| Kovels' List of Top Antiques Searches Reflect Current Events
Kovels has released the Top 20 list of antiques and collectibles for March based on results of hundreds of thousands of searches on its website. The top three searches - Pottery, Glass and Furniture - rarely change and are always the major areas of interest because they are useful antiques or collectibles found in every home. But the other items reflect a special interest often influenced by current news or auctions. For example, the recent ruling against selling war medals has created a problem for dealers and a change in prices of World War II souvenirs so it moved to number 10. The auctions of several large toy collections created extra publicity and interest in toy prices, and Toys made it into the 7th position. The entire top 20 list follows: Pottery and porcelain Glass Furniture Jewelry Bottles Metals Toys Prints, pictures, paintings, paper Royal Doulton World War II Stoves Coca-Cola Advertising Alabaster Silver plate Lighters Folk art Occupied Japan Weapons Music Kovels.com offers the Web's largest free price guide for antiques and collectibles.
Creative ways to split inheritance can reduce friction
The event wasn't set up by an auction house or to benefit a charity. Instead, he was bidding against his two siblings in a private, Web-based auction that they held to divvy up their late father's personal property. Distributing a family's tangible belongings — often mundane knickknacks with far more sentimental value than monetary worth — has long had the potential to ignite family feuds. Divorce and second marriages can add to the tension, as children and stepfamilies vie for valued objects. Now, families and estate planners increasingly are turning to a number of novel strategies, including family auctions and a round-robin selection strategy, to divide tangible property without splitting families apart. Recent online tools also can help family members divide up a parent's belongings.
Many bids for billion-dollar RAMS
KOHLBERG Kravis Roberts and General Electric offered as much as $1 billion to buy Australia's RAMS Mortgage, six people with knowledge of the matter said. Westpac, Macquarie Bank and Carlyle Group also made bids for the closely-held home lender, said the people, who declined to be identified as details aren't public. RAMS makes loans through branches and mortgage brokers. Demand for home loans in Australia is rising after house prices climbed 8.3 per cent last year. New-home sales have increased every month since December, the Housing Industry Association reported in March. Australia's home loan approvals rose for a third straight month in February. "If it is cheap enough, RAMS is an attractive way to expand in home lending," said Peter Vann of Constellation Capital Management.
Kinetic Concepts responds to Medicare Bidding Rule
Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE:KCI), a global medical technology company with leadership positions in advanced wound care and therapeutic surfaces, issued a statement on the recently-released final competitive bidding rule by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS"). The rule establishes Medicare competitive bidding procedures for durable medical equipment used in the home for ten designated metropolitan areas and includes the category of Negative Pressure Wound Therapy, including related accessories and supplies (collectively, "NPWT"), in the initial phase of competitive bidding, which is scheduled to take effect in April 2008. The Company estimates that V.A.C.(R) rentals and sales to Medicare beneficiaries in the ten designated metropolitan areas represented approximately $14 million or 1.7% of KCI's total U.S.
ABN Amro posts profit on eve of bidding war
Amsterdam - ABN Amro posted double-digit gains in earnings yesterday, strengthening the hand of the underperforming Dutch lender as it enters the last days of merger talks with Barclays and faces a rival break-up bid. ABN shares - on the first day of trade since a rival consortium of three suitors emerged late on Friday - rose more than 5 percent to a record E35.60 (R346) in morning trade yesterday, taking it above the level Barclays is expected to pay and valuing ABN at E68 billion. Spain's Santander, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Dutch-Belgian group Fortis approached ABN last week asking for access to its books and management, days before ABN's 30-day period of exclusive talks with Barclays ends tomorrow. The banks said they wanted their bid to be friendly, but sources close to the matter said ABN would not open its books until it had more details on the consortium's plans.
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