Category Archives: Liberty

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Bulkheads, similar to this soundly construction one in Maryland built by Rehbein Enterprises, proved to be a costly problem to Intercoastal Contracting.

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A North Carolina contractor lost a big lawsuit, ran into financial trouble and then stonewalled surety Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. for a short while before filing for protection from its creditors in U.S. bankruptcy court.

That is the picture that emerges of Intercoastal Contracting Inc., a Castle Hayne, N.C.-based heavy construction general contractor that started as a diving company in 1987, from a lawsuit against it in August by Liberty Mutual. The contractors downfall is also recorded in other legal documents and lawsuits.

During a year when contractor failures have spiked, sureties are often forced to step in to finish projects while their contractor clients are in financial free fall. Because the surety almost always has the right under its agreement with the contractor to be compensated in full for its losses, the relationship can become strained. And when all the complexities of a bankruptcy are factored into the equation, the projects may languish.

When a suretys contractor files for bankruptcy protection, the surety enters an alternative universe where the simple can become complex and the complex nearly unmanageable, wrote co-authors Patrick J. OConnor, Jr., a Minneapolis attorney, and Kim McNaughton, who at the time was a regional vice president for bond claims for Liberty Mutual Surety. They wrote about the subject in a 2009 journal article.

Despite having filed for protection from its creditors in August, Intercoastal had continued work on the Buddy Phillips Bridge in Jacksonville for the North Carolina Dept. of Transportation.

Then, in early October, NCDOT announced that Intercoastal had suspended work on the bridge and that if Intercoastal couldnt resume work NCDOT would work with Liberty Mutual to find a replacement contractor.

Liberty Mutual had already apparently reached the end of its legal rope with Intercoastal.

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Liberty Mutual: Bonded Contractor Stonewalled Us

WAYNE, Pa., Oct. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Penn Liberty Bank announced the opening of its tenth full service branch in Downingtown, Chester County, Pennsylvania on Monday, October 22, 2012. Conveniently located at 1201 E. Lancaster Avenue, the branch building incorporates the bank's standard design elements including the familiar clock tower.

The new branch features all of the standard Penn Liberty amenities including a customer friendly environment with comfortable seating, wide screen TV, complimentary coffee and pastry, and PENN-E-LANE, a free self service coin counter. Drive up banking is also available at this location including the Penn Liberty Bank standard no-surcharge automated teller machine. A welcome addition to this branch is a new sit-down teller design providing extra comfort during your banking experience.

The new Downingtown branch is led by Steve Groening who is supported by an expert branch staff. Mr. Groening has been active in Penn Liberty's temporary Downingtown branch in the Commons at Oaklands since 2010 and is excited to welcome existing and new consumer and business customers to the new branch location.

"We are excited to be able to expand our service in the Downingtown area and have been looking forward to opening our full service location since we opened in our temporary location. This new full service location will allow us to improve our conveniences for Downingtown area residents and businesses," said Patrick J. Ward, CEO of Penn Liberty Bank.

Penn Liberty Bank recently announced its CashWiseprogram, a suite of cash flow options for business clients. The program includes Courier On Call, a unique, free courier service to businesses providing transport of check deposits from their place of business directly to the bank. Additional CashWise options include online banking with ACH and wire capabilities, in-house merchant credit/debit card processing with next day availability, mobile banking and a host of other convenient services supported by contemporary technology.

Penn Liberty Bank is a community bank focused on providing personal, high touch service. Combining state of the art technology with highly talented, customer service oriented employees and a full suite of consumer and business products and services, including CashWise a comprehensive suite of cash flow enhancements for business clients has resulted in the bank's growth to over $540 million in assets.

To learn more about Penn Liberty Bank visit http://www.pennlibertybank.com.

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Penn Liberty Bank Opens in Downingtown

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Liberty International Underwriters, a part of the Global Specialty division of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, has increased its presence in Dallas by establishing an operation dedicated to handling Global Crisis Management (GCM) business for the southeastern and southwestern U.S.

