| Massachusetts Petitions to Foreclose Rise 80 Percent in First ...
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--It didn't get any easier for thousands of Massachusetts mortgage holders to pay their bills during the first quarter, as petitions to foreclose rose 79.8 percent compared with the first quarter in 2006. Advertisements for foreclosure auctions also jumped 191.7 percent compared with the first quarter of last year, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. Mortgage lenders filed 6,395 petitions to foreclose in Massachusetts Land Court during the first quarter, compared with 3,556 in the first quarter of 2006 and 3,130 in the first quarter of 2005. The number is slightly higher than the number of petitions in the fourth quarter of last year, when 6,376 were filed. There were 3,118 advertisements for foreclosure auctions during the first quarter compared with 1,069 during the first quarter of last year and 1,148 during the first quarter of 2005.
Athletes go up for sale
A lap dance from water polo player Sean Williams is worth exactly $16 -- or at least it was last night in a fundraiser at HUB Heritage Hall. Attendees of the Penn State Marketing Association (PSMA) Date Auction watched as lacrosse player Megan McGuire "bought" Williams. Bidders on the water polo player were not only paying for a date with him, but for a lap dance Williams promised, which McGuire received on stage immediately after the bidding on Williams closed. "It was hot," McGuire said, laughing. "I didn't really expect him to do it up there, but hey, whatever." PSMA held the event as a way to raise money for Alex's Lemonade Stand, an organization that deals with pediatric cancer. "We came up with the idea because we were looking for a way to raise money, just in general, whether for an organization or for a charity," Jessica Hoffman, a member of PSMA and co-chair of the event, said.
Revised bidding documents from ICTAD for construction industry
COLOMBO: The Director General of Advisory Service Vajira Ranasinghe said yesterday that with the view to develop and uplift minor, medium and major scale construction industries in Sri Lanka the Institute for Construction Training and Development (ICTAD) had introduced new revised bidding documents from time to time according to the local and international changes in the construction industry. In this connection, it has arranged two seminars for engineers, quantity surveyors, constructors and Government and private construction industries who are engaged in construction work. Addressing the workshop at ICTAD auditorium Vajira Ranasinghe said that during the last seminar they introduced the standard bidding documents for minor scale contracts as well as medium level contracts.
Role of US buyout firms in BCE bidding raises concern
MONTREAL -- CEO Michael Sabia may have opened up telecom giant BCE Inc. to a lengthy bidding war between Canada's biggest pension funds, but criticism of the potential role of powerful U.S. private equity funds is mounting. One of the potential bidding groups has the world's biggest buyout fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as a minority partner and the other Providence Equity Partners Inc., another huge U.S. buyout firm in the same role. In the event BCE is taken private, Canadian pension funds would be passive partners seeking to bolster returns, while rapid changes at BCE would be dictated by these highly experienced and aggressive U.S. buyout firms that would aim to cash out in two or three years, several investors said Wednesday. .
CGI award protested by rival
A CAD 400m ($354m) Canadian public sector outsourcing contract that has reportedly been awarded to CGI Group is under fire from the incumbent contractor that lost out in the most recent round of bidding. Ottawa-based TPG Technology Consulting is calling for a public inquiry into Public Works and Government Services Canada's decision to give the contract to CGI, Canada's top services provider. TPG alleges that Public Works changed the proposal evaluation process to favor large firms, and that CGI's ties to the agency may have had something to do with the award. .
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