PEOPLE
Patricia Nielsen will join Basis 100 Inc. assuming the position of president and chief operating officer, effective January 31, 2000. Prior to this appointment, Neilsen served as CEO and president for GE Capital IT Solutions Canada.
CALENDAR
February 9-12 in Phoenix, AZ: Frank J. Fabozzi, Inc./InformationManagementNetwork present The Fifth Annual Summit On Asset Securitization 2000. For more information please call (212) 768-2800 ext 1.
February 13-16 in Scottsdale, AZ: Strategic Research Institute presents The 7th Annual Asset Securitization 2000 Symposium. For more information please call 1-800-599-4950.
February 24-25 in New York City: Frank J. Fabozzi, Inc/InformationManagementNetwork present CBOs, CLOs, CDOs Forum 2000. For more information please call (212) 768-2800 ext 1.
MISCELLANEOUS
Gardenburger Inc. has completed a new $25 million credit facility with Bank of America with improved asset-backed borrowing levels and less restrictive covenants, enhancing its current and future funds availability. The facility replaces an existing $20 million line-of-credit with the bank and is effective through December 23, 2002.
Robert Schulz, 1994 libertarian candidate for New York governor, has sued Westchester County, claiming the county violated state law by selling $103 million of bonds backed tobacco-settlement proceeds. Schulz claims that according to the state’s constitution, municipal bond sales must pay for capital projects.
Officials disputed the suit saying the bond proceeds are being used appropriately. The suit names Alan Scheinkman, Westchester County attorney; Andrew Spano, Westchester County executive and the Westchester board of legislators. Also included were the Westchester County Health Care Corp. and the Westchester Tobacco Securitization Corp.
LoanWise.com added Heller Financial, Inc. to its roster of lenders last week. With this alliance LoanWise.com will expose more than 500 daily applicants access to Heller’s small business financing services, including: financing for commercial real estate, equipment purchasing and business acquisitions. Heller’s small business finance subsidiary is the nation’s largest SBA lender.
In the last two months LoanWise.com has tripled its lender base, which now includes 21 financial institutions.
MBNA Bank America and barnesandnoble.com have announced an agreement to develop and market a co-branded credit card that allows customers to earn rewards at barnesandnoble.com and Barnes & Noble retail stores.
This is the first and only arrangement that spans the Internet and traditional sales channels of a major U.S. retailer. MBNA will have the exclusive right to market credit cards to barnesandnoble.com’s customers, while barnesandnoble.com will have the opportunity to markets its products to millions of MBNA’s customers.
Currently, only New York and a few surrounding counties have securitized part of their tobacco settlements, but Virginia is ready to join their ranks. The state is set to become one of the first states to use this technique to convert part of its $6 billion stream of yearly payments from tobacco companies into ready cash.
