thursday.

Shriram Transport reported 25.11 per cent increase in total assets under management to Rs 52,717.18 crore in FY13, compared to Rs 42,137.27 reported in FY12. For the entire fiscal, the NBFC has reported 11.81 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 1,463.42 crore, compared to Rs 1,308.81 crore in FY12.

The stake buy comes at a time when Shriram Transport is said to be one the contenders for a banking licence. It remains to be seen if this deal is a pure financial investment or a play towards the banking sector.

Piramal itself has a presence in the financial services sector and has ambitions to build an asset size of Rs 15,000 crore, according to a recent Economic Times report. Its financial services business is led by former SBI chairman AK Purwar.

“The investment is in line with Piramal’s long-term strategy for the financial services business,” said a company statement.

“Acquisition of this stake in Shriram Transport is in line with our strategy for building our presence in financial services sector and we see long-term shareholder value creation from this stake acquisition. Shriram Transport is well known for its strong governance and business ethics, which resonates well with Piramal Group’s business philosophy,” said Ajay Piramal, chairman of the group.

Piramal has an NBFC with a loan book of Rs 1,000 crore and focused on real estate, education-related infrastructure, hospital projects and medical equipment. It also makes structured investments in infrastructure projects and has recently struck deals with Hyderabad-based infrastructure company Navayuga Road Projects and renewable energy firm Green Infra.

Piramal Enterprises also bought 11 per cent stake in Vodafone India, the second largest telecom firm in the country by revenues, for Rs 5,863 crore last year.

SOURCE: http://www.vccircle.com/news/finance/2013/05/10/piramal-enterprises-buys-10-stake-tpg-capital-backed-shriram-transport-307m

The aircraft are equipped with Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines. The aircraft will be operated on the airline’s expanding network in Asia Pacific, which includes the markets of Australia, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and its surrounding regions.

About the AirAsia Group

AirAsia, the leading and largest low-cost carrier in Asia, services the most extensive network with 85 destinations. Within 11 years of operations, AirAsia has carried over 180 million guests and grown its fleet from just two aircraft to approximately 123. The airline today is proud to be a truly ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) airline with established operations based in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and the Philippines servicing a network stretching across all ASEAN countries, China, India, Sri Lanka and Australia. AirAsia was named the World’s Best Low Cost Airline in the annual World Airline Survey by Skytrax for four consecutive years in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012.

About AirAsia X

AirAsia X is the low-cost, long-haul affiliate carrier of the AirAsia Group that currently flies to destinations in Jeddah, China, Australia, Taiwan Korea, Japan and Nepal. The airline currently flies to 14 destinations across 7 countries and operates a fleet of 10 Airbus A330-300s, each with a seat configuration of 12 Premium Flatbeds and 365 Economy seats. The airline has carried over 8 million guests since it commenced long-haul in 2007. Our vision is to further solidify our position as the global leader in low-cost, long-haul aviation and create the first global multi-hub low-cost carrier network along with other carriers of the AirAsia Group.

About ILFC

International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) is a global market leader in the leasing and remarketing of commercial aircraft. With approximately 1,000 owned and managed aircraft and commitments to purchase 244 new high-demand, fuel-efficient aircraft and rights to purchase an additional 50 A320neo family aircraft, ILFC is the world’s largest independent aircraft lessor. ILFC leases aircraft to approximately 200 airlines in more than 80 countries and provides part-out and engine leasing services through its subsidiary, AeroTurbine. ILFC operates from offices in Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Beijing, Dublin, Miami, Seattle, and Singapore. ILFC is a wholly owned subsidiary of American International Group, Inc. (AIG). www.ilfc.com | Twitter: @ILFCGlobal

About AIG

AIG is the world’s largest insurance organization, serving more than 88 million customers in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions around the world. AIG businesses are market leaders in property casualty insurance, life insurance and retirement services, mortgage insurance, and aircraft leasing. Additional information about AIG can be found at www.aig.com | YouTube: www.youtube.com/aig | Twitter: @AIG_LatestNews | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/aig

http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=bwnews&sty=20130509006109r1&sid=cmtx4&distro=nx

SOURCE: International Lease Finance Corporation

Tiger Airways Holdings, established in 2003, is the parent company of a group of budget carriers operating in the Asian region and Australia. The Group consists of wholly-owned Tiger Airways Singapore and Tiger Airways Australia, and partially-owned Mandala Airlines and SEAir. As of 30 April 2013, the Group’s fleet comprises 44 Airbus A320-family aircraft, averaging under three years of age. The group operates an extensive network covering over 50 destinations across 13 countries in the Asia Pacific.

SOURCE: http://www.4-traders.com/GENERAL-ELECTRIC-COMPANY-4823/news/General-Electric-Company-GE-Capital-Aviation-Services-Delivers-Airbus-A320-On-Purchase-and-Leaseba-16837303/

The Calabasas tech company reported net income of $1.6 million (19 cents a share) in the quarter ended March 31, compared with $1.7 million (27 cents) in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 17 percent to $12.8 million.

Analysts projected earnings of 21 cents a share on revenue of $11.9 million, according to Thomson/First Call.

The firm said it had made significant equipment purchases and infrastructure upgrades during the quarter, as it expands its reach in China.

Shares closed up $1.43, or 12 percent, to $10.65 on the Nasdaq.

Point.360 reported slightly lower fiscal third quarter results caused by delays in the rollout of its small video rental store concept.

The Los Angeles digital media company reported net income of $150,000 (1 cent a share) in the quarter ended March 31, compared to a loss of $327,000 (-3 cents) for the same quarter a year earlier. Revenues fell 2.4 percent to $8.3 million.

No analysts follow the company.

By the end of summer, the company expects to open two new Movie>Q video rental stores, but delays in the openings had forced it to cover least costs on three stores yet to open.

Shares closed up 1 cent to $1.49 on the Nasdaq.

SOURCE: http://www.sfvbj.com/news/2013/may/09/earnings-roundup-netsol-point360/

Charles Bonano comes to CapStar from Wells Fargo Equipment Finance in St. Louis, Mo., where he established an aggressive sales record as Vice President and Territory Manager of a seven-state area with a focus on the middle to large corporate market. He will maintain a presence in St. Louis, as a Senior Account Executive for CapStar. Bonano also spent time at Facilitec, Bancsource, U.S. Bancorp/Firstar Equipment Finance, the national division of KeyCorp Leasing, and two stints at PNC Leasing, all in St. Louis. He earned a B.A. from St. Louis University and studied law at St. Louis University School of Law and is fluent in French and Latin.

Linda Larimore has been appointed to the Commercial Finance team as Senior Account Executive and will be based in Louisville, Kentucky. Larimore has spent 15 years in banking, the past eight with J.P. Morgan Chase where she worked in Specialty Finance and as a relationship manager. She will commute to Nashville Monday through Wednesday. She was valedictorian of her class at Butler High School in Louisville. Larimore is the second out-of- market addition to the CapStar Commercial Finance team, which recently hired Michael Russing in the Charlotte, NC, market.

Zac Duckett joins CapStar as a Credit Analyst supporting the Commercial Finance Group. Duckett has an undergraduate degree in Finance from Georgia State University and earned his Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of Georgia. Prior to coming to CapStar, Duckett spent three years with First Tennessee in customer service and credit roles.

Liana Morris has been appointed Senior Transaction Coordinator supporting documentation for the Commercial Finance division. She previously worked as a commercial loan closer at Fifth Third Bank. Morris earned her paralegal certificate in 1997 and has coordinated the loan closing process for leading Nashville law firms Stites & Harbison; Wyatt Tarrant and Combs; and

* * * more * * *

For more information, contact: Beth Alexander (615) 732-6424 Lee Palm (615) 732-7386PAGE TWO: Commercial Finance Department of CapStar Bank Hires Four

Boult Cummings Conners and Berry, which later merged to become Bradley Arant Boult Cummings.

CapStar Bank, which opened on July 14, 2008, provides banking services for small and mid-size businesses, their executives and employees, along with commercial and industrial financing. CapStar’s headquarters are in downtown Nashville at 401 Church Street, Suite 900, with branches at 5500 Maryland Way in Brentwood and at 2321 Crestmoor Road in Green Hills. For more information about CapStar Bank, please visit www.CapStarBank.com.

Chris Randall, former head of specialty lending business CoBiz Structured Finance in Denver, will lead the group.

NBH Capital Finance also will be based in Greenwood Village, and will provide structured and asset-based loans to middle-market companies.

The division will place an emphasis on the regions covered by Community Banks of Colorado, Bank Midwest and Hillcrest Bank, which includes Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Texas.

Randall joins National Bank Holdings Corp. after a 24-year career in the asset-based and private equity-sponsored cash-flow lending industry.

He has built two specialty de novos in the segment, and has been responsible for leading more than $2.5 billion in loan transactions and equity investments.

Joining Randall will be his team from CoBiz Structured Finance — Josh Peters, Lisa Brown and Jenna Schlageter.

“We believe the creation of NBH Capital Finance emphasizes our focus on building value-added relationships with business clients,” said Tim Laney, president and CEO of National Bank Holdings.

“Chris and his team will have an immediate impact on accelerating our disciplined loan growth, while cross selling other business banking services. The middle market remains underserved, and we are excited to add such an experienced team to our organization to fill this gap.”

Heather Draper covers banking, finance, law and the economy for the Denver Business Journal and writes for the “Finance Etc.” blog. Phone: 303-803-9230.

Source: Biz Journals

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2013/05/08/national-bank-holdings-forms-capital.html

First Quarter and Year To Date Highlights

- Reported revenue of $35.2 million for the first quarter 2013

- Reported net income for the first quarter 2013 of $7.2 million, including a $5.5 million non-cash mark-to-market gain from interest rate derivatives

- Generated $22.2 million of Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ for the first quarter 2013

- Excluding the non-cash mark-to-market item, normalized net income⁽¹⁾ was $1.8 million for the first quarter 2013

- Agreed to new one-year charters for two 4,113 TEU vessels which commenced on May 1, 2013 at $7,000 per vessel per day. The new charters expire on April 30, 2014 plus/minus 30 days at charterer’s option

- Repaid $14.8 million of debt in the first quarter 2013 for a total debt repayment of $188.2 million since August 2009, when we commenced amortization of our credit facility balance

Ian Webber, Chief Executive Officer of Global Ship Lease, stated, “With all 17 of our vessels on time charters and fewer offhire days from reduced numbers of drydockings, as planned, we achieved utilization of 98.3% for the quarter. As a result, we generated Adjusted EBITDA of $22.2 million, using our cash to continue to de-lever our balance sheet, amortizing an additional $14.8 million of debt.”

Mr. Webber continued, “We recently successfully re-chartered the two vessels whose contracts were due to expire this month, agreeing to new one-year charters with CMA CGM, underlining the strength of our relationship. Notwithstanding ongoing volatility in the industry and many vessels of a similar specification currently being idle, we have secured employment for these two vessels until April 2014, thereby maintaining a fully chartered fleet for at least one more year. Other than for these two vessels, we have no other charter expirations until late 2016. Importantly, by continuing the charters with CMA CGM, we will not experience any offhire days, incur any costs associated with repositioning the vessels or pay any third party brokerage fees.”

Mr. Webber concluded, “We remain well positioned to continue to de-lever our balance sheet, owing to our high level of contracted charter coverage which allows us to generate consistent revenue and strong, stable cash flow. We also continue to actively explore opportunities to enhance our financial flexibility and create incremental value for our shareholders.”

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA – UNAUDITED

(thousands of U.S. dollars)

(1) Adjusted EBITDA and Normalized net income are non-US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) measures, as explained further in this press release, and are considered by Global Ship Lease to be useful measures of its performance. Reconciliations of such non-GAAP measures to the interim unaudited financial information are provided in this Earnings Release.

Revenue and Utilization

The 17 vessel fleet generated revenue from long-term fixed rate time charters of $35.2 million in the three months ended March 31, 2013, down on revenue of $38.4 million for the comparative period in 2012. The decrease in revenue is mainly due to reduced revenue from two charters which were renewed in September 2012 at lower rates and 17 fewer ownerships days as 2012 was a leap year, offset by lower offhire at 26 days including two planned drydockings during the three months ended March 31, 2013 compared to 49 days, including three planned drydockings, in the three months ended March 31, 2012.  There were 1,530 ownership days in the quarter. The 26 days offhire in the three months ended March 31, 2013 gives a utilization of 98.3%.  In the comparable period of 2012, there were 49 days offhire, representing utilization of 96.8%.

The table below shows fleet utilization for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 and for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009.

The drydocking of two vessels was completed in the first quarter 2013. One further vessel is scheduled to be drydocked in 2013. Two drydockings are scheduled for 2014 and none in 2015.

Vessel Operating Expenses

Vessel operating expenses, which include costs of crew, lubricating oil, spares and insurance, were $11.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013. The average cost per ownership day was $7,546, up $219 or 3.0% on $7,327 for the rolling four quarters ended December 31, 2012. The increase is mainly due to increased costs of crew and maintenance. The first quarter 2013 average daily cost was up $11 per day or 0.1% from the average daily cost of $7,535 for the comparative period in 2012 mainly due to increased crew costs offset by positive exchange rate movements on the portion of crew costs denominated in euros and reduced cost for communications.

Vessel operating expenses continue to be at less than the capped amounts included in Global Ship Lease’s ship management agreements.

Depreciation

Depreciation for the three months ended March 31, 2013 was $10.1 million compared to $10.0 million in the three months ended March 31, 2012. There have been no changes to the fleet.

General and Administrative Costs

General and administrative costs incurred were $1.6 million in the three months ended March 31, 2013, the same as for the three months ended March 31, 2012.

Other operating income

Other operating income in the three months ended March 31, 2013 was $69,000 compared to $68,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2012.

Adjusted EBITDA

As a result of the above, Adjusted EBITDA was $22.2 million the three months ended March 31, 2013 down from $25.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2012.

Interest Expense

Interest expense, excluding the effect of interest rate derivatives which do not qualify for hedge accounting, for the three months ended March 31, 2013 was $4.9 million. The Company’s borrowings under its credit facility averaged $425.7 million during the three months ended March 31, 2013. There were $45.0 million preferred shares throughout the period giving total average borrowings through the three months ended March 31, 2013 of $470.7 million. Interest expense in the three months ended March 31, 2012 was $5.5 million on average borrowings, including the preferred shares, of $531.6 million.

Interest income for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 was not material.

Change in Fair Value of Financial Instruments

The Company hedges its interest rate exposure by entering into derivatives that swap floating rate debt for fixed rate debt to provide long-term stability and predictability to cash flows. As these hedges do not qualify for hedge accounting under US GAAP, the outstanding hedges are marked to market at each period end with any change in the fair value being booked to the income and expenditure account. The Company’s derivative hedging instruments gave a realized loss of $5.4 million in the three months ended March 31, 2013 for settlements of swaps in the period, as current LIBOR rates are lower than the average fixed rate. Further, there was a $5.5 million unrealized gain for revaluation of the balance sheet position given current LIBOR and movements in the forward curve for interest rates. This compares to a realized loss of $4.5 million in the three months ended March 31, 2012 and an unrealized gain of $2.7 million.

At March 31, 2013, the total mark-to-market unrealized loss on the outstanding swap portfolio of $327 million, recognized as a liability on the balance sheet, was $30.1 million.

Unrealized mark-to-market adjustments have no impact on operating performance or cash generation in the period reported.

Taxation

Taxation for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012 was not material.

Net Income

Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2013 was $7.2 million including $5.5 million non-cash interest rate derivative mark-to-market gain. For the three months ended March 31, 2012 net income was $8.0 million, including $2.7 million non-cash interest rate derivative mark-to-market gain. Normalized net income was $1.8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and $5.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2012.

