Sale of Genmar

USA. Upbeat Irwin Jacobs expects to own Genmar assets by weekend
Tuesday, 03 November 2009





In an interview with BYM News, Genmar boss Irwin Jacobs talks about his come back plans for the bankrupt boat builder.

Irwin Jacobs: It’s my plan to be the acquirer of all the [Genmar] assets. I’m in the process of doing that right now. I can’t speak other than what I believe, but I think you’ll see before the week is out; I plan to be the high bid, that’s my plan.

BYM News: Won’t you have an uphill struggle, once you acquire the assets, since boat sales are not exactly booming?

Irwin Jacobs: Well no they’re not, but I have great confidence in our companies, our people, our dealers; I can only tell you that this is not a turn around in five minutes situation, but we’ll have enough capital in there to put a lot of plans in place. The industry has changed for ever and we want to change with it. We’ve lowered our overheads, we’ve had to lay off a lot of people, but when it’s all said and done I have great faith in the industry and it will come back stronger than ever, some day down the road. In the meantime we have to manage our business in accordance with the industry.

BYM News: Will you be focussing on a particular type and range of boats?

Irwin Jacobs: We will be very aggressive in our entry level boat, all the way up to our large Marquis yachts and everything in between.

BYM News: Surely some boats must be selling better than others?

Irwin Jacobs: Positively, although I must tell you that I just received information from Statistical Surveys, they’re the third party people that do all the retail analysis of boats for the whole United States, and whilst we’ve been in bankruptcy for the last 90 days, we picked up 6% market share, where all our competitors were actually down. That was across the board in our total company.

BYM News: You introduced VEC technology some years ago, does that still play a major part in manufacturing Genmar products?

Irwin Jacobs: Very much so, that’s one of the most important parts of our business and we’ve come out with a new entry level product, called Fincraft. It’s a 17, 18 and 19 foot boat, a fishing boat that will compete against the aluminum market as well as bring new people into the industry; people are not promoting entry level products anymore because they want bigger, bigger boats.

BYM News: One of the things that killed the industry.

Irwin Jacobs: I agree and we’re going back and we’ve spent a lot of money in developing this entry level product and we’ll be launching it next spring. I will tell you that this product will be anywhere from 3 to 8 thousand dollars less than our competitors in the aluminum business and it will have a lifetime warranty that’s transferable to the next owner. This is with our VEC technology; people don’t keep a boat for a lifetime, but they want quality, they want to know that the trade in value is strong enough when the pass it on to the next person. We’ve got to bring the people in and we believe that you could end up buying our 17 foot single console with less than $150 a month payment, that’s $5 a day to own a boat. That’s in America, obviously it would be more in other countries, but the dollar is so cheap that overseas dealers should do wonderfully with this boat and we’ll be targeting the whole world with it.

Marian Martin

Let me see if I have this straight... this guy runs the company into the ground, files bankrupcy, and somehow is able to buy the company??? On what planet does that make sense? Sure seems like someone is going to get left out in the cold on this - like the people the trusted Genmar to pay their bills.



Seriously, if I have this wrong, please let me know.

[micropterus]

Originally Posted by brad b unlogged

Let me see if I have this straight... this guy runs the company into the ground, files bankrupcy, and somehow is able to buy the company??? On what planet does that make sense? Sure seems like someone is going to get left out in the cold on this - like the people the trusted Genmar to pay their bills.



Seriously, if I have this wrong, please let me know.

Trust has nothing to do with it.

[stacker2]

MICRO, I think this will get good.

Can you please then enlighten us as to what it is? Please?

[Juls]

http://www.bassfan.com/docktalk.asp?id=6770#6770
Genmar: motion granted 11/5/2009
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Minnesota today granted Genmar its motion to enter into a period of exclusivity with a potential stalking horse for sale of the company's assets.

Identity of the stalking horse has not been disclosed, but given what Genmar chairman Irwin Jacobs told media over the previous 2 days – that he'll own Genmar by week's end – there's every reason to believe he or a close associate is indeed the stalking horse.

What the period of exclusivity means is that from this point forward, until the period ends, Genmar may only negotiate a sale with the stalking horse. However, if it turns out the stalking horse is not Jacobs, the motion does include language that allows Jacobs to match or better the stalking-horse bid.

Still unclear is whether the stalking horse would purchase Genmar in whole or in part.

And the court order made no mention of Textron's objection, which sought more transparency in the proceedings, so the objection assumingly was overruled.

Genmar is a public company and Jacobs currently owns 40% of its stock. He's able to purchase the company out of bankruptcy as a private citizen.

[micropterus]

Originally Posted by stacker2

MICRO, I think this will get good.

Can you please then enlighten us as to what it is? Please?

In god we trust, all others pay cash.

[stacker2]

Boy, thats it. big buisness can only except cash and expect growth. Sure will limit the amount of product moving. Will limit the amount of jobs. 30-6-90 lead times, wow in god we trust all others pay cash. unemployment will be 30%.

[micropterus]

Originally Posted by stacker2

Boy, thats it. big buisness can only except cash and expect growth. Sure will limit the amount of product moving. Will limit the amount of jobs. 30-6-90 lead times, wow in god we trust all others pay cash. unemployment will be 30%.

Take a breath, I was trying to add a little levity to the situation.

How do you feel about trusting AIG.

Need more than just trust.

[stacker2]

I dont think I want this convo with you. you are way smarter than all here.

[micropterus]

Originally Posted by stacker2

I dont think I want this convo with you. you are way smarter than all here.