Fair Value

There are a number of teams around major-league baseball that could use a guy like Mark Leiter in their bullpen. But wresting the revitalized reliever from the Phillies' clutches isn't going to be easy. In fact, manager Terry Francona isn't sure there's a team out there that can give the Phillies enough for them to part with Leiter. "I don't think it's going to happen," said Francona, when asked yesterday about trade rumors surrounding Leiter. "When you look at what Leit has done for us numbers-wise, I don't know if we could get enough in return for him. I don't know if we'd get fair value.

New accounting rules are causing bizarre gyrations on financial statements and giving some companies a bottom-line boost when their credit goes bad. Radian Group Inc. took a $1.33 billion hit in its first-quarter earnings from the decline in the value of insurancelike products it sold and was liable for. That part is not new. What's new is, the Philadelphia insurer of mortgages and bonds last week had to take the market's perception of...

Right Management Consultants Inc., which provides counseling and job-search services to laid-off workers, has reached an agreement to acquire a European outplacement company for $108 million. The deal will make Right Management, which is based in Philadelphia, the largest outplacement-service provider in Europe, said Richard J. Pinola, Right Management's chairman and chief executive officer. "This solidifies our European position," Pinola said. "One of the places we were No. 2 was Europe, and now we're No. 1. " Right Management will take over Coutts Consulting Group, of London, which is expected to have had $92 million in revenue last year.

For William Park and other residents of his block in Southwest Philadelphia, a water-main break early yesterday was an all-too-familiar source of frustration. The 30-inch pipe broke about 3 a.m. at Lindbergh Boulevard and 64th Street, sending thousands of gallons of water into the 2800 block of 64th Street, flooding rowhouse basements and heavily damaging their contents. A water main broke at nearly the exact location July 11, causing similar woes. Yesterday's break caused Lindbergh Boulevard to buckle and created a crater at 64th Street.

Mayor Rendell's chief aide has criticized a School District proposal to buy a Center City office building, saying the seller would turn a quick profit. But school officials deny the accusation, saying the venture is a great opportunity to consolidate operations at several other locations and save on rent. The expense of leasing office space would apparently cover the purchase, schools officials say. "None of this makes sense," said David L. Cohen, Mayor Rendell's chief of staff.

DuPont Co. shareholders rejected a shareholder proposal yesterday that would have forced the company to disclose its costs for lobbying, expert advice and public relations in dealing with a chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon that has been linked to cancer in animals and has alarmed environmentalists. DuPont said it had studied the chemical, widely known as PFOA, and concluded that it was safe. Shareholders voted against the proposal by 91.3 percent to 8.7 percent. Responding to comments at the meeting in Wilmington, chief executive officer Charles O. Holliday Jr. said DuPont found "no ill health effects from PFOA.

What's a 9,000-square-foot beachfront property in Avalon worth? Depends on who's doing the math. In a convoluted legal dispute settled last week, a Superior Court judge in Cape May County has ordered the Borough of Avalon to pay a Moorestown couple $284,802 for a 90- by 100-foot lot at the end of 75th Street that the borough seized without compensation in 1965. Edward and Nancy Klumpp had sought $5.5 million, based on current real estate values. The Klumpps lost a six-bedroom home on the site in the great storm of 1962.

In court documents filed this week, Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C. and its largest creditors argued anew over whether the company had a right to know how much debt each lender held and at what price it was purchased. From the company's position, the information is central to establishing a fair-market value for the media firm, which owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. Its senior lenders contend that the demand is designed to keep them from bidding on the company, thus promoting the chances of the current management's retaining control.

Take one urban community, overflowing with school-age children, in need of a bigger school. Add a fire-gutted, debris-laden former factory bought in 1995 for $66,923 by a community activist who works for a state politician. Add appraisals that now value the site at $1 million or more. Result: A foul stew of money, politics and misplaced priorities. That's a helping of outrage the School District of Philadelphia had best not serve at a time it's fighting to get more state aid from a legislature that is at best indifferent and often hostile.

The Eagles are practically finished waiting and wondering and hoping and playing negotiating games with linebacker Byron Evans and his agent. That was the message delivered loudly and clearly by Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie yesterday following an uneventful intrasquad game of touch football before approximately 11,500 sunbathers at Lehigh University in Bethlehem. "I think it's time we really move on and prepare for the season," Lurie said. "We've gone very far and it's time Byron expresses whether he wants to be on the Eagles or not. He knows we want him. It's now time to move on. " Bob Ackles, the Eagles' director of football administration who is Lurie's point man in the negotiations, relayed Lurie's message to Burt Kinerk, Evans's agent, last night upon the team's return to West Chester.