Credit Facility

The container shipping industry has been experiencing a significant cyclical downturn. As a consequence, there has been a continued decline in charter free market values of containerships since mid 2012. While the Company’s stable business model largely insulates it from volatility in the freight and charter markets, a covenant in the credit facility with respect to the Leverage Ratio, which is the ratio of outstanding drawings under the credit facility and the aggregate charter free market value of the secured vessels, causes the Company to be sensitive to significant declines in vessel values. Under the terms of the credit facility, the Leverage Ratio cannot exceed 75%. The Leverage Ratio has little impact on the Company’s operating performance as cash flows are largely predictable under its business model.

In anticipation of the scheduled test of the Leverage Ratio as at November 30, 2012 when the Company expected that the Leverage Ratio would be between 75% and 90%, the Company agreed with its lenders to waive the requirement to perform the Leverage Ratio test until December 1, 2014. Under the terms of the waiver, the fixed interest margin to be paid over LIBOR increased to 3.75%, prepayments became based on cash flow rather than a fixed amount of $10 million per quarter, and dividends on common shares cannot be paid.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013 a total of $14.8 million of debt was repaid leaving a balance outstanding of $410.9 million.

Dividend

Global Ship Lease is not currently able to pay a dividend on common shares under the terms of the credit facility waiver.

Fleet

The following table provides information about the on-the-water fleet of 17 vessels chartered to CMA CGM.

Conference Call and Webcast

Global Ship Lease will hold a conference call to discuss the Company’s results for the three months ended March 31, 2013 today, Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. There are two ways to access the conference call:

(1) Dial-in:  (866) 966-9439 or (631) 510-7498; Passcode: 42924807

Please dial in at least 10 minutes prior to 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time to ensure a prompt start to the call.

(2) Live Internet webcast and slide presentation: http://www.globalshiplease.com

If you are unable to participate at this time, a replay of the call will be available through Thursday, May 23, 2013 at (866) 247-4222 or (631) 510-7499. Enter the code 42924807 to access the audio replay. The webcast will also be archived on the Company’s website: http://www.globalshiplease.com.

Annual Report on Form 20F

Global Ship Lease, Inc has filed its Annual Report for 2012 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A copy of the report can be found under the Investor Relations section (Annual Reports) of the Company’s website athttp://www.globalshiplease.com . Shareholders may request a hard copy of the audited financial statements free of charge by contacting the Company at info@globalshiplease.com or by writing to Global Ship Lease, Inc, care of Global Ship Lease Services Limited, Portland House, Stag Place, London SW1E 5RS or by telephoning +44 (0) 207 869 8806.

About Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease is a containership charter owner. Incorporated in the Marshall Islands, Global Ship Lease commenced operations in December 2007 with a business of owning and chartering out containerships under long-term, fixed rate charters to top tier container liner companies. Global Ship Lease owns 17 vessels with a total capacity of 66,349 TEU with an average age, weighted by TEU capacity, at March 31, 2013 of 9.1 years. All of the current vessels are fixed on long-term charters to CMA CGM with an average remaining term of 6.0 years, or 7.2 years on a weighted basis.

Reconciliation of Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Measures

A. ADJUSTED EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA represents net income before interest income and expense including amortization of deferred finance costs, realized and unrealized gain (loss) on derivatives, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-US GAAP quantitative measure used to assist in the assessment of the Company’s ability to generate cash from its operations.  We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors because it is frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies in our industry. Adjusted EBITDA is not defined in US GAAP and should not be considered to be an alternate to Net income or any other financial metric required by such accounting principles.

ADJUSTED EBITDA – UNAUDITED

(thousands of U.S. dollars)

B. Normalized net income

Normalized net income represents net income adjusted for the unrealized gain on derivatives. Normalized net income is a non-GAAP quantitative measure which we believe will assist investors and analysts who often adjust reported net income for non-operating items such as change in fair value of derivatives to eliminate the effect of non cash non-operating items that do not affect operating performance or cash generated. Normalized net income is not defined in US GAAP and should not be considered to be an alternate to net income or any other financial metric required by such accounting principles.

NORMALIZED NET INCOME -   UNAUDITED

(thousands of U.S. dollars)

Safe Harbor Statement

This communication contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements provide Global Ship Lease’s current expectations or forecasts of future events. Forward-looking statements include statements about Global Ship Lease’s expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, intentions, assumptions and other statements that are not historical facts. Words or phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “ongoing,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “will” or similar words or phrases, or the negatives of those words or phrases, may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that may be incorrect, and Global Ship Lease cannot assure you that these projections included in these forward-looking statements will come to pass. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to:

• future operating or financial results;
• expectations regarding the future growth of the container shipping industry, including the rates of annual demand and supply growth;
• the overall health and condition of the U.S. and global financial markets;
• the financial condition of CMA CGM, Global Ship Lease’s sole charterer and only source of operating revenue, and its ability to pay charterhire in accordance with the charters;
• Global Ship Lease’s financial condition and liquidity, including its ability to obtain additional waivers which might be necessary under the existing credit facility or obtain additional financing to fund capital expenditures, vessel acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;
• Global Ship Lease’s ability to meet its financial covenants and repay its credit facility;
• Global Ship Lease’s  expectations relating to dividend payments and forecasts of its ability to make such payments including the availability of cash and the impact of constraints under its credit facility;
• future acquisitions, business strategy and expected capital spending;
• operating expenses, availability of key employees and crew, number of offhire days, drydocking and survey requirements, general and administrative costs and insurance costs;
• general market conditions and shipping industry trends, including charter rates and factors affecting supply and demand;
• assumptions regarding interest rates and inflation;
• changes in the rate of growth of global and various regional economies;
• risks incidental to vessel operation, including piracy, discharge of pollutants and vessel accidents and damage including total or constructive total loss;
• estimated future capital expenditures needed to preserve Global Ship Lease’s capital base;
• Global Ship Lease’s expectations about the availability of ships to purchase, the time that it may take to construct new ships, or the useful lives of its ships;
• Global Ship Lease’s continued ability to enter into or renew long-term fixed-rate charters including the re-chartering of vessels on the expiry of existing charters, or to secure profitable employment for its vessels in the spot market;
• the continued performance of existing long-term fixed-rate time charters;
• Global Ship Lease’s ability to capitalize on its management’s and board of directors’ relationships and reputations in the containership industry to its advantage;
• changes in governmental and classification societies’ rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities;
• expectations about the availability of insurance on commercially reasonable terms;
• unanticipated changes in laws and regulations including environmental and taxation; and
• potential liability from future litigation.

Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Global Ship Lease’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements for many reasons specifically as described in Global Ship Lease’s filings with the SEC.  Accordingly, you should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this communication. Global Ship Lease undertakes no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statement to reflect circumstances or events after the date of this communication or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should, however, review the factors and risks Global Ship Lease describes in the reports it will file from time to time with the SEC after the date of this communication.

Source: Global Newswire

http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/05/09/545903/10031989/en/Global-Ship-Lease-Reports-Results-for-the-First-Quarter-of-2013.html

earnings

Here is your Cheat Sheet to Air Lease Corp Earnings:

Earnings Expectations: Analysts expect earnings of $0.38 per share on revenues of $195.98 million. Currently, the company’s P/E ratio stands at 21.67.

Analyst Trends:

Analysts have a more negative outlook for the company’s next-quarter performance. Over the past three months, the average estimate for next quarter’s earnings has fallen from a profit of $0.43 to a profit $0.42. For the current year, the average estimate is a profit of $1.76, which is better than the estimate ninety days ago.

Past Performance:
Air Lease Corp has beat analyst estimates 3 times in the past four quarters. Shareholders could expect a boost if the company beats estimates.

Source: WallCheat Sheet

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/air-lease-corp-earnings-preview-get-ahead-of-the-analysts.html/

NBH Capital Finance will make asset-based loans to middle market companies. These are typically short-term loans secured by a company’s real estate, accounts receivable, inventory, equipment or other assets.

The new group will be led by Christopher Randall, a 24-year veteran of asset-based and private equity-sponsored cash-flow lending. Randall is the former founder of CoBiz Structured Finance in Denver. He has experience supervising more than $2.5 billion in loan transactions and equity investments.

Randall will be based in Greenwood Village, Colo., but provide services throughout Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Texas.

“We believe the creation of NBH Capital Finance emphasizes our focus on building value-added relationships with business clients,” Tim Laney, CEO of National Bank Holdings, said in a release. “Chris and his team will have an immediate impact on accelerating our disciplined loan growth, while cross selling other business banking services. The middle market remains underserved, and we are excited to add such an experienced team to our organization to fill this gap.”

James reports about banking, financial services, manufacturing and sports business.

Source: Biz Journals

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2013/05/08/bank-midwest-parent-launches-capital.html

“This transaction provides Mesilla Valley Transportation an opportunity to build its fleet as it continues to serve as a leading provider of transportation services in the Southwest,” said Vince Belcastro, managing director and group head of CIT Capital Equipment Finance. “We are committed to our middle market clients and proud to support MVT’s growth strategy in the refrigerated and dry freight transportation services as they look to keep the wheels of commerce in motion.”

Dean Rigg, chief financial officer of Mesilla Valley Transportation, said, “We chose CIT because they understood the nuances of the long-distance freight trucking market. As one of the most fuel efficient carriers in the industry, we also maintain one of the youngest fleets. To remain a leader in the sector, new equipment is essential. CIT thoroughly understood our needs and helped us close the transaction in a timely manner. We look forward to continuing our relationship with CIT.”

Mesilla Valley Transportation began in 1981 hauling primarily refrigerated/perishable goods, as a small, independent fleet in the southwest. The company specializes in time sensitive service between major manufacturing areas in the U.S., Canada and Mexico borders.

Source: ABF Journal

http://www.abfjournal.com/story.asp?id=40646

The banks have hired longtime, influential Washington hands to deflect regulatory and political pressure to strengthen their finances and to sell assets. Regulators and some lawmakers have raised concern that large banks remain “too big to fail” and could require another government bailout in the event of a new financial meltdown.

While the banks are joining forces, much of the work is being coordinated through trade groups.

Several banks and the Financial Services Forum, a top trade association, have hired Tony Fratto, a former Bush administration official, to provide what they call a “rapid response” to criticism that banks remain too large. The too big to fail notion implies that the government would have to step in and provide funding to institutions whose failure could disrupt the financial system, as it did during the 2008 financial crisis.

Regulators and lawmakers increasingly are signaling that more work is needed to lessen the risk posed by large, complex banks, including bigger capital cushions and minimum amounts of expensive long-term debt.

The moves by banks include pushing back against bipartisan legislation sponsored by Sens. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, and Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, that would sharply increase capital cushions at large banks to the point where most analysts expect firms would be forced to shrink.

Stephanie Cutter, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, and Ed Gillespie, a former Bush administration official, are providing strategic advice to Bank of America on several issues, including efforts to break up the banks. Morgan Stanley recently hired Michele Davis, a top aide to former Bush administration Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, to help bolster the firm’s credibility in Washington.

The more-aggressive profile comes as the big banks that received 2008 bailout money provided under the Troubled Asset Relief Program have repaid it.

Top bank officials are trying to coordinate more closely and present a united front. On April 10, top officials from five major banks gathered for a strategy session at Bank of America’s Washington office to discuss what they should do about the growing perception that big banks continue to pose a threat to financial stability, according to several people with knowledge of the session.

For about 30 minutes, U.S. Bancorp USB +0.54% Chief Executive Richard Davis,Citigroup Inc. C +2.39% CEO Michael Corbat, Bank of America Chief Brian Moynihan, Wells Fargo WFC +0.91% & Co. CEO John Stumpf, and Michael Cavanagh, a top official from J.P. Morgan Chase JPM +1.25% & Co., talked about the recent surge of momentum in the too-big-to-fail debate, including where it came from and what to do about it.

The chiefs identified several catalysts, including the more than $6 billion trading loss last year by the so-called London whale at J.P. Morgan, repeated calls by some top bank regulators for a breakup of big banks and recent comments from Attorney General Eric Holder that some banks were too big to “jail,” suggesting some firms are so large and interconnected that prosecuting them could harm the economy.

U.S. Bancorp’s Mr. Davis, who called for the meeting, urged the other executives to join with regional and community banks in pursuing a strategy to stop the breakup efforts. A united front, he said, might be more effective in tamping down the momentum.

“If just the big banks oppose it, it will be a problem,” Mr. Davis said, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

Ultimately, the CEOs rejected Mr. Davis’s suggestion and decided to hand the effort over to the Financial Services Forum, which represents the CEOs of the nation’s 19-largest financial institutions. In a Forum-organized meeting the next day with President Obama, a bank official briefly raised concerns about capital levels, saying that banks were under growing regulatory pressure to boost their capital cushions and cautioned it could hinder their ability to lend and affect the broader economy, according to people who attended the White House meeting.

Banks are making a similar pitch in meetings with lawmakers, telling members of Congress that every additional dollar in capital they are required to hold translates into $8 to $10 less to lend, according to industry representatives.

“One of the things we’ve been saying for some time is no one knows what the cumulative effects of the changes on the system are going to be,” said Kenneth Bentsen Jr., acting president and CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. “Some of them aren’t even done, and the industry has legitimate concerns that it will be hard to make loans and raise capital for businesses.”

The desire to push back has picked up urgency amid recent comments by top Federal Reserve officials that current regulatory efforts to reduce the systemic footprint of large banks may not be enough.

Yet the bank effort is somewhat hampered by disagreement among institutions and as some regional banks seek to distance themselves from their larger peers.

Two weeks ago, officials from U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan and other banks called off a planned meeting to discuss the Fed’s effort to require that companies hold minimum amounts of long-term unsecured debt after it became clear there wasn’t agreement among the banks, according to people familiar with the meeting.

Source: WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324244304578471312603346762.html

In January of this year, The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued its Principles for effective risk data aggregation and risk reporting.  In its announcement of the publication of the document, the committee noted that “The financial crisis that began in 2007 revealed that many banks were unable to aggregate risk exposures and identify concentrations fully, quickly and accurately….. The principles published today are intended to strengthen banks’ risk data aggregation capabilities and internal risk reporting practices.”

Thus began a new phase of the evolving international regulatory framework of the Basel Accords. What had begun in February 1975 as an effort to respond to one Gernam bank’s crisis has grown into an international institution, setting standards for risk, capital adequacy, transparency, and — with this recent announcement — for risk-related data aggregation and reporting requirements for the largest banks around the globe.

The need for improved risk management had always been a central theme of the Accords. For years, the Basel Committee had focused on safeguards to address risk issues and ensure capital adequacy. As early as the 1980s, there was concern that the capital ratios of the main international banks were deteriorating at the same time that sovereign debt ratios were rising. It soon became clear that the available information about banks’ credit, market, currency, and other kinds of risk was insufficient and unreliable.

The Basel group responded by broadening the scope of banking activities to be governed, seeking to unlock the risk-related secrets hidden in off-balance sheet transactions, in complex derivative instrument trading, and in the systemic risk implications of mega-banks trading freely on their own accounts. In the aftermath of the 2007- 2008 financial crisis, the scope of the Accords was widened again to prevent banks from becoming too big to fail, requiring them to monitor their ability to survive a crisis, and requiring them to develop a plan for their own “resolution” should it be necessary for them to be dismembered, acquired, or merged in order to protect the broader financial system from destabilization.

