PEOPLE MOVES
Heller Financial, Inc has hired John E. Goldthorpe. as executive vice president of Heller Corporate Finance. He will lead the company's intermediary marketing effort. Goldthorpe came from Gleacher NatWest in New York, an integrated investment banking operation, where he was managing director and was head of high yield, acquisition finance, and private equity professionals teams.
David H. Elliott has been appointed to the board of directors of Aames Financial Corp, and will serve in the Audit Committee and the Stock Option Committee of the board of directors. Elliott is also the current chairman of the executive committee of the board of directors of MBIA Inc. and was the former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of MBIA and its biggest operating company, MBIA Insurance Corp. He will fill the slot of Neil B. Kornswiet who resigned from the board on Nov. 30 1999. In a related development, Aames announced that Kornswiet is no longer part of the company.
MISCELLANEOUS
Rite Aid Corp has concluded the refinancing of its $300 million accounts receivable securitization facility, which the drugstore chain arranged with agent bank Citibank, N.A. in Nov. 1997. The facility's new maturity date is Nov. 1, 2000. Rite Aid also restructured 2.7 billion of its debt in October. After the restructuring, about $1.3 billion in bank debt that was supposed to mature on Oct 29 and $300 million in bank debt that was due on demand would now mature on Nov.1, 2000. Rite Aid is thinking of reducing debt by selling some of its stores located in the West Coast and is currently reviewing plans to sell whole or part of its PCS Health Systems pharmacy benefit management unit.
WMF Washington Mortgage Corp., a division of The WMF Group, has announced the creation of a revolving credit facility for Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. Fannie Mae credit-enhanced the transaction while WMF Washington Mortgage was the lender. A $113,231,000 initial drawdown was funded on November 8. The creation of the credit facility is part of WMF's commitment to Mid-America, which has reached $290 million to date. Earlier this year, WMF provided roughly $83.5 million in single-asset loans for 10 properties in the southeast and Texas to a joint venture between Mid America and Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, a New York-based pension fund advisor.
