The Wharton School's Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) has entered into a partnership with Zacks Investment Research, Inc.
WRDS is the leading comprehensive, internet-based data research service. It provides instant access to over 200 terabytes of data across Finance, Marketing, and Economic disciplines. It is the gold standard in business intelligence and is a tool used by 30,000 users in 30 countries.
Zacks Investment Research provides a database of warnings, sales estimates, analyst ratings, price targets and recommendations that help the global financial community construct consensus forecasts earning surprises and analyst track records.
The Wharton press release that announced the partnership provided a quote from the Senior Director of WRDS, Robert Zarazowski. "The Zacks database offers academic and empirical business researchers the ability to analyze historic patterns in analyst behavior and see connections between their actions, a company’s performance and the market as a whole. It’s an important addition WRDS’ already extensive data offerings.”
Started in 1993, WRDS' comprehensive internet-based data research service is used by corporate firms, non-profit institutions, government and academic firms. The Wharton School is the business school at the University of Pennsylvania. Zacks Investment Research is based in Chicago, Ill. and has been the leading provider of research, market data, and quantitative models to institutional investment management firms in the US and Canada for over 30 years.
Dan Zwirn attended the Wharton School from 1989-1993 as part of a dual degree from Wharton and the Moore School of Electrical Engineering. He received a B.S. in economics and a B.A.S. in computer science.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
What is TIGER 21?
TIGER 21 (The Investment Group for Enhanced Results in the 21st Century) is a learning network for high net worth investors. The peer-to-peer group of 200 Members collectively manage around $18 billion in investable assets. These Members include CEOs, entrepreneurs, investors and top executives with backgrounds in financial services, real estate, industrial and consumer goods, legal services entertainment and medicine.
Founded in 1999, TIGER 21 has groups across North America in cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Groups conduct meetings that are confidential and managed by professional facilitators. These meetings provide a forum for relationships between peers who are facing both challenges and opportunities in managing their wealth. With wide-ranging styles and expertise, TIGER 21 says their Members are granted unique insights and value not found elsewhere.
TIGER 21 conducts a presenter program where a speaker from investing, landscape or lifestyle & family speak to the Member Groups. The Groups generally will have one or two speakers a day. Dan Zwirn has previously been a TIGER 21 presenter, lending his investment expertise to the Members.
Some notable headliner presenters have included:
Founded in 1999, TIGER 21 has groups across North America in cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Groups conduct meetings that are confidential and managed by professional facilitators. These meetings provide a forum for relationships between peers who are facing both challenges and opportunities in managing their wealth. With wide-ranging styles and expertise, TIGER 21 says their Members are granted unique insights and value not found elsewhere.
TIGER 21 conducts a presenter program where a speaker from investing, landscape or lifestyle & family speak to the Member Groups. The Groups generally will have one or two speakers a day. Dan Zwirn has previously been a TIGER 21 presenter, lending his investment expertise to the Members.
Some notable headliner presenters have included:
- Michael Bloomberg: Mayor of New York City and Founder of Bloomberg LP
- Steve Forbes: President and CEO of Forbes
- Newt Gingrich: Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Ted Koppel: Former anchor of Nightline
- Cindy McCain: Chairman of Hensley & Company
- George Mitchell: Former Senator (D-ME), Partner/Chairman of the Global Board of DLA Piper
- Dr. Mehmet C. Oz: The Dr. Oz Show
- T. Boone Pickens: General Partner of BP Capital
- Cal Ripken Jr. Hall of Fame Baseball player, Chairman & Founder, Ripken Baseball, Inc.
- Greta Van Susteren: Journalist and Fox News Correspondent
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
U.S. Averts Fiscal Cliff
Late Tuesday night, the House of Representatives approved a bill that would avert the US from going over the fiscal cliff, thus avoiding automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, which analysts predicted would send the U.S. back into another recession.
After the White House and Senate both approved the bill, it faced its last obstacle in the House of Representatives where it passed in a 257-167 vote. 172 Democrats favored the bill with 16 against, while 85 Republicans voted to pass the bill, with 151 voting against it.
Tax cuts will remain in place for individuals earning less than $400,000 a year and couples earning less than $450,000 a year. It does, however, raise taxes for those making more than those levels respectively. The increase will be from 35% to 39.4%. During his re-election campaign, President Obama had vowed to increase taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year, while Republicans did not want any tax increases. The $400,000 agreement seemingly reflects a compromise by the two sides, which was still heavily opposed by many Republicans, as reflected by the 151 votes casts against the deal by those Republicans in the House. Many of these Republicans cited a lack of spending cuts as a reason for voting against the deal as well.