Additionally, the specter of financial meltdown spurred the US federal government to amend its own regulatory framework with the adoption of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act makes recommendations to the Federal Reserve for increasingly strict rules for capital, leverage, liquidity, risk management and other requirements as companies grow in size and complexity, with significant requirements on companies that pose risks to the financial system.  It institutionalized the “Volcker Rule”, aimed at reducing the amount of speculative investments on large banks’ balance sheets and enhancing capital adequacy rules with countercyclical variations in mandated debt ratios, requiring that retained capital be increased in times of economic expansion and decreased in times of economic contraction.

Taken as a whole, the preponderance of regulations and restrictions mandated by both Basel and Dodd-Frank address banking and investing practices of regulated institutions and the reporting that must be provided to support adequate supervision. But with the January 2013 announcement, the Basel committee turned the spotlight on banks’ risk data aggregation capabilities and risk reporting practices, focusing on the adequacy of a bank’s capabilities to provide high-quality and comprehensive data, both to regulators as well as for its own risk due diligence.

As a result, credit risk management and reporting capabilities are now criteria for rating a bank’s operational risk management. Accordingly, the adequacy of its risk management infrastructure and practices may well impact an institution’s capital adequacy requirements under the Basel framework.

Some interesting new dots are being connected – the new emphasis on adequate data collection, monitoring, and analysis means that risk-related transactions impact the bank’s compliance and capital adequacy on multiple scales: How does a risk-weighted asset contribute to the bank’s capital adequacy requirements? Is it a relatively low-weighted asset, such as an asset-backed lease?  And, if so, how should the low cost of reserves impact the pricing of the product? How does the deal impact asset-type concentration restrictions and related covenants? These are the kinds of credit-risk-related impacts on capital adequacy requirements that risk-aware lenders and lessors have learned to live with.

But now an added layer of questions are coming to the fore: How adequate is the risk-related information generated over the lifecycle of the transaction for meeting enterprise data aggregation and reporting requirements? It may be safe to assume that the product team knows what information it needs to collect and track to facilitate its originate  / adjudicate / price / document / fund / fulfill / book / bill / collect / service and sell lifecycle. But how well do those data fulfill the requirements for institution-wide risk management and transparency?

The evolving regulatory environment is adding new criteria for determining the adequacy of data. No longer do facilitating the acquisition and retention of customers, supporting customer service, and feeding the corporate GL comprise an adequate job description for the leasing team’s data. Increasingly, each line of business will need to deliver the information required to support enterprise risk management and meet reporting requirements as well. And if this is the scope of each LOB’s tracking and reporting requirements, then so too will meeting these needs be key expectations of the solutions that are implemented to facilitate and automate those operations. Indeed, the ability of a solution to rationalize and deliver accurate and sufficiently comprehensive risk-related information may be as critical as its ability to streamline and support operations and customer service.

These technologies and processes are not new — data management and analytics have been a priority on Wall Street for years, if not decades,” comments Greg MacSweeney of Wall Street Technology. “When it comes to Dodd-Frank, however, the trick will be to refine the tools and processes that a firm already has and make them work for compliance.“

Not only will data warehousing, core systems and risk analytics, as well as maintaining clean, consistent data be increasingly important, but so will be ability of line of business-specific tools to support these deliverables. Like the risk-related datasets, the applications that facilitate operations, too, will need to facilitate enterprise-wide data rationalization and availability.

This will create a challenging bind for those “best-of-breed” niche solutions that serve a particular line of business or a particular stage of the application management or contract lifecycle. For example, the ROI numbers for buying a stand-alone originations platform that serves only the equipment leasing team will need to account for the added burden of downstream rationalizing and integration of data from similar applications used for commercial lending or commercial real estate credit or retail lending, etc. Similarly, pricing engines will enjoy significant advantage if they can account for the impact of each newly-booked asset on enterprise capital adequacy requirements; the ability to provide risk-weighted pricing will be seen as a core capability whose absence will undermine capital optimization.

Clearly, for larger institutions at first, buying criteria will increasingly favor solutions that span multiple lines of business — with a single data scheme and database — and that support enterprise-wide risk intelligence and regulatory compliance. “We have automated silos of information and processes,” observes one data quality expert, “….but most of the time, they are defined uniquely to a given departmental line of business. Information tends to be produced in one part of the business, but used in another part, usually downstream. So we have to reorient the organization to a horizontal, value-chain view.”

We know that change is a constant, but we are entering an era when the rate of change is more variable than ever. For operational and C-level managers, risk managers, and solutions producers alike, the trends all point toward de-silo-ing, increased data-sharing, and, ultimately, better collaboration and greater agility.

The two seminars are as follows:

WINNING WITH LEASING has been attended by over 30,000 leasing professionals throughout the world.  The variety of topics carefully chosen will allow attendees to gain a thorough understanding of the significance of leasing, how to benefit from its global strategic development, how to increase volume profitability and how to embrace the new norm as leasing stages a recovery.  This will be accomplished by introducing international best practices in varied subject matters including pricing and structuring, combating competition and adding value.

OPERATING LEASES – UNIQUE BENEFITS & RISKS is currently the most popular seminar given the significance of the product in emerging markets.  The seminar will convince attendees that the operating lease provides enhanced benefits to both lessees and lessors.  Lessor risks will also be covered in detail with explanations on how to manage each of these unique risks.

For further information, please email Kelly Farnham at kelly@amembalandassociates.com.

Austrian CEO Jaan Albrecht told ATW recently the airline will use additional aircraft to increase capacity on existing routes and transfer the smaller 767-300ERs on new routes, most likely to North America or Asia. “Compared to the 767, the 777 brings 20% to 25% of additional capacity on a route,” he said.

The carrier has traffic rights to Brazil from former Lauda Air, which was eliminated as part of Austrian’s restructuring process. “If the traffic rights still exist, then we have definitely an interest operating to South America, especially during the winter season,” Albrecht said.

Austrian Airlines currently operates four 777-200ERs and six 767-300ERs in its long-haul fleet.

Source: ATW Online

http://atwonline.com/airframes/austrian-airlines-add-fifth-777-its-fleet-considers-services-brazil

Based in Medina, MN, Polaris designs, manufactures and markets motorized products for consumer and commercial usage. Its product lines consist of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), snowmobiles, Polaris RANGER and RZR side-by-sides, Indian and Victory Motorcycles and related parts, garments and accessories. Acquired in 2011, GEM has sold more than 46,000 eco-friendly and street legal electric vehicles worldwide.

GE Capital and its predecessors have provided inventory and consumer financing solutions to Polaris for more than 25 years.

“As we continue to strengthen and grow our GEM business within commercial applications, we heard from our dealers and customers that it was important to offer commercial leasing options,” said Tim Blinkhorn, general manager of GEM. “Because of our long-standing relationship with GE Capital, it was a natural decision to turn to them for help.”

For GEM commercial customers, the benefits of financing include better cash management and greater flexibility over time. It’s one more way for dealerships to provide a full-service solution to buyers.

“We’re pleased to expand our relationship with one of the most well-known powersports manufacturers in the world,” said Diane Cooper, leader of GE Capital, Equipment Finance and a GE company officer. “By offering financing for commercial purchasers, Polaris should be able to grow sales of GEM vehicles nationwide.”

Source: Power Sports Business

http://www.powersportsbusiness.com/top-stories/2013/05/07/ge-capital-to-finance-commercial-purchases-of-gem/

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Air Lease Corporation (NYS: AL) announced today the closing of a 4 year unsecured revolving bank credit facility for $1.7 billion priced at LIBOR +1.45%, with no LIBOR floor.

This new facility amends and updates our existing bank facility, by increasing the size from $1.1 billion to $1.7 billion, extending the availability period from 3 years to 4 years to May, 2017, and reducing the pricing from LIBOR +1.75% with no LIBOR floor and an undrawn fee of 37.5 basis points to LIBOR +1.45% with no LIBOR floor and a 30 basis point facility fee.

This revolving credit line was arranged by 8 joint bookrunners: J.P. Morgan Securities, BMO Capital Markets, Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse Securities (USA), Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, RBC Capital Markets, RBS Securities, and Wells Fargo Securities. The number of participating banks increased from 19 to 26 in the facility.

“ALC is pleased to announce the closing of our amended syndicated unsecured revolving credit facility. We are grateful for the continuing support from our banking group as we continue expanding our global business,” said Gregory B. Willis, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Air Lease Corporation. “This credit facility further strengthens our balance sheet and increases our access to attractively priced capital.”

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on current expectations and projections about our future results, prospects and opportunities and are not guarantees of future performance. Such statements will not be updated unless required by law. Actual results and performance may differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: Daily Finance

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/07/air-lease-corporation-announces-the-closing-of-a-4/

In addition, SBA loan dollar volume this fiscal year has surpassed pre-recession levels. As of April 19, the SBA had approved more than $9.4 billion in 7(a) loans for this fiscal year — an increase from the $7.2 billion it had guaranteed at this point in fiscal year 2008.

Businesses use 7(a) loans to expand, purchase fixed assets and finance working capital.

The dollar amount of SBA-guaranteed 7(a) loans this year is still much lower than it was 2011, when the SBA approved $13.2 billion in 7(a) loans. But that flurry of activity was largely attributable to fee waivers and special provisions that were part of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act and expired in December of fiscal year 2011. “In 2011, we still had the JOBS Act provisions that guaranteed fee waivers, and the program was coming to an end,” says Jeanne Hulit, associate administrator for capital access at the Small Business Administration. “That really drove our volume.”

This year’s numbers look even more positive considering that the SBA is no longer offering those incentives, Hulit says. “We are at almost the same [lending levels] as fiscal year 2010 and that was a full year of 90% guarantee[s] and fee waivers,” she says. “Right now we have absolutely no special provisions and no fee waivers, and we’re exceeding last year as well as fiscal year 2010 when we had all those special incentives.”

Fiscal year 2009 is when the SBA first saw the real collapse of credit, says Hulit. “If you’re looking at the year-to-date [dollar loan volume], we’re more than double what we were in fiscal year 2009. And we’re up 14% in terms of dollars over this time in 2012. It is good news. We’re getting more access to credit to small businesses than before the recession began.”

“The economy is coming back and lenders have worked through their problems,” says Bob Coleman, editor of Coleman Report, a small business lending newsletter.  “We’re a lot better off today than we were last year, two years ago and especially three years ago.”

The SBA is also backing larger loans than it has over the last few years. “Our loan numbers are a little bit flat between this year and last year because the larger dollar loans are being supported, typically to more established businesses that are growing and expanding,” Hulit says.

The SBA recently proposed streamlining the loan application process to expand access to its loan programs. Among other changes, the proposal allows certain companies that do not currently qualify as small businesses to apply for loans. It also eliminates a rule used to determine how much collateral a company needs to provide. The comment period closed on April 26.

Source: CFO

http://www3.cfo.com/article/2013/5/credit-capital_sba-loan-7a-jobs-act-small_business_lending

The comments at a private meeting Monday marked one of Mr. Dimon’s most direct responses to the shareholder uprising that threatens to strip him of one of his two roles.

At the company’s May 21 shareholder meeting, investors will cast a nonbinding vote on a proposal recommending a split of the chairman and CEO duties. If the split proposal succeeds, it would be a rebuke of Mr. Dimon’s leadership during a turbulent time for J.P.Morgan marked by the “London whale” trading losses and other problems.

A second major proxy adviser on Tuesday urged shareholders to separate the positions and vote out some directors who serve on the bank’s risk and audit committees. The 57-year-old Mr. Dimon has held both posts since 2006.

Mr. Dimon told the investors who met with him at J.P. Morgan Chase headquarters Monday, including Fidelity Investments, that he would like to keep both jobs but that the ultimate decision belongs to the board.

Mr. Dimon said he can’t see himself doing anything else but running the nation’s largest bank. “Why do you keep doing it?” one investor asked during the meeting, according to people who were there.

Mr. Dimon said he learned when he left Citigroup Inc. C +1.31% in the 1990s that he missed the action and camaraderie that banking offered, and he isn’t sure what else he would do.

“This is what I enjoy,” he responded, the people said.

“He is by no means locked in a box,” said banking analyst Glenn Schorr of Nomura Securities, who organized the conversation with investors as part of a regularly scheduled meeting following the release of first-quarter earnings that covered a number of topics beyond the shareholder vote.

“He made it clear that he has worked hard, helped build a great company and he would like to continue to be chairman and CEO,” Mr. Schorr said.

Thus far, Mr. Dimon hasn’t been part of the company’s outreach on the split proposal, letting other executives and directors handle certain meetings and conference calls. But at the meeting on Monday he offered to meet with any of the shareholders in the coming weeks as they consider their final votes.

“If anybody in your firms wants to talk to me, call me up,” he said, according to people there.

On Monday, two J.P. Morgan Chase independent directors met with proponents of the split CEO-chairman proposal, said people familiar with the session, which some participants attended by phone. But the directors didn’t offer up any compromises, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

Although the vote is nonbinding, directors could face pressure to act if more than half of all shareholders want the positions divided. As of Tuesday about 20% of the votes had been cast, a count that is similar with previous years, said people close to the company.

A similar proposal received 40% approval from shareholders in 2012, the highest percentage for such an advisory proposal at J.P. Morgan Chase since at least 2005.

Proponents are predicting the measure will get greater support in the wake of the more than $6 billion in losses generated by a group led by a trader known as the London whale for his large positions.

The recommendations by Glass, Lewis & Co. follow similar guidance from proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and raise the pressure on Mr. Dimon ahead of the bank’s annual meeting. Proxy advisers give big shareholders like mutual funds guidance on how to vote in corporate elections. While their recommendations aren’t binding, they can be influential.

J.P. Morgan Chase’s task of convincing shareholders got tougher on Tuesday when Glass Lewis backed the resolution to split the CEO and chairman’s roles. Like ISS, Glass Lewis recommended a “no” vote against three members of the board’s risk committee— David Cote, Ellen Futter and James Crown— for what it called failures of oversight around the bank’s London whale trading losses.

Glass Lewis also recommending a vote against the three members of the board’s audit committee: James Bell, Crandall Bowles and Chairman Laban Jackson Jr. ISS and Glass Lewis are the two biggest proxy advisers.

J.P. Morgan declined to make the directors available for comment. A spokeswoman said: “JPMorgan Chase strongly endorses the re-election of its current directors. This is the same board, risk committee and audit committee that helped guide the company through the financial crisis without a single losing quarter and has led the company through three years of record performance.”

Another proxy adviser, Egan-Jones Proxy Services, on Tuesday supported the bank’s current combination of CEO and chairman jobs.

“We believe that the current board leadership structure provides appropriate leadership and oversight of management,” the firm said in its recommendation.

Several large shareholders have yet to decide, including the bank’s largest holder,BlackRock Inc. BLK +0.44% That firm’s chief executive, Laurence Fink, said on CNBC Tuesday that BlackRock hasn’t yet cast its vote. The money manager outsources that decision to a third party firm named Governance for Owners.

Nomura’s Mr. Schorr, based on what he heard from investors during the Monday meeting, said he thinks the company will win the vote. “I do think this management team and Jamie specifically and this board have the support of a majority of shareholders,” he said.

Source: WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323826804578468550506200288.html

Trinity Industries, Inc. (NYSE:TRN) announced today it has partnered with an institutional investment fund, Napier Park Railcar Lease Fund LLC (the “Napier Park Fund”) and an additional co-investor who also invested in the Napier Park Fund, to create RIV 2013 Rail Holdings LLC (“RIV 2013”), a joint venture that will provide railcar leasing services in North America. As part of the joint venture, RIV 2013 will acquire approximately $1 billion of railcars, primarily a combination of new railcars manufactured by Trinity Rail Group, LLC and existing railcars from Trinity Industries Leasing Company (“TILC”) or one of its subsidiaries. This joint venture allows Trinity to further grow its leasing platform and maintain its core relationship with its customers, while reducing the amount of capital investment required to grow the lease fleet.

