| Sumitomo Trust, Aozora Bank to form broad business tie-up
Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. and Aozora Bank announced Tuesday they will form a comprehensive business tie-up in the three fields of real estate, trust and asset management. The two banks made the decision to survive intensifying competition from megabanks, but they stressed they will not form a capital tie-up. By offering services and financial products to each other's customers, the two banks plan to strengthen their foundation for higher profitability. The two banks said they will first set up a "tie-up promotion committee" consisting of senior officials of both banks. The committee will decide on the details of the tie-up by March next year, including a possible expansion of the alliance beyond the three fields. According to the agreement between the two banks, an Aozora group company with strength in collecting debts will support the rehabilitation of Sumitomo Trust's debt-ridden client companies using their real estate.
ResCap Commences Cash Tender Offer for US$750 Million Aggregate Principal Amount of its Outstanding Debt Securities
Residential Capital, LLC (ResCap) today announced that it has commenced a cash tender offer for its debt securities listed in the table below (the notes). ResCap is offering to purchase up to US$750 million aggregate principal amount (the maximum tender amount) of the notes, upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in its Offer to Purchase, dated Nov. 21, 2007 and the related Letter of Transmittal. The tender offer will expire at 12:00 midnight EST on Dec. 19, 2007, unless extended or earlier terminated by ResCap in its sole discretion (the expiration time).
The total consideration for each US$1,000 principal amount of notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase pursuant to the tender offer will be the applicable total consideration in the table below (in each case, the total consideration).
TECO moves to reduce debt
TECO Energy Inc. said it would begin a series of debt tender and exchange offers as part of its debt management plan. The plan will allow the company to make additional investments in Tampa Electric Co. to support its growing capital requirements associated with customer growth, transmission and distribution system reliability improvements, and environmental compliance, TECO said in a release. The plan calls for replacing TECO Energy notes that mature between 2011 and 2015 with notes issued by TECO Finance Inc., the company's wholly owned finance subsidiary. Additionally, TECO Energy notes that mature in 2011 and 2012 will be extended and coupon on them reset. TECO has committed to pay off up $500 million in debt through 2010, beyond the $357 million of debt that matured this year, according to the release.
Zambia: Times Board Sets Debt Recovery Plan
TIMES Printpak Limited board has instituted a far-reaching debt recovery programme with immediate effect to ensure that the company continues to give quality service and remain commercially viable. Board chairman, Sebastian Kopulande said in a statement issued in Lusaka yesterday that the board of directors resolved to institute several measures including a door-to-door debt collection exercise. .
Raid corporate pirates' arsenal
The specter of private equity - and the prospect of being snapped up, stripped down, and sold at a colossal profit, all in the name of maximizing value - has shaken traditional managers to the core. But the best strategy for warding off the buyout pirates, who have been gobbling up and restructuring ever larger companies in recent years, may be to think, act, and manage just like them. So says Robert C. Pozen, chairman of the Boston money management firm MFS Investment Management. In a provocative essay in this month's edition of Harvard Business Review, he contends that the private equity industry - those buyout and hedge funds that have been playing a growing role in the economy - can offer lessons in "value enhancement" to managers and directors of public corporations.
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