In the Marketplace

Interpool, Inc. of Princeton, NJ, has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Interpool Containers Limited, has entered into an agreement to sell a substantial majority of its operating lease portfolio of standard dry marine cargo containers to a newly formed subsidiary of an investor group based in Switzerland. Following the sale, Interpool and its 50%-owned subsidiary, Container Applications International, Inc., will perform management services on behalf of the purchaser for the containers being sold, and Interpool will continue its active businesses of leasing cargo containers and container chassis to shipping lines and other customers. The container sale involves a total of approximately 273,000 standard dry marine cargo containers, as well as an assignment of all of ICL's rights under existing leases for this equipment. The purchase price is approximately $515 million, and sale is expected to close on March 31, 2006.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released a statement and response to the SEC's study on arrangements with off balance sheet implications, special purpose entities, and transparency of filings by issuers. In the statement, FASB reaffirmed 'its commitment to improving transparency and usefulness of financial reporting to better serve investors and the capital markets.' FASB's response to the SEC's 'Off Balance Sheet Report' discusses a number of 'fundamental structural, institutional, cultural, and behavioral forces that it believes cause complexity and impede transparent financial reporting.' The response provides an update on FASB's activities and projects intended to address and improve outdated, overly complex accounting standards. These areas include accounting for leases; accounting for pensions and other post employment benefits; consolidation policies; accounting for financial instruments; accounting for intangible assets; and conceptual and disclosure frameworks. The FASB has also 'undertaken several initiatives aimed at improving the understandability, consistency, and overall usability of existing accounting literature, through codification, by attempting to stem the proliferation of new pronouncements emanating from multiple sources, and by developing new standards in a 'principles-based' or 'objectives-oriented' approach.' The full text of FASB's response is available at www.fasb.org/fasb_response_sec_study_obs.pdf.