RIV 2013 is expected to acquire a portfolio of approximately $1 billion in railcars through a series of transactions prior to the end of 2014. RIV 2013 currently owns the equity interest in Trinity Rail Leasing 2012 LLC (“TRL-2012”), an entity formed by TILC in December 2012 for the long-term financing of railcars, with a total of approximately $455 million in railcars at their current value. In the future, RIV 2013 will purchase up to an additional approximately $545 million of railcars from Trinity Rail Group, LLC, TILC or one of its subsidiaries to complete the planned portfolio.

TILC, the Napier Park Fund, and the co-investor have also contributed equity capital to complete the long-term capitalization of TRIP Rail Holdings LLC (“TRIP”), which holds an existing portfolio of 14,455 railcars purchased from Trinity and TILC over a two-year period from 2007 through 2009. Proceeds from the equity capital were used to fully repay TRIP’s $170 million of 10% Senior Notes due in 2014 and to purchase the equity interests of the legacy equity investors in TRIP other than TILC, which retained an equity interest in TRIP.

TILC will serve as manager and servicer of the TRIP and RIV 2013 portfolios of railcars. Both entities will be accounted for on a consolidated basis in Trinity’s financial statements. Income associated with the equity interest not owned by Trinity will be reflected as non-controlling interests.

The Napier Park Fund, organized and managed by Napier Park Global Capital, is primarily comprised of leading U.S. life and property and casualty insurance companies. The Napier Park Fund has committed a total of $362 million of equity capital to acquire a 60% equity interest in RIV 2013 and a 48% equity interest in TRIP. The co-investor has committed $50 million to acquire a 9% equity interest in RIV 2013 and a 7% equity interest in TRIP. TILC has committed $123 million of additional equity capital and will own 31% of the equity of RIV 2013 and 45% of the equity of TRIP. The remaining equity commitments to RIV 2013 will be combined with proceeds from expected future note issuances from the TRL-2012 Master Indenture to fulfill the remaining planned purchases of railcars. While the purchases are expected to be conducted by the end of 2014, the availability of the equity commitments from the joint venture extends into 2016.

Macquarie Capital advised Trinity on the capitalization of TRIP and the raising of private equity capital for RIV 2013 and TRIP.

“We are excited to partner with these institutional investors that share Trinity’s long-term view regarding the attractive nature of investing in our fleet of leased railcars,” said Timothy R. Wallace, Trinity’s Chairman, CEO and President. “Gaining access to this new investor base of long-term equity capital provides Trinity with a great deal of financial flexibility. In addition, we see this as a business model that can be replicated, making it an important element of our broader strategy to grow our leasing platform.”

“We are very pleased to partner with Trinity Industries on this investment,” said Jim O’Brien, Managing Partner of Napier Park Global Capital. “As structured, the transaction achieves the financial objectives set out by Trinity and provides our investors with a unique and compelling investment opportunity. We look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Trinity.”

“Since 2001, Trinity has successfully raised more than $5.0 billion in debt and equity to finance the growth of its leased railcar fleet. This transaction is another example of our access to a variety of capital sources,” said James E. Perry, Trinity’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “Attracting this new equity capital accomplishes key strategic objectives for our leasing business by providing an alternative source of capital to continue expanding our railcar leasing and management services platform and solidifying the final phase of TRIP’s long-term capital structure. In addition, these transactions are expected to generate capital to Trinity of approximately $575 to $625 million over the availability period, which will be available for reinvestment in our diversified portfolio of businesses or other opportunities.”

The following section provides transaction details and additional clarification in a “Question and Answer” format:

Q1) How does Trinity benefit from these transactions?

• The transaction generates capital for reinvestment in Trinity’s portfolio of diversified businesses or other opportunities and allows Trinity to reduce the amount of capital required for investment in leased railcars to grow the lease fleet.
• This transaction provides Trinity with additional financial flexibility to continue the growth of its railcar leasing and management services platform while maintaining its core relationship with the lessees.
• The announced joint venture provides TILC access to a new source of long-term, equity capital from institutional investors.
• The proceeds raised complete the long-term capital structure for TRIP and reduces its financial leverage.
• Both RIV 2013 and TRIP are tax efficient structures for TILC and the other equity investors.

Q2) What are the terms of the RIV 2013 joint venture?

• RIV 2013 is a newly formed railcar joint venture established to acquire a diverse portfolio of approximately $1 billion of primarily new Trinity-manufactured railcars and existing railcars from TILC or its subsidiaries.
• TILC will own 31% of RIV 2013’s equity. The new investors will own 69% of RIV 2013’s equity.
• RIV 2013 currently owns the equity interest in TRL-2012, an entity formed by TILC in December 2012 for the long-term financing of railcars, with a total railcar value of approximately $455 million and asset-backed debt of approximately $331 million with a blended coupon of approximately 3.0%.
• Approximately $145 million of the combined equity commitment from new investors was used to acquire an equity interest in RIV 2013 at the onset of the transaction.
• With the remaining combined equity commitments of $157 million, and proceeds from expected future debt financings, it is anticipated that RIV 2013 will acquire an additional approximately $545 million of railcars, primarily from Trinity and TILC, by the end of 2014. If necessary, the equity commitment for RIV 2013 has a three-year availability period for purchases of railcars that extends into 2016.
• TILC will serve as manager and servicer of the railcars in the RIV 2013 portfolio and will earn origination fees and servicing fees, as well as potential incentive fees based on the portfolio’s performance.

Q3) What are the details behind the TRIP capitalization?

• Approximately $233 million was used to repay the TRIP Senior Notes, repurchase the legacy equity investors’ interests other than the equity interest owned by TILC, and pay associated closing expenses.
• TRIP’s $170 million of 10% Senior Notes were fully repaid.
• All of the legacy equity owners other than TILC sold their equity interests in TRIP.

Q4) How will Trinity account for TRIP and RIV 2013 in its financial statements?

• The accounting treatment for TRIP is unchanged.
• TRIP will continue to be accounted for on a consolidated basis in Trinity’s financial statements. RIV 2013 will also be accounted for on a consolidated basis. The two entities will be reported together under “Partially-Owned Leasing Subsidiaries” within Trinity’s financial statements.
• The profit on future railcar sales from Trinity, TILC, or one of TILC’s subsidiaries to RIV 2013 will be deferred and recognized as a credit to Trinity’s operating profit over the remaining life of the railcars.
• The full amount of operating profit from TRIP and RIV 2013 will be reported in Trinity’s consolidated operating profit; the portion of net income owned by third party investors will be deducted from net income on a net basis through the non-controlling interests line item on Trinity’s income statement.
• Since Trinity’s ownership interest in TRIP has decreased, a larger proportion of TRIP’s net income will be deducted from net income on a go forward basis in determining net income attributable to Trinity Industries, Inc.

Q5) How do these transactions impact Trinity’s current earnings guidance?

• The most recent guidance that Trinity provided for 2013 already incorporated these transactions.
• The newly raised external equity capital provides for continued growth of the leasing platform and generates significant proceeds to reinvest in Trinity’s diversified portfolio of businesses for future earnings growth.

Q6) Will the railcars to be acquired by RIV 2013 come from the backlog previously designated for TILC?

• The initial $455 million of railcars acquired by RIV 2013 were existing railcars acquired from TRL-2012, which was wholly-owned by TILC.
• The remaining approximately $545 million of railcars that will be acquired by RIV 2013 will be primarily a combination of new and existing railcars from Trinity and TILC. A portion of these railcars are already in Trinity’s $5.1 billion railcar backlog and the $906 million of railcars that were designated for sale to TILC.
• The specific cars to be acquired by RIV 2013 in the future have not yet been identified.

Q7) What is the anticipated timing for the receipt of the $575 to $625 million in capital?

• Approximately $175 million of net proceeds were received by Trinity and TILC at closing from the capitalization of TRIP and the equity contributions by the new investors into RIV 2013.
• Trinity expects to receive the remaining $400 million to $450 million of capital in stages as the portfolio of railcars is acquired by RIV 2013 within the availability period.

Q8) How do you plan to invest the proceeds from these transactions?

• The proceeds will be invested in further growth of TILC’s railcar lease fleet, in Trinity’s diversified portfolio of businesses or other opportunities.
• Trinity continues to devote resources towards identifying and pursuing additional businesses that provide products that align with Trinity’s manufacturing platforms.

Trinity Industries, Inc., headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a diversified industrial company that owns market-leading businesses which provide products and services to the energy, transportation, chemical and construction sectors. Trinity reports its financial results in five principal business segments: the Rail Group, the Railcar Leasing and Management Services Group, the Inland Barge Group, the Construction Products Group, and the Energy Equipment Group. For more information, visit: www.trin.net.

Trinity Industries Leasing Company is a leading railcar leasing and management services company wholly owned by Trinity Industries, Inc. As of March 31, 2013, TILC had 72,755 railcars in its wholly- and partially-owned fleets of leased railcars.

TRIP Rail Holdings LLC is a joint venture owned by TILC and unaffiliated equity investors that was formed in 2007 to provide railcar leasing and management services in North America. At March 31, 2013, TRIP’s lease fleet included approximately 14,455 railcars with a net book value of approximately $1.1 billion. TILC manages and services the railcars for TRIP.

TRL-2012 was formed in December of 2012 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of TILC and owns a portfolio of railcars managed and serviced by TILC. As of March 31, 2013, TRL-2012 had $331 million of asset-backed debt with a blended coupon of approximately 3.0%. RIV 2013 has acquired TRL-2012.

Napier Park Global Capital is an independent alternative asset management firm that manages approximately $6.8 billion. The firm manages a diversified product mix including hedge funds, bespoke client solutions, private investments, CLOs and structured credit to large, sophisticated institutional investors. Napier Park Global Capital has offices in New York and London. For more information visitwww.napierparkglobal.com.

Napier Park Railcar Lease Fund LLC is a single purpose private equity investment fund organized by Napier Park Global Capital. The fund, which is backed by large, institutional investors including several of the leading U.S. life and property and casualty insurance companies, was formed to provide funding for the recapitalization of TRIP Rail Holdings LLC and provide growth capital for RIV 2013 Rail Holdings LLC.

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/07/tx-trinity-industries-idUSnBw077238a+100+BSW20130507

Expansive Program to Include Bus Tour, Live Events, Video Profiles, Town Halls; Policymaker Sessions, and Dedicated Hub about Middle Market Business Sector

With Custom Research, Reporting and Roadshow, GE Capital and Slate Partnership Will Spotlight the Vital Role Middle Market Businesses Play in the US Economy

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– This week, GE Capital and Slate Customkick off their “Roadshow for Growth,” a six-month, multi-city tour that will address the issues of middle market businesses, a sector that generates $9 trillion in annual revenue and accounts for nearly 34 percent of total U.S. employment.Slate and GE Capital will share tour highlights, research, and feature stories on the middle market, “the market that drives America,” at roadshow.slate.com. These companies have come together to raise awareness of middle market businesses—companies with revenues between $10 million to $1 billion—and to bring this critical cross-section of American enterprise to the attention of policymakers and the general public.

Traveling in a branded bus, GE Capital and Slate‘s Roadshow for Growth began in Kansas City on Monday and is in St. Louis today. From there, it will continue into the heart of the American economy, visiting middle market businesses in Indianapolis, Chicago, Elkhart, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, New York, Dallas, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, among others. The tour will culminate in Columbus, Ohio at the third annual National Middle Market Summit in late October.

At each stop, the Roadshow for Growth will host a variety of events, ranging from town hall discussions and conversations with city mayors to visits with select middle market businesses. Slate Chairman Jacob Weisberg and GE Capital executives including Mike Pilot, chief commercial officer, and Dan Henson, president and CEO of GE Capital Americas, will meet with local mid-market business owners and officials to discuss crucial concerns, such as domestic and overseas competition, innovation and technology, rising health care costs, job creation, taxes, federal regulations, and numerous other topics. In addition to engaging middle market businesses, Roadshow for Growth will aim to motivate legislators to pass new regulations in support of middle market business growth—the key to American economic survival.

“We’re thrilled to be working with GE Capital on the largest integrated marketing program we’ve ever done at Slate,” said Matt Turck, the magazine’s publisher. “Roadshow for Growth is designed to engage middle market businesses, thought leaders and legislators so that the issues affecting these businesses—companies that represent the most important opportunities for job creation and economic growth—will also be heard on Capitol Hill.”

“Middle market companies account for more than 43 million U.S. jobs and one-third of the national private sector GDP,” said Mike Pilot, chief commercial officer of GE Capital. “We identified Slate, a digital innovator renowned for smart crowdsourcing, as the perfect partner to help us contextualize the issues. The combination of Slate with GE Capital’s expertise and experience in helping grow middle market businesses, will allow us to connect with middle market business leaders to formulate solutions.”

Daily blog posts, video, and commentary will be published on roadshow.slate.comas news unfolds along the tour route. The National Center for the Middle Market, which today released its middle market indicator for the first quarter of 2013, will contribute reports on key findings about the middle market including its structure, geography and economic contribution, the average employment growth in the sector, and company survival rate. Roadshow.slate.com will be a vital resource for those looking to gain more insight into this critical part of the U.S. economy. For more information on GE and Slate‘s Roadshow for Growth, please visithttps://twitter.com/roadshow4growth andhttps://www.facebook.com/Roadshow4growth.

Source: Daily Finance

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/05/07/ge-capital-and-slate-kick-off-roadshow-for-growth/

To effect the acquisition, Fifth Street anticipates investing approximately $110 million and intends to finance the purchase with available liquidity, including operating cash and borrowings under Fifth Street’s existing credit facilities. HFG’s senior management team has an average of 24 years of healthcare finance or related industry experience and will provide continuing leadership to HFG going forward. Fifth Street expects that the HFG acquisition will be accretive to net investment income.

HFG’s total outstanding loan portfolio, as of May 6, 2013, consisted of 57 loans with a value of approximately $270 million. Fifth Street believes that HFG’s niche focus in the healthcare industry offers the potential for strong asset quality and attractive yields, even during challenging economic or debt capital market conditions. HFG has a quality track record of managing credit risk since inception in 2000.

“Healthcare Finance Group is the oldest, continuously operating stand-alone healthcare asset-based lender in the U.S. We believe that a strategic investment in HFG will provide exceptional opportunities to grow the company’s platform,” stated Leonard M. Tannenbaum, Fifth Street’s Chief Executive Officer, adding, “This investment fits well within Fifth Street’s successful track record for investments in the healthcare sector.”

“Fifth Street is the ideal partner to take what we have built at HFG to the next level,” said Isaac Soleimani, Chairman and CEO of HFG, adding, “The combination of Fifth Street’s access to capital, entrepreneurial culture and savvy professionals, as well as HFG’s expertise, reputation and track record in the healthcare industry, will create a potent force in the marketplace that will accelerate HFG’s growth going forward. We are very excited about Fifth Street’s acquisition of HFG.”

“We believe that the return profile of this portfolio company investment is compelling for Fifth Street,” commented Bernard D. Berman, President of Fifth Street. “We expect our HFG investment to enhance net investment income while maintaining our disciplined underwriting philosophy and sophisticated approach to investment structuring.”

“We are delighted to enter into a strategic relationship with Fifth Street and excited by the prospects for growth it presents,” said Dan Chapa, President of HFG, adding, “The ongoing independence of our business operations will help us stay true to a culture of excellence that has allowed us to cultivate a deep and loyal client base.”

Customary closing conditions, including the expiration of the applicable waiting period under the Hart Scott Rodino Act, apply to the acquisition, which is expected to close by June 30, 2013. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc. and UBS Investment Bank are acting as financial advisors and Kaye Scholer LLP is acting as legal advisor to HFG. Greenhill & Co. is acting as financial advisor and Proskauer Rose LLP is acting as legal advisor to Fifth Street for the transaction.

