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Main Street Should Share BlameDial this up as yet another facet of the financial crisis I just don't understand: Why are "the taxpayers" the victims in this debacle? I keep reading about how bad it is that we're on the hook for a trillion or so, how Paulson is a commie, and how "Wall Street" and the people who work there add up to nothing more than a pile of garbage. As we were putting the Sept. 29 issue to bed, the government had just wrapped up a preliminary deal on its $700 billion package. Let's hope the damage stops there, and indeed there may be hope that the spending will be somewhat contained, as the House just voted against the bailout. But there will be other votes, and as we no doubt get ready to hear more ranting and raving about how "the taxpayers" are getting ripped off, more important would be to remember this: It's "the taxpayers'" fault. When a Senator from Utah says his constituents are telling him "not to support that $700 billion bailout" it tells us one of two things: 1) Utah is the only spot on the planet where ill-qualified, greedy, jealous-of-their-neighbor residents didn't secure a mortgage they knew they had no earthly chance of paying back if things went even slightly awry; or 2) The folks who live there have no idea what this is all about. "Wall Street" didn't do this, we did. We may have had some accomplices who made it easier, but we did it. The time has come to stop this nonsense. When you whittle away the CDOs, CLOs and all the other confusing acronyms, and end the practice of lumping all of the Street into the category of criminal, you're left with the fact that we're in the tank because Main Street can't repay its debts. Yet Main Street wants to share no blame in this mess. How typical these days; get into trouble, then blame everyone but yourself. It's akin to the perp who kills his own parents and then complains that he's an orphan. Not that there's a shortage of blame to go around; many of the mortgage brokers, who for some reason seem to have escaped much scrutiny in the political debate, need to take a hit here, too, although many who were making three hundred grand a year to answer the phone are now probably working at Dick's Sporting Goods earning considerably less. Maybe that's punishment enough? Look, the bulge-brackets' risk management policies were worse than abysmal, and plenty of folks on the Street will be passed over for sainthood, but we made our own bed. Time to live with it, even if we have to do it in a much smaller house. Thomas Granahanthomas.granahan@sourcemedia.com 
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DEALSCiti Assumes Various Wachovia AssetsThe bank, with an FDIC loss-protection agreement in hand, paid $2.16 billion to assume more than $700 billion worth of assets and liabilities. Consortium To Buy Engineering ResinsJHW Greentree Capital, an affiliate of J.H. Whitney & Co., GarMark Partners and Westwind Equity Partners have entered into an agreement to buy Engineering Resins business and other assets from Wellman Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but the deal is expected to close shortly after the completion of due diligence and the receipt of bankruptcy court approval. ConsoliDent Sold To StrategicConsoliDent has been bought by Great Expressions Dental Centers Inc., a portfolio company of the Audax Group. The company was sold by RFE Investment Partners and DFW Capital Partners. Harris Williams acted as CondoliDent’s advisor. ConsoliDent, Inc., headquartered in Miami Gardens, Fla., is a dental practice management services company providing general and specialty services including endodontics, orthodontics, oral surgery, pedodontics, periodontics, and basic dental care to professional corporations. Charlesbank Buys TecometCharlesbank Capital Partners has bought Tecomet, a division of Cardinal Health’s VIASYS subsidiary. Tecomet is a contract manufacturer of precision-engineered medical devices and components. The business serves the joint replacement, trauma, spine, and cranio maxillofacial segments of the orthopedic device market, and key segments of the medical imaging and cardiovascular markets. Harris Williams & Co. acted as the exclusive advisor to Cardinal Health. Neuberger To Be Acquired By Bain and Hellman & FriedmanBain Capital Partners, LLC and Hellman & Friedman LLC agreed to acquire Neuberger Berman, the 69-year-old asset management firm, and the fixed income and certain alternative asset management businesses of Lehman Brothers’ Investment Management Division. The cash transaction with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. results in a valuation of $2.15 billion for the businesses being acquired. As part of the transaction, a new, independent investment management company will be created comprising businesses that managed more than $230 billion of assets as of August 31, 2008. Monomoy Capital Acquires L&P PlasticsMonomoy Capital Partners has acquired the equity and operations of L&P Plastics from Leggett & Platt, Inc. L&P Plastics designs, engineers and manufactures custom plastic components for the power tool, medical device, furniture and automotive industries, and provides tooling, molding and assembly services, including injection molding, gas-assisted molding, insert molding and structural form molding. Lazard Middle Market acted as financial advisor to Leggett & Platt in the transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Hamilton Robinson Purchases MEGTEC SystemsHamilton Robinson Capital Partners together with management has acquired MEGTEC from parent company Sequa Corp. The transaction involves all MEGTEC businesses, including the printing products and industrial and environmental products groups and related services groups. MEGTEC will become a stand-alone company with no major change in management structure or day-to-day business operations. MEGTEC is a supplier to the printing, web coating, packaging, wood products and other process and energy markets. Accel-KKR Takes Alexander Gallo StakeAccel-KKR acquired an equity stake in Alexander Gallo Holdings through partially funding the court reporting support company in its purchase of industry competitor The Hobart West Group. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The company, which is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., and was founded in 1999, built a customized end-to-end technology platform, which allows them to provide high-quality and consistent results to national law firms. Not Your Daughter’s DealmakingFalconhead Captial bought a controlling stake in Not Your Daughter’s Jeans, a California apparel company marketing clothing to women aged 35 years and older, for about $100 million. In an announcement Friday, the consumer-focused PE firm said, without disclosing terms, that Lisa Rudes-Sandel and George Rudes, her father, had sold a substantial stake of their company. The family will also continue to hold a significant equity stake, neither stake sizes were disclosed. The PE firm also announced a significant leadership shift with the appointment of Edwin Lewis—former chief executive of Tommy Hilfiger and Mossimo—to the same role with NYDJ. Other management will continue to retain existing roles. NYDJ products can already be found in Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, among other retailers. WaMu Taken Over, Sold To JPMorganFederal regulators shut down $307 billion-asset Washington Mutual Bank, the largest failure in American history, selling its assets and deposits to JPMorgan Chase. While dramatic, the collapse had a unique twist. All uninsured deposits were covered, likely stemming depositor panic as a result of the closure, and the failure is not estimated to cost the Deposit Insurance Fund any money. JPMorgan paid a $1.9 billion premium and took all of WaMu's deposits, assets and qualified financial contracts. Shareholders, subordinated and senior debt holder claims were wiped out. JPMorgan was said about two weeks ago to be in advanced talks with Wamu. In March, numerous reports said JPMorgan was pursuing a deal then, but talks had fallen apart after a $7 billion capital infusion from TPG Inc. TPG said it would waive any damages the investor would have been owed if the company had pursued a sale, clearing the way for a deal to take place. But with the Wamu acquisition, JPMorgan gets a foothold into the West Coast's deposit base at a bargain price. However, the two companies' branch networks overlap in New York and Chicago, which may force JPMorgan to divest some offices. Genstar Portfolio Co. Buys Auto InsurerConfie Seguros, a portfolio company of San Francisco private equity firm Genstar Capital, has acquired auto insurance brokerage West Coast Auto Insurance Services. While financial terms were not disclosed by the New York-based insurance brokerage acquirer, Confie Seguros has secured close to $300 million in debt and equity financing to support its growth as an insurance provider for the Hispanic market. Genstar has provided it with $75 million in equity, while GE Capital, Madison Capital Funding and Jefferies & Co. have arranged more than $200 million in credit.
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