A $1 trillion reform proposal is being introduced this week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. which will last up to a decade. The shocking provision is a 5% tax on elective cosmetic surgeries and procedures such as liposuction, cosmetic breast implants, face lifts and botox injections.

The justification is that money is needed to make the bill work. The so-called “Botax,” is estimated to raise $6 billion if lawmakers pass it. A spokesman for Reid has stated this fact.

Allergan and others, even opponents Johnson & Johnson are lobbying against the proposed tax.

“It is not meant to resolve any problem, only to punish us and the cosmetic industry happens to be an easy target,” the spokeswoman for Allegran, Caroline Van Hove said in an article that appeared on Minyanville, an investor web site.

Taxing cosmetic procedures “is unnecessarily punishing on individuals who have just decided to improve their body,” Van Hove said.

The article goes on to say that lobbyists and Senate aides in the know about the proposed tax said Allergan, J&J and others in the industry have persuaded lawmakers to cut it down from 10% to 5%.

The health care reform efforts have not only the cosmetic surgery industry as its victim, medical device makers too are a target and they have succeeded in getting a proposed $40 billion tax on their revenue cut in half by lawmakers.

Wall Street is backing this fully and this outlook presented by Edwards Lifesciences Corp. had topped Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts on Wall Street are expecting that the company will report revenue of approximately $1.42 billion in the coming year. This would mark an 8% hike in comparison with the current year as the revenue for the present year has been projected at $1.31 billion.

Earlier the company had announced that the revenue for the current year would come in at around $1.30 billion to $1.35 billion for the year 2009. Mussallem said that in the year 2010, the heart valves, heart surgery devices and critical-care products would be in great demand and this would increase the sales and help in generating higher revenue.

The factory would be into producing different types of wireless gear that would include power amplifiers, radio heads, repeaters and power distribution units. The company said that the factory would prove to be of help in keeping the cell phone towers in Asia running in a smooth condition as the business is flourishing at this point of time. The Thailand Board of Investment has subsidized Thailand for setting up the new factory.

The plant would “support the company’s overall goal of reducing costs to maximize profitability, enabling Powerwave to further consolidate its operations and reduce dependencies on multiple contract manufacturers.” The company is expanding its presence in the biggest countries like Middle East, China, India and Malaysia and it is now entering Thailand to streamline its structure of costs and expenses.

Powerwave is into producing antennas, amplifiers and other gear for cell phone towers. Since the beginning of this year, the share prices of the company have become more than twofold at approximately $168 million.

In a ceremony on Tuesday, the company announced its future plans for the plant. Joe Biden, who is the Vice President of the company, was also present at the ceremony along with the Chief Executive Henrik Fisker. To generate these cars that come with an electronic-cum-gas engine, the company has received confirmation of federal loans of $528.7 million. A sum of $18 million is being paid by Fisker to a former General Motors Corp. plant in Wilmington. In the coming few years, an approximate $175 million is planned to be spent in renovating the factory.

The plant would be used to produce ‘Nina’ which is a complete family car. The price of the car after a federal tax credit of $7,500 is expected to come around $40,000. ‘Karma’, which is another luxury sedan of Fisker, might also shift its production base to Delaware in the coming years. Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. designed the cars of Fisker Automotive Inc. with an unmatched combo of gasoline and a battery engine which is fully rechargeable.

The Company’s Chairman and largest shareholder, C. Michael Kojaian calls it a transformational deal for the company which will make it the most strongest capitalized company in the real estate industry. A sale of 900,000 shares of 12% preferred convertible stock is included in the deal for the institutional investors. The price of every individual share of that stock would equal to 60.6 shares of the common stock thereby offering the per share conversion price of $1.65. This resulted in a premium of 12% of the closing price on Oct 22. Investors have been given a 45-day option to purchase preferred stocks for an additional 100,000 shares.

Grubb’s institutional investors name list was kept under wraps for some time. On Friday afternoon, the shares rose up to an approximate of 20% making the market value of the company stand at approximately $120 million. By November 6, this transaction would be closed down. A deal to re-establish the potential firm with new terms that was going in debts was announced by the company in the beginning of this month. A sum of $5 million was also being raised from Kojaian side-by-side.

The company would now be able to make a payment of $27.3 million by the end of November with the help of the credit given by a unit of Deutsche Bank AG. Grubb got an option to pay off the credit line of the full $38 million and a similar line of $29 million at 65 cents on the dollar. Once the deal is signed, the dues will be paid off immediately.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae buyers of Government backed home loan, had issued these investments as mortgage-backed debt. On Sept. 30, Total Returns mortgage related holdings dropped to 22% as compared to the 38% drop that was reported on Aug. 31. The percentage of the fund that was invested in mortgage bonds has risen from 50% to 86% from July to February.