For wealthy individuals, the deal also raises taxes on capital-gains and dividends (from 15%-20%) and estates (from 35% to 40%).
One aspect of the bill that will affect all Americans is the end to the stimulus rate of the Social Security tax. Americans of all income levels will see that tax increase to 6.2% from 4.2%.
President Obama has said he will sign the bill into law, and world markets reacted positively to the news. Wednesday morning, U.S. stocks jumped quickly after opening.
Despite the resolution, the U.S. faces another "cliff" as the $110 billion in spending cuts just averted, could once again kick in. In two months, the cuts can occur if the U.S. does not increase its borrowing limit.
After the White House and Senate both approved the bill, it faced its last obstacle in the House of Representatives where it passed in a 257-167 vote. 172 Democrats favored the bill with 16 against, while 85 Republicans voted to pass the bill, with 151 voting against it.
Tax cuts will remain in place for individuals earning less than $400,000 a year and couples earning less than $450,000 a year. It does, however, raise taxes for those making more than those levels respectively. The increase will be from 35% to 39.4%. During his re-election campaign, President Obama had vowed to increase taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year, while Republicans did not want any tax increases. The $400,000 agreement seemingly reflects a compromise by the two sides, which was still heavily opposed by many Republicans, as reflected by the 151 votes casts against the deal by those Republicans in the House. Many of these Republicans cited a lack of spending cuts as a reason for voting against the deal as well.
For wealthy individuals, the deal also raises taxes on capital-gains and dividends (from 15%-20%) and estates (from 35% to 40%).
One aspect of the bill that will affect all Americans is the end to the stimulus rate of the Social Security tax. Americans of all income levels will see that tax increase to 6.2% from 4.2%.
President Obama has said he will sign the bill into law, and world markets reacted positively to the news. Wednesday morning, U.S. stocks jumped quickly after opening.
Despite the resolution, the U.S. faces another "cliff" as the $110 billion in spending cuts just averted, could once again kick in. In two months, the cuts can occur if the U.S. does not increase its borrowing limit.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Barnard College Holds TEDxBarnardCollegeWomen Event
As a Trustee of Barnard College, Dan Zwirn has been a supporter of Barnard education and events.
Barnard recently held an event on campus known as TEDxBarnardCollegeWomen. The event brought together entrepreneurs, artists and innovators for a series of talks on re-imagining leadership. TED is an organization that operates under the mission of "Ideas Worth Spreading." TED talks originally brought people together from three areas: technology, entertainment and design. It has since expanded its subject matter to broader topics.
TEDxBarnardCollegeWomen was one of 150 TedxWomen events held the weekend of December 1. The TEDxWomen2012 event was held in Washington, D.C. and live-streamed to the Barnard event, which was organized and held by the Athena Center for Leadership Studies.
Barnard President Debora Spar kicked off the event at Barnard by asking what skills women need in leadership. Ten speakers, who were leaders in their fields, followed by answering that question in 15-minute presentations covering the Athena Center's Core10.
Among the speakers were Christa Bell, a feminist theater and performance artist with a poetry-slam championship. She started the series talking about inspiration - the motivating and nurturing of people.
Google statistician, Rachel Schutt, followed Bell explaining advocacy: speaking up for yourself and on behalf of others.
Isisara Bey, the founder of Journey Agent Productions and vice president of programs for Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, went next, speaking about vision; the development of strategies, decision making and acting with a purpose.
Karen Washington, founder of Black Urban Growers, discussed leverage - optimizing your networks.
Jennifer Gilbert founded her own party planning company and had insight into entrepreneurial spirit - being innovative, imaginative, persistent and willing to change.
Linda Kay Klein spoke of negotiation, which is bridging differences and finding solutions that work effectively for all parties.
Actor/director/playwright, Melissa Maxwell, discussed courage: the willingness to experiment, taking bold and strategic risks.
The remaining topics covered the rest of the Core10:
Barnard recently held an event on campus known as TEDxBarnardCollegeWomen. The event brought together entrepreneurs, artists and innovators for a series of talks on re-imagining leadership. TED is an organization that operates under the mission of "Ideas Worth Spreading." TED talks originally brought people together from three areas: technology, entertainment and design. It has since expanded its subject matter to broader topics.
TEDxBarnardCollegeWomen was one of 150 TedxWomen events held the weekend of December 1. The TEDxWomen2012 event was held in Washington, D.C. and live-streamed to the Barnard event, which was organized and held by the Athena Center for Leadership Studies.
Among the speakers were Christa Bell, a feminist theater and performance artist with a poetry-slam championship. She started the series talking about inspiration - the motivating and nurturing of people.