Led by Tom Dunlap, assistant vice president and regional manager for southeast and southwest regions of LIU Global Crisis Management, underwriters will have local decision-making authority for Contaminated Products; Product Recall; and Kidnap, Ransom and Extortion (KRE) insurance. Mr. Dunlap is joined by Underwriting Officer Karen McCullough and Underwriting Specialists Jan Lovell and Kim Gardner.

Businesses are increasingly seeking out crisis management insurance products to help better protect their assets from the uncertainty following crisis events such as kidnapping, extortion, contaminated food and dangerous products released into the marketplace, said Louis Lubrano, senior vice president of global crisis management for Liberty International Underwriters. Demand for LIU Global Crisis Management products is particularly strong in the southeastern and southwestern sections of the U.S., so it made sense for us to establish a presence in the region with underwriters who have extensive experience with area brokers. Tom is a well-known and respected insurance industry veteran whom brokers trust to put together the right solution for their clients unique needs.

The Dallas operation is the latest addition to LIUs Global Crisis Management offering that includes offices in New York and San Francisco as well as Toronto, London, Sydney and Melbourne. This new Global Crisis Management capability augments LIUs already established Dallas-based primary casualty, excess casualty and oil, gas, petrochemical and chemical underwriters.

LIUs Global Crisis Management products are supported by red24, a leader in global security assistance, that gives brokers and their clients access to an experienced kidnap, ransom and extortion consulting and response team. Working with red24, LIU helps brokers provide the specialized loss control engineering and loss mitigation services necessary to protect clients employees, operations, and reputation before, during and after a crisis.

Brokers can contact Tom Dunlap directly at (469) 232-5628 or Thomas.dunlap@libertyiu.com.

About Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

Liberty International Underwriters is part of Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance, a diversified global insurer and the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2011 direct premiums written as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Liberty Mutual Insurance also ranks 84th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2011 revenue. As of December 31, 2011, Liberty Mutual Insurance had $117.1 billion in consolidated assets, $99.3 billion in consolidated liabilities, and $34.7 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

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Liberty International Underwriters Expands U.S. Global Crisis Management

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Oct. 22, 2012) - Liberty Silver Corp. (LSL.TO) ("Liberty Silver" or the "Company") announced today that the cease trade orders imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission have expired. Trading in its shares on the TSX in Canada will resume today, Monday, October 22, 2012. For the present, the Company's stock will not immediately be listed, traded or quoted on any of the OTC Markets. The Company is taking steps to meet requirements necessary to permit its stock to resume trading on the OTCBB. The Company's stock may be traded in the US on the "grey market" or through US broker dealers who have access to the TSX.

The Company advises the investment community that it has never provided any form of compensation to a newsletter writer or anyone else for investment research or to recommend investment in the Company's shares. The Company also advises that it has no contractual or other relationship with Mr. Robert Genovese, BG Capital Group or any other company owned or controlled by Mr. Genovese (the "Genovese Companies") other than a subscription to a private placement in November 2011 by a company controlled by Mr. Genovese. The Company has engaged Spinnaker Capital Markets Inc. and Navigator Ltd. to provide investor relations services for the Company. The Company also confirms that Spinnaker Capital Markets Inc. and Navigator Ltd. do not have, and have never had, a contractual or other relationship with any of Mr. Genovese and the Genovese Companies. In addition, the Company confirms that Mr. Genovese has never had the right to nominate, and has not nominated, an appointee to the Board of Directors of the Company, and the officers and directors of the Company have not had, and have never had, a business relationship with Mr. Genovese concerning the Company.

The Company wishes to advise the investment community that all official information regarding the Company must be derived solely from disclosure documents filed on http://www.sedar.com, http://www.sec.gov and the Company's website (www.libertysilvercorp.com).

