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Biotech / Medical : Incyte (INCY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: opalapril who wrote (1463)	5/19/2000 1:35:00 PM
From: Lighthouse	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3202

I am no expert on this issue, but to the best of my understanding: Bowie issued a bond to investors with a face amount of $50 or $55 million. Bowie received the proceeds of the offering. The bonds are backed by the royalty revenue of his recordings. Bowie gets cash now, buyers of the bond get an interest rate and the collateral of the bond is the future royalties on Bowie's songs. My sense is Whitfield was floating a "trial balloon" to see the market's reaction. Whitfield categorized the royalty stream as non strategic to INCY's future. In one sense this is true on another sense I am unsure. I have asked Peter Suzman on the "Biotech Valuation" thread for his opinion as to this potential spin off. I am awaiting his response. Hope this helps, Cheers,

To: opalapril who wrote (1463)	5/19/2000 2:32:00 PM
From: sim1	Respond to of 3202

Bond whiz spins notes into gold By Carrington Nelson / Tennessean Staff Writer He's a little bit Wall Street and a little bit rock 'n' roll. Now the financial whiz who structured the famous "Bowie Bonds" is aiming to add country to his repertoire. David Pullman, a gregarious New York financier, recently pounded the Music Row pavement to float the financial strategy of turning future music royalties into cash up front. Pullman specializes in bond deals that allow clients -- like aging rocker David Bowie -- to sell rights to their future royalties while retaining ownership of copyrights. The strategy is ideal, he says, for people who don't want to sell copyrights to their music catalogs but need money for immediate uses -- such as purchasing additional copyrights, expanding a career or paying estate taxes. Pullman's ideal client has a tried-and-true catalog of music that's likely to generate consistent income, regardless of shifting trends. Thumbing through a recent issue of Billboard magazine during his stay here, Pullman flipped to the "Top Country Catalog Albums" chart. "These would all be perfect," he said, pointing to a list of albums by the likes of Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Charlie Daniels. Known in investment banking circles as securitization, the strategy of selling rights to future earnings is nothing new, and Pullman's not the first to shop the strategy to Music Row. But with a face that appears in financial and entertainment journals from Billboard to BusinessWeek, he might be the most recognizable. "Everyone knew who he was," said Gary Haber, a Nashville- and Los Angeles-based entertainment business manager who has worked with Pullman through Haber's L.A. office. "Their eyes lit up when they heard his name." Pullman, 36, first got his name in lights two years ago when he structured a $55 million advance on earnings for David Bowie. In the Bowie Bonds deal, the star was legendary, the advance was big, and the name was catchy. Now, with similar deals with Ashford & Simpson and Joan Jett under his belt, Pullman is riding his wave of fame into Music City. Pullman projects the value of music copyrights over time -- generally 10-15 years -- and structures bonds to sell the rights to those earnings to an institutional investor such as an insurance company. The copyright holder receives money up front, while the insurance company receives the royalties as they trickle in. The rights to the royalties eventually revert to the copyright holder when the bond is paid off. "He was welcomed by the financial and business community," Haber said of Pullman's visit. "But will they do a deal? I have no idea." Last year, former EMI executive Charles Koppelman swept into town with a similar proposal. And while securitization is all the rage on Wall Street, it has been received with tempered enthusiasm down South. "Quite honestly, Nashville will work great," said Koppelman, who is nurturing four potential deals here. "I need to devote some more of my time to Nashville. ... I think that as they read about more people doing it, they will begin to get it. Though it may seem complex today, a year from now it is going to be no more complex than a home mortgage." Banks and publishing companies can also advance funds based on projected catalog earnings. But the deals generally look at a shorter window of time, and the deals are smaller. "It is something that we've been looking at with a good degree of interest," said Brian Williams, director of music private banking at SunTrust Bank in Nashville, referring to Pullman's brand of financing. Pullman met with Williams, among other Music Row financiers, to discuss the possibility of partnering in the Nashville market. "We've identified some scenarios where we might work together," Williams added. "We could, in our opinion, do what he is doing, but we're also considering he is already doing it and has a pretty good template for it.... We could help identify the situations here. That's probably his weakest link -- he's not here."