(TLC) Largest Medicare Home Health Provider in US - To be Bought by Islamic Company

Khaleej Times - Dubai ^ | May 5, 2004 | all4one

[all4one]

First Islamic Affiliate to Bid for TLC - UAE Khaleej Times - 04/05/2004

DUBAI - First Islamic Investment Bank E.C. has announced its affiliate, TLC Holdings I Corp, has been selected as the winning bidder for the assets of Tender Loving Care Health Care Services, Inc. TLC Holdings has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire TLC's assets.

The financial closing is expected to take place within the next few months. The total value of the transaction is expected to be in excess of $150 million, including the assumption of certain liabilities at closing. TLC is the second largest provider of home healthcare services, as well as the largest Medicare home healthcare service provider, in the United States. Crescent Capital, First Islamic's wholly owned US subsidiary, acted as agent for TLC Holdings.

Atif A. Abdulmalik, First Islamic's Chief Executive Officer, said: "TLC is positioned to capitalise on several dominant trends in the United States, namely, an ageing population and an increasing focus on health and well-being."

Mohamed A. Nooruddin, Executive Director, Investment Placement, said: "TLC's broad national presence and reputation give it a unique competitive advantage over other US-based home healthcare providers."

Information on TLC:

A little TLC goes a long way. Spun off by staffing agency Staff Builders (now ATC Healthcare), Tender Loving Care Health Care Services provides home health care services and staff from nearly 60 offices in more than 20 states (about a quarter are franchise offices).

Tender Loving Care offers disease management; cardiac care; pulmonary and wound management; infusion therapy; respiratory therapy; hospice support; patient and family counseling. Medical software company Med Diversified bought the company in 2001 as part of its expansion into home health services but lost the company in Chapter 11 reorganization to Crescent Capital Investments. The company is in Chapter 11 reorganization. Contact Link for TLC TLC Home Page

Information on the Islamic Buyers of TLC:

First Islamic Investment Bank:

At First Islamic, our mission is to provide innovative and distinctive investment opportunities that generate superior risk-adjusted returns. In our approach to business we embrace the values of originality, integrity and transparency, professional excellence and, above all, adherence to Islamic principles.

To ensure adherence to Shari’ah rules and principles, the Bank’s legal and Shari’ah teams and, through them, the Shari’ah Supervisory Board, are consulted on all key aspects of each new transaction. After a transaction closes, it is continuously monitored to ensure ongoing Shari’ah compliance.

One of First Islamic’s key success factors is its ability to structure innovative financial products that conform to Shari’ah principles, comply with the laws and regulations of the countries in which the Bank operates, and protect the commercial interests of its shareholders and co-investors. First Islamic’s legal and Shari’ah teams, with the active involvement of the Shari’ah Supervisory Board, work closely with the corporate investment, real estate investment, and asset-based investment teams to develop the Bank’s ground-breaking Islamic investment and financing structures.

Crescent Capital Investments, Inc.:

Founded in 1997, Crescent is the U.S. private equity arm of First Islamic Investment Bank E.C. First Islamic is an innovative Islamic investment bank, headquartered in Bahrain, with assets of over $500 million. First Islamic's 100 shareholders include some of the most prominent individuals, families, and institutions in the Middle East, who together control liquid funds in excess of $100 billion. The Bank arranges the capital needed for a transaction and then privately places the investment with its shareholders and other investors in the Middle East.

First Islamic maintains voting control of, and a significant ownership interest in, each of the investments it arranges. First Islamic and Crescent professionals also invest personally in the Bank's private equity transactions. The Bank's other lines of business are real estate and asset management. Crescent Capital Investments, Inc. is distinguished from other private equity investment firms by several unique characteristics:

Access to capital

Crescent can invest more than $100 million in a single transaction due to its unique sources of capital. In addition to the capital resources of First Islamic, investors in the Middle East control large pools of capital and continuously seek attractive investments outside the region, particularly in the United States. Crescent is able to underwrite large transactions with confidence due to its proven capability to place investments with these investors. Our investment size can thus be tailored to the requirements of the transaction, unlike traditional buyout funds that must limit their investment to a percentage of the fund.

