It slipped by me at the time, but Constellation Software took itself off the market two weeks ago, having announced last April that it was considering strategic alternatives. With two large shareholders in OMERS and Birch Hill Equity Partners , most assumed that a sale would come to pass last summer.

At the time of the for sale press release, with the stock at $65/share, the market cap was around $1.385 billion; before any takeover premium. Thats a hefty MA bite for most software or service firms, leaving only big players such as INFOR as viable bidders. Im sure that Merrill and BMO did a good job on the sell-side, but with a tough debt market limiting PE options and an apparently unwilling management team, the outcome might not have been much of a surprise. At least with the benefit of hindsight. Just because it has been a great investment post-IPO doesnt guarantee a successful sale transaction, unusual as that is to say.

Now that the stock is over $84, thanks in part to a new 5% dividend that pushed the quote up despite being pulled off the market, perhaps theres still a deal to be done at CSU.

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Credit card debt can balloon out of control before anyone knows it. Once someone realizes how bad the situation has become it can seem almost impossible to dig out from under the red tape. Doing so will almost certainly require a change in spending habits and then applying the money saved to the monthly payments.

Ways to save

*Set goals – Decide what exactly it is that needs to be accomplished. Simply deciding to save money or pay down debt likely won’t work because that can’t be measured. Set a period of time in which a certain amount of debt should be eliminated.

*Spending – Begin by tracking every expense, from monthly bills to grocery trips, for a period of time. After a couple of weeks, go back and see if there are any areas that can be cut out, such as eating out.

*Budget – After costs have been accounted for and adjusted, create a budget using income and expenses. This will

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With bank lending slowing and capital markets closed to all but large corporates, small and medium-size enterprises around the world are in desperate need of new sources of funding. Given how important SMEs are to the global economy, the credit crunch they are experiencing is more than one sector’s plight. Should financing continue to tighten, it could have a huge impact for SMEs themselves, for economic recovery and growth, and for the stability of global corporate supply chains.

A number of new investors and new funding avenues are beginning to take up the slack—from private placements to asset-based lending and from retail investors to dedicated SME investment funds. But whether these alternative financing channels can kick-start SME growth remains to be seen.

SMEs are well-recognized as the foundation for economic growth: Mom and Pop firms in the US and family-run Mittelstand companies in Germany both account for around 50% of their national GDP. The well

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Finding Out Your Credit Worthiness According to Experian – By: Tapash Duttaa

Experian is one of three key credit reporting agencies. Located in Ireland, they are a company who provides consumer economic history reports for latent lenders and/or insurance companies. When an entity or business applies for a loan, the lender will want to ensure their conditions to observe whether or not they disburse their bills on time and completely. Every account you have habitually reports on your credit, in particular if you reimburse late or not at all. Lenders are more probable to make an unhelpful report than an optimistic one, making it even more crucial that you pay punctually. Efficacy companies do not classically make reports except you fail to pay. Many times they will make a query if your bill is paid late, alerting possible lenders. If a creditor sees numerous studies from your convenience company, then it will let them recognize that you are paying belatedly each month that and query was made. Full article…

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