Textron Financial adds special-assets EVP

PROVIDENCE – Textron Financial Corp. today announced it has hired Stewart L. Cohen, a finance veteran with more than 20 years experience in asset disposition, to serve as its executive vice president of special assets.
In his previous position – as executive vice president of the asset repositioning company Hilco Trading LLC, also known as the Hilco Organization – Cohen focused on corporate acquisition, asset disposition, special-situations financing and consulting activities for a wide range of sectors. He previously orchestrated the dismantling of Polaroid Corp.; and founded and managed Paragon Capital.
In his new role, Cohen will support “TFC’s strategic mandate to restructure its business” by overseeing “the orderly liquidation and selected sales of certain of TFC’s commercial finance assets,” the company said. He will be based at TFC’s corporate headquarters in Providence.
“Having an experienced leader like Stewart strengthens our ability to quickly and effectively achieve our restructuring mission and strategy,” said Warren R. Lyons, who was named president and CEO of Textron Financial in a shakeup early last month. (READ MORE) “He understands the inner workings of the restructuring industry, and he has a proven track record of assisting both manufacturing and finance companies to dispose of assets and businesses.”
Textron Financial, or TFC, is the commercial finance arm of Providence-based multi-industry company Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT).
But late last year, the parent company announced plans to sell or liquidate about $7.9 billion of Textron Financial’s portfolio – valued at the time at about $11.4 billion – and limit the segment to “captive financial business.” (READ MORE) “Executing this new strategic direction for TFC is expected to significantly enhance our long-term liquidity position in light of continuing disruption and instability in the capital markets,” Lewis B. Campbell, Textron’s chairman, president and CEO, said in a Dec. 22 a statement.
Although it now provides financing only for Textron products, Textron Financial also maintains a portfolio of receivables originated by its Asset-Based Lending, Distribution Finance, Golf Finance, Resort Finance, Structured Capital and other divisions. (Details of that portfolio – including data on business assets currently listed for sale – are available from TFC’s Corporate Development Department.)
“TFC remains ahead of plan for its finance receivable run-off targets for 2009,” Lyons said today. “With Stewart on board, this will allow us to continue meeting and exceeding our goals as we move forward.”
Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) is a $14.2 billion company employing 42,000 people in 28 countries. Its Textron Financial Corp. subsidiary was established to provide commercial financing for other Textron brands, such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Co., Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO and Greenlee. Additional information is available at www.textron.com and www.TextronFinancial.com.