Loans

The Los Angeles City Council is weighing a plan to issue a $30-million loan that would allow the owner of the Hollywood & Highland shopping mall to retrofit a theater so it can house a decade of performances by Cirque du Soleil. CIM Group, which owns Hollywood & Highland but leases the Kodak Theatre within the mall, hopes to bring the acrobatic performances to the venue starting in 2011.

It's an old Hollywood story: a well-liked performer with a pretty face who just can't deliver the goods every time. In this case the performer is the Kodak Theatre, glamorous temple of the Academy Awards seen one night each year on television by millions of people. But on far too many other nights, the vast theater tucked into the Hollywood & Highland shopping center is dark and not generating revenues or taxes, its operators say.

The legally embattled owners of "Terminator" are back -- in court, that is. Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, producers of Warner Bros.' and Sony Pictures' May release "Terminator Salvation," have filed a pair of $30-million lawsuits: One against Santa Barbara hedge fund Pacificor, which lent them money to buy the rights to the science-fiction film series, and another against a former employee of Pacificor who helped arrange the loans. The suits come as Halcyon Co., which is owned by Anderson and Kubicek, has been attempting to raise money to continue operating, according to several people familiar with the situation.

Fewer banks are tightening their lending standards, but credit constraints on U.S. businesses and consumers aren't likely to let up before the middle of next year. In its July survey of loan officers, released Monday, the Federal Reserve found that about 30% of 55 domestic banks toughened criteria for obtaining commercial and industrial loans, down from about 40% in April and a peak of about 85% in November. The steadily improving credit conditions come as the U.S. economy shows increasing signs of emerging from the deep recession.

OneWest Bank of Pasadena, the savings bank that arose from the ashes of failed mortgage giant IndyMac Bancorp, reported a solid profit of $182 million for the second quarter, its first full quarter under ownership by private investors. The company's report to regulators, posted on a government website Tuesday, suggested that a loss-sharing arrangement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was helping the thrift work through its giant collection of soured loans and move toward its goal of reshaping itself as a traditional full-service bank.

Three companies belonging to Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek, owners of the "Terminator" franchise rights and producers of May's "Terminator Salvation," filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles Monday, the same day that the two producers sued their primary investor and one of its former employees. Although "Terminator Salvation" has sold a healthy $370 million worth of tickets around the world and has yet to be released on DVD, Anderson and Kubicek didn't make a payment demanded by Santa Barbara hedge fund Pacificor, which financed their $30-million purchase of the "Terminator" rights in 2007 and made two subsequent loans to their Halcyon Co. production firm worth $9 million.

Dear Karen: Sales are down but service calls are up at my firm. How can I fund labor costs with sales revenue dropping? Answer: Service companies have a longer cash cycle than product-based firms because they pay employees well before they collect invoices. You need to raise capital to bolster cash flow. Traditional sources include loans from friends, family and angel investors, bank loans and factoring. A bank loan is cost-effective but difficult to get today. Factoring involves selling your invoices to a financing company that pays you upfront, collects your revenue and charges you a fee, which can be costly.

Three Southern California mortgage brokers have been arrested on suspicion of stealing nearly $1 million from borrowers seeking to adjust their home loans. Michael McConville, 31, and co-workers Garrett Holdridge, 23, and Alan Ruiz, 28, are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court on charges of bilking more than 70 homeowners, said Scott Gerber, a spokesman for the California attorney general's office. The three were arrested Thursday, after a complaint listing 44 criminal charges was filed by the attorney general's office.

More than 50,000 homeowners are expected to begin streaming through the Los Angeles Convention Center today, hoping for a hand in restructuring their mortgages or avoiding foreclosure. The free five-day event, running through Monday, is organized by Boston-based Neighborhood Assistance Corp. of America. NACA hosted similar meetings nationwide this summer that attracted more than 180,000 participants. Counselors at 360 computer stations will scan homeowners' mortgage documents and send electronic files to nearly 2,000 on-site servicers and lenders, including representatives from Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp.

Consumer advocates and a Santa Barbara lawmaker are urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign a bill that would protect homeowners from predatory firms that collect advance payments after bragging about their ability to persuade lenders to lower monthly mortgage bills. Often, the so-called debt modification counselors collect thousands of dollars in fees, then fail to do anything while lenders foreclose on the properties, Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) said at a news conference Wednesday in the state Capitol building.