| (AFX UK Focus) 2007-11-16 07:35 GMT: Serica Energy says agreed 100 mln usd debt facility
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Oil and gas exploration company Serica Energy PLC said it has entered into a 100 mln usd senior secured debt facility with JP Morgan Chase Bank NA and the Bank of Scotland. The facility, which has an initial term of 12 months with the option to extend for a further six months, will be used to fund appraisal and development expenditures for the Kambuna field in Indonesia, the Columbus field in the UK North Sea, Bream field appraisal expenditure in Norway and general corporate purposes. TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com ans/ajb COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.
Shareholder Rebellion? Investor Calls For Sale of Maguire Properties
A hedge fund that controls a 5.2% stake in Maguire Properties Inc. (NYSE: MPG), one of Southern California's largest (and downtown L.A.'s largest) office landlords, appears to be dusting off the boxing gloves for an old-fashioned proxy battle. Century City, CA-based JMB Capital Partners, LP, which has acquired about 2.5 million shares of the REIT's stock over the last several months, asked CEO Rob Maguire to relinquish some of his power and create a committee to evaluate strategic options that would likely include the sale of the highly leveraged REIT. The fund also asked Maguire to appoint two JMB representatives to the board, who would also serve on the committee. A Maguire spokeswoman could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but the company has previously declined to comment on matters involving internal operations.
STAR Ohio fund safe, treasurer says
State Treasurer Richard Cordray is sending a letter to about 1,600 Ohio counties, school districts, townships and cities, assuring them that the $6.1 billion STAR Ohio fund has no investments in the mortgage-backed securities that have led to billions in write-downs and losses for major banks and hedge funds. The letter was prompted by a Bloomberg report this week warning that "state-run pools have parked taxpayers' money in some of the most confusing, opaque and illiquid debt investments ever devised." Cordray's letter says, "We are careful and conservative on your behalf, and our solid returns are not risk-laden like some of these other local government investment pools that we are now reading about around the country." Florida's $27 billion investment pool -- which, like STAR Ohio, was designed to offer a safe, liquid place for school districts and municipalities to park tax dollars until needed -- had invested about $2 billion in short-term loans to "structured investment vehicles." Those funds took the short-term loans and bought packages of subprime mortgages, of which about $725 million worth have already defaulted.
E-mails detail student loan firm’s drive for profits
E-mails written by managers of Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corp., the nonprofit organization that dominates Iowa's college loan industry, show how the agency uses aggressive marketing tactics and seeks "continued hypergrowth."
Iowa's college students are among the most deeply in debt in the nation. That fact has led state lawmakers to examine whether Iowa Student Loan's strategies could be partly responsible. .
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