Social responsibility

All of our investments must adhere to Islamic principles and codes of conduct. Similar to a "green fund", Crescent does not invest in certain industries, such as those involving gambling or alcohol. We are also generally restricted from participating in most financial services businesses. Crescent is free to invest in other industries with solid companies.

[WhiteGuy]

War on terror my ass.

[freeangel]

Talk about the deathbed conversions they will claim!

[agrarianlady]

I had an HMO once, Kaiser Permanente. I was quite young but needed a procedure done on my cervix. The doctor I got was an Arabic male. The assistant was a tough-looking Eastern European woman. I have never experienced such pain since, even after having two children. Thankfully, I moved out of the urban area and got a PPO with American midwives and doctors for OB/Gyn care.

The man and woman were tremendously callous. He put a device in wrong and it was pinching my insides. I was silently bearing it as best I could but they got very angry with me for showing that I was in pain of any sort.

[all4one]

You first-hand experience gives me a queasy feeling, just the thought of an experience like that is unnerving. This is a scary trend. I have seen more foreigners, especially from Arab countries attending prominent medical schools. They are getting jobs in every area of our country.

Prior to 9/11 and current events I may not have noticed. There are probably just as many Asian medical students and doctors, but I don't find them to be as rude and condescending.

In many states the huge cost of malpractice insurance is driving established doctors from their hospitals and practices. I fear that the void of American doctors is being fill more and more by these Arab muslim foreigners.

[Prodigal Daughter]

No, I don't remember ever reading that. That is very interesting and troubling.

[AuntB]

I started looking for this information hours ago...I've wasted the entire morning and will spend the rest of the day if I have to to find it. However, I did find a few interesting tidbits, not sure of the reliability of some of these. It seems the "muslim world" wants gold as their trade medium,not the dollar because of what we were discussing earlier, Non-usuary

 
We propose to return to gold. Gold offers stability and order. GOLD IS THE END OF POLITICAL MONEY. Gold is the end of the manipulation of the political parties and the groups of pressure against the money of all. There is no way paper money can be 'improved' as money. Political money always fails because free people eventually reject it. For short periods individual countries can tell their citizens to use paper, but only at the sacrifice of personal and economic liberty. We have reached the end of that period. We want freedom to chose our medium of exchange. We want freedom to make all our payments in gold or silver, freedom to mint, buy, sell, lend, borrow, import or export any quantity of gold and to use it in any commercial exchange.
 
Money in Islam - Freedom
According to Islamic Law, no merchandise can be imposed as the 'only money'. Imam Malik defined money as 'any merchandise commonly accepted as a medium of exchange. That means that people are free to chose their medium of exchange. Artificial money is a coin or a piece of paper without value as merchandise, and whose only "legal value" is established by the state. That is not admitted. But even if paper money was a debt of real wealth ;gold, silver or other specie;, which it is not, it would not be allowed either, because in Islamic Law debts cannot be used as a medium of exchange, their use is restricted within their own
http://www.moneyfiles.org/gold10.html

---

Then there is information we received from a very sophisticated source that a blind trust for Hillary Clinton "shorted" gold instruments just prior to the Bank of England gold sale. Ironically, the media reported yesterday that the down payment for the Clinton's new home in Westchester County, New York, came from her blind trust.

It was strongly suggested to me from a source that we try and find out if Hillary Clinton has a blind trust at Goldman Sachs. The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee and the Café now have allies looking into this matter. We are trying to find out who is handling her blind trust(s) or any other type of account she might have and, once identified, attempt to elicit a response about the gold shorting innuendoes.

