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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
City seeks extension on loan to buy King papers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s been nearly two years since Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin led a local community effort to buy a major collection of papers that belonged to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Those papers were scheduled to be sold on Sotheby’s auction block until Atlanta leaders were able to collaborate on an 11th hour effort to buy the papers before they were auctioned off.
Franklin was able to raise more that $32 million in cash donations and in loan guarantees from some of the top corporate citizens and individuals in Atlanta and the nation. Those gifts and loan guarantees enabled the community to receive a two-year loan from Atlanta-based SunTrust.
So far, the campaign has raised $26 million in cash pledges (with about $20 million on hand). But Franklin said this week that she needs more time to raise up to $10 million (to repay the loan and interest).
There were about $18.5 million in loan guarantees from numerous companies and individuals. Now Franklin is asking some of them if they would be willing to convert some of their guarantees to donations.
She says that she is now “dialing for dollars” to close out the loan.
Even though it’s taking longer to raise the money than originally anticipated, local leaders say that the collection is already paying dividends for Atlanta, King’s birthplace and the cradle of civil rights. Read more
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Invesco is home at last
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Invesco can now openly call Atlanta home.
As of last summer, Invesco became a U.S. company rather than one owned by investors from the United Kingdom. Once more than 50 percent of its ownership came from the United States, Invesco was able to bring its primary listing here.
But in reality, Invesco has been here all along.
The company’s roots date back to 1978 when the money management firm split off from Citizens & Southern National Bank. The one constant was Charles Brady, who ran the operation for the bank and then was CEO of the new company.
At today’s annual meeting at the Walter Hill Auditorium, Brady was sitting on one of the back rows listening to Martin Flanagan, Invesco’s current CEO, message to shareholders.
“We’ve finally goten to where we should have been all along,” Brady said after the meeting. “This was not the first time that we tried to move the headquarters.”
Back in the mid 1980s, Brady and his partners sold off the company to U.K. investors. But Brady remained as head of the U.S. business, and he continued to make Atlanta his base.
“We’ve always been here,” said Brady, who is Invesco’s chairman emeritus. “The Brits just didn’t know it.”
Now, Invesco will be moving its headquarters a few blocks north to John Dewberry’s development at Peachtree Pointe. Of its 5,600 global employees, nearly 320 are based in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Brady, who is spending most of his time in Atlanta rather than traveling, is pleased with how Flanagan is running the company. Despite the tough market conditions, Invesco is outperforming its competitors.
“He’s doing great,” Brady said of Flanagan. “I spent a long time looking for somebody.”
The current non-executive chairman of Invesco is Rex Adams, dean of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
As he was walking up the aisle after the meeting, Adams said to Brady: “We finally made it home.”