Google statistician, Rachel Schutt, followed Bell explaining advocacy: speaking up for yourself and on behalf of others.
Isisara Bey, the founder of Journey Agent Productions and vice president of programs for Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, went next, speaking about vision; the development of strategies, decision making and acting with a purpose.
Karen Washington, founder of Black Urban Growers, discussed leverage - optimizing your networks.
Jennifer Gilbert founded her own party planning company and had insight into entrepreneurial spirit - being innovative, imaginative, persistent and willing to change.
Linda Kay Klein spoke of negotiation, which is bridging differences and finding solutions that work effectively for all parties.
Actor/director/playwright, Melissa Maxwell, discussed courage: the willingness to experiment, taking bold and strategic risks.
The remaining topics covered the rest of the Core10:
- Ambition - Owning your power, expertise and value
- Communication - Active listening, speaking persuasively with authority
- Resilience - Learn from adversity and failure, bounce back
The day was capped by a live stream video of social strategist and author, John Gerzema. He asserted that 2/3rds of men and women in his studies thought the world would be better if men thought more like women; this brought cheers from the audience (Huffington Post).
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Getco Holding Co. Makes Offer to Merge with Knight Capital Group
Getco Holding Co. has offered to merge with Knight Capital Group through a cash deal, valuing Knight at $538 million. Knight stock has fallen 75% over the past year, but news of the possible merger last week sent shares soaring.
Knight Capital has confirmed that it has received a proposal letter from market-maker Getco. However as a matter of policy, Knight doesn't comment on such matters.
Knight is a global financial services firm that engages in market-making and trading across global equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, options and futures. Located in New Jersey, Knight performs similar services as Chicago-based Getco. A specialist in high-speed market-making, Getco's central focus is trading for its own account. Knight, on the other hand, is a direct trader with online brokers servicing the orders of retail investors.
Getco and five other firms provided $400 million to bailout Knight in August after a trading program brought the company a loss of over $460 million.
Getco Chief Executive, Daniel Coleman, said in the proposal letter, "I am convinced that this merger would unlock tremendous value for the shareholders of both firms while establishing a global leader in market-making and agency execution." He continued, "The combined company's scale, footprint, and capability set would be a magnet to customers, talented traders and technologists, which is especially important in an environment of lower trading volumes and higher regulatory engagement."
Getco has a 23.8% stake in Knight Capital and the proposed merger originally came with a 41% premium over Knight's share price of $3.50 (prior to merger rumors surfacing).
Getco isn't the only firm eyeing Knight. Virtu Financial LLC is said to have submitted an all-cash bid that would ultimately turn Knight into a private company, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Knight Capital has confirmed that it has received a proposal letter from market-maker Getco. However as a matter of policy, Knight doesn't comment on such matters.
Knight is a global financial services firm that engages in market-making and trading across global equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, options and futures. Located in New Jersey, Knight performs similar services as Chicago-based Getco. A specialist in high-speed market-making, Getco's central focus is trading for its own account. Knight, on the other hand, is a direct trader with online brokers servicing the orders of retail investors.
Getco and five other firms provided $400 million to bailout Knight in August after a trading program brought the company a loss of over $460 million.
Getco Chief Executive, Daniel Coleman, said in the proposal letter, "I am convinced that this merger would unlock tremendous value for the shareholders of both firms while establishing a global leader in market-making and agency execution." He continued, "The combined company's scale, footprint, and capability set would be a magnet to customers, talented traders and technologists, which is especially important in an environment of lower trading volumes and higher regulatory engagement."
Getco has a 23.8% stake in Knight Capital and the proposed merger originally came with a 41% premium over Knight's share price of $3.50 (prior to merger rumors surfacing).
Getco isn't the only firm eyeing Knight. Virtu Financial LLC is said to have submitted an all-cash bid that would ultimately turn Knight into a private company, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Black Friday Expected to Surpass 2011 in Sales
With the economy's continued sluggishness, 2012's Black Friday is as important as ever to retailers.
Black Friday deals will begin earlier than ever this year, with some stores opening on Thanksgiving Day as early as 8 p.m. Major retailers such as Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart will even open midnight on the eve of Thanksgiving and then re-open Thanksgiving night. With consumer spending making up two-thirds of the economy, the concern over the greatly discussed "Fiscal Cliff" could have an impact on Black Friday sales. As the Examiner notes, many retailers spend the year taking losses, with the Black Friday event pushing them into profitability. But a Pew poll shows 51% of Americans do not feel the Fiscal Cliff will be avoided by the first of the New Year.