Source:  WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130508-908183.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Key Equipment Finance, one of the nation’s largest bank-held equipment finance companies and an affiliate of KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), today announced that Patti Ann Sullivan, vice president of corporate aviation finance for Key Equipment Finance, has been named to the board of directors of the Massachusetts Business Aviation Association (MBAA).

The MBAA is a not-for-profit association founded to promote and advocate for business and general aviation interests within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The organization gives voice to the needs and interests of corporate flight departments of major corporations, as well as those of individual aircraft owners.

“I look forward to serving as a director for the MBAA and playing a leadership role as the association focuses on a broad range of issues impacting business and the general aviation community in Massachusetts,” said Sullivan. “The association’s membership includes some of the largest corporations and employers in Massachusetts, and some of the prominent issues I’ll work on include safety, security, operational effectiveness, community and government relations and environmental concerns.”

As vice president of Key Equipment Finance’scorporate aviation finance division, Sullivan is responsible for the management of all aircraft and helicopter originations serving middle market to investment grade corporations, as well as Key Private Bank clients throughout the United States. As a dedicated aviation financier with over 25 years of domestic and internationally based aircraft equipment finance and lease experience, Sullivan has developed a deep understanding of the unique regulatory, tax, accounting, operational, maintenance and perfection requirements necessary to provide a consultative approach to structuring an optimal finance solution or lease product. Sullivan also is part of a large Massachusetts-based family line, obtained her education from Boston University, and resides in Sudbury, MA.

Source: PR Web

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/5/prweb10702615.htm

The solar company reported a net loss of $54.7 million in the first months of 2013 compared to $74.5 million in 2012. Sales were distinctly more optimistic; total sales were at $635.4 million, well ahead of SunPower’s expectation back in February of $450-$525 million.

Residential solar leasing program is so steep that the company actually doesn’t have the money to keep financing it so rapidly.

From GigaOm:

“Our residential lease business remains strong, with demand outstripping our financial capacity in the first quarter,” said Tom Werner, SunPower’s CEO, during a call with analysts to discuss quarterly earnings.

In terms of hard numbers, Q1 saw around 2,100 leases signed. That brings the company to an average of 2,800 per quarter and a total of 16,200 since the launch of the leasing program, which has clearly proven a hit with forward-thinking homeowners.

SunPower’s Solar Lease

The way it works is customers sign a 20-year lease. The rent is paid monthly in exchange for use of the solar equipment that SunPower installs on the house’s roof. The company takes ownership and oversees all maintenance operations.

All of this is financed through capital that SunPower raises from investors as well as an ongoing federal incentive, as GigaOm reports.

This system greatly eases the startup burden on homeowners who’d like to invest in a solar power system for their house but cannot deal with the high upfront costs. The rental makes it a lot easier to enter the solar market without shouldering the total costs.

Right now, SunPower is also working on two massive solar projects in California. The California Valley Solar Ranch will be a 250 megawatt plant, and nearly 90 percent of solar panel installation is already complete.

Two other plants totaling 579 megawatts—called the Antelope Valley Solar Projects—are also underway. These are owned by MidAmerican Solar.

Despite the recent crash in the solar panel market, it’s the leasing program that has really come to SunPower’s aid. The company had to reduce production of solar panels in efforts to save on costs as that market cratered due to massive oversupply.

Source: Energy and Capital

http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/solar-leasing-investment-opportunities/3355

“The highlight of our first quarter was the $118 million, 19 engine purchase-leaseback transaction completed in March with SAS Group’s subsidiary Scandinavian Airlines,” said Charles F. Willis, Chairman and CEO. “This transaction was one of the largest and most complex engine sale and leaseback transactions ever done. We added 11 engines valued at $63 million to our lease portfolio, and a further 8 engines valued at $55 million were acquired by our joint venture, Willis Mitsui & Co Engine Support Limited. Since the engines were purchased in different tranches late in the quarter, the full quarterly impact on lease rent revenue won’t be realized until the second quarter.”

“At the recent Airfinance Journal awards ceremony in New York last month, our WEST II financing received yet another award and was recognized as the 2012 “Engine Deal of the Year,” and I can assure you that we are not resting on our laurels,” continued Willis. “Our finance team is working on several projects to further improve upon our capital structure and resources going forward. Looking at the capital markets today, I don’t recall a time when I have seen more availability. I have been saying for a long time that access to capital is one of our strengths, and we intend to continue to take advantage of opportunities the market offers.”

First Quarter 2013 Highlights (at or for the periods ended March 31, 2013, compared to March 31, 2012 and December 31, 2012):

• Lease portfolio increased 4.6% to $1.02 billion, largely due to the purchase-leaseback transaction with Scandinavian Airlines that was completed late in the quarter.
• Average utilization for the first quarter was 84%, consistent with the first quarter a year ago and down slightly from 85% in the fourth quarter of 2012.
• Quarter-end utilization was 82% compared to 85% a year ago and 86% at December 31, 2012.
• Total revenues fell slightly to $35.3 million from $35.7 million a year ago, with all revenue line items increasing in the period except for gains from sale of equipment which decreased $1.9 million.
• Lease rent revenues increased 1.7% to $24.5 million compared to $24.1 million a year ago.
• Maintenance reserve revenues increased 7.6% to $9.2 million, compared to $8.6 million a year ago.
• Total net finance costs increased 17% to $9.2 million, compared to $7.9 million in the year ago quarter, reflecting higher debt levels and higher average financing costs. The higher interest costs (pre-tax) were partially offset by the elimination of the quarterly $0.8 million preferred dividend (after-tax).
• Liquidity available from the revolving credit facility was $83 million at quarter end compared to $116 million a year ago.
• Book value per common share was $23.21 compared to $22.44 a year ago.

“Market conditions have changed little since the end of last year,” said Donald A. Nunemaker, President. “The one significant exception is the activity surrounding the CFM56-7B engine type which powers the Boeing 737NG aircraft. We are seeing a noticeable increase in demand for this engine type. Since the utilization rate for our 7B engines is already well above 90%, the heightened demand won’t necessarily allow us to put more engines on lease. It will, however, generate more opportunities to place these engines when they are returned and will likely lead to incrementally higher rents on new leases. We believe that most of this increased demand is due to a greater number of engines in operators’ fleets requiring shop visits. Perhaps this is one of the first tangible signs of the “bow wave” of shop visits that has been the subject of industry predictions for this engine type for the last five years.”

Balance Sheet

At March 31, 2013, Willis Lease had 193 commercial aircraft engines, 3 aircraft parts packages and 7 aircraft and other engine-related equipment in its lease portfolio, with a net book value of $1.02 billion, compared to 193 commercial aircraft engines, 3 aircraft parts packages and 12 aircraft and other engine-related equipment in its lease portfolio, with a net book value of $974.3 million a year ago. The Company’s funded debt-to-equity is 3.75 to 1 at quarter end, compared to 3.49 to 1 at December 31, 2012 and 2.96 to 1 a year ago, with the increase primarily due to the $31.9 million equity reduction resulting from the preferred share redemption in October 2012.

Source: Global Newswire

http://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2013/05/06/544636/10031423/en/Willis-Lease-Finance-Earns-1-6-Million-or-0-19-Per-Share-in-First-Quarter-of-2013.html

The 2013 User Conference format was expanded over previous years to provide numerous breakout sessions covering a variety of topics in both training and overview classes.  This gave attendees the chance to learn about existing and new system features in a greater level of detail, while still providing summary offerings to those who prefer that format.  The User Conference featured a wide variety of speakers and topics, all offered in a classroom style setting, ensuring there was something for everyone in attendance.  Representatives from Ivory Consulting Corporation provided a brief demonstration of their Portfolio Analytics product, which is now integrated with LeaseComplete.

This year’s focus shifted a bit more to the upcoming LeaseComplete Version 5 release.  Attendees were able to learn more about this complete redesign of LeaseComplete, including the look and feel, as well as new enhancements being developed.  One session focused on the upgrade process and included a live demonstration of an upgrade from LeaseComplete Version 4 to Version 5, which demonstrated the portability of user customizations to the new system.

Dominion Leasing Software founded in 2003 is a leading provider of software and services to the equipment and retail leasing industries throughout the USA and Canada.   LeaseComplete, its flagship lease/loan accounting and asset management system is widely recognized as a leading custom solution for both equipment and vehicle lease portfolios, for leases and loans.  Dominion’s software and services are used by a diverse group of clients including banks, credit unions, trucking companies, automobile dealerships, and independent lessors.

Source: ELFA

http://www.elfaonline.org/news/indnews/news_report.cfm?id=20896

Cole Taylor’s ESOP Finance Group will operate on a national basis and specialize in providing middle market business owners and ESOP community partners with strategic employee stock ownership plan financing.  Structures for such financing include leveraged and non-leveraged ESOPs, full and partial sales, second stage transactions and the refinance of seller notes.

“Our ESOP Finance Group has the resources and expertise to provide closely-held businesses with the responsive and customized solutions they’ve come to expect from Cole Taylor,” said Ryan. “Pat and his team work with a broad range of ESOP partners and, given Cole Taylor’s history as a family owned business with employee ownership, we bring a unique perspective to ESOP financing.”

Stoltz added, “We have a strong group with extensive commercial lending experience. We understand the complexities of ESOP financing and are focused on providing creative and competitive structures for our clients. I’m excited to bring these much-needed solutions to the middle market while continuing to work with the clients we’ve built close relationships with over the years.”

The addition of ESOP financing enhances Cole Taylor Bank’s already strong commercial banking services, which include comprehensive lending, deposit, and treasury management solutions designed for middle market companies.

About Taylor Capital Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: TAYC)
Taylor Capital Group, Inc. is the holding company of Cole Taylor Bank, a commercial bank headquartered inChicago with assets of $5.8 billion as of March 31, 2013. Cole Taylor specializes in serving the banking needs of closely held businesses and the people who own and manage them. With its national businesses, the Bank also provides asset-based lending, residential mortgage lending and commercial equipment leasing through a growing network of offices throughout the United States. Cole Taylor is a member of the FDIC and is an Equal Housing Lender.
Visit www.coletaylor.com

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/06/il-coletaylorbankesop-idUSnPNCG08104+1e0+PRN20130506

In this regard, Element is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Gordon D. Giffin, former US ambassador to Canada, to the Company’s board of directors. Ambassador Giffin will sit as an independent member of the board.

“As Element continues to expand its reach across the Canada/US border to provide vendor financing solutions to North American equipment manufacturers and their customer, we will benefit from having the perspective of a seasoned diplomat of Ambassador Giffin’s experience on our board of directors,” said Steven Hudson, Element’s Chairman and CEO.

“Element Financial is very well positioned to enable businesses on both sides of the border to acquire the capital equipment they need to make meaningful and sustained contributions to the expansion of the North American economy,” said Ambassador Giffin. “I’m looking forward to supporting the Company’s continued success and growth.”

In addition to Ambassador Giffin’s appointment, the Company also announced that Dr. Steven Small, in addition to his role as Lead Director, has been appointed as Vice Chairman of the board of directors. Dr. Small has also been appointed to serve on the Audit Committee in addition to continuing to serve on the Credit Committee. As well as these changes, Mr. Paul Stoyan has been appointed as Chair of the Compensation and Corporate Governance Committee and Mr. Harold Bridge has been appointed to the Credit Committee in addition to continuing to serve as Chair of the Audit Committee. Mr. Leslie E. Martin and Mr. Bruce Smith are not standing for re-election and will retire from the board of directors at the Company’s May 28(th) Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Mr. Smith will continue to provide strong leadership and operational direction to Element as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer and Canadian President.

“As one of the founding shareholders of Element, I want to pay a special tribute to Les Martin for the extraordinary contribution that he has made to the development of this Company,” said Mr. Hudson. “I am personally very grateful for the no-nonsense advice and insightful perspective that he always brought to our board meetings as we transformed Element from a small private company to a TSX-listed enterprise with a growing North American market presence,” added Mr. Hudson.

Subject to their election at the upcoming Annual Meeting of Shareholders, Element’s board of directors will be comprised of nine directors, eight of whom meet the criteria required to be designated as independent directors as defined under the Corporate Governance Guidelines published by the Canadian Securities Administrators.

Source: WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130506-905292.html

The City of Foley, Alabama entered into Lease Purchase Agreement to finance the purchase and installation of capital equipment that will upgrade its infrastructure and reduce energy costs.

“The project will have a tremendously positive effect on the lives of the residents and the community as a result of the upgraded infrastructure and the projected energy savings,” said Gregg Baty, Vice President of Grant Capital Management.

Grant Capital Management is a leading provider of lease financing to the public sector. The firm finances almost any type of essential-use capital equipment, real property or Energy Performance Contract. Since 2000, they have funded over $3.7 Billion in lease financings. Grant Capital designs master leases, lease-purchase agreements and operating leases from $500,000 to $60 million and beyond with terms up to 20 years to meet their clients’ specific requirements.

###

The Los Angeles-based group was established in 2008—after the economic downturn—to meet the commercial financing needs of businesses across various industries unable to qualify for conventional funding.  Behzad Kianmahd, Maxim Commercial Capital’s Chairman and CEO, explains, “Mae’s energy, industry expertise, and years of experience closing credit-challenged and highly structured transactions make her a great fit for our creative approach to financing.  Her unique talent for building strong customer relationships will be a wonderful addition to Maxim’s diverse team.”

Mae comes to Maxim from Dakota Financial, LLC, where she served as the Sales & Marketing Director.  Prior to Dakota, she held various positions in marketing, sales, and public relations.  Mae is an active member of the NAELB and NEFA leasing industry organizations.  She earned her BA degree from Tulane University in both Communication and Psychology, with a minor in Business.  Mae will continue to work from her office in Charlotte, NC and can be contacted directly at 704.823.6324 or mae@maximcc.com.

About Maxim Commercial Capital, LLC

Maxim Commercial Capital, LLC is a privately held commercial finance company focused on providing creative and flexible asset-backed financing solutions to small and middle-market companies in a wide array of industries.  In addition to equipment and real estate secured transactions, Maxim offers credit challenged owner operators and transportation companies an application only product on quality used Class 8 trucks and trailers.

###

“We began to see enthusiasm for rules-based tools that added more sophistication to our customers’ MPS programs,” said Jennie Fisher, Senior VP and General Manager for the GreatAmerica Office Equipment Group, and Board Member of the Managed Print Services Association. “MPS has evolved, and adding FleetView, powered by Print Audit, seemed like the best way for us to help the more advanced MPS providers become more effective in their approach,” she added.

The Print Audit model is designed to help an MPS provider save its end-user clients’ money and provide additional features, but also turn a typical cost center into a revenue generator. By providing end users new benefits and value, office equipment dealers can charge a monthly fee, which grows their recurring revenue.

GreatAmerica has been active with MPS solutions for a decade, specializing in bundled billing and offering other nonfinancial services for its customers, like Collabrance managed IT services. They have offered hosted fleet monitoring solutions for more than seven years.

GreatAmerica Financial Services Corporation is a $1.4 billion national commercial equipment finance company. GreatAmerica is dedicated to helping manufacturers, vendors, and dealers be more successful and keep their customers for a lifetime. GreatAmerica provides financing and niche market-focused services in all fifty states and several U.S. Territories and has a staff of nearly 400 employees with offices in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Georgia.

Under the deal, the GE capital claims to offer better cash management and increased flexibility over time for the customers of GEM.

GE Equipment Finance company officer Diane Cooper said the company is pleased to expand its relationship with powersports vehicle manufacturers GEM.

