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Nice!...Fortress, others take-aim at Florida bank -- FT
On watch to add/buy here; new pending catalyst deal; currently priced below recent successful follow-on offering and related insider buying @ $5.00/share
I believe this will gain nice traction in near term ...now forming techical next-leg up and trading to close above its' 200 MA again. 3-month Chart looks positioned for strong move upward, may re-test recent highs with new fundamentals as good catalyst with significant deal-development potential ahead.
Preliminary NEWS (Today) -- 05-28-2008
NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) - Fortress Investment Group (FIG.N), one of the world's largest private equity and hedge fund managers, and other investors are near an agreement to acquire control of a Florida retail bank, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the transaction.
Under a deal, which could be announced Thursday, Fortress and other investors including Crestview Partners and Lightyear Capital will inject $800 million of capital into First Southern Bancorp Inc (FSOF.PK), a community bank with less than $400 million of assets, the newspaper said.
The people familiar with the transaction, whose names were not given, said First Southern has a clean balance sheet and would be a good vehicle for consolidating other banks. Fortress spokeswoman Lilly Donohue did not return calls seeking comment.
Fortress founders Wes Edens and Pete Briger are veterans of the last banking crisis 20 years ago, snapping up assets at distressed prices following the collapse of U.S. savings & loan industry in the early 1990s.
A few days ago a different group of private equity firms acquired Florida's BankUnited Financial Corp (BKUNA.O) in an auction from U.S. government regulators. Five months ago, private investors bought the assets of failed bank IndyMac from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The First Southern deal does not involve any government support, although it will require regulatory approval, FT reported. Investors in BankUnited have a loss-sharing agreement with the U.S. government.
Fortress plans to install Eugene Taylor, a former Fleet Financial and Bank of America executive, as First Southern's chief executive, the paper said. (Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone, editing by Dave Zimmerman)
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Good day gentlemen.
Still looking good, time to load more shares
NICE!!! This is the spike I've been waiting for, more to come folks
Looking at the chart this could easily go over $4 here soon and more than likely to $5
Wahoooo great close $3.46!! Looking good for the rest of the week
Bought in today with bad timing, in at $3.05
sold FIG too soon
Filled Sell 2000 FIG Limit 3.01 -- -- 13:20:09 04/23/09
FIG come to papa
FIG 2.97 weeee
Credit crunch hurt leverage buyouts and FIG was the victim of this downfall.
very sweet. could it break 1.50 today?
Still undervalued at these prices
09 could be a banner year.
Nice article. Should bring some interest here.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Hedge-Fund-Giant-Walks-the-indie-13951780.html
Still, some market watchers believe that hedge and private equity firms like Fortress may be well positioned to benefit from the recent market turmoil, picking up distressed assets on the cheap. Fortress didn't pay a third-quarter dividend, saying it wanted to conserve cash and deploy capital towards new investments. The firm recently announced that it also won't pay a fourth-quarter dividend and has also suspended redemptions from several of its biggest funds.
Yep i saw that as well. Giddy up
yahoo lists a 4.4m short position or aprox 5% of float. I would assume they are covering now
Pre market seems to indicate so. This looked like it had the makings to break 2.00...well see too early to tell.
I think it's up from here.
got caught in this one...hope to see it reverse on friday...eoy selling, profit taking and shorting made for a rough day.
Good luck to you also
Oh, I have been milkin fig since I bought in at .87 last week. good luck to you.
Milk it Butch!!! :0)
It is $1.00 now? Anyone to shed light on this popy?
Up from here or into the toilet?
Interesting story unfolding here....:)
Oregonians critical of rail shutdown
Friday April 25, 1:18 pm ET
By Sarah Skidmore, Associated Press Writer
Oregonians tell feds of problems with rail shutdown, urge more oversight
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Regional shippers and several members of Oregon's Congressional delegation say the owner of a closed railroad line has shirked its duties and urged federal regulators to increase their oversight of carriers.
Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith and Rep. Peter DeFazio testified Thursday before the federal Surface Transportation Board, along with Allyn Ford, representing the Coos-Siskiyou Shippers Coalition of shippers.
