Luminent Reports on Stabilization Actions
October 01 2007 - 5:37PM
PR Newswire (US)
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Luminent Mortgage
Capital, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE:LUM) today announced it has
completed numerous actions in light of the changed market
conditions caused by the extraordinary disruptions that have
occurred in real estate and mortgage markets in recent months.
Specifically, Luminent reported: -- The Company has completed the
sale of assets financed by its asset- backed commercial paper
program, and no longer has any outstanding commercial paper
liabilities under its asset-backed commercial paper program. --
Luminent repaid all of its warehouse lines of credit that were used
to finance whole loan purchases, and has no balances currently
outstanding under its warehouse lines of credit. -- Luminent has
either paid in full or negotiated settlement agreements for all but
less than $25 million of disputed repurchase agreement liabilities.
-- The Company expects to cure the events of default with respect
to its convertible senior debt upon delivery of an officer's
certificate to the trustee. -- The Company has entered into an
amended and restated definitive credit agreement with Arco Capital
Corporation Ltd. ("Arco"), providing the Company with a revolving
liquidity line of credit of up to $60.0 million to be used to
stabilize existing repurchase agreements, to meet financing
maturities and to provide working capital. -- Arco has also
provided a limited guarantee with regard to possible future excess
margin deficit payments through the remainder of 2007 to support
repurchase obligations we entered into as part of clearing our
commercial paper liabilities. -- The Company has reduced expenses
by downsizing its work force, and it plans to close its San
Francisco office by December 31, 2007. After signing the definitive
agreement with Arco, Luminent appointed four new members to its
Board of Directors, who will bring their substantial experience and
expertise in the financial sector to the Company. Craig Cohen,
co-founder of Proprietary Capital LLC and an Arco director, will
serve as Chairman of the Board; and Jay Johnston, Chairman and CEO
of Arco, Francesco Piovanetti, President and COO of Arco, and
Zachary H Pashel, Executive Vice President and Head of Structured
Finance of The Chotin Group Corporation, will join the Board as
directors. They succeed Gail Seneca, who resigned as Chairman of
the Board, and Leonard Auerbach and Donald H. Putnam, who resigned
as directors. The Company increased the total number of board
members from eight to nine. Jay Johnston, CEO of Arco, said, "We at
Arco are impressed with the ability of the Company to navigate
through the difficult events of the past months, including the
precipitous decline in prime asset valuations, all while
negotiating a new infusion of capital into the Company. Luminent's
progress speaks to the strength of CEO Trez Moore and his
management team. "As a result of their hard work, we believe that
Luminent is now well- positioned to pursue the successes that
characterized its prior years' performance. We look forward to
working closely with Trez and his team as part of our investment,"
Johnston continued. Craig Cohen, the newly appointed Chairman of
the Board, said, "I believe that Luminent has made tremendous
progress in the past six weeks towards stabilizing its funding
sources. In my opinion, Luminent has a world-class platform and is
a premier credit risk manager in this sector. I am delighted to be
joining the Board as Chairman." Trez Moore, Chief Executive
Officer, said, "We have taken many steps to strengthen Luminent's
financial position and are pleased with our forward momentum. We
look forward to working together with Arco to position the Company
for long-term growth." This news release and Luminent's filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission contain forward-looking
statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements convey Luminent's current
expectations or forecasts of future events. All statements
contained in this press release other than statements of historical
fact are forward- looking statements. Forward-looking statements
include statements regarding our financial position, business
strategy, budgets, projected costs, plans and objectives of
management for future operations. The words "may continue,"
"estimate," "intend," "project," "believe," "expect," "plan,"
"anticipate" and similar terms may identify forward-looking
statements, but the absence of such words does not necessarily mean
that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking
statements include, among other things, statements about: -- the
effect of the flattening of, or other changes in, the yield curve
on our investment strategies; -- changes in interest rates and
mortgage prepayment rates; -- Luminent's ability to obtain or renew
sufficient funding to maintain its leverage strategies and support
its liquidity position; -- continued creditworthiness of the
holders of mortgages underlying Luminent's mortgage-related assets;
-- the possible effect of negative amortization of mortgages on
Luminent's financial condition and REIT qualification; -- the
possible impact of Luminent's failure to maintain exemptions under
the 1940 Act; -- potential impacts of Luminent's leveraging
policies on its net income and cash available for distribution; --
the power of Luminent's Board of Directors to change its operating
policies and strategies without stockholder approval; -- effects of
interest rate caps on Luminent's adjustable-rate and hybrid
adjustable-rate loans and mortgage backed securities; -- the degree
to which Luminent's hedging strategies may or may not protect it
from interest rate volatility; -- Luminent's ability to invest up
to 10% of its investment portfolio in residuals, leveraged mortgage
derivative securities and shares of other REITs as well as other
investments; -- volatility in the timing and amount of Luminent's
cash distributions; -- Luminent's ability to purchase sufficient
mortgages for its securitization business; and -- the other factors
described in Luminent's Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports,
including those under the captions "Management's Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," "Risk
Factors" and "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market
Risk." Luminent cautions you not to place undue reliance on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this
press release. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking
statements attributable to Luminent or any person acting on its
behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary
statements contained or referred to in this press release. Except
to the extent required by applicable law or regulation, Luminent
undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements
to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press
release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Contact: Lin-Hua Wu/Lyndsey Estin Kekst and Company (212) 521 4800
DATASOURCE: Luminent Mortgage Capital, Inc. CONTACT: Lin-Hua Wu or
Lyndsey Estin, both of Kekst and Company, +1-212-521-4800, for
Luminent Mortgage Capital, Inc.
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