ABF Journal, November/December 2005
November/December 2005

WRAPPING UP 2005
A Take on Select Borrower Industries

What’s “In Store” —
ABL Financing & the Mid-Market Retail Sector

By Cheryl Carner, National Director/Retail Finance, CapitalSource Inc.

Retail by its nature is a precarious business, and the sector’s general health appears especially vulnerable to internal and external forces as 200 approaches. For the short term, the outlook is positive, though energy costs and other troubling economic trends could reverse this forecast in a heartbeat. Still, mid-market retailers continue to have considerable leverage in structuring and negotiating favorable deals to take advantage of attractive financing options for leveraged buyouts, acquisitions and recapitalizations. (Ref # RETAIL009)

Second Lien Loan Market — Syndicated vs. Book and Hold
By Colin P. Cross, Managing Director, Back Bay Capital Funding LLC

The second lien loan market is once again expected to have a record year in 2005, after explosive growth from $3.2 billion in 2003 to more than $12 billion in 2004. Fueling this growth has been the extensive use of second lien loans for all purposes and the packaging of these loans into syndicates by large commercial and Wall Street investment banks.
(Ref # LSP022)

Furniture Industry Focus
Strategic Responses to Globalization Among First-Tier Suppliers:

By William J. Burpitt, associate professor of management at Elon University’s Love School of Business, prepared this report for Anderson Bauman Tourtellot Vos & Company

The following study illustrates how firms in a declining industry — in this case, the U.S. furniture industry — respond to growing international competition and foreign sourcing and describes the performance implications of those responses. (Ref # IND071)

A PROFILE OF SUCCESS
Siemens Financial Services — The Mouse That Roared
An Interview with Siemens Financial Services North America’s New President and CEO, Roland Chalons-Browne

In October 2005, when William Zadrozny announced he was stepping down as CEO of Siemens Financial Services, the company sought out Roland Chalons-Browne, who was by then in his 15th year with the American unit of German bank WestLB. When the company came knocking, Chalons-Browne accepted the offer with alacrity, realizing an opportunity existed for personal — as well as professional — growth.
(Ref # EXEC026)

Questioning the Status Quo… An Alternate Approach to Leadership
A Profile of Joe Accardi, Managing Director, Siemens Financial Asset-Based Lending
(Ref # EXEC027)

TURNAROUND CORNER
Musings of a Turnaround Manager…
Keeping Pace With Industry Changes

By Robert D. Katz, Managing Director, Executive Sounding Board Associates, Inc.

The last three decades have seen many significant changes in the corporate renewal space. The times gave birth to the industry, and its swirling winds in the years since have allowed it to grow and prosper. Today, it continues to redefine itself, as its participants become more technically advanced, and enhanced systems and technology enable them to do larger and more lucrative transactions. (Ref # TM048)

FACTORING FOCUS
Emerging From the Tunnel… Factors Can Expect a New Mix in 2006
By Thomas G. Siska, President of Credit Support International, Inc. & Managing Director, FactorHelp, Inc.

In last year’s forecast, Tom Siska and four industry leaders predicted that factoring was coming out of the tunnel. The mood this year reflects an industry that has certainly emerged from dark times. It may not be time to pull out the sunglasses yet, but the view certainly looks better ahead.
(Ref # FAC049)

LEGAL EYES

Focusing on Knowledge-Based Asset…
IPR Lending & Security in England (Part I)

By Neil James, Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP

In this, the first of a two-part series, Neil James of Winston & Strawn LLP’s London office will examine why asset-based lenders on both sides of the Atlantic need to focus on intellectual property rights (IPR); what IPR borrowers may seek to leverage; why and how value can be ascribed to IPR; and the means of securing IPR not only to protect an asset-based lender’s facilities, but also to facilitate a customer’s exploitation of those rights to develop its business. Part II will appear in the January/ February 2006 issue of ABF Journal. (Ref # INTL026)

PUTTING IT TOGETHER
What’s in a Name? How Trade Names
Were Instrumental in Creating Liquidity for Gibson Guitar

By Ferrell Coppedge, Southeast/Atlantic Division President, Bank of America Business Capital

Gibson Guitar Corporation recently found out how valuable its trade names are when it secured a $136.2 million credit facility. Its trade names took center stage in determining how much the music icon could borrow. While it’s not uncommon for lenders to use brand names as collateral, the way in which trade names were used in this transaction was unique. (Ref # DLS016)