| State grants charter to Greensboro business bank
Greensboro is a step closer to getting its first business-only bank. The North Carolina Banking Commission has granted a charter to Premier Commercial Bank, a startup lender for small and medium-sized businesses. The bank said it expects to open in early 2008. Premier was founded by Frank Gavigan, a longtime Triad banker who was most recently senior credit officer at 1st State Bank in Burlington. It's joining a space that's become increasingly crowded in North Carolina since Raleigh's Paragon Commercial Bank became the state's first business-only bank in 1999. The Triad has yet to get in on the action, however, with most of the startups planting their headquarters in Charlotte or the Triangle. So far, Premier has raised more than $11 million in its initial stock offering, which began Aug.
Big banks made the same mistakes small investors often do
Big-name investment banks are taking a financial beating this year, leaving many Americans to ask: Just how did all these Wall Street bankers in their $4,500 John Lobb shoes manage to step in you-know-what? The answer is simple. They made the same mistakes as the rest of us, just with more zeros attached to them and bigger consequences for the U.S. economy, if not for their own $625 John Lobb wallets. Those mistakes are why the heads of Merrill Lynch and Citigroup have been ousted in recent weeks, why household names such as Bank of America and Wachovia are announcing billion-dollar losses, and why more trouble is brewing. Individual investors frequently lose money by chasing past returns, deciding on future investments by looking at past performance instead of future market conditions.
Business owner shares experience with others
ESCONDIDO ---- Arnold Jaffa has spent the past 25 years drawing from his experiences as a business owner to counsel others on how to make their own enterprises successful."My philosophy in life is if someone succeeds, then everyone benefits," he said. That's why the Escondido resident has volunteered as a counselor since 1982 for San Diego's Service Corps of Retired Executives, or SCORE, an organization sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration. .
Mideast Peace Conference Assembles
A U.S. sponsored Mideast peace conference convenes this week. The three-day gathering is being held in Washington and Annapolis, Maryland. The summit is aimed at shepherding a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. Participants from nearly 50 countries and groups are planning to attend. cc/cdo
Email this Story to a Friend Print Friendly Version .
Sears makes bid for Restoration Hardware
Sears Holdings Corp. is making a $269 million offer to buy out Restoration Hardware Inc., a home furnishings and catalog company, at a price higher than a previously accepted offer from a private equity firm. In a regulatory filing Monday, the operator of Sears and Kmart stores said it is prepared to offer $6.75 per share for Restoration Hardware (Nasdaq: RSTO), a Corte Madera, Calif.-based chain with more than 100 retail and outlet stores nationwide. The bid tops an accepted $267 million offer, or $6.70 per share, from the private equity firm Catterton Partners. However, as of Nov. 23, a special committee of Restoration Hardware's board had rejected the advances from Sears, declining to provide confidential information about Restoration to the Hoffman Estates, Ill., retailer for due diligence.
|
