Are you wondering just how many companies had equity or debt with Lehman Brothers Holdings. Turns out, the list is heavy on banks, hedge funds, and other financial institutions, but two straight-up consumers brands – Officemax and Ford. Perhaps DDB and JWT are nervous? Well, DDB should be anyway. JWT has been through this “we’re almost closing BS” with Ford about eight hundred times.
Brand: Officemax
Agency: DDB Chicago
Exposure: A division of Officemax, MX Timber Finance Investments, unit issued $735 million securitization notes secured by $817.5 million installment notes guaranteed by Lehman. Oops. Default. Officemax has been sliding down on Wall Street. Guess they won’t be advertising anything any time soon.
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Brand: Ford
Agency: JWT
Exposure: As if Ford needed any more fricking problems, a Lehman affiliate committed $890 million under an $11.5 billion revolving credit facility; another unit provides $238 million under $16.3 million facilities supporting the retail securitization program of Ford Motor Credit Co. Financial rating company Fitch is predicting that “without additional capital raising or asset sales, Ford will reach the minimum required operating cash levels in the second half of 2009.”
The company is trading at $2.92 today. Even the news about a key guard for teens, which Ford created didn’t help. It’s so nasty out there.