"Liberty is pleased to have the trading suspension concluded promptly. Without exception, the Board and management of Liberty take their regulatory responsibilities very seriously and will continue their commitment to full cooperation and transparency with regulators and the market", said Geoff Browne, Chairman and CEO of Liberty Silver.

Trinity Silver Project Disclosure

As a result of a review by staff of the Ontario Securities Commission, we are providing the following information regarding the Trinity Silver Project to clarify our disclosure.

Overview of the Trinity Silver Project

Liberty is focused on exploring and advancing mineral properties located in North America. The Trinity Silver Project, located in Pershing County, Nevada is the Company's flagship project. The Trinity Silver Project is approximately 10,500 acres in size and includes a former producing mine that represents approximately one percent of the geographic extent of the project. Liberty Silver has the right to earn a 70 percent interest in the Trinity Silver Project from Renaissance Gold Inc. ("Renaissance") subject to certain obligations.

The Trinity Silver Project does not contain a mineral reserve and is not currently in production. Any decision to place the Trinity Silver Project into production requires the support of a feasibility study prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101. At this time the Company has engaged consultants to prepare a scoping study, also known as a preliminary economic assessment, but a scoping-level study does not have sufficient detail or costing estimates to support a prudent production decision. Accordingly, any decision to commence production on the Liberty Silver Project is neither imminent nor assured, and investors cannot assume that the Liberty Silver Project hosts an economic mine at this time.

Trinity Silver Project NI 43-101 Report

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Liberty Silver Shares to Resume Trading on TSX

MALVERN, Pa., Oct. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Liberty Property Trust (LRY) reported that funds from operations available to common shareholders (diluted) ("FFO") for the third quarter of 2012 was $0.64 per share, compared to $0.64 per share for the same period in 2011. Funds from operations for the third quarter of 2012 include lease termination fees of $0.9 million.

FFO per share for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2012 was $1.94, compared to $1.98 per share for the same period in 2011.

Net income per common share (diluted) was $0.24 per share for the quarter ended September 30, 2012, compared to $0.31 per share for the quarter ended September 30, 2011. Net income for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2012 was $0.84 per share, compared with $1.29 per share for the same period in 2011. Net income per common share (diluted) for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and September 30, 2011 includes net gains on property dispositions of $5.4 million ($0.05 per share) and $58.1 million ($0.50 per share), respectively.

"The economy continues to improve at a very slow pace, resulting in occupancy gains in the industrial portfolio offset by decreases in rental rates on signed leases in certain office markets," said Bill Hankowsky, chairman and chief executive officer. "As far as external growth is concerned, we continue to see solid demand for high-quality industrial space from large corporate users and build-to suit opportunities for both industrial and office users. Our growing development pipeline is now delivering new product into service at solid returns."

Portfolio Performance

Leasing: At September 30, 2012, Liberty's in-service portfolio of 78 million square feet was 91.8% occupied, compared to 90.7% at the end of the second quarter. During the third quarter, Liberty completed lease transactions totaling 3.8 million square feet of space.

Same Store Performance: Property level operating income for same store properties increased by 0.3% on a cash basis and decreased by 0.3% on a straight line basis for the third quarter of 2012 compared to the same quarter in 2011.

Portfolio Activity

Development: Liberty brought into service two development properties representing a total investment of $15.7 million. These two build-to-suit developments total 282,000 square feet and were completed at current yield of 8.6%.

Liberty commenced development of three properties totaling 530,000 square feet at a projected investment of $55.5 million. The new development properties include a 100% pre-leased, 139,000 square foot office building in Phoenix, AZ, and two industrial distribution buildings in Houston, TX and Rogers, MN totaling 391,000 square feet which are being developed for inventory.

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Liberty Property Trust Announces Third Quarter Results

A season ago, Liberty went into its Week 8 de facto region championship game with Pendleton in the midst of one of the best seasons in school history.

Things are a bit different for both teams this year as they prepare for their showdown at Cunningham Stadium on Friday.

