In The Marketplace

Nassau Asset Management of Roslyn Heights, NY has released its NasTrac Quarterly Index (NQI), which shows that repossessions of construction equipment dropped by 53% during the four quarters of 2004. In addition, when all four quarters of 2004 are compared with 2003, the report shows the annual volume of construction repossessions was down 6%.

Ed Castagna, senior executive vice president of Nassau, notes that these figures correlate with CIT Equipment Finance's 2005 Construction Industry Forecast that surveys U.S. construction executives. CIT's survey recently reported that contractors plan to double their spending on new equipment this year. Likewise, 54% of equipment distributors expect to sell more new equipment this year than they did in 2004.

On the negative side, the NQI also showed that despite an overall drop in the volume of construction equipment repossessions in 2004, the value of repossessed construction equipment actually rose during the fourth quarter. Castagna reported that more cranes and top-dollar equipment went on the block in the fourth quarter, as did equipment seized from smaller industry players squeezed out of business by larger companies. The result was a 131% increase in the value of construction equipment Nassau repossessed in the fourth Quarter 2004 compared with fourth Quarter 2003.

Each quarter, Nassau Asset Management releases its public NasTrac Quarterly Index on the top five repossessed capital assets. The index is based on the company's internal records on liquidations. Results must be viewed over several quarters to establish long-term trends since all industries experience cyclical changes. For more information on the NQI, visit www.nasset.com.

North Fork Bancorporation, Inc. of Melville, N.Y. and its equipment leasing and finance subsidiary, All Points Capital Corp. headquartered in New York has announced that it has opened an origination office headquartered in the Seattle area. Richard Kurz, formerly of Washington Mutual Equipment Finance and SAFECO Capital Credit Company will head the office on behalf of All Points as senior vice president/group manager. The new office will include full service sales and underwriting capabilities and is staffed by several of Kurz's former associates. In addition to the Seattle office, four satellite sales offices have been staffed and opened in Detroit, Boston, Dallas and Minneapolis. Several additional sales offices in the midwest and western United States are planned.

RVI Group of Stamford, CT announced that John Oates, Rick Meyer, and Lauren Hill have joined with RVI to form a new valuation/ appraisal company, Lease Valuation International, Inc. The firm will initially focus on structured finance and leasing-related efforts on a global basis. Offices will be in Chicago and Stamford, CT with satellite offices in London and Melbourne, Australia. Oates and Hill were formerly with Deloitte & Touche LLP where they were responsible for the lease valuation services practice. Meyer had been at American Appraisal Associates as Managing Director of the Structured Finance Group since 1998. The RVI Group provides residual value insurance to companies active in leasing, asset securitizations, and other residual-driven financings. RVI covers the deficiency created when the fair market value of an asset at lease termination is less than the insured value. It enables off balance sheet accounting by lessees, earlier recognition of lease income for lessors, and improves loan-to-value ratios for lenders.

Key Equipment Finance of Superior, CO has named Richard Tinnon as senior vice president and chief financial officer. He will replace John Pfeiffenberger, who will hold the position until he retires at the end of March. Prior to joining Key, Tinnon served as director of financial planning and analysis for Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, CA. Previously, Tinnon spent 16 years with GATX Capital in San Francisco, where he was vice president and chief of staff.

ORIX USA Corporation of Dallas has expanded its corporate finance capabilities through the formation of the Corporate Finance Group, which provides a variety of credit products and financing solutions to corporate customers in specific market segments. These include:

• Leveraged Finance, which provides credit to middle market and private companies and their investors, with credit facilities of $5- to $50-million for acquisitions, management buyouts, recapitalizations, and other needs.
• Mezzanine Finance works in partnership with Leveraged Finance to provide unsecured or subordinated capital in transactions ranging from $5-to $25-million.
• Structured Finance provides highly structured equipment leases and loans to middle market and larger corporate customers in a broad range of capital intensive industries.
• Venture Finance serves mid- and late-stage venture capital backed companies seeking financing for growth, acquisitions, and other needs.
• Capital Markets participates in a broad range of investment activities in the public, non-investment grade bond and loan markets, including the asset-backed and distressed debt securities markets.

In a separate announcement, the company's Kennesaw, GA based Structured Finance division recently exceeded $1 billion in new business volume since its inception 4 years ago. In addition, the company further announced the hiring of Jeffrey D. Holtshopple as vice president for the Structured Finance division. He will be based in Southern California and will be responsible for direct lease and loan origination in the western United States.