Why would this be the H-bomb as far as we are concerned? Simply put, I have set forth much commentary linking The Clinton administration, the N.Y. Fed, Goldman Sachs, Long Term Capital Management, England's Exchequer, The Bank of England and Prime Minister Tony Blair. A revelation of this nature would solidify the link. For example:

*Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, is a former Goldman Sachs CEO.
*Former N.Y. Fed Governor, Ed Corrigan is a senior partner at Goldman Sachs
*London based senior partner, Gavyn Davies, is Goldman Sach's international economist and has close ties to Tony Blair. Davies wife, Susan Nye, is Chancellor of the Exchequer's office manager.
*Dr Sushil Wadhwani, former Director of Equity Strategy at Goldman Sachs International (1991-95), sits on the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. The committee's duties include determining the Bank's objectives and strategy, ensuring the effective discharge of the Bank's functions and ensuring the most efficient use of the Bank's resources.
*Jon Corzine, former Goldman Sachs CEO, has close ties to John Meriwether, chairman of Long Term Capital Management.
*Former Fed vice chairman, David Mullins , was a partner in Long Term Capital Management which, of course, was bailed out in part by Goldman Sachs.

Exhibit 2 and further background information on the significance of the Hillary Clinton gold "shorting" story: this is commentary about the Bank of England gold sale from the document that I sent to Senator Phil Gramm, Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee:

"Yet, the night before the BOE announcement (May 6, 1999), I feared duplicity and this is what I wrote in my Midas du Metropole commentary entitled, 'XAU surges 46%':

"We know 'the squad' are all lining up, one more time, to try and stifle a decent gold move to the upside. Deutsche Bank, Chase, Swiss Bank and Goldman Sachs were all there selling gold during today's session and, when they had to, even throwing the kitchen sink at the bull's attack. Deutsche Bank has been especially aggressive and noticeable in their selling the past few days. We got word late this afternoon that their bullion desk is calling their clients saying that the gold market is stopping at $290. I don't think Midas followers will be surprised when we tell you that big sellers late in the day today and taking on all bids were 'Squad' honchos Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. 'The Battle for Navarone' is an important stand for them, for if $290 is taken out to the upside, their long standing bearish position could begin to look a bit shaky."

The next morning I awoke to the Bank of England announcement. Since then the price of gold has collapsed over $36 - or almost 15% per cent - and the sale has ignited a furor all over the world, fostering talk of conspiracies, etc.
http://www.gata.org/cafe_des_scandales.html
******

At the end of April 1999, the UK's official holdings of gold totalled 715 tonnes, or nearly 23 million fine troy ounces, with a market value of about $6.5 bn. These form part of the UK's official foreign exchange and gold reserves, which at end-April stood at nearly $37 bn including gold at its full market valuation. As indicated, the gold to be auctioned will be in London Good Delivery bars, located at the Bank of England. The initial programme of auctions will involve the sale of less than a fifth of the UK's official holdings of gold. The proceeds of the sales will be added to the foreign currency reserves.

As indicated by H M Treasury, over the medium term it is planning to reduce its gold holdings to around 300 tonnes. Detailed plans for auctions in 2000-01 and later years will be announced nearer the time, but arrangements are likely to be similar to those announced today.

The Bank of England has for many years been a supplier on demand of sovereign and half sovereign coins in wholesale amounts to bullion market members. This practice will continue.
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/pr99036.htm

*****


Al-Hayat: What are the other major factors contributing to the increase in the price of gold?

Murphy: Low interest rates make gold a very compelling investment. Gold producers are buying back their forward sales, or hedges. There are concerns about terrorism and Middle East tensions, and concerns that the dollar will decline. There is a huge supply/demand deficit. Mine supply is 2,500 tonnes per year and going down. Annual demand exceeds supply by about 1,700 tonnes per year. The central banks have lent or swapped out 13,000 to 15,000 tonnes of their gold. This gold is actually sold and the banks cannot get it back. In essence, they have trapped themselves.

Al-Hayat: Do you keep tabs on the movement of gold in the Middle East and the Arab world in particular? Where does the Middle East stand in its gold holdings? Is this good or bad for those Middle Eastern countries?