Sitting on the playoff bubble in Region 1-AA, Liberty (4-4, 2-3) has adopted a win-or-go-home mentality the last few weeks. Meanwhile, Pendleton (5-3, 2-2), a preseason region favorite riddled with injuries, is already out of the mix for the region championship and is looking to stay under the radar as the postseason approaches.

Liberty coach Kyle Stewart can understand some fans' disappointment as the Red Devils were coming off a 9-3 season that included a playoff victory. Yet, while his team hasn't quite taken the next step in the rebuilding process, Liberty is a far cry from the 4-46 record it carried from 2007 to 2010.

"It's easy to look at past results and say it'll be duplicated," Stewart said. "But this is a different team."

And it's a lot harder to sneak up on teams after last season.

After suffering significant losses to graduation last year, Liberty dropped three league games in a row to Landrum, Blacksburg and Chesnee, the latter two of which will be playing for the region crown Friday.

But something changed last week against Crescent, this year's surprise team in the region. Up 14-7 at halftime, Stewart and his staff reminded their team that its season was on the line.

"A lot of what we do is mental," Stewart said. "At halftime we had a little spark of emotion and got what we needed."

Liberty forced five turnovers Colby Gibson and Payton Dameron returned interceptions for touchdowns and scored 27 unanswered points in the second half of the 41-7 rout.

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Liberty, Pendleton haven't met expectations this season

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Liberty Mutual Holding Company Inc., the parent corporation of the Liberty Mutual Insurance group of entities (the Company), is scheduled to review its third quarter financial results on October 30, 2012. At 11:00 a.m. EDT that day, David Long, Liberty Mutual Insurance President and CEO, will host a conference call to discuss the Companys financial results.

The earnings release, financial results and other supplemental information will be available on the website http://www.libertymutual.com/investors prior to the call.

To listen to the call and participate in the Q&A, please dial 8008572190, providing the pass code Liberty when prompted. A replay will be available until 5:00 p.m. on November 6, 2012 at 866-351-2782.

For further information, please contact Alison Erbig, Vice President and Director, Investor Relations, at 617-574-6655 or email investor_relations@libertymutual.com.

About Liberty Mutual Insurance

"Helping people live safer, more secure lives" since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance is a diversified global insurer and the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2011 direct premiums written as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Liberty Mutual Insurance also ranks 84th on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. based on 2011 revenue. As of December 31, 2011, Liberty Mutual Insurance had $117.1 billion in consolidated assets, $99.3 billion in consolidated liabilities, and $34.7 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

Liberty Mutual Insurance offers a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, workers compensation, property, commercial automobile, general liability, global specialty, group disability, reinsurance and surety. Liberty Mutual Insurance (www.libertymutualinsurance.com) employs over 45,000 people in more than 900 offices throughout the world.

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Liberty Mutual Insurance Schedules Third Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call

AMSTERDAM--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

BBWF, 16-18 October 2012 Jungo, now part of Cisco, a leading provider of gateway and remote management solutions for home broadband service offerings, today announced that its Panorama remote management system has been successfully deployed by UPC in the Netherlands, a subsidiary of Liberty Global, the leading international cable operator, with the launch of the Horizon platform.

Highlights:

Supporting quotes:

Gerrit Goedkoop, Vice President Customer Care, Liberty Global

Jungos Panorama has shown to be a fantastic addition to the Horizon platform, enabling us to effectively manage the Horizon Gateway. He continued Panorama enables our customer support teams to identify real-life user issues in real time, and with the simplicity and effectiveness of the user interface resolve their issues in a faster and more effective way.

Eran Rom, Chief Executive Officer, Jungo, now part of Cisco

Panorama is a unique solution designed to manage the entire digital home. Liberty Global is a strategic partner for us and its selection of Jungo demonstrates that we are able to scale our solution to offer a whole home management to any operator, regardless of size or market.

