Housing Giants - June 23, 2008 - (Page 7)

viewpoint By Bill Lurz, Senior Editor, Business Don’t reLy on Bank financing! The term ‘qualified special purpose entities’ is a mouthful, but an important one, Bill writes in his blog, ear to the ground. i Had a conversation this week with David Drees, president of Fort Mitchell, Ky.-based giant The Drees Co. (No. 21 in the recently-released Giant 400 Rankings). He confided to me that the firm’s credit line with a coalition of banks is intact and Drees is, in fact, paying down its debt. He’s looking for alternatives other than bank financing to assure his company has the capital it needs to take advantage of housing market recovery, whenever that happens. Drees is not confident banks will be able to fund the capital requirements of his firm’s growth in recovery. (You’ll be able to read more about what David Drees thinks about the future in the Aug. 11 issue of Housing Giants.) From some of the things that have crossed my computer recently, there’s good reason for Drees to be concerned about the credit capacity of his lenders. For instance, Zack Howe of American www.Housinggiants.com Shareholders Association recently posted his analysis of the shaky ground investment banks and other financial institutions occupy due to their use of qualified special purpose entities — which are legally separate entities, with their own sets of books — where investment banks have been parking video editorial Hear Bill Lurz’s insight on the latest in the building industry. 6.23.08.Housing giants http://www.housingzone.com/blog/1360000536.html http://www.thedreescompany.com/ http://www.housingzone.com/probuilder/article/CA6398092.html?q=giant 400 2008 http://www.housingzone.com/probuilder/article/CA6398092.html?q=giant 400 2008 http://www.Housinggiants.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Housing Giants - June 23, 2008

Housing Giants - June 23, 2008 Contents Viewpoint News and Moves Sell Workforce The Land Dilemma

Housing Giants - June 23, 2008

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