“By offering financing for commercial purchasers, Polaris should be able to grow sales of GEM vehicles nationwide,” Cooper added.

GEM was acquired by Polaris in 2011 and manufactures low-speed electric vehicles that are used by municipalities, hotels, resorts, as well as property and facility maintenance departments.

Polaris designs, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), snowmobiles, Polaris RANGER, RZR, Indian and Victory Motorcycles as well as related parts, garments and accessories.

Source: Leasing and Insurance

http://leasingandinsurance.automotive-business-review.com/news/ge-capital-to-offer-vehicle-finance-for-global-electric-motorcars-0305513

“My personal view, I wouldn’t mind seeing this go away,” LaMonte said Thursday at the 12th annual Baruch College financial reporting conference in New York City.

FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) are battling significant objections as they attempt to move the leasing project through another public exposure. While the revenue recognition project that’s due to result in a final standard by the end of June has been touted by many as a model effort, the boards have struggled to maintain momentum in the leasing project.

Like revenue recognition, leasing is a critical issue for a huge number of organizations and attracts tremendous interest from the financial reporting community. But the problem with developing a leases standard is all leases are not created equal, so it is difficult to come up with overarching accounting rules that govern them all.

So the boards came up with two expense patterns for lessees to place leases on the balance sheet. The forthcoming proposal will call for lessees to use an interest and amortization approach to expense leases on items that depreciate significantly during the life of the lease—such as equipment and vehicle leases.

Leases on items that do not depreciate will follow a straight-line expense pattern. For leases with a maximum possible term of 12 months, including any options to renew, lessees would not recognize lease assets or liabilities. On these short-term leases, lessees would recognize lease payments in profit or loss on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

LaMonte said getting a full understanding of companies’ lease obligations is easier now for investors than it will be under the standard that is being reproposed.

“Ultimately, what’s going to end up back on the balance sheet as a result of applying the standard really isn’t going to satisfy many users of financial statements,” LaMonte said.

Leslie Seidman, who chairs FASB, said the difficulty with developing the leasing standard is that investors have diverse points of view on how to improve it. But she said there was a common—although not unanimous—belief among investors FASB surveyed that putting lease obligations on the balance sheet will represent an improvement.

“So this is the life of a standard setter, to weigh all this input and try to come up with a proposal,” Seidman said at the Baruch conference. “I don’t want you to be left with the impression that the feedback we received broadly from investors is, ‘Do nothing.’ ”

Nonetheless, support for the project is tenuous. FASB’s decision last month to move forward to re-exposure passed by a 4–3 vote, with Seidman casting the deciding vote. PwC partner John Bishop said clients were more inclined to accept the significant implementation costs before the model evolved toward something that looks more similar to today’s leasing standards.

Source: Journal of Accountancy

http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/News/20137917.htm

“We are very pleased to lease two new Boeing 777-300ERs to Korean Air, one of the world’s leading airlines, to support their long haul twin-aisle fleet growth. These two 777-300ERs add to the two new Boeing 737-800s already leased by ALC to Korean Air, thereby significantly growing our valued business relationship,” said John Plueger, Air Lease Corporation’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including expected delivery dates. Such statements are based on current expectations and projections about our future results, prospects and opportunities and are not guarantees of future performance. Such statements will not be updated unless required by law. Actual results and performance may differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: Avionics

http://www.avionics-intelligence.com/news/2013/05/04/air-lease-corporation-announces-the-placement-of-two-new-boeing-777-300ers-with-korean-air.html

Source: Balkan’s

http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=174006

Waypoint Leasing is one of only two significant lessors of helicopters, alongside Ireland’s Milestone Aviation, and plans to build up a fleet of up to about 65 aircraft. The fleet will mainly be aimed at meeting fast-growing demand for helicopters to ferry workers to and from offshore oil and gas platforms, which are gradually moving further from land.

Mr Dell’s family investment vehicle, MSD Capital, and Mr Soros’s private vehicle, Quantum Strategic Partners, are the two biggest investors of three that have invested $375m in Waypoint. Two people involved said both MSD and Quantum had taken equal stakes, while a third investor, Cartesian Capital, had taken a smaller stake. The firms are expected to announce the investment formally early this week.

Ed Washecka, Waypoint’s chief executive, founded the company in 2011 after leaving Era, the helicopter arm of Seacor Holdings, the supplier to the offshore oil and gas industry.

Mr Washecka said Era had made better returns from leasing helicopters it owned to other operators than in its main business operating helicopters for end customers such as oil majors. However, while there was intense competition in the business to lease commercial fixed-wing passenger jets, there was very little leasing of commercial helicopters.

He had consequently decided after leaving Era to start his own helicopter leasing company, Mr Washecka said.

“It’s not an incredibly huge market – but the opportunity was there,” he said.

Demand to lease helicopters would grow, Mr Washecka said, as offshore hydrocarbon production moved further offshore. Journeys to rigs and platforms in areas such as Brazil’s pre-salt offshore drilling areas are often 150 miles or more, compared with the 80 miles more typical of older offshore areas such as the North Sea or Gulf of Mexico.

Big helicopter operators – such as the UK’s Bristow Helicopters and Canada’s CHC – would increasingly lease some aircraft while owning others, to improve their financial flexibility, according to Mr Waschecka.

“They don’t necessarily want to have all these assets on the balance sheet,” he said.

Demand for helicopters would stay strong even if oil prices fell sharply, Mr Washecka added. They tended to ferry workers to and from production rigs, which generally kept operating through periods of low oil prices, rather than to and from exploration rigs, which shut down in high-cost offshore areas when prices fell.

The company will also lease to the growing number of privately operated search and rescue and emergency medical services. It will not, however, lease smaller executive helicopters.

MSD and Quantum often invest alongside each other. A person involved said MSD had led the transaction.

Bill Jarosz, a partner at Cartesian, said the company had invested in Waypoint partly because of its “unusually strong management team”.

There was also less volatility in the value of helicopters than other transport assets such as ships or fixed-wing aircraft.

Viol Trice and VGT Enterprise LLC filed suit against Louisiana Leasing and Management LLC and Robert Laurent in the 24th Judicial District Court on Feb. 22.

Viol Trice and VGT Enterprise LLC claim they sold two trailers, an excavator and two bucket loaders for $35,000. The plaintiffs allege they contracted with the defendants to make an upfront payment of $16,500 with the remaining $18,500 to be paid within 120 days of the purchase. Viol Trice and VGT Enterprise LLC asserts that Laurent provided them with four post-dated checks that later bounced.

The defendant is accused of breach of contract.

Source: WSJ

http://blogs.wsj.com/cfo/2013/05/03/lease-accounting-proposal-still-seen-costing-companies-investors/

Under the “wet leasing scheme,” buses will be provided to private operators who will bear the expenditure on diesel, repair, tyres, insurance and token tax.

Only drivers and conductors will be provided by the HRTC and operators will be paid on kilometre basis, an official spokesman said.

According to calculations, per kilometre operating cost of wet leasing buses is less than the cost of operating HRTC’s own buses, and the scheme will benefit the Corporation in decreasing its operational losses without reducing the fleet, he added.

Daily consumption of diesel in HRTC was approximately 1.60 lakh litres and the price of diesel for bulk purchasers is higher by Rs 12.50 per litre than prevalent market rates, he said.

Diesel price will be reduced to half if bulk purchases are made from private pumps at competitive discounts, the spokesman said adding, a decision to purchase diesel from private pumps has been taken after thoughtful consideration.

Source: Business Standard

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/hrtc-to-go-for-wet-leasing-to-strengthen-its-fleet-113050201109_1.html

The government-controlled lessor had ordered 200 jets from Airbus and Boeing with a list price of $27 billion in 2007 as part of Dubai’s broader effort to build its aerospace industry, only for the financial crisis to dent its ability to fund the planes.

Boeing confirmed Thursday that the leasing firm had dropped its five remaining 747-8 freighters on order, having cancelled another five in December.

DAE Capital, the Dubai-based firm’s leasing unit, has a fleet of 52 Airbus and Boeing jets, according to its website. In recent years, it has cancelled dozens of 787, 777, 737, A350 and A320 jets as it struggled to stabilize its financial future. Boeing said the firm retained orders for five more 777 freighters.

The move leaves Boeing with a net loss of two orders for its revamped 747 so far this year, despite efforts to push sales against a backdrop of the weak global air cargo market.

These include a complex deal involving Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. (CPCAY, 0293.HK) and Air China Ltd. (AIRYY, 601111.SH, 0753.HK) last month. Cathay’s order for three freighters had been logged as a firm order, but Air China’s purchase of three 747-8 passenger jets was still pending approval by the Chinese government.

Boeing last month announced plans to scale back production of the 747 to 1.75 jets a month because of lower demand and a struggling air cargo market. Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said the company had already taken the DAE cancellation into account as part of its production planning.

Boeing also logged an order for a single 777, configured as a business jet. Boeing’s current net orders stand at 255. Airbus is a unit of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. (EADSY, EAD.FR)
Source:  NASDAQ
Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/dubai-leasing-firm-cancels-boeing-747-order-20130502-01417#ixzz2SEQZlZMj

Commissioned by the BVRLA, the study by Oxford Economics provides some robust, independent data on the size, scope and importance of the vehicle rental and leasing sector.

The £14bn is equivalent to £1 in every £90 of UK GDP or the combined local economies of Bath and Bristol.

This figure takes into account the operations of the industry itself, the UK-made vehicles and engines it purchases, the activity of UK dealerships and its impact on the used car market.

In the process, the sector generates around £2.8 billion of tax revenue per year.

In terms of jobs, the industry employs 38,000 people directly and a further 145,000 people through wider supply chain and consumer spending effects.

The total employment supported by the industry is equivalent to one in every 175 workers in the UK.

The automotive sector is one of the UK’s few manufacturing success stories and vehicle rental and leasing companies are among its largest customers, purchasing an estimated 220,000 vehicles in 2011.

This is 15% of total output but a massive 82% of UK vehicles sold to domestic customers. This expenditure is estimated to have supported a £2.4 billion contribution to GDP, 52,000 jobs and £810 million in tax receipts.

In the same year, the vehicle rental and leasing industry’s expenditure on foreign-made vehicles containing UK-made engines is estimated to have generated a £349 million contribution to GDP, 7,600 jobs and £120 million in tax receipts.

The vast majority of this business is conducted through motor dealers. In 2011, the sector purchased £11.1 billion of foreign-made vehicles from UK dealerships. This activity supported a £98 million contribution to GDP, 2,000 jobs and £31 million in tax receipts.

There is also a positive environmental angle to this activity. The industry can rightfully claim to play a leading role in driving down emissions. At 123g/km, the CO2 emissions of the average lease car registered in 2012 was 25% cleaner than the average car on UK roads.

Not everything is measurable, but the researchers at Oxford Economics have established that the sector makes a major contribution to the efficiency with which the UK economy works.

As well as giving businesses access to modern, fuel-efficient vehicles, fleet management services and lower capital costs, vehicle leasing can also provide a range of ‘housekeeping’ services, including maintenance, insurance and road tax – freeing up resources and working capital for other tasks.

It reaches every sector of the economy, from manufacturing and construction to retail and health. Two thirds of the industry’s business customers are SMEs.

Source: Fleet News

http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/2013/5/3/rental-and-leasing-worth-14bn-to-uk-economy/46960/

Already pared back once to reduce its impact on real estate leasing, a proposed new international lease accounting standard, under development for years, will reach a turning point in May when standard setters unveil a detailed draft rule.

The standard could potentially affect leases of assets ranging from passenger jets and storefronts to cargo containers and photocopiers. But it is unlikely to be finalized until next year, possibly taking effect in 2016 or 2017.

In the meantime, the standard setters can expect to be challenged by an assortment of lease-dependent businesses, such as airlines, restaurants, drugstore chains and other retailers.

Many such companies are accustomed to being able to consign their lease commitments to footnotes of financial statements, where they get less attention than they would if they were included in the balance sheet.

For instance, U.S. retailer Walgreen Co. leases most of its more than 8,000 drugstore properties. The Illinois-based company has $35 billion of operating leases that are not shown on its balance sheet. A Walgreen spokesman declined to comment.

To some accounting experts, putting leases off the balance sheet obscures the portrayal of a company’s liabilities.

“Significant reform for lease accounting is crucial for the credibility of all financial reporting and for those who regulate it, use it, audit it and implement it,” said Paul Miller, a University of Colorado accounting professor.

Without recognizing leases, he said, “the balance sheet is not complete, and if it’s not complete, then it’s not useful.”

ONE-YEAR CUT-OFF SEEN

The expectation is that, if it is completed as planned, the standard would force many companies to reflect lease commitments that extend for more than a year on the balance sheet, like debt. Tens of thousands of companies would be affected.

Opponents of the standard question if changing it is worth the effort and the costs it would impose on businesses.

“There should be a cost-benefit analysis that attaches here if we’re going to go through this,” said Tom Quaadman, a vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a Washington, D.C.-based business lobbying group opposed to the new standard.

For investors, such a change could be a shock. More clarity on lease liabilities could conceivably break some corporations’ loan covenants or trigger credit rating changes.

The new rule’s impact on leverage in banking and retailing would likely be significant, said Peter Hogarth, a partner at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in London.

The standard is being developed jointly by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, based in Connecticut, and the International Accounting Standards Board, in London.

FASB writes the United States’ Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, known as GAAP. IASB’s International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, prevail in much of the rest of the world.

Merging GAAP and IFRS has been a goal of standard setters for years and recently was backed by Group of 20 world leaders, but it has proved to be elusive. The lease standard is seen as a showcase meant to prove accounting “convergence” can be done.

OVERHAUL OVERDUE?

Lease accounting has not had a major overhaul in the United States since the 1970s.

Leases were once used mostly by companies unable to afford buying equipment or real estate, but today they account for over a third of capital investment. Leases give companies purchasing power and flexibility in upgrading worn-out or obsolete assets.

In Europe, outstanding leases totaled $928 billion (712 billion euro) in 2011, up from $838 billion(634 billion euro)in 2006, according to Leaseurope.

In the United States, companies have about $1.5 trillion of operating leases, according to a 2012 study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and real estate groups. Real estate leases made up about $1.1 trillion of the total.

Lobbyists expect some sort of new rule to result from the standard setters’ efforts, but more watering down seems likely, possibly by raising to two or three years from one year the term of leases exempted from stricter treatment.

IASB and FASB backed down last year from requiring all leases to be treated the same way by agreeing to make an exception for property lease rental expenses.

Peter Cosmetatos, director of finance policy at the British Property Federation, said there was a sense of slowing momentum.

Some regulators said there may not be a converged final standard if it is too complex. At FASB, support is fragile. The proposal cleared the board by just 4-3 in an April 10 vote.

Opponents of the standard include Leaseurope, a leasing industry lobbying group, and a U.S. coalition led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and real estate groups.

These opponents have secured allies in Washington. Urged on by lobbyists, 60 members of Congress wrote to standard-setters last year to push them to rethink the rule.

Real estate firms have been opponents, warning that the new standard could undercut a commercial real estate recovery.

FOR SALE OR LEASE

Balance sheet debt is not the only worry for businesses. The impact on the income statement and profits is also a concern.

Instead of the current “straight-line” rental expense that stays the same throughout the life of a lease, the new standard would treat most equipment leases like loans, with higher costs in the earlier years. One important exception to this would be real estate lease costs, which would still be straight-lined.

For instance, an airline that signs a 17-year, $100-million lease for aircraft would see expenses jump by $2.4 million or 26 percent in the first year of the lease, according to data from the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.