Murphy: Back in my futures industry days, I dealt with a good number of Arabs, including a distinguished Kuwaiti, Talib Al Nakib, who lived in Geneva, Switzerland. These days I only hear things here and there about Arab gold buying. I do know that it has been aggressive this year. A bullion dealer friend of mine had his best day ever a few weeks ago, selling 6 tonnes of gold to an Arab group.

Al-Hayat: Some are calling for a repricing of gold and using it as the actual basis for money. How feasible is this?

Murphy: In time gold will be used more and more as money. Already the Moslems in Malaysia have the dinar and the Russians have the chevronet as gold coin money.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0207/S00150.htm


In 1999, at a fringe meeting of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meeting in Washington, a historic five-point agreement was reached. 15 European central banks (including ECB) declared their allegiance to the idea of gold in the economy. The communiqué which was read out by Mr Wim Duisenberg, President of the European Central Bank stated:
· Gold will remain an important element of global monetary reserves.
· The above institutions will not enter the market as sellers, with the exception of already decided sales.
· The gold sales already decided will be achieved through a concerted programme of sales over the next five years. Annual sales will not exceed approximately 400 tons and total sales over this period will not exceed 2,000 tons.
· The signatories to this agreement have agreed not to expand their gold leasings and their use of gold futures and options over this period.
· This agreement will be reviewed after five years.

Although it was a European agreement, it was put together through the Group of Ten central bank governors who meet regularly in Basle, Switzerland, on a monthly basis. Japan, and US who were part of the G10, supported this agreement. In fact, Japan announced on 27th September 1999 that she too would not be selling or lending gold. The US announced, in May 1999, that neither the US nor the IMF would be selling or lending gold.

This agreement covers nearly 50% of the world's official gold holdings as the 15 signatories collectively hold approximately 16,000 tonnes (including the 2,000 to be sold by 2005) out of the world total official holdings of 33,500 tonnes. Also by 2005 UK and Sweden might be either in or preparing to be in the Euro, thus bringing their reserves under ECB control. The Euro as a result will have equal if not greater gold "backing" than the US dollar.

Alan Greenspan the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, said on 20th May 1999 to the House Banking Committee soon after Britain announced its decision to sell gold that "gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Germany in 1944 could buy materials during the war only with gold. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted."
http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=3522&TagID=1


*****

[Prodigal Daughter]

AuntB, looks like you have uncovered some information that the snakes probably don't want much media attention paid to.

[Prodigal Daughter]

See #66.

[AuntB]

Looks like this ...and more is pretty common knowledge. I'm afraid snakes on both sides of the isle would be complicit in some of this. In a nutshell the implication is that the price of gold was held down by these sell off's in '99 to prop up the bubble of the stock market. At least Hillary profited! Gold isn't in reserve so much with the Arab Countries as with private parties....remember Osama is just in the past few days offering gold for bounty.

All I am confident in is that our money isn't worth the paper it's printed on. And if what these scenarios say is true, oil will be bought with gold, not dollars. China is also buying up gold. ALOT of it. Here's the biggest of the list of who has the gold:
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:DnktknxKXtwJ:www.gold.org/value/stats/statistics/archive/pdf/World%2520Of

Page 1
WORLD OFFICIAL GOLD HOLDINGS (DECEMBER 2003)
Tonnes
Gold’s %
share of
reserves**
1 United States
8,135.4
58.2%

2 Germany
3,439.5
45.3%

3 IMF
3,217.0
(1)

4 France (surprise!)
3,024.8
55.2%

5 Italy
2,451.8
47.4%

6 Switzerland
1,666.2
32.3%

7 Netherlands
800.5
47.3%

8 ECB
766.9
(1)

9 Japan
765.2
1.5%

10 China: Mainland
600.3
1.9%

11 Spain
523.4
21.9%
12 Portugal
517.2
51.0%
13 Taiwan
2
423.6
2.7%
14 Russia
3
388.2
7.4%
15 India
357.7
4.8%
16 Venezuela
3
335.0
22.4%
17 Austria
317.5
31.2%

