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Strategies & Market Trends : Mr. Pink's Picks: selected event-driven value investments -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RockyBalboa who wrote (13520)	7/1/2000 10:21:28 PM
From: peter michaelson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18998

Regardless of one's opinion of Mr. Greene, I am very cautious about what medicine Wendt in potential partnership with GE Capital could bring to CNC's financial distress. This may or may not have been part of the deal coming in. Just guessing. peter

To: RockyBalboa who wrote (13520)	7/1/2000 11:43:55 PM
From: brad greene	Respond to of 18998

InfoSteam, True story. 8 years ago....I sat down with a banker to obtain a credit line to begin building spec homes. I had been a school teacher for 11 years and wanted to do something different. Something that didn't involve bells ringing. I had built my own home start to finish...and had a pretty good plan for the bank to look at....and I had a great mentor. As any reasonable individual might expect....it was difficult. They didn't know any of the subcontractors I planed to use. I offered to put up my stock portfolio as collateral....but was told that "common stocks can go to zero"......and that I would need cash collateral equal to 1x the amount I wished to borrow. This was amazing to me.....as my portfolio at the time consisted of mostly blue chip stocks..(very low cost basis)....and the current value was in excess of 10x the amount I wished to borrow. I had some muni bonds....but was told that those could go into default. The fact that my broker would loan me up to 1/2 the portfolio value meant nothing to this fellow....or the branch manager, for that matter. I asked the banker what the value of "cash" would be if General Motors, IBM, and ATT stock all went to zero....and it just confused him. He was unable to imagine the economic landscape in a world where the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell below 5 points......You know, IBM trading for a penny per share......Microsoft at 5 cents....and so on. My contention soon became that a gun and 10 bullets would be worth more than all of the cash in his vault. The conversation went downhill from there. I began to believe that I must have been raised by wolves....or something. Anyhow.....I walked down the street....to another bank....and had everything I needed in 15 minutes. I have built 18 homes in the last 8 years....and have pushed about $6 million through this bank. (costruction loans, payroll, client mortgages) Now....the problem 8 years ago.... was what my stock was worth. My common stock....and my stock as a homebuilder. I don't believe Hilbert's stock was worth much. I believe Gary Wendt's stock is worth quite a bit. I believe powerful people will deal with Gary Wendt, and that Gary Wendt can do things Hilbert could not. Gary Wendt is a very experienced homebuilder. Moodys had to do what they did. It was procedure. It can be reversed. Gary Wendt has been CEO for 2 days....and has yet to speak. I hate to see folks try to stick a fork in this company before they even get to hear the plan. The shorts seem to be doing this now......with enthusiasm. Most funeral homes have a poster hanging in the employee lounge saying "Make sure they're dead". I think it makes some sense here. bg