“It has the effect of looking like an increase in the cost of debt to a company,” said Bill Bosco, a consultant working for the U.S. Equipment Leasing and Finance Association. “It eats into capital and it reduces earnings.”
Source: Fox Business
Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2013/05/02/lease-accounting-fight-tests-resolve-global-standard-setters/#ixzz2SEQ61ULR

Expands 25+ year relationship with GEM parent Polaris

Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/GE-agrees-to-pay-40-million-to-settle-investor-4481166.php#ixzz2S8bN98uL

“We are very pleased to lease two new Boeing 777-300ERs to Korean Air, one of the world’s leading airlines, to support their long haul twin-aisle fleet growth. These two 777-300ERs add to the two new Boeing 737-800s already leased by ALC to Korean Air, thereby significantly growing our valued business relationship,” said John Plueger, Air Lease Corporation’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including expected delivery dates. Such statements are based on current expectations and projections about our future results, prospects and opportunities and are not guarantees of future performance. Such statements will not be updated unless required by law. Actual results and performance may differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: Business Wire

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130501006624/en/Air-Lease-Corporation-Announces-Placement-Boeing-777-300ERs

The customized financing solutions was developed in collaboration with IBC Bank-Oklahoma Senior Vice President Andy Levinson. Levinson has helped his wife with her successful dental practice for nearly five years.

Levinson’s deep understanding of the challenges dentists face today includes first-hand knowledge of equipment costs, staffing issues, and marketing. Levinson said, “IBC Bank’s Dental Finance Group is uniquely competitive in that we provide up to 100% financing and make credit decisions based on cash flow instead of a practice’s underlying assets. We have the financial resources to help individuals reach their dreams, whether that involves expanding, updating or relocating their practices.”

International Bancshares Corporation Chairman Dennis Nixon said, “IBC Bank’s Dental Finance Group truly understands what it takes to run a successful dental practice. This new commercial loan product is another way ‘We Do More’ to provide customized financial solutions for our valued customers.”

Source: Dentistry IQ

http://www.dentistryiq.com/news/2013/05/01/ibc-bank-offering-customized-financing-solutions.html

Gary Silverhardt, President of North Mill, views this facility as an opportunity to originate and fund a significant number of leases in the company’s target markets of transportation, construction and materials handling, thereby enhancing the company’s growth.

North Mill has over 55 years of experience originating equipment leases and loans, as well as purchasing and servicing equipment lease and loan portfolios from banks and other specialty finance companies. As a third-party servicer, the company has the capacity to handle thousands of accounts for multiple parties. Since 2002, the company has purchased over 30 lease and loan portfolios representing over $1 billion of asset value. For more information, visit http://www.northmillef.com.
North Mill Equipment Finance is a subsidiary of Colford Capital Holdings LLC, a New York City based holding company that is building a diversified and industry-leading specialty finance and asset management business through acquisitions, strategic partnerships and new business development. In addition to North Mill Equipment Finance, Colford owns North Mill Capital, a national asset based lending and receivables factoring company based in Princeton, NJ. Colford is majority owned by Monitor Clipper Partners, a private equity firm that targets growth-oriented businesses with strong management teams and currently manages over $2 billion in capital. For more information, visit http://www.colfordcapital.com.

Wells Fargo Capital Finance is the trade name for certain asset-based lending, accounts receivable and purchase order finance services of Wells Fargo & Company and its subsidiaries, and provides traditional asset-based lending, specialized senior secured financing, accounts receivable financing and purchase order financing to companies across the United States and Canada. For more information, visithttp://www.wellsfargocapitalfinance.com.

First Quarter 2013 Highlights

• Adjusted net income of $38.5 million, $1.37 per share
• Net income of $32.8 million, $1.15 per share
• Sold one A320, six B717s and two B737 Classics for a pre-tax gain of $6.5 million
• Reduced financial leverage to 3.2x at quarter end
• Declared our 22^nd consecutive quarterly dividend on April 15^th ($0.22 per share)
• In April purchased a new B737-800 on a long lease to an Asian airline

“FLY is reporting another strong quarter, with higher revenues, lower expenses, a reduced debt to equity ratio and a stronger cash position,” said Colm Barrington, CEO of FLY Leasing. “Our higher revenues were positively impacted by end of lease revenues and aircraft sales proceeds.  During the quarter we continued our strategy of actively managing our fleet by selling one A320, our six B717s and two B737 Classics for a gain of more than $6 million.”

“In the quarter FLY reduced its debt by more than $70 million while increasing its unrestricted cash to nearly $200 million. As a result we have more than achieved our 3.5x leverage target, with actual net leverage of 3.2x at quarter end. FLY’s net book value exceeded $20 per share at the end of the quarter.”

“Our nearly $200 million of free cash provides us with funds to achieve our growth targets for the year.  In April, we purchased a new B737-800 on a long-term lease to an Asian airline. All but one of FLY’s 38 B737s are now Next Generation aircraft.” added Barrington. “In the meantime, forecasts for the global airline industry have become increasingly positive.”

Source:  Daily Markets

http://www.dailymarkets.com/stock/2013/05/02/fly-leasing-reports-first-quarter-2013-financial-results/

“For the past several months, we have been working to integrate our operations to enable us to quickly deliver the benefits of this cross-border alliance to customers in both Canada and the United States,” said Don Campbell, CEO of Element Financial (USA). “I’m very excited that our employees and customers are already finding ways to use this broader market presence to build deeper, stronger and more profitable relationships.

“With a well-established US origination and servicing platform as an integral part of our offering, Element now has the geographic reach, funding capacity, processing systems and leadership resources to support the vendor financing needs of equipment manufacturers, dealers and distributors across a broad range of industries throughout North America,” said Bradley Nullmeyer, President of Element Financial Corporation.

Element Financial Corporation completed its acquisition of CoActiv Capital Partners from Marubeni America Corporation and Marubeni Corporation in December 2012
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1222442#ixzz2S8YG3JZA

As leasing companies begin to trim IT spending, cloud solutions can be a key driver in reducing costs.  They free up IT staff to focus on business process improvements, enable computing environments to scale up or down in response to company needs, and help organizations in implementing disaster recovery and business continuity plans.  This article provides an overview of the types of cloud solutions and how the leasing industry can best mine their value.

Three delivery models:  considering the options

Currently, three distinct cloud delivery models are available:

• Software as a service (SaaS) applications are the oldest and most widely used model, leveraged for over a decade by millions of consumers.  These applications run offsite and are accessed over the internet through a PC-based browser or mobile device.

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) applications are used by IT system administrators and system engineers to build entire computing environments.   In this model a server can be created in minutes, complete with an operating system of choice for just pennies per hour.

• Platform as a service (PaaS) applications are used solely by developers who want to write new applications that benefit from the scalable nature of the underlying cloud.  As more users subscribe to the application, it automatically expands its use of resources to support the load.  PaaS would not typically be used for existing or legacy applications, however, as retrofitting the code to adhere to the resources of a particular PaaS provider would be prohibitively expensive.

As most leasing companies are not large developers of applications, we will focus in this article on the SaaS and IaaS models.

A brief history:  tracking the evolution

These three delivery models, and the cloud itself, would not be possible without “server virtualization.”  This concept dates back to the mid-1960s, when the IBM Watson Research Lab began the M44/44x project to study “time sharing.”  Server virtualization, once implemented, would allow multiple applications to run simultaneously on a single physical machine as if each were executing on its own computer.   As computers were large and costly at that time, it was imperative that they be used to maximum capacity.  Time sharing provided the solution.

Fast-forward to the 1990s, when servers had shrunk significantly in size and cost and were proliferating everywhere.  Power, space, and utilization concerns were once again the driving force behind the initial server-based VMware virtualization offerings.

Since then, other players such as Citrix, Microsoft, and Sun have joined the fray.  Today’s virtualization software allows a single server to appear as multiple servers, each potentially running a different operating system and each completely independent of the other.

How can the leasing industry best head into the cloud and realize its value today?

SaaS: expanding the market

Many leasing companies have been early adopters of cloud technology through such popular software as SalesForce.com for customer relationship management, GMail or Hosted MS Exchange for eMail, and Carbonite for remote backup services.  Many use SaaS; some even use it for their core leasing system.  This $15-billion slice of the software industry continues to expand as more new products and legacy applications are offered through SaaS.

Gartner predicts that by 2015, the market will top $20 billion.  Significantly reduced upfront costs, enhanced access to the latest version of subscribed software and lower IT costs for infrastructure and staffing all serve to amplify and accelerate the return on investment for acquiring software through this delivery method.  Scalability and flexible accessibility are also distinct benefits.

SaaS has its drawbacks, however, including potential problems with:

• Control: While it’s advantageous to have the latest software, it’s also disturbing to log on one morning and find that your software has been upgraded – requiring training to use new or modified functionality.
• Security:  Although data seems to be hacked no matter where it’s stored, data stored offsite is often perceived as being more vulnerable.
• System outages:  Outages are a natural concern; however, internal systems also go dark at times.
• Internet access: If you are subscribing to mission-critical applications, it might be best to have a backup connection to the internet to ensure continuous access.
• Data integration:  If you use a variety of SaaS solutions that need to communicate with each other on existing on-premises applications, data integration can be challenging.  Custom interfaces can be built, and newer IaaS players, such as Dell Boomi, Informatica, and CloudSwitch, should be evaluated.

IaaS:  creating in house

Although most leasing software vendors now offer a hosted SaaS version of their software, many have already purchased or developed their own in-house systems. In this scenario, IaaS is the best solution for leveraging the cloud.

Amazon AWS, Rackspace, and ATT are some of the largest IaaS providers. Microsoft has recently made changes to its Azure platform to move in the direction of IaaS, but it initially was primarily a PaaS offering.  Unfortunately, these services seem to be in the spotlight only when they experience an outage.  That’s because some of the largest SaaS applications – for example, Netflix, Instagram, Dropbox, and Zynga – are built around them.

Deploying an IaaS solution is a three-step process:

1.  Choose an IaaS provider.  The largest and most well-known is Amazon AWS, whose range of services and server templates is unmatched in the industry.  Although Amazon AWS is not known for its support, varying levels of upgraded support are available for subscription, and you can be assured that someone will always answer your questions.  Rackspace is the other dominant player in this space and also has a broad service offering with “fanatical” support to boot, although personal experience would debate the ferocity of the fanaticals.  You won’t find unanimous support for either company, and you won’t go too far in the wrong direction by choosing either.   Having worked with both, I recommend Amazon AWS.

2. Decide what to deploy to the cloud.  Leasing startups should begin with a virtual private cloud (VPC) and forego any internal hardware, while companies with existing infrastructure and IT staff would do best to implement a hybrid solution.

Hybrid solutions are common and enable leasing companies to leverage cloud resources and integrate them with on-premises hardware.  Excellent uses of cloud resources in a hybrid configuration might be test systems, training systems, or storage of large, seldom-used data. The payback on these uses can range from 70% to 90%, as you would pay only for the servers when you need to train new users or test new software releases.  Cloud connectors (virtual private networks) enable these resources to become an integral part of your internal network, making integration with existing applications no more difficult than for on-premises hardware.

Startups should resist the urge to purchase any in-house hardware and configure a VPC  from the outset.   Scalability, accessibility, and redundancy are compelling reasons to forego server ownership.

3.  Grow your network with your organization.  As your organization grows, you can expand the size of your network without incurring significant upfront costs.   You can reduce the ongoing hourly cost of servers (at least at Amazon) by purchasing a reserved server.   When it’s time to open remote offices, a VPC will afford easy access to system resources over the internet.   Also, having a remote system will facilitate easy access for internal users working from home or traveling for business. Disaster recovery solutions are often expensive to implement, especially when capital for a start-up is at a premium.  IaaS offers a robust, cost-effective disaster recovery option.

Although IaaS has many advantages, it is by no means a “set-it-and-forget-it” proposition.  Key considerations include:

• Ongoing monitoring:  After implementation, system performance must be monitored in detail, and system downtime – planned and unplanned – must be responded to. System performance can change drastically over time even though the demands of your application might not.

• Other tenants:  Because you are assigned to a “slice” of a physical server, you have no control over other “tenants” of that server or how those tenants’ application demands might change over time.  Unruly tenants are referred to as “noisy neighbors.”  In response to a degradation in performance caused by a noisy neighbor, you will have to move to another server; this amounts to stopping and restarting your server. It is unlikely that you would be assigned to the same physical server.

• Need for multiple vendors:  Your IaaS deployment plan should include using multiple IaaS vendors to mitigate outages or disasters at a single vendor.  For example, if Amazon AWS will be your primary provider, then it might be advisable to use not only Amazon S3 for data storage but at the same time push your data into Rackspace Cloud Files. The cost is just pennies per gigabyte, but in the unlikely event of an Amazon meltdown, wouldn’t it be nice to have access to all your data and just have to provision new servers?

Most IaaS providers have multiple data centers around the country.  You can mitigate the loss of any one data center by replicating your server in another data center.   A provider like Amazon AWS makes this easy with services such as AMI Copy (Amazon Machine Instance), which can migrate all your servers to another data center.  If you run primarily in the AWS Virginia data center, it would make sense to make backup server images in the AWS California data center on the west cost.  This level of protection costs pennies per month and will be priceless in the event of a disaster.

Into the future:  reaping the benefits

The new handbook of IT demands a smaller, more agile and less expensive IT organization.  Those who cling to the past and continue to develop costly in-house applications instead of subscribing to SaaS solutions, or deploy and support costly hardware farms in lieu of rolling out far cheaper IaaS solutions, will be viewed as nothing more than another cost center.  The new IT organization needs to be closely aligned with business goals, innovate for greater efficiency and employ competitive advantage.  The cloud is, and will remain, a key enabler to help foster the transformation from old to new IT.  Leasing companies are well-positioned to head into the cloud – and leverage its full rewards.

As CIT’s former vice president and chief information officer (CIO) in Latin America, serving Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Puerto Rico, Fernandez led the implementation of several important projects. These include receivables systems, front ends for mid and large transactions, front ends for small tickets, credit scoring, pricing models, interfaces with corporate systems, universal data base (UDB), and reporting for local regulatory and corporate environments.

“Roberto brings Alta additional senior executive level IT services talent in equipment leasing/financing, and also broad financial and operations market skills,” noted Alta LAR CEO Rafael Castillo-Triana. “His talent will support Alta’s continuing growth, and his strong operational and IT experience will help serve the business intelligence and systems architecture needs for our clients.”

Fernandez, presently based in Brazil, earlier in his career was an independent consultant assisting with the development of leasing and factoring systems for several companies.

• The first annual conference held in November 2012 was a sell-out!
• Though we have expanded capacity, based on the success of the 2012 event and the continued growing interest in operating leases, we truly expect OLC 2013 to also sell out!
• If there is only one leasing conference you can attend, we recommend you budget to attend OLC 2013.

SUMMARY OF OLC 2012

• Attended by 120 leasing professionals from 27 countries
• 20 speakers and panellists – operating leasing practitioners and service providers

SAMPLE TESTIMONIALS

• “One of the best conferences I have ever attended.”

                Phil Gerrard, Associate Director, Grant Thornton, U.K.

• “Excellent content covered by expert speakers – it could not be any better!”

                Bulent Tasar, Managing Director, Siemens Leasing, Turkey

• “An excellent networking event, particularly in the context of emerging market players.”

                Ian Robertson, SVP Global Asset Management, De Lage Landen, The Netherlands

BENEFIT OF ACTING NOW

• Requesting further information now will place you, sequentially, on a mailing list.
• You will be guaranteed a seat with no obligation on your part as long as we receive your registration form and payment by September 15, 2013.  Even after you register and pay, you may cancel prior to October 20, 2013 without any penalty.

