Whole Business Securitization in structuring and refinancing of LBO

One of the latest innovations within the securitization field is whole business securitization. Such a technique allows to finance or refinance operating assets of the company. WBS has its origins in structuring and refinancing LBOs where it is known as SBO (Securitization Buy-Out). In fact, SBO is more than just an alternative source of financing of the operations of the company. It is a quite complex instrument of financial management which allows to swap the sources of financing and associated risk of LBO from the banking sector into the capital market, especially under the conditions of deteriorated access to traditional borrowing, due to the public debt crisis and the European economic slowdown. SBO can be treated as an effective tool to solve the problem of the “wall of debt” which will emerge in 2014-2017 in Europe when LBO peak period leveraged loans will mature. The paper presents the idea of WBS, an application of WBS in practice, developments of LBO, structuring and managing LBO through securitization. It also contains an analysis of SBO of the French company, Fraikin SA

The striatum multiplexes contextual and kinematic information to constrain motor habits execution

International audienceThe striatum is required for the acquisition of procedural memories, but its contribution to motor control once learning has occurred is unclear. We created a task in which rats learned a difficult motor sequence characterized by fine-tuned changes in running speed adjusted to spatial and temporal constraints. After training and extensive practice, we found that the behavior was habitual, yet tetrode recordings in the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) revealed continuous integrative representations of running speed, position and time. These representations were weak in naive rats that were hand-guided to perform the same sequence and developed slowly after learning. Finally, DLS inactivation in well-trained animals preserved the structure of the sequence while increasing its trial-by-trial variability. We conclude that, after learning, the DLS continuously integrates task-relevant information to constrain the execution of motor habits. Our results provide a straightforward mechanism by which the basal ganglia may contribute to habit formation and motor control

Justice: Greater Access, Lower Costs

Litigation imposes large costs on society; this justifies settlement considerations. In any case, access to justice is critical to socioeconomic development; as such, it needs to be balanced with litigation minimization. This study examines the tradeoff between litigation and access to justice and explicitly elucidates their relationship. In considering access issues, this study finds that the outcomes of policies that affect parties’ litigation decisions partially depart from those in the standard literature. For instance, increasing parties’ litigation costs does not necessarily promote settlement in the shadow of the court. Rather, effects depend on the elasticity of the demand for legal remedies. Furthermore, even while pushing litigation, enhancing access to justice is efficient as long as the claimant’s marginal propensity to litigate is smaller than the social opportunity-cost of access to justice. This finding offers further insight into the suitability of litigation subsidization through legal aid

Coinciding Decreases in Discharge Rate Suggest That Spontaneous Pauses in Firing of External Pallidum Neurons Are Network Driven

International audienc