About Jungo

Jungo, now part of Cisco, is a leading provider of software products and solutions that power residential broadband service offerings and connectivity solutions. Our residential broadband products enable 40 million of the worlds residential gateways. Our connected home, application framework and remote management solutions let service providers easily launch value-added broadband services and manage and monitor their delivery. Jungo's unique home broadband offerings enable service providers to accelerate the introduction of a variety of innovative, revenue generating digital home services, while enhancing their competitive edge and reducing operational costs.

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Liberty Global’s UPC Deploys Jungo Panorama to Enable Remote Management of Horizon Platform

It's been a busy week for scientists in the Gulf of Mexico

Last week, scientists dropped longlines at artificial reef sites off the Texas coast, pulling up some nice-looking red snapper, gray snapper and triggerish. No fish and chips for dinner, though; these specimens were measured, weighed and contributed various tissue samples for research. Meanwhile, using a multi-beam acoustic array onboard the R/V Falkor, other researchers created a 3D map of an artificial reef made from sunken Liberty Ships. These ships carried supplies during World War II, and were sunk in five locations around the Gulf of Mexico in the 1970s. Also onboard, an ROV team hard at work surveying fish populations at artificial reef sites, and looking to repeat earlier documentation from another site, MU A-16, of invasive lionfish near the Texas coast. These scientists, from the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, along with colleagues from TAMU College of Science and Engineering and the University of Georgia, are spending a couple of weeks on the R/V Falkor, owned by the private Schmidt Ocean Institute. Longlines The longline-wielding fisheries folks are studying, among other things, how best to deal with barotrauma, which affects survival of fish that are caught and released. Many popular recreational fish such as snapper live near the seafloor. When these fish are hooked and reeled to the surface, the rapid change in pressure expands their swim bladders, displacing other organs. The increased buoyancy can make it difficult for a released fish to resubmerge, and even if a fish does return to depth, the lingering effects of barotrauma may make it more vulnerable to predators or eventually kill it. Catch-and-release is intended to allow us to enjoy recreational fishing without decimating populations of target fish, but if the animals don't survive the process, this approach obviously won't work. Researchers will be investigating the effectiveness of venting, or inserting a needle into the swim bladder to de-inflate it. Venting isn't always done properly; some fishermen mistakenly puncture the esophagus, which can protrude from the fish's mouth, rather than the swim bladder. Other organs may inadvertently be punctured, or infection introduced. The researchers are also looking at the effectiveness and practicality of using a weighted hook to return fish to an appropriate depth, so the bladder can naturally return to normal. Lionfish Lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific have been common since about 2000 in Florida's waters - locals hold lionfish derbies and it's pretty much open season for spearfishing for the invaders - and have gradually worked their way across the Gulf of Mexico. In August, 2011, the spiny predators were first documented at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, 100 miles south of the Louisiana coast. Lionfish are aggressive feeders, prolific spawners, and have no natural predators in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, so can negatively effect marine ecosystems where they've invaded. As I explained in previous posts, HRI scientists are conducting ROV surveys as part of a two-year study to assess fish communities on artificial reefs. On September 21, ROV cameras captured the first evidence of lionfish off the coast of Texas (this video also shows the challenges of maneuvering the ROV!). Additional documentation of the extent of the lionfish invasion in this part of the Gulf will be a sort of two-fer from the ROV work. Liberty Ships Liberty Ship artificial reef sites were created by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to provide important habitat for numerous fish species and other marine life - and great opportunities for fishermen and scuba divers. But, as discussed in previous posts, there is some debate about whether artificial reefs such as these actually increase the productivity of an ecosystem - adding biomass in the form or more fish and other marine life - or just serve as gathering places by providing shelter and a sort of underwater cafeteria. The HRI study, funded by TPWD, is intended to help settle that debate. "The multi-beam maps will allow us to accurately locate the structure that exists on these sites," says Greg Stuntz, chair of Fisheries and Ocean Health and HRI and lead scientist on the artificial reef study. "The maps also give us an idea if the structure is broken up, how it's oriented, and how far away structures are from each other. Knowing precise locations will aid us in the future if we want to evaluate ideal placement of artificial reef structures. For instance, is there a certain distance apart that most affects fish size, abundance and growth?" The scientists will import the maps created on the Falkor into GPS onboard other vessels and use them when fishing, diving and surveying on those structures in the future. While the best weather for dive surveys has past for this year, I still hope to accompany HRI researchers on at least one expedition next year. Good thing it's a two-year study. Previously in this series: Counting Fish: Gulf of Mexico Artificial Reef Survey Counting Fish: on the artificial reefs Counting Fish: well, thanks Isaac, no counting fish this week

Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news. 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

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Counting Fish: Longlines, Lionfish and Liberty Ships

PHOENIX & LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL) and Western Liberty Bancorp (WLBC), referred to herein as Western Alliance and Western Liberty, announced today that Western Alliance has received regulatory approvals to proceed with the merger of Western Liberty with and into Western Alliance, with Western Alliance surviving. Western Alliance and Western Liberty intend to consummate the merger as soon as practicable following the satisfaction of all closing conditions, including the receipt of stockholder approval by Western Liberty. The merger is to be voted on by Western Libertys stockholders at a special meeting of Western Liberty stockholders scheduled for 10:00 a.m., local time, on October 17, 2012 at Western Libertys principal executive offices at 8363 W. Sunset Road, Suite 350, Las Vegas, NV 89113.

About Western Alliance Bancorporation

With $7.2 billion in assets, Western Alliance Bancorporation is the parent company of Bank of Nevada, Western Alliance Bank doing business as Alliance Bank of Arizona and First Independent Bank, Torrey Pines Bank, and Shine Investment Advisory Services. These dynamic organizations provide a broad array of deposit and credit services to clients in Nevada, Arizona and California, and investment services in Colorado. Staffed with experienced financial professionals, these organizations deliver a broader product array and larger credit capacity than community banks, yet are empowered to be more responsive to customers' needs than larger institutions. Additional investor information can be accessed on the Investor Relations page of the company's website, http://www.westernalliancebancorp.com.

About Western Liberty Bancorp

With $199 million in assets, Western Liberty Bancorp is a Nevada bank holding company which conducts operations through Service1st Bank of Nevada, its wholly owned banking subsidiary, and Las Vegas Sunset Properties. Service1st Bank operates as a traditional community bank and provides a full range of deposit, lending and other banking services to locally owned businesses, professional firms, individuals and other customers from its headquarters and two retail banking facilities located in the greater Las Vegas area. Services provided include basic commercial and consumer depository services, commercial working capital and equipment loans, commercial real estate loans, and other traditional commercial banking services. Primarily all of the banks business is generated in the Nevada market.

Additional Information

This communication is being made in respect of the proposed merger involving Western Alliance and Western Liberty.

In connection with the proposed merger with Western Liberty, Western Alliance filed with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-4, as amended, that included a proxy statement of Western Liberty that also constitutes a prospectus of Western Alliance. Western Liberty mailed the proxy statement/prospectus to its stockholders. Investors and security holders are urged to read the proxy statement/prospectus, including a supplement thereto, regarding the proposed merger because it contains important information. You may obtain a free copy of the proxy statement/prospectus, including the supplement, and other related documents filed by Western Alliance and Western Liberty with the SEC at the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov. The proxy statement/prospectus and the other documents may also be obtained for free by accessing Western Alliances website at http://www.westernalliancebancorp.com under the tab Investor Relations and then under the heading Financial Documents or by accessing Western Libertys website at http://www.westernlibertybank.com under the tab Investor Relations and then under the heading Financial Information.

Participants in the Transactions

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Western Alliance Bancorporation and Western Liberty Bancorp Announce Receipt of Regulatory Approvals