All complained about the problems the state has faced since Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad -- and its parent company, RailAmerica -- abruptly closed the line that runs between the Eugene and Coos Bay areas last fall.
"We depend on railroads," Smith told the board at the hearing in Washington D.C. "We need owners who are serious about railroads because we are serious about them."
RailAmerica officials declined comment, but are expected to speak before the board Friday.
The Oregon delegation has been vocal about the difficulties the shutdown caused businesses that had to scramble to find alternate means of getting their goods to market. They've also lambasted the owners for conflicting messages about the decision and failure to reopen the line.
"Buying a railroad is not like buying a fast-food franchise," Smith said. "There is a responsibility to serve the public that comes with owning a railroad."
The Surface Transportation Board held the two-day hearing to assess the obligation of carriers on railroads. There is some discussion in the U.S. Senate of increasing federal regulation of railroads.
The Oregon delegation did not ask for heavy regulation, but did push for a clarification of the duties carriers have toward the public.
The federal board has given RailAmerica a month to justify its actions in closing the line. If the board determines RailAmerica abandoned the line, someone else could come in and operate it.
Critics say the carrier neglected its public obligation and acted illegally, possibly for the financial benefit of its parent organization -- hedge fund Fortress Investment Group.
"It grows out of something larger," Smith told The Associated Press. "A lot of hedge funds have looked to invest in railroads and their obligation is short term. We need to make it clear that there are profits to be made in owning a railroad but there are public responsibilities that come with that."
RailAmerica closed the line in September, with just one day's notice, citing safety reasons. Initially, the company said there was not enough to traffic to justify reopening the line. It later said it would reopen it if the state would provide much of the money to do so.
The state has repeatedly rejected such requests, saying the line must reopen first.
CORP has also raised rates and reduced service on its Siskiyou line in southern Oregon, and threatened to cease operations altogether.
Critics and regulators have also questioned the company's actions, saying an inspection showed the safety problems had been developing for some time and the company might have failed to invest in proper maintenance.
"Railroads have a duty to provide service upon reasonable request," Wyden said. "By law, a railroad may not refuse to provide service merely because to do so would be inconvenient or unprofitable."
At the same time the company was requesting subsidies from the state, the hedge fund parent organization loaned $24 million to Michael Jackson for his Neverland ranch. Wyden criticized the move and said the company could have upgraded the entire 136 miles of the track to pristine condition with that money.
"Fortress and CORP are in their own Neverland," Wyden said. "A world where others will pay for their business operations. Who wouldn't want to get a deal like that if they could get away with it?"
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080425/or_rail_hearing.html?.v=1
Mississippi Gaming Commission approves Penn National buyout
Thursday April 17, 5:25 pm ET
Mississippi Gaming Commission approves Penn National Gaming takeover by investment companies
WYOMISSING, Pa. (AP) -- Penn National Gaming Inc., which operates casinos and racetracks, said Thursday it received Mississippi Gaming Commission approval for its pending takeover by two investment groups.
Fortress Investment Group LLC and Centerbridge Partners LP agreed to buy the company for $67 per share in June.
The deal is expected to close late in the second quarter. If the transaction is not complete by June 15, the offer will increase by about a penny per share per day.
Shares rose 31 cents to close at $40.36.
Penn gets New Mexico gaming board approval for acquisition
Wednesday April 16, 7:29 am ET
Penn National receives New Mexico Gaming Control Board OK for proposed acquisition
WYOMISSING, Pa. (AP) -- Racetrack and casino operator Penn National Gaming Inc. said it received New Mexico Gaming Control Board approval for its proposed acquisition by Fortress Investment Group LLC and Centerbridge Partners LP.
Fortress and Centerbridge's $67-per-share offer was accepted by Penn in June 2007.
The proposed transaction has already received approval from the Ohio Racing Commission, the New Jersey Racing Commission and the West Virginia Lottery Commission.
Penn shareholders approved the deal in December.
The transaction is still being reviewed by the New Mexico Racing Commission and the West Virginia Racing Commission, Penn said late Tuesday.
Penn is looking to complete the acquisition late in the second quarter.