ESSENTIALLY, YOU HAVE EVERY THING TO GAIN AND NOTHING TO LOSE BY ASKING US TO PLACE YOU (AND YOUR COLLEAGUES) ON A SPECIAL NO OBLIGATION WAITING LIST TO ATTEND WHAT PROMISES TO BE THE BEST LEASING CONFERENCE IN 2013!

For more information, please visit www.olconference2013.com.

The macro-economic environment was one of the main challenges faced by the company; a decrease in exports coupled with an increase in political risk leading to reduced foreign investment meant that SMEs are finding it more and more challenging to stay solvent. This led to a GDP growth of 13.4% down from 17.2% in 2011, as well as 40-50% lower asset sales in the second half of the year. Although the year ended well for Mongolia with the Government bond issue, the coming year is expected to be potentially risky. To alleviate this, XacLeasing increased their provisions and have made some internal changes in their lease policies and procedures.

Mr. Philipp Marxen, CEO of XacLeasing introduced a new strategy focused on stricter risk management exemplified by higher downpayment requirements and a vendor-approach for sales. This building of close relationships with vendors forms a win-win situation that allowed XacLeasing to accelerate growth without adding more resources.

As 2012 was anticipated to be difficult for business, the company added some new checks in place to hedge against loan defaults. The down payment amount increased from a 10% minimum to 30% minimum, and even 35% if the lessee was mining related. A new credit scoring system was introduced that is more efficient and relevant to the industry. Furthermore a specialized collection team was put in place that is able to repossess assets in-case of default; they repossessed 4 assets in the year from overdue clients. This helped keep the NPL over 90 days low at 2.6% by the end of the year.

The second focus for 2012, strengthening relationships with vendors was a driver in the growth seen. They were able to better understand XacLeasing’s services, and recommend them to their clients. This led to a mutually beneficial service to both, adding value to customers.

The staff of XacLeasing attended numerous trainings to hone professional skills and uplift the ability of the company as a whole.

Throughout the year XacLeasing was able to attract funding to continue operations, and managed to receive USD 5.5 million for terms ranging from 24 to 60 months. Their funders included Symbiotics, Responsibility and others with Bio being the largest one. The funds were used to directly fuel expansion plans and issue more leases to more SMEs, thus creating employment opportunities in Mongolia.

By the end of 2012, total number of active leases stood at 392, up substantially from 249 in 2011. The company disbursed a total of MNT 16.7 billion in leases. The net lease portfolio stood at MNT 18.56 billion in December 2012, up 25.2% from 2011. The growth in business meant, XacLeasing was able to increase their work force, hiring 4 new staff over the course of the year.

The 2012 financials, audited by Ernst and Young, recorded a net profit of MNT 1.3 billion, up a remarkable 222% from 2011. XacLeasing increased their reserve ratio to 4.4% as a hedging against worst-case scenarios. In-spite of targeting aggressive growth, overhead cost ratio fell to 31.6% from 53.4% a year earlier and resulting in a ROAE of 19.4% from 12.4% in 2011.

XacLeasing will continue to communicate transparently about their transformation and consolidation, and are proud to have achieved the first step and to report these encouraging results. Having reached the ambitious goals in 2012, the team is inspired to uplift the company to a higher level of productivity in 2013; and will continue to work diligently to deliver quality leasing solutions to individuals and enterprises operating in Mongolia, whilst creating value for their shareholders.

To view the direct link for the above, please go to http://www.xacleasing.mn/index.php?mode=content&layout=news&news-page=1.

First quarter 2013 adjusted pre-tax income was $144.5 million, versus adjusted pre-tax income of $29.4 million in the same period in 2012, and pre-tax income, on a GAAP basis, was $72.2 million versus a loss before income taxes, on a GAAP basis of $36.8 million in the first quarter of 2012. Corporate EBITDAfor the first quarter of 2013 was $367.1 million, an increase of 74.2% from the same period in 2012.

First quarter 2013 adjusted net income was $93.9 million, versus $19.4 million in the same period of 2012, resulting in adjusted diluted earnings per share for the quarter of $0.21, compared to $0.05 for the first quarter of 2012. First quarter 2013 net income attributable to Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. and Subsidiaries’ common stockholders, on a GAAP basis, was $18.0 million or $0.04 per share on a diluted basis, compared to a net loss attributable to Hertz Global Holdings, Inc. and Subsidiaries’ common stockholders, on a GAAP basis, of $56.3 million or $0.13 per share on a diluted basis for the first quarter of 2012.

Mark P. Frissora, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We’ve now achieved record year-over-year adjusted pre-tax income seven consecutive quarters and increased employee productivity twenty six consecutive quarters. Our record first quarter 2013 results were driven by year-over-year, double-digit revenue and pre-tax margin growth in the car and equipment rental and leasing businesses, especially in North America. Dollar Thrifty is performing better than anticipated, with integration and synergy progress exceeding our targets,” he added.

Worldwide equipment rental revenues were $351.0 million for the first quarter of 2013, a 16.2% increase from the prior year period. The primary drivers of the increase were stronger equipment rental volumes, up 15.7%, and a 3.6% increase in pricing. Volume increased on strong industrial and improving construction performance.

Adjusted pre-tax income for worldwide equipment rental for the first quarter of 2013 was $45.8 million, an improvement of $19.9 million from $25.9 million in the prior year period, primarily attributable to the effects of increased volume, improved pricing and cost management initiatives. Worldwide equipment rental achieved an adjusted pre-tax margin of 13.0% and a Corporate EBITDA margin⁽¹⁾ of 39.6% for the quarter.

The average acquisition cost of rental equipment operated during the first quarter of 2013 increased by 12.8% year-over-year and net revenue earning equipment as of March 31, 2013 was $2,269.5 million, compared to $1,911.1 million as of March 31, 2012.

Source: For Construction Pros

http://www.forconstructionpros.com/press_release/10931436/hertz-equipment-rental-q1-revenues-up-16-from-last-year

Signs of recovery within the manufacturing sector have been elusive; we’ve seen manufacturing hard hit by the recession and jobs eliminated. According to PayNet, the leader in small business analytics and risk management solutions, the state of U.S. Small Business Manufacturing isgrowing again by doing what it does best – inventing new industries and business processes.

The PayNet Manufacturing Index, which measures the amount of investment by small manufacturing businesses in property, plant, equipment, tools, and business units, is up 48% since 2009 – lead by the core Industrial Machinery & Equipment sector.

According to PayNet, the index for the Industrial Machinery & Equipment group, which builds gas compressors, carburetors, machine tools, and industrial fans, has fully recovered and grown to 102 points. “This sector is the biggest example of the resurgence of U.S. manufacturing,” states William Phelan, president of PayNet, Inc. “The process of re-invention and recreation is core to business right now and surviving companies have figured this out,” Phelan added. One example of re-invention is a small business which originally performed specialty metal fabrication and now cranks out 4,000 high tech diesel engine governors each year for a tractor producer.

The settlement, disclosed in court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, followed a judge’s decision earlier this month rejecting Wells Fargo’s bid to dismiss the case.

The lawsuit stemmed from the collapse of medical receivables financing company Medical Capital Holdings Inc. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Medical Capital and two executives for fraud in July 2009, and the company was soon shut down.

The investors, who had bought notes issued by three Medical Capital special purpose companies, had reached a $114 million settlement with Bank of New York Mellon Corp in February.

Wells Fargo had until recently been set to face a jury Tuesday in a three- to- four-week trial in the class action. But the trial date was vacated April 22 amid settlement talks, said Mark Molumphy, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy.

The plaintiffs planned to seek damages of $200 million to $300 million from Wells Fargo, Molumphy said. Total damages against both it and BNY Mellon were estimated at up to $400 million, he said.

“The settlements represent a significant portion of the losses attributed to the banks,” Molumphy said.

Jen Hibbard, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, said the bank was pleased to put the case behind it.

“This case is really about a fraud committed by Medical Capital, which unfortunately caused a number of parties to suffer losses,” she said.

Medical Capital had raised $1.7 billion from 20,000 investors from 2003 to July 2009 when the SEC sued it for fraud, according to court papers.

A receiver later estimated investors lost $839 million to $1.08 billion, and said the Tustin, California-based company used a “Ponzi-like scheme” to extract excess fees.

Joseph Lampariello, the former president of Medical Capital, pleaded guilty in May 2012 to criminal wire fraud related to the alleged scheme. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 26.

In the case of Wells Fargo, the bank had been the trustee for three Medical Capital special purpose companies.

Investors sued, claiming the bank had breached its duties under the trust agreements and sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Medical Capital. Wells Fargo denied the allegations.

The case is In re: Medical Capital Securities Litigation, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 10-ml-02145.

For the plaintiffs: Jeff Westerman of Westerman Law Corp; and Joseph Cotchett and Mark Molumphy of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy.

For Wells Fargo: Lawrence Barth of Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Source: Thomson Reuters

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2013/04_-_April/Wells_Fargo_in_$105_mln_pact_over_Medical_Capital_-_court_papers/

The awards recognize the top Peterbilt and Kenworth PacLease locations for success in sales and for the effort employees put forth to deliver products and services that meet and exceed customer needs, PacLease said.

“Franchise of the Year award winners consistently display outstanding quality throughout their enterprises,” said Neil Vonnahme, president of PacLease. “Award criteria were based on the PacLease Standards of Excellence program. The standards evaluate PacLease locations in key functional business areas based on quality performance.”

PacLease also named its regional franchise award winners – Northwest Region: PacLease Edmonton Kenworth, Edmonton, Alberta; Midwest Region: MHC Truck Leasing-West Region; Canada East Region: Kenworth Ontario PacLease, Concord, Ontario; Northeast Region: JX PacLease-Wauksesha, Pewaukee, Wis.; North Central: Palmer Leasing – Fort Wayne, Ind.; Southwest Region: Pape Kenworth PacLease – Oregon; South Central Region – Rush Truck Leasing-Houston, Houston, Texas; Southeast Region – Larson Transportation Group.

Source:  Fleet Owner

http://fleetowner.com/fleet-management/paclease-names-rush-truck-leasing-houston-paclease-edmonton-kenworth-top-franchises

Then they found Direct Capital, a nationwide franchise lender that has a different approach to credit underwriting when it comes to the home of the “Blizzard” and “Orange Julius.” Direct Capital quickly approved them and their financing challenges were solved.

“We are so thankful that Direct Capital was there and willing to work with us. They helped us out when no one else did,” said the Weschs.

What led Direct Capital to say “yes” when all others said “no” is a formula 20 years in the making, and the company is aggressively putting that solution to work in the franchise space, committing more than $300 million in lending this year alone.

“We have been providing financing to franchisees since we started in 1993, so we have an extraordinary amount of data,” said Eric Renaud, Senior Vice President of Portfolio Risk Management for Direct Capital. “We have built unique credit underwriting algorithms for every major franchise concept. So unlike other lenders, we’re looking way past credit scores to make decisions and there’s no single model that fits all.”

Dairy Queen(R) franchisees, like the Weschs, who have worked with Direct Capital to finance major upgrades, say the lending provided has been an excellent fit for their locations.

Beyond meeting general equipment financing needs, Direct Capital has also brought working capital solutions to Dairy Queen franchisees.

Direct Capital said it’s honored to have the opportunity to work with a leading franchisor like Dairy Queen(R) and it is passionate about continuing to solve the financing needs of its franchisees.

“Our established track record working with Dairy Queen(R) and ample lending capacity, makes us uniquely suited to support franchisees throughout their normal investment cycle, from store development projects to remodels, equipment and technology upgrades and working capital,” said Robyn Gault, Vice President of Strategic Accounts at Direct Capital.

Source: WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130501-904786.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

“Joe is an outstanding addition to the NXT Capital Venture Finance team,” said Jan Haas, Group Head. “His broad network and expertise deploying growth capital to later stage technology companies will help NXT Venture Finance further its mission of accelerating innovation with efficient capital.”

“I’m excited to join the NXT Capital Venture Finance team,” said Porten. “As emerging companies stay private longer and continue to invest heavily ahead of growth, there is increasing demand for late-stage capital. NXT’s platform is ideally positioned to provide efficient, flexible growth capital to meet that demand.”

Porten was most recently a Vice President at Battery Ventures, where he focused on technology business models in B2B and B2C software, tech-enabled business services and information services. While at Battery, Porten’s investments included Avalara and DrillingInfo.

Previously, Porten was an associate with Spectrum Equity Investors, a technology-focused private equity firm with $4 billion under management. His experience also includes roles at Concert Capital Partners and LaSalle Bank Corporation.

Porten earned an M.B.A. in finance and entrepreneurship from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago.

Source: PE Hub

http://www.pehub.com/199309/joseph-porten-joins-nxt-capital-venture-finance-director/

WHY OPERATING LEASES

Both mature and emerging markets are suffering from margin compression.  This is primarily due to the fact that the finance lease is increasingly looked upon in the market place as a loan equivalent.  Operating leases provide the customer with a host of benefits that finance leases do not; and, simultaneously allow the lessor to benefit from profit sources not found in finance leases.

WHY AMEMBAL & ASSOCIATES

Amembal & Associates is the world’s foremost authority in lease training, consultancy and publications.  Mr. Sudhir Amembal, its CEO, has been at the helm of the company since he co-founded it in 1978.

With regards to training, over 70,000 leasing professionals have attended varied seminars/conferences held throughout the world; and, with regards to publications, the firm has authored and published 16 industry best-sellers.

In particular, having to do with operating leases, Mr. Amembal authored “A Complete Guide to Operating Leases”, the only publication of its kind.  Mr. Amembal recently organized the first-ever conference solely dedicated to operating leases.  This was held in November, 2012 – it was a sell-out!  Based on feedback received, it was one of the best leasing conferences ever held.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The two day seminar is our most popular public seminar and is held only twice each year.  Topics include:

• Why Operating Leases
• Unique Benefits to Lessees and Lessors
• Convincing Customers that Operating Leases are the Cheapest Mode of Acquisition
• Asset Life Cycle Management
• Off Balance Sheet Financing – Surviving the Forthcoming Changes
• Pricing Nuances
• Understanding and Managing Six Unique Risks
• Mitigating Residual Risk
• Varied Vendor Arrangements

WHO SHOULD ATTEND AND WHY

• For those currently offering the product – your skills will definitely be fine tuned!
• For those contemplating offering the product – you will learn how to!
• For those who have no desire to offer the product – you will learn what your competitors are doing!

WHAT NEXT

For detailed brochure and registration form contact Kelly Farnham at kelly@amembalandassociates.com.

The governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga says the Department of Port Administration is heading the negotiations with Inter Island Air.

He says the negotiations also includes lease to own of the nine seater aircraft, which provides air service to Ofu island in the Manua island group.

Inter Island Air provides air service only to the Fitiuta Airport on Tau island in Manu’a.

Lolo says he is concerned that the government could not withstand a liability suit if a passenger is hurt when travelling on the government plane.

He says, however, Inter Island does provide insurance under its Federal Aviation Authority certification.

“By having the Inter Island get into that, they will provide insurance, many people will be secure when they fly versus what we have here, they can fly but if anything happens we will be liable, we will be liable for any of that.”

Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga says there is no deadline to complete negotiations.

Source: RNZI

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=75644

Under the agreement, Better Place will set up an electric vehicle charging infrastructure at IAI factories and project sites around the country to maximize daily use of the cars. The first electric cars will be delivered to IAI in May.

IAI VP operations, procurement and logistics Yaakov Goldman said, “IAI continues its ongoing green activities and is joining the electric transport revolution that will reduce the level of air pollution. In addition to protecting the environment, the transition to electric vehicles will bring the company financial savings.”

Source: EV World

http://www.evworld.com/news.cfm?newsid=30139