Nassau Asset Management of Roslyn Heights, NY has released its NasTrac Quarterly Index (NQI), which shows that repossessions of construction equipment dropped by 53% during the four quarters of 2004. In addition, when all four quarters of 2004 are compared with 2003, the report shows the annual volume of construction repossessions was down 6%.

Ed Castagna, senior executive vice president of Nassau, notes that these figures correlate with CIT Equipment Finance's 2005 Construction Industry Forecast that surveys U.S. construction executives. CIT's survey recently reported that contractors plan to double their spending on new equipment this year. Likewise, 54% of equipment distributors expect to sell more new equipment this year than they did in 2004.

On the negative side, the NQI also showed that despite an overall drop in the volume of construction equipment repossessions in 2004, the value of repossessed construction equipment actually rose during the fourth quarter. Castagna reported that more cranes and top-dollar equipment went on the block in the fourth quarter, as did equipment seized from smaller industry players squeezed out of business by larger companies. The result was a 131% increase in the value of construction equipment Nassau repossessed in the fourth Quarter 2004 compared with fourth Quarter 2003.

Each quarter, Nassau Asset Management releases its public NasTrac Quarterly Index on the top five repossessed capital assets. The index is based on the company's internal records on liquidations. Results must be viewed over several quarters to establish long-term trends since all industries experience cyclical changes. For more information on the NQI, visit www.nasset.com.

North Fork Bancorporation, Inc. of Melville, N.Y. and its equipment leasing and finance subsidiary, All Points Capital Corp. headquartered in New York has announced that it has opened an origination office headquartered in the Seattle area. Richard Kurz, formerly of Washington Mutual Equipment Finance and SAFECO Capital Credit Company will head the office on behalf of All Points as senior vice president/group manager. The new office will include full service sales and underwriting capabilities and is staffed by several of Kurz's former associates. In addition to the Seattle office, four satellite sales offices have been staffed and opened in Detroit, Boston, Dallas and Minneapolis. Several additional sales offices in the midwest and western United States are planned.

RVI Group of Stamford, CT announced that John Oates, Rick Meyer, and Lauren Hill have joined with RVI to form a new valuation/ appraisal company, Lease Valuation International, Inc. The firm will initially focus on structured finance and leasing-related efforts on a global basis. Offices will be in Chicago and Stamford, CT with satellite offices in London and Melbourne, Australia. Oates and Hill were formerly with Deloitte & Touche LLP where they were responsible for the lease valuation services practice. Meyer had been at American Appraisal Associates as Managing Director of the Structured Finance Group since 1998. The RVI Group provides residual value insurance to companies active in leasing, asset securitizations, and other residual-driven financings. RVI covers the deficiency created when the fair market value of an asset at lease termination is less than the insured value. It enables off balance sheet accounting by lessees, earlier recognition of lease income for lessors, and improves loan-to-value ratios for lenders.

Key Equipment Finance of Superior, CO has named Richard Tinnon as senior vice president and chief financial officer. He will replace John Pfeiffenberger, who will hold the position until he retires at the end of March. Prior to joining Key, Tinnon served as director of financial planning and analysis for Silicon Valley Bank in Santa Clara, CA. Previously, Tinnon spent 16 years with GATX Capital in San Francisco, where he was vice president and chief of staff.

ORIX USA Corporation of Dallas has expanded its corporate finance capabilities through the formation of the Corporate Finance Group, which provides a variety of credit products and financing solutions to corporate customers in specific market segments. These include:

• Leveraged Finance, which provides credit to middle market and private companies and their investors, with credit facilities of $5- to $50-million for acquisitions, management buyouts, recapitalizations, and other needs.
• Mezzanine Finance works in partnership with Leveraged Finance to provide unsecured or subordinated capital in transactions ranging from $5-to $25-million.
• Structured Finance provides highly structured equipment leases and loans to middle market and larger corporate customers in a broad range of capital intensive industries.
• Venture Finance serves mid- and late-stage venture capital backed companies seeking financing for growth, acquisitions, and other needs.
• Capital Markets participates in a broad range of investment activities in the public, non-investment grade bond and loan markets, including the asset-backed and distressed debt securities markets.

In a separate announcement, the company's Kennesaw, GA based Structured Finance division recently exceeded $1 billion in new business volume since its inception 4 years ago. In addition, the company further announced the hiring of Jeffrey D. Holtshopple as vice president for the Structured Finance division. He will be based in Southern California and will be responsible for direct lease and loan origination in the western United States.