18 United Kingdom
313.2
8.8%
19 Lebanon
286.8
22.0%
20 Philippines
262.4
20.3%
21 Belgium
257.8
22.9%
22 BIS
193.7
(1)
23 Sweden
185.4
10.9%
24 Algeria
173.6
6.7%
25 Libya
143.8
9.3%
26 Saudi Arabia
143.0
7.4%
27 Singapore
2
127.5
1.7%
28 South Africa
123.8
19.4%
29 Turkey
116.1
4.2%
30 Romania
105.3
13.0%
31 Poland
102.9
3.9%
32 Greece
102.2
21.8%
33 Indonesia
96.5
3.5%
34 Thailand
80.9
2.5%
35 Australia
79.7
3.1%
36 Kuwait
79.0
12.1%
37 Egypt
75.6
6.4%
38 Denmark
66.6
2.3%
39 Pakistan
65.2
7.2%
40 Kazakhstan
53.6
14.1%
  ****

[petitfour]

This is very interesting stuff. I haven't fully comprehended yet, but I'll get there.

What was under the World Trade Center? I have heard and maybe read, but I'm not certain that muches gold was there.

[AuntB]

One "theory" is that much evidence, documents, etc. were destroyed that effectively ended investigations/prosecutions. Facts are problematic enough, I try to ignore the conspiracy theories. All I know is the Arabs bought a BUNCH of the gold reserves of G. Britain and US. I'd rather be functioning in a economic frame that has something to back up it's paper.

[AuntB]

Prodigal Daughter said...."information that the snakes probably don't want much media attention paid to."

That's the understatement of the decade.

In May of 1999, while we were all overwhelmed with MONICA, all this was happening:

New York-May 12-FWN--Gold futures ticked lower again
here today on a bearish sentiment in the aftermath of
recent news about official sales by the United Kingdom,
unable to draw much benefit from the sacking of the Russian
Cabinet and resignation of U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert
Rubin.
But sentiment was hurt Friday when the U.K. Treasury
announced plans to sell 415 tons of gold over the next few
years. This comes after the market was already wrestling
with the likelihood of potential Swiss and International
Monetary Fund sales.

From today's Drudge Report (written this morning):
CHINA: YOU'LL PAY US BACK WITH POLICY CHANGES
China expects the U.S. to make significant concessions on sensitive military, trade and diplomatic issues as payback for last weekend's NATO bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade, the FINANCIAL TIMES is reporting on Wednesday.
China is seeking conciliatory measures from the U.S., including dismissing allegations that a Chinese spy passed U.S. nuclear secrets to China.
FT reporters James Harding and Steven Fidler quote a senior foreign policy advisor to Chinese President Jiang Zemin: "It is now up to the U.S...to take the initiative to get the relationship back to normal."

Joining the growing Congressional chorus opposed to official gold sales, four U.S. senators, including prominent Democrat Tom Daschle, wrote Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin voicing their disapproval of the British proposal, backed by the Clinton
administration, to sell some of the International Monetary Fund's gold. They proposed instead that the IMF offer the gold as security for loans. In a statement that deserves some scrutiny and analysis, Homestake CEO Jack Thompson said that since the UK is believed to be one of the biggest lenders of gold, the announced auction will not have much impact on the physical market because the gold is essentially already in the market. He said the
problem in the gold market is not central bank selling but central bank lending.

Full articles at:
http://www.usagold.com/cpmforum/archives/1219995/default.html
Professor von Braun is a guest contributor to www.lemetropolecafe.com
Reprinted at USAGOLD by permission

[petitfour]

Thanks for sparking this train of thought for me. (gold) I think you may be on to something. This war is about far more than oil or WMD or whatever other reason we have been given thus far. (or terrorism)

[Minutemen]

You are Kafir??? No medicine for you!

[all4one]

Wonderful research. Sometimes when I am doing these searches, it seems that I am driven to find answers. I think that you have the same mindset. The recent erratic price of gold is also very odd.