No deal: GE not buying home lender PHH
PHH Corp., its proposed sale a victim of last year's capital-markets crisis, faces a tough road as an independent company. The Mount Laurel mortgage lender and vehicle fleet manager terminated its sales agreement Tuesday with GE Capital, which had agreed
PHH Corp., its proposed sale a victim of last year's capital-markets crisis, faces a tough road as an independent company. The Mount Laurel mortgage lender and vehicle fleet manager terminated its sales agreement Tuesday with GE Capital, which had agreed in March to buy PHH for $1.7 billion in a deal involving the immediate sale of the mortgage business to the Blackstone Group L.P. The sale had been in trouble since September, when private-equity firm Blackstone said its investment bankers were balking on part of the financing. PHH employs 2,033 in Mount Laurel, where its mortgage business is based, according to spokeswoman Karen K. McCallson. The fleet-management business is based in Sparks, Md. Both segments were spun out of Cendant Corp. in 2005. A.B. Krongard, nonexecutive chairman of PHH, said in a news release that the board would "determine in due course whether to continue to explore the company's strategic alternatives." See:
Orleans Homebuilders sells off properties at a loss
Orleans Homebuilders Inc. said it recorded a $55 million pretax charge on the sale of about 1,400 building lots, mostly in Florida, Illinois and Arizona, in nine separate deals for $32 million. The Bensalem company said the sale, which reduced the number of lots it owns and controls by 10 percent, would help it weather the severe downturn in the residential real estate industry. The U.S. Commerce Department reported last week that new-home sales were at a 12-year low in November. Existing-home sales climbed slightly from October to November, but were still 20 percent below November 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors. In recent months, D.R. Horton Inc., Toll Bros. Inc. and Centex Corp., among the nation's largest home builders, recorded a combined $1.6 billion in charges to write down inventory, which is slumping in value during the housing bust. See:
http://go.philly.com/ORLEANS06
After a difficult 2007, US Airways is optimistic
US Airways Group Inc. was eager to ring in the new year after getting beat up on Wall Street in 2007. Though the company consistently surpassed analysts' earnings expectations, shares for the Tempe, Ariz., carrier have taken a 12-month nose-dive. By December, investors saw their stock drop three-quarters in value. US Airways shares ended last year at $14.71, down 76 percent from the year's high of $61.96 on Jan. 16. The airline industry as a whole lost ground in the stock market, but its decline - 48 percent, as measured by the Amex airline index - was not as steep. US Airways carries about 60 percent of the traffic at Philadelphia International Airport. Surging oil prices are to blame for the industrywide drop on Wall Street. Beyond that, though, US Airways endured a stream of bad news as management struggled to combine operations two years after America West Airlines bought the former US Airways. See:
philly.com/USAIR06
Bonovitz ends his run as Duane Morris chief
After a decade as chairman and chief executive officer of Duane Morris L.L.P., a prominent Center City law firm, Sheldon Bonovitz announced that he was stepping down and that he would be replaced by his deputy, John Soroko, a top trial lawyer.
Bonovitz presided over the firm during a period of explosive growth, both for Duane Morris and other large firms in the Philadelphia region and nationally. During his tenure, revenue grew from about $72 million a year to $375 million last year, while the number of lawyers at the firm increased from about 250 to 650, and the firm added 14 offices domestically and abroad.
Bonovitz, 70, said he was stepping down because he had achieved many goals he had set for himself when he took over in 1998. He said he would continue to be active in the firm in business development and recruiting while practicing some law.
"It feels right. The firm had a record year, and the time to change is when things are going great," said Bonovitz, who is also a director at Comcast Corp. and serves on the boards of a number of cultural institutions in the Philadelphia region. "If I were 10 years younger or even 15 years younger, I think I would have come to the same decision." See:
BONOVITZ06
Coming tomorrow
The worst is yet to come in the housing and mortgage markets, when analysts expect the number of repossessed houses to surge.