Some distressed-debt investors are buying
Activity may help stabilize markets, but most action limited to mortgages
By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch
Last update: 7:14 p.m. EDT April 3, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Some distressed-debt investors have begun buying and if such activity picks up later this year it could help stabilize credit markets, experts said this week.
The strategy involves buying bonds and other securities of companies that are near or in bankruptcy, then hopefully selling later when they recover or reorganize under court protection from creditors. See story on hopes for strategy
Credit markets have been hit by a dearth of buyers in recent months as some hedge funds and other leveraged investors have been forced to sell positions to meet margin calls. Banks and brokerage firms have been particularly hard hit as dwindling activity in some markets made some holdings tougher to value, leading to billions of dollars in write-downs.
In this environment, the emergence of new buyers would be a welcome sign and could help set prices on a firmer footing.
The leveraged loan market, which finances private-equity buyouts and other acquisitions, has become particularly reliant on distressed debt investors, according to David Resnick, co-head of investment banking at Rothschild, a note restructuring and bankruptcy advisor.
"They're crucial to the liquidity of the market now and are really setting the terms," Resnick explained. "That's a very interesting dynamic that's different from previous cycles."
Dan Och, head of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC, said in late February that the firm's largest hedge fund - the $20 billion OZ Master Fund - has put 10% of its money into credit strategies, up from zero before the crunch hit last summer. Most of that has been invested in senior, secured loans. See full story
"Banks are constrained and off-balance sheet conduits are no longer buying. Insurers probably won't be buying either," said Ron Greenspan, senior managing director at FTI Consulting, which advises creditors and lenders on corporate bankruptcies and re-organizations. "So the hedge funds will be the first big movers and the good news is that they have abundant capital to do it."
Mortgages
Despite a slowing economy and credit market turmoil, corporate bankruptcies have yet to increase much. That's leading some distressed debt investors to focus on trouble mortgages.
Indeed, Och said his firm's main fund has begun buying beaten-down home loans.
"We're likely to get more aggressive over the next six to 12 months," he added. "We see more opportunity in that area going forward."
Fortress Investment Group plans to raise $15 billion to $20 billion in new capital this year to pounce on opportunities created by the credit crunch.
Distressed mortgage-related securities may offer the most compelling investment opportunities, Wes Edens, chief executive of the hedge fund and private-equity firm, said.
Edens described the current crisis as "one of the great de-leveraging events of our lifetime," in which far too many assets are for sale with not enough financially strong buyers around to snap them up. See story on the 'Great Unwind'
That's left some assets trading at very cheap prices, relative to the outlook for actual credit losses, Edens said.
"Now is the time to look to buy," he said. "The gap between the market's perception and the actual risk is the widest I've ever seen."
In late March, BlackRock Inc. and hedge fund firm Highfields Capital Management unveiled new $2 billion vehicle called PennyMac that will buy distressed home loans. See full story
Citadel Investment Group, a big hedge fund firm run by Ken Griffin, bought a $3 billion portfolio of troubled mortgage-related securities for $800 million from struggling broker E-Trade Financial late last year.
Marathon Asset Management LLC, a $9 billion distressed debt hedge fund firm, rolled out a new fund to buy distressed mortgage assets in the summer.
Fortress posts loss; stock up on dividend news
Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:59pm EDT
BOSTON (Reuters) - Fortress Investment Group on Tuesday reported a quarterly loss after payments to its principals, but the hedge fund and private equity company's shares rose nearly 4 percent amid signals that business was strong despite tough conditions.
The 10-year-old company, one of very few publicly traded hedge and private equity fund firms, posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $29.3 million, or 43 cents a share, compared with year-earlier net income of $290 million.
Fortress, which went public in February 2007, did not provide earnings per share for the year-earlier period.
Pretax distributable earnings fell 43 percent to $78 million, or 18 cents a share, in line with the analysts' average forecast, according to Reuters Estimates.
Quarterly revenue fell 22 percent to $196 million. Like other hedge and private equity funds, Fortress earns management fees, which climbed 43 percent, and incentive fees, which fell 59 percent.
The New York-based company also announced a first-quarter dividend of 23 cents per share, prompting analysts and investors to think business is going well.
