La Jolla, CA - August 1, 2008

Oh, the toll the subprime mortgage crisis has taken. Not only on the former home owners who defaulted on their subprime mortgages when the housing market took a dive, or on the financial institutions that suffered huge losses as people grew unable, or unwilling, to make housing payments, but also on manufacturers and other businesses in need of capital.

That's because the subprime mortgage crisis, combined with an already stagnant U.S. economy, has resulted in a credit crunch that has made obtaining capital for plant expansion, for equipment purchases and for acquisitions a much different ballgame than it was even 12 months ago.

"It's like night and day," says Nick Chini, director and principal with Bainbridge, a management consulting and mergers-and-acquisitions advisory firm. "We are in a tenuous, dynamic capital market environment" that is constantly changing, he says, depending on the industry, the capital structure, the news. "The need for real-time information is more critical than ever," he states.

"[Investors] are looking at the P&L and the projections for companies with a very different set of projections and assumptions about the future than before," he continues. "You have to work harder to .......  

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