What's a 9,000-square-foot beachfront property in Avalon worth? Depends on who's doing the math. In a convoluted legal dispute settled last week, a Superior Court judge in Cape May County has ordered the Borough of Avalon to pay a Moorestown couple $284,802 for a 90- by 100-foot lot at the end of 75th Street that the borough seized without compensation in 1965. Edward and Nancy Klumpp had sought $5.5 million, based on current real estate values. The Klumpps lost a six-bedroom home on the site in the great storm of 1962.

In court documents filed this week, Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C. and its largest creditors argued anew over whether the company had a right to know how much debt each lender held and at what price it was purchased. From the company's position, the information is central to establishing a fair-market value for the media firm, which owns The Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, and Philly.com. Its senior lenders contend that the demand is designed to keep them from bidding on the company, thus promoting the chances of the current management's retaining control.

For William Park and other residents of his block in Southwest Philadelphia, a water-main break early yesterday was an all-too-familiar source of frustration. The 30-inch pipe broke about 3 a.m. at Lindbergh Boulevard and 64th Street, sending thousands of gallons of water into the 2800 block of 64th Street, flooding rowhouse basements and heavily damaging their contents. A water main broke at nearly the exact location July 11, causing similar woes. Yesterday's break caused Lindbergh Boulevard to buckle and created a crater at 64th Street.

TODAY WOULD BE one of those days where it would be good for the 76ers if point guard Andre Miller were a little less unusual. Miller has never revealed a lot about himself during his tenure with the Sixers, and it was always hard for fans, management and his teammates to get a read on what exactly was going through his mind. Does he like Philadelphia? Does he want to remain a Sixer? Is he happy with the progress of the program? Yes, no, maybe so. It depended on how you interpreted what Miller might have said on any particular day. And that was fine when Miller was under contract and the Sixers had final say in whether he would stay or go. That all changed at the end of the season when Miller became an unrestricted free agent with the autonomy to decide his next NBA destination.

Natalie D. Ramsey has handled bankruptcies through two recessions, so far. As chair of the Bankruptcy and Corporate Restructuring Practice of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads L.L.P. of Philadelphia, she also has had a close-up view of the bankruptcy practice as it has changed in recent years. Her work is composed of corporate reorganization, restructurings, commercial transactions and other aspects of bankruptcy practice. Question: How did bankruptcy early in your career compare with what you're seeing now?

New accounting rules are causing bizarre gyrations on financial statements and giving some companies a bottom-line boost when their credit goes bad. Radian Group Inc. took a $1.33 billion hit in its first-quarter earnings from the decline in the value of insurancelike products it sold and was liable for. That part is not new. What's new is, the Philadelphia insurer of mortgages and bonds last week had to take the market's perception of...

DuPont Co. shareholders rejected a shareholder proposal yesterday that would have forced the company to disclose its costs for lobbying, expert advice and public relations in dealing with a chemical used in the manufacture of Teflon that has been linked to cancer in animals and has alarmed environmentalists. DuPont said it had studied the chemical, widely known as PFOA, and concluded that it was safe. Shareholders voted against the proposal by 91.3 percent to 8.7 percent. Responding to comments at the meeting in Wilmington, chief executive officer Charles O. Holliday Jr. said DuPont found "no ill health effects from PFOA.

Right Management Consultants Inc., which provides counseling and job-search services to laid-off workers, has reached an agreement to acquire a European outplacement company for $108 million. The deal will make Right Management, which is based in Philadelphia, the largest outplacement-service provider in Europe, said Richard J. Pinola, Right Management's chairman and chief executive officer. "This solidifies our European position," Pinola said. "One of the places we were No. 2 was Europe, and now we're No. 1. " Right Management will take over Coutts Consulting Group, of London, which is expected to have had $92 million in revenue last year.

The township has committed an additional $100,000 to hire another lawyer and expand its appraisal of 80 acres sandwiched between Hillside Cemetery and the Ardsley Burial Park. "The case has grown considerably in complexity," said Township Solicitor R. Rex Herder. Abington has retained Philadelphia lawyer Michael Sklaroff to assist Herder in arguing that the township paid fair-market value to the owner of the land after the Board of Commissioners voted in 1996 to condemn the parcel and set it aside as open space.