BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com BloggingStocks http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/media/feedlogo.gif BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Zipcar, Flexcar merge in a pool of green assets]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/31/zipcar-flexcar-merge-in-a-pool-of-green-assets/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/31/zipcar-flexcar-merge-in-a-pool-of-green-assets/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/31/zipcar-flexcar-merge-in-a-pool-of-green-assets/#commentsFiled under:

The merger, announced today, between Zipcar and Flexcar (whose corporate identity is Mobility, Inc.) is a survival strategy in a business that pits our desire for a greener future against the hard reality of expensive assets and resource allocation.

I discovered Flexcar a few years ago, when a friend went to work at its Portland office. Soon I was trying the service as part of a "low car diet," giving up my car in order to walk, bike, bus, car share. I loved the idea but was struck with the high cost and relatively low efficiency of the service; in order for the service to pencil out (and pay for those many hours cars spent sitting in festively-marked parking spaces) the hourly rates for using a car were $8 to $9. When you consider a typical person's car usage -- get up in the morning, drive somewhere, leave car there for several hours, drive home, doing errands along the way -- you quickly realize it doesn't pencil out ($90-100 a day to use a car). However, if you're only using cars for very brief errands; picking up recycled lumber for your chicken coop, for instance; $20 a trip versus $300 or more each month to maintain a car, works out.

So it's economical for an individual who makes (say) a couple of monthly jaunts to an out-of-town picnic site or party each month, one errand around town in a week, and a weekend bed & breakfast getaway every year. It's sensible for corporations who would rather put the liability involved with company vehicles on another entity. But does it pencil out for the asset and liability holder: Flexcar and its chief competitor, Zipcar?

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Zipcar, Flexcar merge in a pool of green assets originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 13:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>carsharingfeaturedflexcarFlexcarAndZipcarmergemergermobilityzipcarWed, 31 Oct 2007 13:41:00 EST<![CDATA[Merger mania: is it catching?]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2006/11/20/merger-mania-is-it-catching/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2006/11/20/merger-mania-is-it-catching/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2006/11/20/merger-mania-is-it-catching/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

bank of americaIf it's November, it must be time for some mergers. Sometime back in late July, a bored investment banking VP, mad at being stuck in the office shepherding the summer associates while all the managing directors were at their houses in the Hamptons, came up with a plan. A pitch. A huge acquisition. A strategic merger! The summer associate, blinded by the glamor of writing something that would one day soon be on the desk of the CEO of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), or Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ), or Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX), made it look fabulous. The synergies would be mind-blowing, the financial impact, in the billions.

When the managing director was wooed back from the Hamptons with the promise of a meeting with Ken Lewis at Bank of America, or the Blackstone Group's patrician Jonathan D. Gray, she realized this was a brilliant idea. And immediately saw the M&A fee, like hundreds of gallons of revenue pushing the millwheel of the group's bonus pool. The summer associate carried the dozen color copies of the pitchbook to some vastly inferior city and the CEO was convinced.

Come November, the summer associate is pouring back Yuenglings at business school, basking in the full-time job offer he received to return to the investment bank, and in the nick of time, right before the managing director checks out for the holiday season, the mergers have been launched. They're not all successful, but that's part of the fun: that bored vice president will be ever more busy and will naturally have to cancel his trip home to Maine for Thanksgiving launching a counter-offer. Here's a rundown of the successful and not-so-successful deals of the day:

Continue reading Merger mania: is it catching?

Merger mania: is it catching? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Nov 2006 13:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>acquisitionbank of americaBankOfAmericabofaibankinginvestment bankinvestment bankersInvestmentBankInvestmentBankerslondon stock exchangeLondonStockExchangelsemergemergermergersnasdaqMon, 20 Nov 2006 13:38:00 EST