Ripplewood Holdings..who are they?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/business/global/21opel.html?_r=1&ref=business

Three bidders were officially entering the race Wednesday for the European assets of General Motors, as German states moved closer to guaranteeing a bank loan of 1.5 billion euros or $2 billion to help keep Opel afloat while its fate is decided.

Fiat, the Italian auto concern, confirmed that it had submitted its offer for Opel, based in Germany, as well as G.M.’s British business, Vauxhall. G.M. said it was expecting formal bids as well from Magna International, a Canadian company that has backing from a Russian carmaker and bank, and Ripplewood, a private equity investor. The bids are going to G.M. and the German government, which had set Wednesday as the deadline.

The bids start an evaluation process in Berlin and at G.M. — and timing and substance are already turning contentious. G.M. would like a quick decision to help it stave off bankruptcy. Some German politicians also want to move fast, arguing that jobs must be saved. But with national elections four months away, others prefer to take their time to avoid having any bailout turned into a campaign issue.

Many industry analysts have argued for the Fiat solution on efficiency grounds, but a powerful mix of labor leaders and regional officials are already lining up behind Magna, which they say offers the best chance for preserving jobs in Germany.

G.M., which has struggled with its European business but now finds itself with three competing bids, is promising to evaluate all equally.

“We expect that the offers will be examined in the next few days, and only then will we be able to decide which negotiations will take place,” a G.M. spokesman, Frank Klaas, said.

Opel’s assets are likely to be placed into a trusteeship if G.M. goes into bankruptcy after the June 1 deadline that Washington has set for it to produce a restructuring plan.

A meeting in Berlin between German state governors and bankers on Monday increased the likelihood that Opel would get some sort of bridge financing, which, along with a trusteeship, would protect its assets from any bankruptcy proceedings.

The governments are likely to guarantee a bank loan of 1.5 billion euros, or $2 billion, German officials said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the conservative and Social Democratic politicians who make up the coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel, herself a conservative, are jockeying for political advantage before national elections in September.

Mrs. Merkel’s party has been hemorrhaging votes to centrist voters frustrated by repeated government bailouts to banks and other companies. As a result, she has been slow-rolling the decision on Opel’s future, balancing her credentials as a free-marketeer against the desire to save jobs.

Her Social Democratic competitors have, in contrast, sought to put her on the spot by pushing for a quick decision.

“I think it makes sense that we get some clarity on what will happen in the course of this week and the beginning of next week,” Olaf Scholz, the labor minister and a Social Democrat, said Wednesday.

Fiat, fresh off its successful effort to take a stake in Chrysler, has sought to move quickly to clinch a deal for Opel. But it has recently faced criticism over its plans to shut one engine plant, in the western city of Kaiserslautern that employs 3,490. Fiat also has said other layoffs are possible.

“There is overcapacity and some of the low-quality stuff has to be cut out,” said Arndt Ellinghorst, head of automotive research at Credit Suisse. “That is something people have to understand if they want to set up a sustainable business.”

But labor officials criticized a plan by the Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne when he visited Germany on Monday. They also objected to his offer of management skills and technology — as opposed to cash — in return for an Opel stake.

By saying it would close the Kaiserslautern plant, which is in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Fiat has created a political opening for Magna, a supplier of parts and engineering services that has roots in neighboring Austria as well.

Hendrik Hering, the state’s economy minister, argued that Fiat’s proposal is “all about size,” and pointed to the failure of the Daimler-Chrysler merger as a reason to avoid the Italian company’s overture.

“As industrial policy, Magna’s concept is better,” Mr. Hering said. “It is the logical continuation of a very strong supplier.”

The bid by Magna has taken on a foreign policy dimension because it is supported by Gaz, a Russian automaker, and Sberbank, a Russian bank. Commercially, this appeals to G.M. because Opel has made strides in the Russian market, despite being hampered by a 25 percent import duty, which would disappear if Opel struck an alliance with Gaz.

German politicians with deep ties to Russia, including former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, have helped ease the way for the Magna-Gaz-Sberbank bid, a person with knowledge of the situation said. Mr. Schröder maintains a close friendship with Vladimir V. Putin, the Russian prime minister.

Fiat, which wants a partnership with Opel to complement the deal it recently struck for a stake in Chrysler, kicked off the week by wooing Opel’s powerful employee leader, Klaus Franz. Mr. Franz has fretted that a deal with Fiat would cost more jobs than one with Magna, which would offer Opel free rein to expand in Europe.

