professionals who represent build-
ing owners and in-house corpo-
rate real-estate departments, is
unaffected by the bankruptcy fil-
ing.
"My efforts today are in the ca-
pacity of adviser," he said. "We
are seeking clients and clients are
seeking those services. I am hap-
py to have those opportunities
and face those challenges."
The Chapter 7 petition, unless
it is challenged by creditors, ef-
fectively protects the Lutzes from
creditors. Their debt schedule,
which lists assets and liabilities,
was filed in court last Friday.
The Chapter 7 code includes
exemptions for personal proper-
ty, so assets like cars, houses and
even wedding rings cannot be
seized for payment of debts.
Mr. Lutz acknowledged that
the real-estate market is on a
high, noting that one of the build-
ings the Lutz Companies leases,
the American Center in South-
field, is 95 percent occupied.
His attorney, Thomas Morris,
emphasized that Mr. Lutz did all
he could to maximize the return
of investments partners made,
while he himself was left without
equity in the properties.
That scenario has not been un-
common. Mr. Morris said he's
seen a rise in bankruptcy filings
by real-estate businesspeople who
were crushed by the slump of the
market five years ago.
"He starts off pretty much from
scratch in terms of property, but
certainly not in terms of his abil-
ity in the real-estate financing
business," Mr. Morris said. ❑
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Bonds Tebut'To
Wild Applause
Franklin
Bank
MARILYN HENRY
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
he government successful-
ly floated $250 million in
bonds last week on Wall
Street as institutional in-
vestors eagerly welcomed Israel's
solo debut on the U.S. financial
market and substantially over-
subscribed the issue.
In what the Israeli Finance
Ministry called an historic day,
the government raised the mon-
ey Thursday with so-called "Yan-
kee bonds," which are financial
instruments offered by sovereign
states in the American market.
The bonds sale was Israel's first
public offering on Wall Street that
was not backed by a U.S. gov-
ernment guarantee. They are not
related to State of Israel bonds.
Wall Street was showing con-
fidence in Israel's economy and in
its resiliency, analysts said.
Meanwhile, Standard & Poor's
raised Israel's foreign currency
credit rating to single-A-minus,
from triple-B-plus, assigning the
rating to the Yankee bonds. ❑
N.A.
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