Despite this, projections indicate that Black Friday crowds will be larger this year, with an estimated 152 million people shopping over the weekend according to a report by the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF projected that 138 million shoppers would show up in 2011, while in actuality, 212 million took part in the shopping weekend (CNN Money). With underestimations common for the NRF, and 2012's projection higher than that of 2011, retailers have reason for optimism in surpassing last year's sales. This, combined with the earlier opening of stores, should result in a big boost for retailers.
After the weekend comes to a close, retailers will shift their attention to Cyber Monday, which is expected to see sales reach $2 billion - a rise of 18% from 2011. The projection comes from Adobe Systems' Digital Index 2012 Online Shopping Forecast. Adobe also predicts that Black Friday will be the second-biggest online retail day of the year, as well as the biggest mobile shopping day of the year.
Black Friday deals will begin earlier than ever this year, with some stores opening on Thanksgiving Day as early as 8 p.m. Major retailers such as Target, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart will even open midnight on the eve of Thanksgiving and then re-open Thanksgiving night. With consumer spending making up two-thirds of the economy, the concern over the greatly discussed "Fiscal Cliff" could have an impact on Black Friday sales. As the Examiner notes, many retailers spend the year taking losses, with the Black Friday event pushing them into profitability. But a Pew poll shows 51% of Americans do not feel the Fiscal Cliff will be avoided by the first of the New Year.
Despite this, projections indicate that Black Friday crowds will be larger this year, with an estimated 152 million people shopping over the weekend according to a report by the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF projected that 138 million shoppers would show up in 2011, while in actuality, 212 million took part in the shopping weekend (CNN Money). With underestimations common for the NRF, and 2012's projection higher than that of 2011, retailers have reason for optimism in surpassing last year's sales. This, combined with the earlier opening of stores, should result in a big boost for retailers.
After the weekend comes to a close, retailers will shift their attention to Cyber Monday, which is expected to see sales reach $2 billion - a rise of 18% from 2011. The projection comes from Adobe Systems' Digital Index 2012 Online Shopping Forecast. Adobe also predicts that Black Friday will be the second-biggest online retail day of the year, as well as the biggest mobile shopping day of the year.
Friday, November 9, 2012
North Mill Equipment Finance, LLC Created from Colford Capital Acquisition
Colford Capital has acquired Equilease Financial Services, creating North Mill Equipment Finance LLC. Dan Zwirn is a co-manager and co-owner of ALDA Capital which holds a minority stake in Colford Capital.
Colford Capital is a New York City based holding company focusing on building an industry leading, diversified, specialty finance and asset management business. Colford also owns North Mill Capital, a national asset based lending and receivable factoring company.
Equilease has been originating equipment leases and loans under 55 years of experience. They have also had a history of purchasing and servicing equipment lease and loan portfolios from banks and other finance companies. Since 2002, Equilease has bought over 30 lease and loan portfolios totaling over $1 billion of asset value. According to their website, they have done this primarily in the following industries:
Equiliease President, CEO and owner, Gary Silverhardt, will remain President and CEO of North Mill and own a minority stake of shares. The Equilease team will remain in place and in their location in Norwalk, Connecticut, while joining North Mill.
Colford currently manages over $2 billion in capital and is majority owned by Monitor Clipper Partners. ALDA Capital, co-managed and co-owned by Dan Zwirn and Al Gordon, is the other primary investor.
Full Press Release
Colford Capital is a New York City based holding company focusing on building an industry leading, diversified, specialty finance and asset management business. Colford also owns North Mill Capital, a national asset based lending and receivable factoring company.
Equilease has been originating equipment leases and loans under 55 years of experience. They have also had a history of purchasing and servicing equipment lease and loan portfolios from banks and other finance companies. Since 2002, Equilease has bought over 30 lease and loan portfolios totaling over $1 billion of asset value. According to their website, they have done this primarily in the following industries:
- Transportation
- General Construction
- Road Construction
- Manufacturing
- Distribution
- Recycling
- Plastics
- Packaging
- Printing
 |
| Dan Zwirn's ALDA Capital is an investor in Colford Capital, which has acquired Equilease Financial Services. |
Equiliease President, CEO and owner, Gary Silverhardt, will remain President and CEO of North Mill and own a minority stake of shares. The Equilease team will remain in place and in their location in Norwalk, Connecticut, while joining North Mill.
Colford currently manages over $2 billion in capital and is majority owned by Monitor Clipper Partners. ALDA Capital, co-managed and co-owned by Dan Zwirn and Al Gordon, is the other primary investor.
Full Press Release
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