Trafalgar Holdings

Controversial Los Angeles financier Charles W. Knapp, under siege because of business difficulties, has sued his ex-wife, aviator N. Brooke Knapp, seeking to cancel an expensive divorce settlement that was costing him as much as $40,000 a month. Knapp claimed that he agreed to the divorce settlement in 1986 only because he was "suffering from a severe personality disorder and depression" that left him "exceedingly self-destructive," according to his lawsuit.

The troubled world of maverick money man Charles W. Knapp appears to be wilting around him. Knapp has thrown in the towel on Trafalgar Holdings, the private Los Angeles-based financial-services firm that he founded in late 1984 to start life anew following his tumultuous tenure and ouster as head of the former parent of American Savings & Loan. Once the nation's largest thrift, American's failure in 1988 led to one of the biggest federal thrift bailouts ever.

Charles W. Knapp, the former chairman of Financial Corp. of America who was chased out of the savings and loan industry, is creating a nationwide financial services company that would provide mortgages, develop real estate and otherwise act much like an S&L. Through a subsidiary of his Los Angeles-based Trafalgar Holdings, Knapp recently bought a small Newport Beach mortgage company called Enterprise Funding and has a tentative deal to buy Landmark Mortgage in Santa Ana.

This letter is in response to a news item which appeared in the "Briefly" column of The Times' Business Section on July 31. The item in question reported on the sale by Financial Corp. of America of its FCA Mortgage Securities subsidiary to Salomon Bros. A tombstone advertisement on Sept. 15, 1983, announced the sale of $1.5 billion of Federal Home Mortgage Corp. participation certificates, a transaction arranged by FCA Mortgage Securities. This was at the time the largest single financing transaction in U.S. business history, and is but one of a series of multibillion-dollar mortgage securities transactions consummated by this operation during my tenure as general counsel of FCA. To state, as did the news item in question, that this operation "never got off the ground" is grossly inaccurate, as one would have discovered with even a minimal amount of inquiry.

The Los Angeles investment firm headed by financier Charles W. Knapp apparently has abandoned its attempt with a British partner to acquire Minebea Co., ending the first hostile takeover battle between a Japanese company and a foreign firm. Trafalgar Holdings, of which former Financial Corp. of America chief Knapp is chairman, and Glen International, a London-based investment company, sold all of their shares of Minebea, a Japanese conglomerate, Dow Jones News Service reported Friday.

The troubled world of maverick money man Charles W. Knapp appears to be wilting around him. Knapp has thrown in the towel on Trafalgar Holdings, the private Los Angeles-based financial-services firm that he founded in late 1984 to start life anew following his tumultuous tenure and ouster as head of the former parent of American Savings & Loan. Once the nation's largest thrift, American's failure in 1988 led to one of the biggest federal thrift bailouts ever.

Takami Takahashi, chairman and chief executive of Minebea Co. Ltd., a major Japanese manufacturing company that under his reign fought off a rare takeover attempt by U.S. investors in 1986, has died of acute pneumonia at his Tokyo home. He was 60. His death Wednesday was announced by NMB (USA) Inc. in Chatsworth, where Minebea's North American operations are headquartered. NMB employs about 3,200 people in the United States, including 540 in Chatsworth. Takahashi had led Minebea since 1958.

Controversial Los Angeles financier Charles W. Knapp, under siege because of business difficulties, has sued his ex-wife, aviator N. Brooke Knapp, seeking to cancel an expensive divorce settlement that was costing him as much as $40,000 a month. Knapp claimed that he agreed to the divorce settlement in 1986 only because he was "suffering from a severe personality disorder and depression" that left him "exceedingly self-destructive," according to his lawsuit.

Charles W. Knapp--the controversial Los Angeles financier who once headed Financial Corp. of America, the nation's largest savings and loan--had big plans in mind when he formed Trafalgar Mortgage a couple of years ago. Under the leadership of Lawrence Taggart, a former top California banking regulator, Trafalgar Mortgage was supposed to become a nationwide mortgage lender within three years through the acquisition of up to 200 small companies.

Takami Takahashi, chairman and chief executive of Minebea Co. Ltd., a major Japanese manufacturing company that under his reign fought off a rare takeover attempt by U.S. investors in 1986, has died of acute pneumonia at his Tokyo home. He was 60. His death Wednesday was announced by NMB (USA) Inc. in Chatsworth, where Minebea's North American operations are headquartered. NMB employs about 3,200 people in the United States, including 540 in Chatsworth. Takahashi had led Minebea since 1958.

Charles W. Knapp, the former chairman of Financial Corp. of America who was chased out of the savings and loan industry, is creating a nationwide financial services company that would provide mortgages, develop real estate and otherwise act much like an S&L. Through a subsidiary of his Los Angeles-based Trafalgar Holdings, Knapp recently bought a small Newport Beach mortgage company called Enterprise Funding and has a tentative deal to buy Landmark Mortgage in Santa Ana.

Imagine this: Your horse wouldn't have to be a lowly renter any longer. It could have its own condo. Under a proposal made by the management of the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Griffith Park, people who board horses there could buy the stalls their horses live in--for $30,000 and a $205 monthly maintenance fee. If they paid cash, the price would be discounted to $24,000.

Charles W. Knapp--the controversial Los Angeles financier who once headed Financial Corp. of America, the nation's largest savings and loan--had big plans in mind when he formed Trafalgar Mortgage a couple of years ago. Under the leadership of Lawrence Taggart, a former top California banking regulator, Trafalgar Mortgage was supposed to become a nationwide mortgage lender within three years through the acquisition of up to 200 small companies.

The small team of top executives who ran Financial Corp. of America under ousted Chairman Charles W. Knapp were paid more than $5.2 million in salary, severance payments and consulting fees during 1984 and so far in 1985, the troubled savings and loan company has revealed in a proxy statement. The statement also disclosed that the company continues to be under contract to a firm owned by Knapp's wife to provide airplane transportation for FCA executives.

While his successors at Financial Corp. of America grapple with the lending problems left behind by his management team, Charles W. (Charlie) Knapp appears to be having the time of his 52-year-old life. The erstwhile FCA chairman has a job that is easier and more private, a glamorous new movie actress wife (Lois Hamilton) and a life style more in tune with California hedonism than the old workaholism Knapp had.

Grand Metropolitan PLC, based in London, on Monday rejected a nearly $900-million offer by Trafalgar Holdings for its Inter-Continental hotel chain and other hotel operations. Grand Met, with far-flung operations in health care, brewing and tobacco as well as hotels, said it considered the hotel operations a core part of its business and is not interested in selling. The British concern received Trafalgar's bid on June 6.