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ripplewood holdings..who?..a major late player to take over gm’s europe business’..lets see whats behind this company

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripplewood_Holdings_LLC

An American private equity firm based in New York, New York that focuses on leveraged buyouts, late stage venture, growth capital, management buyouts, leveraged recapitalizations and other illiquid investments.

Ripplewood was founded by its current CEO, Tim Collins. The company’s main interests range from telecommunications to banking to entertainment. The firm manages more than $10 billion in capital.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Collins_(financier)

Born 1956, is the founder, senior managing director, and chief executive officer of Ripplewood Holdings LLC.

Collins was born in Frankfort, Kentucky. Raised in Fostoria, Ohio. A 1974 graduate of Fostoria High School. He has a B.A. degree in Philosophy from DePauw University and an MBA from Yale School of Management.

Ripplewood has invested in nearly a dozen industry groups and in companies with more than $20 billion of revenue. It has led several of the largest private equity transactions, including its takeover of the Long-Term Credit Bank, renamed Shinsei Bank, which helped restructure the Japanese economy. Collins was named one of the “25 Stars of Asia: Leaders at the Forefront of Change” by BusinessWeek magazine.

Collins is a director of several public companies as well as some of Ripplewood’s private portfolio companies. He is involved in several not-for-profit and public sector activities, including the U.S.-Japan Business Council, the Trilateral Commission, the U.S.-Japan Private Sector/Government Commission, Yale Divinity School advisory board, Yale School of Management board of advisors, American Friends of the British Museum, Yaddo, the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, Trout Unlimited, and Lenox Hill Neighborhood House.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?category=Region&storyID=754742&BCCode=&newsdate=12/29/2008

The Obama Presidential Inaugural Committee is collecting lots of big checks from New York state residents, including from some people familiar around the Capitol.

A total of 140 people have sent $3.51 million to the committee from New York, although that sum does not include people who gave less than $200. And 53 New Yorkers wrote checks for $50,000, the maximum, or $2.65 million. Many are from the financial and real estate industry in New York City.

Six members of the Soros family and the Soros Fund, including George Soros, sent $50,000 apiece. A few Rockefellers sent money, including Laurence, of the New York League of Conservation Voters, down for $38,000.

Banker Howard Millstein and wife Abby Millstein, a lawyer with Constantine Cannon, donated $50,000 each.

Chairman of The Island Def Jam Music Group Antonio Reid contributed $50,000.

Jeff Gural, the track and racino operator, sent $25,000 and his father Aaron Gural, who started the Gural family real estate firm, threw in another $50,000.

Ronald O. Perelman , chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., sent $50,000 and the company lawyer, Barry Schwartz, added $25,000.

In the Capital Region, Andrea and Timothy Collins, of Ripplewood Holdings, each wrote checks for $50,000, using their Saratoga Springs address.

And technology and learning consultant Elliott Masie, of Saratoga Springs, sent $10,000.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/bilderberg-news-blackout-continues.html

U.S. Attendees of the 2008 Bilderberg Conference:

Timothy C. Collins(White European) – Senior Managing Director and CEO, Ripplewood Holdings, LLC

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_28/b3891420.htm

Collins, 47, is kind of a paradox — by turns shrewd dealmaker and sunny idealist. He grew up in the American state of Kentucky — Ripplewood is named after his family’s tobacco farm — worked as businessman and banker for a few years, then in 1988 checked out of the business world to work at a refugee camp in Sudan for a year. Today, Collins is perhaps the most plugged-in foreign investor in Japan — and he has got some high-powered U.S. competition, including Carlyle Group, Lone Star, and funds controlled for Wilbur L. Ross Jr.

http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=6900&name=Timothy-C-Collins

Mr. Collins is a director of several public companies as well as a number of Ripplewood’s private portfolio companies. He is involved in several not-for-profit and public sector activities, including the Trilateral Commission, Yale Divinity School Advisory Board, Yale School of Management Board of Advisors, American Friends of the British Museum, Yaddo, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Collins is also a trustee of the Carnegie Hall Society.

Ripplewood invests in a variety of sectors, including education publishing, telecom, automotive retail, specialty chemicals, consumer products and food manufacturing, and industrial products.

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i believe i have only scratched the surface here..needs some more researching including the other companies collins is involved with..suffice to say..collins is a bilderberger, trilateral commision, cfr, owner of the iconic readers digest company, credited with saving the japanese economy!! and donated to obamas campaign..how a wild card suddenly becomes included in bids for gm’s europe business’ becomes much more clearer now..everything happens for a reason..you just have to follow the money

401

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~ by seeker401 on May 21, 2009.