The past year has been difficult for many hedge funds as they posted their biggest-ever losses in January.
Fortress executives, however, sounded an optimistic note on a conference call with analysts, saying they had money to invest and were seeing good opportunities.
Maintaining the dividend "ought to serve as proof of FIG's confidence in its ability to persevere (or even thrive) amid difficult market conditions," Goldman Sachs analyst Marc Irizarry wrote in a research note. Continued... http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKN2537709920080325?rpc=44
Fortress Stays Strong, Mostly
Carl Gutierrez, 03.25.08, 6:35 PM ET
Fortress Investment Group was lacking in the performance department last quarter, but investors seem poised for a comeback.
On Tuesday, Fortress Investment Group reported a forth-quarter loss after having to pay $240 million in principal compensation.
The company, which had $33.2 billion in fee paying assets at the end of the year, reported a loss of $29 million, or 43 cents per share, for the 2007 fourth quarter. A year ago, the company earned $290 million. Fortress did not provide per-share data for the year-ago periods, saying a restructuring in January 2007 makes a comparison meaningless.
Excluding the principal compensation payment and other items, earnings fell to $78 million, or 18 cents per share, from $138 million a year ago. Analyst polled by Thomson Financial had anticipated earnings of $80.0 million, or 18 cents per share. Sales fell to $304 million from $488 million the year before. Segment revenue came in at $196 million, with management fees accounting for $129 million. Wall Street had expected $210.2 million for the quarter.
Despite the weak numbers, investors were generally pleased with the firm's performance, sending shares of the publicly traded hedge fund up 4.8%, or 53 cents, to $11.54 by close on Tuesday. According to Robert Lee of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, investors' primary focus was on the company's outlook for the rest of the year, which is generally positive.
"Their hedge fund products have held up well," Lee said, "and they have a robust asset raising plans for the rest of the year." Lee went on to note that, due to the current environment, investors were concerned that some unknown problem might emerge.
During the analyst call, Fortress Chief Executive Wesley Edens said the company plans to raise $15 million to $20 million in capital over the coming months. Jeffries analyst Daniel Fannon told Forbes.com that he expects the money will be raised through private equity or the birth of a six hedge fund for the investment group.
Looking at the larger picture, Lee said that economic environments such as the current one are a key time for alternative investment managers to build their track records.
"If you can outperform on an absolute basis in crummy markets, it won't mean that you'll generate performance fees, but you've outperformed broad equity industries," Lee said. "So this environment could create short-term headwinds around revenues and performance fees, but to the extent you can perform better you can build track records and build assets for the future."
Lee added that he views Fortress as one of these alternative managers.
A week ago Fortress announced it was bumping the release up a week. (See: "Silent Fortress") The firm did not return calls as to why it changed the date of the release. www.forbes.com
Fortress Investment Group Q4 2007 Earnings Call Transcript
Page 1 out of 10| posted on: March 25, 2008 | about stocks: FIG
Q4 2007 Earnings Call
March 25, 2008 10:00 am ET
Executives
Wes Edens - Chairman and CEO
Dan Bass - Chief Financial Officer
Pete Briger - Co-President and Head of Hybrid Hedge Fund Business
Mike Novogratz - President and Head of Liquid Market Hedge Fund Business
Randy Nardone - Chief Operating Officer
Lilly Donohue – Investor Relations
Analysts
Roger Freeman - Lehman Brothers
Marc Irizarry - Goldman Sachs
Craig Siegenthaler - Credit Suisse
Prashant Bhatia – Citigroup
Dan Fannon - Jefferies
Roger Smith - FPK
Robert Lee - KBW
Presentation
...
Lilly Donohue
Thanks Ashley. Good morning. I'm Lilly Donohue and I want to welcome you all to our fourth quarter and 2007 year-end earnings conference call. Joining me today is Wes Edens, our Chairman and CEO, Dan Bass, our Chief Financial Officer; we also have with us Pete Briger, Co-President and head of our hybrid hedge fund business, Mike Novogratz, President and head of our liquid market hedge fund business and Randy Nardone, our Chief Operating Officer.
