Repo Man For Private Jets Gets Busy

私人飛機追討業生意興隆
Repo Man For Private Jets Gets Busy
During the boom times, there were more than 10,000 private jets buzzing the skies of the U.S.

With the bust, many of those planes have been grounded, and their owners can't pay the bills.

That is where Nick Popovich comes in. The 56-year-old has the increasingly busy job of nabbing planes and yachts from people and companies that can no longer afford them.

An article about Mr. Popovich in Salon by Marc Weingarten says that what it called 'super repo men' are reaping the benefits of tighter credit and destroyed wealth. His firm earns in the 'low- to mid- seven figures' a year, and his most difficult jobs - such as grabbing jumbo jets from overseas - can rake in as much as $900,0000.

His clients include such big lenders as Citigroup, Transamerica and Credit Suisse Group. 'We've got a lot of business right now,' Mr. Popovich says.

It appears from the examples in the article that most of Mr. Popovich's business is corporate rather than personal. Still, he said he recently snatched private jets from two accused Ponzi scheme operators, Edward Okun and Arthur G. Nadel.

'Oh, those guys are a real piece of work,' says Mr. Popovich of the fallen Masters of the Universe. 'We've had to fly halfway around the world just to find a plane we were told would be in Dallas. You have to think like a crook to find them.'

It is unclear how many private jets are sitting unsold and unpaid for on the nation's tarmacs. And it is likely that only a small number are being repoed, since private-jet owners (people and companies alike) generally have larger financial cushions and often can sell the plane at a bargain price if they are truly cash-strapped.

But given that so many individuals and companies financed their planes with debt, we are likely to see more jet repos before the financial crisis is over.

Do you think jet repos will become common? Would Emelio Estevez make a comeback for 'Repo Man II: The Jet-Setters'?

在

經濟繁榮時期﹐美國曾有1萬多架私人飛機﹐經常嗡嗡地飛來飛去。

隨著經濟泡沫的破裂﹐如今很多私人飛機都只能望“空”興嘆﹐它們的主人付不起帳單了。

《白爛討債族》或許該拍續集

而這正該是波波維奇(Nick Popovich)上場的時候。現年56歲的波波維奇生意越來越繁忙﹐他的工作就是將飛機和游艇從已負擔不起它們的個人和企業手裡收回來。

威 恩加頓(Marc Weingarten)曾在Salon網上寫過一篇有關波波維奇的文章。文中說﹐“超級討債人”因信貸緊縮和財富縮水而賺翻了。波波維奇公司的年收入在 100萬至700萬美元之間﹐像從海外追討大飛機這樣最棘手的工作﹐可能會給他帶來900萬美元的收入。

他的客戶包括花旗集團(Citigroup)、Transamerica和瑞士信貸(Credit Suisse)這樣的大型放貸機構。波波維奇說﹐眼下我們有很多業務。

從文章中舉的例子來看﹐波波維奇大部分的業務是向公司而不是個人追討。不過他說﹐他最近從兩位涉嫌策劃了龐氏騙局的人──奧肯(Edward Okun)和納德爾(Arthur G. Nadel)手中收回了私人飛機。

波波維奇在談到這些隕落的“宇宙巨人”時說﹐哎﹐這些家伙還真得費點勁兒。有一次﹐我們被告知要追討的飛機在達拉斯﹐結果卻不得不飛過半個地球才找到。你必須像騙子一樣思考﹐這樣才能找到它們。

目前還不清楚美國的停機坪上有多少未售出或未付款的私人飛機。由於私人飛機機主（無論是個人還是公司）通常都有較大的財務緩衝﹐在資金確實緊張的時候﹐他們常常能以低價賣出飛機﹐所以真正需要追討回來的飛機可能並不多。

不過﹐考慮到有那麼多個人和公司是借錢買的飛機﹐在金融危機結束之前﹐我們很可能會看到更多的飛機被收回。

你認為回收飛機會變得稀鬆平常嗎﹖埃絲泰威茲(Emelio Estevez)主演的電影《白爛討債族》(Repo Man)會出續集《白爛討債族II﹕追討飛機》嗎﹖

Robert Frank



repo
n. Informal., pl. -pos.

A repurchase agreement.

[Shortening and alteration of REPURCHASE AGREEMENT.]

re·po² (rē'pō')
n. Informal., pl. -pos.

1. Repossession of merchandise or property from a buyer who has defaulted on payment.
2. Repossessed merchandise or property.