Hey Hawgwild, The newest announced bidder for Ranger, as well as Four Winns, Champion, Stratos, Glastron, Larson and Wellcraft, is a equity company from California called Platinum Equity. They own all kinds of different stuff, but I dont think they are in the boat business now. Below is a link to Platinums website which is kind of interesting to see the variety of businesses they are in. There is still the assumption that Irvin Jacobs will make a bid for at least part of Genmar. Regardless of who bids and buys the pieces of Genmar, bids arent due until early Jan. 2010 and the closing wouldnt happen until the end of the month and the sale has to be approved by the court. With Yamaha closing its nearshore boat builder, Century Boats – an 80+ year old company, I bet the bidding for the saltwater stuff will be slow or nonexistent. The folks that are really going to hurt are the pros. Their deals are all screwed up. Although Ranger is going to continue its sponsorship with FLW, at least the big prize ($500,000) has been reduced to $100,000. I dont think the lower levels have been negotiated or at least announced, but bet there will be reductions there as well. I don know who understands the credit arrangements for the pros, but the tax problems they end up with are always a pain. With this added in on top, the midlevel pros are likely to not understand their circumstances until after many of the tours have kicked off in early Feb. and March. My two cents… http://www.platinumequity.com/site/acti … portfolio/
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