And before I turn the call over to Wes, as Ashley mentioned, this call is going to be recorded. The replay number is 800-642-1687; that’s from within the United States and outside, it’s 706-645-9291. Access code is 37943758. This call will also be available on our website which is just www.fortress.com.
...
Wesley Edens
Great. Thanks Lilly and welcome everyone. Welcome to our 2007 fourth quarter and full year earnings call.
2007 was a historic year for the firm. It was our tenth year as a Company. We went public on February 7; this is the first New York Stock Exchange listed alternative assets management Company and most importantly, we set records in both distributable earnings and assets under management. Overall, it’s just a very good year for us here at Fortress. The financial results for the firm for both the quarter and the year were quite good.
For the fourth quarter, pretax distributable earnings was $78 million bringing our total distributable earnings for the year to $552 million. DE for 2006 was $397 million. So in total our earnings grew by 39% year-over-year, a terrific result.
Assets under management also experienced excellent growth. To remind you, we report assets under management in two distinct ways. The total assets under management, AUM, is meant to give you visibility on all of the assets we oversee but doesn’t necessarily reflect the assets on which we earn fees. At year end, our total AUM was $37.8 billion which compares the total AUM of $32.8 billion at year end of 2006.
Another measure that we track closely is management fee paying AUM which is a measure of the amount of capital that we earn management fees as well as performance fees on. At the end of 2006 we had $20.9 billion of MAUM. At the end of 2007, we had grown that total to $33.2 billion, so total growth in assets under management of nearly 59%.
I would like to think that distributable earnings provide the best scorecard for how the firm has performed looking backwards in time and that AUM and in particular management fee paying assets under management or MAUM provide the best estimate on how we are going to perform in the future.
Our business is a very high margin business here at Fortress in general through a combination of management fees and performance fees we earn about 4% on MAUM and bring about half or 2% of that to the bottom line.
Historically, if we took the average of MAUM for the year and multiplied it times 2%, this has been an excellent estimate of what our pretax DE is going to be for the year. For example, in 2005, our average management fee paying assets under management for the year was $10.6 billion and our DE was $224 million or 2.1% of MAUM.
In 2006, MAUM was $16.8 billion, DE $311 million, so it was 1.9% for that year and last year, the year we just completed, MAUM was approximately $28 billion on average and our DE was 1.9% of that. So a very good metric and an easy way to keep track of what we think our forecasts are going to be going forward. This is a rough estimate of course and implies a typical year for both management fees and performance fees.
Our forecast for average MAUM for Fortress this year is about $40 billion. We started the year at $33.2 billion. We’ve actually had a fair bit of capital formation already that Dan will detail and we expect to finish at around $50 billion. The key variables that will impact our earnings this year are primarily growth in assets under management and performance fee earned.
We have good visibility on the AUM growth. In total, we expect to rise between $15 billion and $20 billion in new capital between the private equity and hedge fund businesses. If this estimate is right, without any significant performance fees we’d earn about 1.25% to 1.5% on MAUM. The increment -- the difference between 1.25% and the 2.0% average is really just performance fees. It’s early in the year to make any real predictions but even with the volatility of the markets I think we all feel very good at Fortress about where we are right now. Let the year play out a bit to get a better estimate but we’ll see how it all turns out.
Now let's talk about the performance of our businesses. Hedge funds at Fortress total approximately $16.6 billion or 50% of MAUM. All of our hedge funds last year had excellent returns. Macro, which is an $8.1 billion hedge fund at year-end, had an 18.3% gross return, 12.7% net return. The credit funds which were $6.8 billion in MAUM likewise had a very good year with 15.2% gross and 10.2% net returns and our newest fund, the Partners Fund also had a very good year. This fund was launched in August of 2006. This has been in existence for just over a year but has grown tremendously to $1.7 billion MAUM at the end of the year; in its first full year, did very well. Total returns for 2007 were 10.1% gross and 8.8% net... (cont'd)
http://seekingalpha.com/article/69892-fortress-investment-group-q4-2007-earnings-call-transcript?source=yahoo
Fortress looking to buy, may focus on distressed mortgages
By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch
Last update: 4:37 p.m. EDT March 25, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Fortress Investment Group aims to raise $15 to $20 billion in new capital this year to help the hedge fund and private-equity firm pounce on opportunities created by the global credit crunch, Chief Executive Wes Edens said on Tuesday. Beaten-down mortgage-related securities may offer the most compelling investment opportunities, he added during a conference call with analysts. Financial-services companies may remain under pressure for a while, but that sector could also become very attractive in the second half of 2008, Edens explained. Fortress reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $29 million, or 43 cents a share earlier on Tuesday. Pre-tax distributable earnings, which exclude unrealized gains or losses on illiquid investments and certain types of expenses, but include so-called contingent revenue, fell 43% to $78 million, or 18 cents per dividend paying share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of 17 cents a share, on average.
