Content about Financial economics

A new report shows a 21% annual increase in cash balance "hybrid" retirement plans in the United States between 2009 and 2010 (the most recent year for which IRS reporting data is available), almost double the previous year’s 11 percent growth rate. Cash balance plans continued to outpace all other sectors of the retirement plan market, according to the 2012 Cash Balance Research Report from Kravitz, a provider of retirement plan management services.

By August 2012, U.S. businesses that sponsor fully insured group health plans could share millions of dollars in rebates from health insurers who spent more on administrative expenses and profits than allowed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), finds an analysis from the not-for-profit Kaiser Family Foundation.

Waypoint Real Estate Group, one of the nation's leading acquirers of distressed, single-family properties, and GI Partners, a mid-market private equity firm, have announced a partnership where they will acquire and then rent out more than $250 million in single-family homes. Ultimately, GI hopes to invest more than $1 billion in distressed and foreclosed homes over the next two years, with Waypoint managing the acquisitions and rental conversions.

Resolute Forest Products has announced its intention to acquire all the issued and outstanding common shares of Fibrek Inc. The offer of C$1 per share in cash, or C$0.55 in cash and 0.0284 of a Resolute Forest Products common share will expire on or before Dec. 31.

According to Resolute, the offer represents a premium of approximately 39% over the closing price of Fibrek's shares on Nov. 28, and a premium of approximately 31% over the volume-weighted average trading price of the shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange or the 20 trading days ending on that date.

A price index of lumber and panels used in actual construction for Nov. 18, 2011

*Western - regional species perimeter foundation; Southern - regional species slab construction.

BlueLinx Holdings, a leading distributor of building products in North America, announced that its indirect subsidiary BlueLinx Building Products Canada has entered into a revolving credit agreement with CIBC Asset-Based Lending. The new credit facility provides for borrowing capacity of up to $10 million and has a term of three years, maturing on Aug. 12, 2014.

Member Insurance Agency, a supplier of insurance policies to independent hardware stories, LBM dealers, garden centers, co-ops and other retail organizations, has named Scott Reynolds as its new CEO and president. 

Until recently, Reynolds was president of United National Group, a specialty insurance company. Prior to United National, Reynolds served as president of the Specialty Underwriting Division of AmWINS Group Inc., overseeing its program business from 2006 to 2008. Altogether, Reynolds has 25 years of experience in the insurance industry. 

BuildFax, the national database of building permit activity and creator of the BuildFax Remodeling Index, has joined forces with Equifax, one of the nation’s largest credit monitoring firms. The new partnership will give property and casualty insurance carriers immediate access to property history information, improving the accuracy of their underwriting to develop better pricing strategies and reduce the potential for fraud.  

Building Industry Partners (BIP), a private equity investment and mergers & acquisitions advisory firm specializing in the middle-market U.S. building industry, has announced the formation of its Debt Advisory & Placement Practice, which will leverage its relationships with the lender community to advise building products companies in restructuring and/or refinancing existing loans, as well as sourcing and optimizing terms on new senior, mezzanine and/or other debt capital.

TimberWest Forest Corp., Western Canada's largest private timber and land management company, has entered into a purchase agreement with two Canadian pension funds, British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board. The purchase price is C$1.03 billion in cash, including assumed debt.

Headquartered in Vancouver, TimberWest owns approximately 808,000 acres of private land and is in the business of selling timber products and real estate. It is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "TWF.UN." 

A "stabilized business" has paved the way for an accelerated stock buy-back program at Atlanta-based The Home Depot. 

The home improvement giant announced the pricing of a $2 billion senior note issuance to refinance $1 billion of senior notes that came due in March 2011 and to repurchase $1 billion of outstanding shares through an accelerated share repurchase program with Barclays Capital.