Some Advice We Learned as Scouts…
Preparation Essential to Risk Management
By Lee A. Diercks, Clear Thinking Group LLC
No matter which of the sophisticated risk management tools asset-based lenders employ, loan defaults still occur at varying levels each year. Fortunately, proper preparation can reverse this trend.

UCC Insurance vs. Credit Insurance —
A Look at Two Risk-Shifting Alternatives for Lenders
By James D. Prendergast, the First American Corporation
This article discusses the similarities and differences between credit insurance and UCC insurance. How and when to use credit insurance or UCC insurance can be a complex decision process, as both serve very different purposes and are significantly different in terms of cost.

Plan Confirmation & Cram Down…
Life After Armstrong World Bankruptcy
By Lesley Anne Hawes, Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato, L.C.
The Armstrong World case illustrates that predicting how a court will apply the Bankruptcy Code’s complex confirmation standards can be difficult and uncertain and creates another factor that must be weighed in negotiating Chapter 11 plans.

Columns

A PROFILE OF SUCCESS
NewStar Financial: Capitalizing on Unmet Needs in the Middle Market
As consolidation within the banking industry continues, many middle-market borrowers have needs that are too large for their local banks yet not big enough for larger banks. The need to serve this under-attended market has quickly been recognized and leveraged by NewStar Financial, a specialty finance company in Boston.

TURNAROUND CORNER
When Risk Becomes Reality —
Applying a Framework of Cs to Help Manage During a Crisis
By William J. Hass, TeamWork Technologies, Inc. and
Shepherd G. Pryor IV
Business crises come in all shapes and sizes — from a simple everyday customer crisis, to an employee’s personal crisis, to a complete market collapse. In the case of New Orleans and the Katrina disaster, all forms of these individual crises arrived on the same day.