Fortress also said it paid a dividend of 0.225 cent per share in the fourth quarter and will keep the same payout for the first quarter of 2008. Analysts took that as a positive sign.
"Weaker earnings were likely baked into the stock, which is off roughly 30% year-to-date," Marc Irizarry, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a note to clients. Maintaining the dividend "ought to serve as proof of Fortress' confidence in its ability to persevere (or even thrive) amid difficult market conditions."
Fortress shares rose 3.5% to $11.40 during late afternoon trading on Tuesday. The stock is still down 38% from its IPO price of $18.50 in February 2007. The mortgage-fueled global credit crunch has increased concerns about Fortress. The firm's private-equity business relies partly on borrowed money to pay for acquisitions and that financing has either shriveled or become more expense since the leveraged buyout boom ended in the middle of 2007. A falling stock market this year also makes exiting private-equity investments through initial public offerings more difficult.
The credit crunch has also hit some hedge funds hard because the big brokerage firms that lend money and securities to these types of traders have pulled back, forcing some to sell assets to meet obligations.
But Edens said on Tuesday that Fortress' hedge fund business has avoided major problems, partly because the firm's funds don't use much leverage, or borrowed money. Fortress' credit hedge fund business, run by former Goldman executive Peter Briger "has weathered the 100-year storm in credit in fine shape," Edens explained. "One of the key aspects is not to be over-leveraged. Something that's a good idea in any market but in a market such as this one being on the wrong side can truly be fatal," he added. "We feel very good about the capital structure that Pete has and expect this to be a terrific investment year."
The firm's hybrid hedge funds, overseen by Briger, returned 1.94%, before fees, during the fourth quarter and were up 14.43% for 2007. That includes the Drawbridge Special Opportunities Funds. Fortress' liquid hedge funds, overseen by Michael Novogratz, returned 5.47%, before fees, during the fourth quarter and were up more than 18% during the whole of 2007, the firm reported. That includes the Drawbridge Global Macro funds.
Edens described the current credit crisis as "one of the great de-leveraging events of our lifetime," in which far too many assets are for sale with not enough financially strong buyers around to snap them up. See story on the 'Great Unwind.'
Investment banks used to act as a "buffer" in such situations, but these firms are having their own problems with strained balance sheets and more difficult access to financing, so, in some cases, they're making the problems worse, he explained.
However, de-leveraging has left some assets trading at very cheap prices, relative to the outlook for actual credit losses, Edens said. "Now is the time to look to buy," he said. "The gap between the market's perception and the actual risk is the widest I've ever seen." Fortress has raised $2.7 billion in capital so far in 2008 and hopes to raise $15 billion to $20 billion by the end of the year to capitalize on such opportunities. The best opportunities are in the mortgage market, Edens said. "Those are the areas that have been hit the hardest and the areas that actually have the most incremental upside," he added. "There's a fair bit to go, but the prices have gotten to the point where they truly seem very disconnected between the actual risk that's implied and where they are actually being valued." There is a lot of capital that's being raised to invest in these types of securities, but there will be a much bigger supply of beaten-down securities to invest in, Edens explained.