Gross has stated in a recent report from Pimco that though the investments were made to fetch strong returns, their prices might lower down as the Federal Reserve’s mortgage purchasing program would end by next spring. Bloomberg reported on Monday that Pimco might offer its clients these stock investing services. Gross had been focusing on bonds since the last 40 years. This might prove to be a change for him.

The firm is a well known Enterprise Resource Planning software maker, which are beneficial for retailers and manufactures to manage their accounting and other back office jobs. The company had generated revenue of $138 million in the previous year. This amount was inclusive of revenue from sale of computer products which are not the core products of the business. The shares were closed at 15% with its market value of $ 450 million.

Epicor has also revised the terms of 2007 credit line which is forecasting to continue to make interest payments. As per the new credit line, the size has been cut down to $100 million from $200 million and the life is reduced by five months. The rate of interest of the line of credit is increased to 2.25% from 2%. The new terms are agreed between Epicor and its lenders related to lowering down the profitability and to increase the availability of cash and other liquidities.

The news of loan going to a company that has plans to produce expensive hybrid cars in Europe was criticized by Fox News and others also. While there are other groups who are pointing out to the fact that Fisker Automotive has raised about $100 million in financing, which includes involvement of a politically connected Silicon Valley venture capital firm named Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Al Gore, the former Vice President is a partner at the firm and has also ordered a Fisker car.

It is decided that Fisker will use $170 million of the loan for finishing the production of Karma Sedan. The car runs with the combination gasoline and a rechargeable battery engine developed by Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc., an Irvine-based company.

The Karma is expected to be launched next summer and as it will be sold for $88,000 before rebates. Fisker is also working on a sports car called the Sunset.

The remaining loan amount will be spend on developing hybrid car Nina, which is specially meant for families and other users. The car would be out in the market by the year by 2012 and will be priced around $40,000.

Fisker also talked about the price issue saying that any new technology is expensive. Cellphones, televisions and even cars were expensive when they were introduced in the market. The cost will however come down after a few years.

Critics are also pointing at Fisker’s hiring of Finnish custom automaker Valmet Automotive OY for producing the cars.

Karma, the low-volume car will be assembled in Finland by Valmet Automotive, whereas, the next generation Karma will be totally built in the U.S. Nina, the economical car will be made entire in the U.S.

Fisker is planning to invest $170 million to complete the production of its Karma sedan. The Karma runs off on a combination of gasoline and rechargeable battery engine. It has been developed in collaboration with Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. It is set to start selling next summer for $88,000 before rebates.

The next project which is in the process is ‘The Sunset’ which is a sports car and has been Dubbed Project Nina. The rest of the loan will be used in designing hybrid cars for families and other users. Fisker has been able to raise a loan of approximately $100 million from investors. According to the Energy Department, the loan is expected to support 5000 jobs at Fisker’s company, its contractors and suppliers.

The federal money is raised to spur better fuel efficiency in cars. It is a part of the program which has also been offered to other automakers. Finish custom automaker Valmet Automotive OY has been contracted to produce the cars for Fisker as they also make Porsche AG’s Boxster and Cayman models.

The venture capital investment fell 14 percent this year in the second quarter, as compared to the same period last year. Reportedly, the investment in second quarter of 2007 was the second-highest quarterly totals recorded since the end of the dot-com boom in 2001. 

National Venture Capital Association president Mark Heesen said, “Despite the significant challenges that the venture capital industry is facing in the exit market, this quarter demonstrates the long term perspective of our institutional investors,” he added, “Venture firms and general partners with proven track records will continue to be successful raising new funds as promising investment opportunities remain strong across a diverse set of industries including life sciences, clean technology and information technology. These are ten year funds which often have lives that stretch to 15 years or more. The long term view is the appropriate one to take.”

A total of twenty-two new funds and forty-nine follow on funds were raised in the second quarter. The ratio follow-on to new funds was approximately 2-to-1 in the second quarter of 2008, while it was 4-to-1 during the same period in 2007.

Lightspeed Venture Partners VIII, L.P. posted the largest fundraising (balanced stage; $800 million), followed by Foundation Capital VI, L.P. (early stage; $750 million) and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers XIII  (early stage; $700 million).

About National Venture Capital Association  

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) is the premier trade association that represents the U.S. venture capital industry. It is a member-based organization, consisting of venture capital firms that manage pools of risk equity capital dedicated to be invested in high growth, entrepreneurial companies. It represents approximately 480 venture capital and private equity firms. NVCA’s mission is to foster greater understanding of the importance of venture capital to the U.S. economy and support entrepreneurial activity and innovation. The NVCA represents the public policy interests of the venture capital community, strives to maintain high professional standards, provides reliable industry data, sponsors professional development and facilitates interaction among its members. According to a 2007 Global Insight study, venture-backed companies accounted for 10.4 million jobs and $2.3 trillion in revenue in the United States in 2006.

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