It may be a little too early to invest in financial-services companies, but very interesting opportunities may appear during the second half of 2008, he added. Banks and savings and loan institutions haven't raised much capital yet, probably because investors can't yet see how much these businesses will be hit by credit losses. But when the outlook clears and re-capitalization begins, "it will be a truly tremendous series of private-equity and other related opportunities," Edens predicted. End of Story
Alistair Barr is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
If it happens, it won't be a few...it will be tens of thousands of German evictions. What we are talking about here is condo conversions...innocent enough and quite acceptable for wealthy young technocrats but devastating to older people living on fixed incomes.
The irony is that this potential disaster could not be possible had local German politicians handled their responsibilities in a proper manner. But if the disaster occurs, they won't be blamed...but you you can bet America will be through Fortress (an American company).
Interesting. I understand the German people are very sensitive about certain things, but I doubt the "Fourth Reich" would result out of a few evictions.
In more ways than you can imagine Mega. Fotress owns and manages many thousands of apartments in Dresden and other cities in Germany.
If they screw up for greed's sake and force thousands of older Germans out of the only homes they have known for years, it could cause the following to happen:
1. A severe change in the German government with new leaders having even greater dislike for America than the present ones do.
2. A groundswell of shock, alarm and greater burdens for the younger relatives of the expellees.
I could go on but use your imagination Mega. The Arab extremists are bad enough but imagine a truly great engineering country like Germany that knows how to make its own state-of-the-art quantum leap weapons.
If you doubt this could happen consider our own Enron. Then imagine the same kind of greedy men doing the same the public-be-danmed thing on an international playing field.
I don't know about you, but if I had to choose between making a lot of quick money AND causing the Fourth Reich to come to Germany...I would rather increase profits in less sensitive areas.
Highly touted IPO and first publicly traded hedge fund in the US. This should be an interesting one to watch.
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Fortress offers a range of alternative and traditional investment strategies for institutional and private investors around the world.
Founded in 1998, the Company seeks to provide its investors with superior risk-adjusted returns in a management structure that closely aligns the interests of investors and managers.
Asset-Based: Fortress businesses, across its private equity funds and credit funds specialize in asset-based investing, and bring to bear significant experience in investing broadly and deeply in a diverse set of asset types. Fortress's expertise extends to pricing, owning, financing and overseeing the management of physical and financial assets ranging from real estate and capital assets to financial assets secured by diversified long-term cash flows.
Industry Knowledge: Fortress has deep knowledge of the industries in which it invests. In the course of executing investments and operating portfolio companies, Fortress has developed a team of investment professionals with significant sector-specific expertise and relationships with leading companies, institutions and individuals worldwide.
Operations Management: Fortress has refined a set of tools for assessing operational, structural and strategic challenges. These tools allow Fortress to engage in and extract value from complex investments.
Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions: Our experience in corporate mergers and acquisitions enables us to work with corporate boards of directors, management and various stakeholders in order to determine optimal structuring and execution of an investment.
Capital Markets: Fortress has considerable capital markets expertise, and has expertise in securing low-cost, low-risk financing for its investments by accessing the debt and equity capital markets.
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TrendSpotter | Sell | ||||||||||
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7 Day Average Directional Indicator | Sell | ||||||||||
10 - 8 Day Moving Average Hilo Channel | Hold | ||||||||||
20 Day Moving Average vs Price | Sell | ||||||||||
20 - 50 Day MACD Oscillator | Sell | ||||||||||
20 Day Bollinger Bands® | Hold | ||||||||||
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20-Day Average Volume - 2,805,443 | |||||||||||
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40 Day Commodity Channel Index | Hold | ||||||||||
50 Day Moving Average vs Price | Sell | ||||||||||
20 - 100 Day MACD Oscillator | Buy | ||||||||||
50 Day Parabolic Time/Price | Sell | ||||||||||
Medium Term Indicators Average: 25% Sell | |||||||||||
50-Day Average Volume - 2,102,821 | |||||||||||
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60 Day Commodity Channel Index | Sell | ||||||||||
100 Day Moving Average vs Price | Sell | ||||||||||
50 - 100 Day MACD Oscillator | Buy | ||||||||||
Long Term Indicators Average: 33% Sell | |||||||||||
100-Day Average Volume - 1,744,535 | |||||||||||
Overall Average: 48% Sell | |||||||||||
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