Will Whittle be around next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or is it Cottonwood Capital?
https://cottonwood-capital.com/

Whittle EBITDA is negative 40 million and declining. Would rule them out. The real estate guys seem the more likely of the two given the foreclosure that Whittle actually caused. Moot regardless

Can't imagine the existing landlord is going to go down without a fight. Look for them to sue Whittle and the school before all is said and done

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One last point as a business deal geek…a “restructuring” or “recapitalization” like this would almost certain be led by a niche investment bank, focused on distressed asset liquidity. The probability of a legitimate process being run by the discredited, failed CEO of the entity that was looking to do a debt recap is pretty damn close to zero.

The only viable play for a distressed asset investor here is to buy the real estate, kick the school out and refit (and rezone) the interior for office use. But even that is a stretch. There is a reason this building was barely occupied pre-Whittle with a smattering of random tenants (a preschool, a couple of small consular offices and other general office use from memory...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One last point as a business deal geek…a “restructuring” or “recapitalization” like this would almost certain be led by a niche investment bank, focused on distressed asset liquidity. The probability of a legitimate process being run by the discredited, failed CEO of the entity that was looking to do a debt recap is pretty damn close to zero.

What is the asset here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One last point as a business deal geek…a “restructuring” or “recapitalization” like this would almost certain be led by a niche investment bank, focused on distressed asset liquidity. The probability of a legitimate process being run by the discredited, failed CEO of the entity that was looking to do a debt recap is pretty damn close to zero.

The only viable play for a distressed asset investor here is to buy the real estate, kick the school out and refit (and rezone) the interior for office use. But even that is a stretch. There is a reason this building was barely occupied pre-Whittle with a smattering of random tenants (a preschool, a couple of small consular offices and other general office use from memory...)

because there is huge demand for office space now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One last point as a business deal geek…a “restructuring” or “recapitalization” like this would almost certain be led by a niche investment bank, focused on distressed asset liquidity. The probability of a legitimate process being run by the discredited, failed CEO of the entity that was looking to do a debt recap is pretty damn close to zero.

The only viable play for a distressed asset investor here is to buy the real estate, kick the school out and refit (and rezone) the interior for office use. But even that is a stretch. There is a reason this building was barely occupied pre-Whittle with a smattering of random tenants (a preschool, a couple of small consular offices and other general office use from memory...)

because there is huge demand for office space now

Hence the caveat about it being a stretch. There is nothing else here. No school wants or needs 600,000 sq ft at $50 / sq ft. It was a white elephant lying mostly empty before Whittle, is still mostly empty with Whittle and will be equally empty after Whittle

[Anonymous]

Whittle won't publicize this but Cottonwood had been around this situation for a while - they were brought in by some of the early investors to try and restructure the company and create a real estate play. They realized the situation is not salvageable, so washed their hands of the situation and walked away

[Anonymous]

The Whittle ship is sinking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whittle won't publicize this but Cottonwood had been around this situation for a while - they were brought in by some of the early investors to try and restructure the company and create a real estate play. They realized the situation is not salvageable, so washed their hands of the situation and walked away

Yes, this is an important point. If the people who were tasked with restructuring and representing the board walk (Cottonwood), could they be cutting their losses? Will this lead to more lawsuits and litigation for Whittle? I also wonder if they had an internal patsy that signed all documents and if the organization is a shell company? That way Whittle himself, may not even end up being liable.

[Anonymous]

Whittle has skated through an endless series of scams for the last 50 years without ever facing material consequences. This time will be no different with multiple layers of shell companies starting with the Cayman holdco down to the Washington LLC shielding him from liability. In any case he'll blame everything on Covid

[Anonymous]

It’s pretty striking this has not gotten to reporters…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty striking this has not gotten to reporters…

Someone in DC is missing the opportunity of a lifetime - the likes of which John Carreyrou took with both hands when he came across Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. It is quite feasible that without his exposes, she might well have continued on for a while longer or have pivoted to something without her original deception seeing the light of day. You're right - it is curious why Whittle isn't facing similar scrutiny. The amount of capital he's vaporized is comparable. But he's smart and did it mostly out of the public eye whereas Elizabeth did it in broad daylight and on a global stage. There is still an incredible story waiting here for the right reporter

[Anonymous]

The other day my child(they/them) over heard the head of HS talking to some students who were complaining about not being aloud to order food or walk to Starbucks or CVS when it’s less than one mile away. Keep in mind that the school can’t provide this weeks lunch because of short-term funding. They said that Valmir keeps on false promising students things and continues to smile and laugh when he knows it’s all lies. They also said he made a case that the students weren’t aloud to order because it’s a liability issue and that simlar schools in the area don’t let their students get out. This is untrue, Burke students can leave campus with a huge radius. It was also funny when he compared Whittle to other schools like Sidwell-they will never be a Sidwell in the terms of education nor mission.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell students can leave campus too, LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:




The other day my child(they/them) over heard the head of HS talking to some students who were complaining about not being aloud to order food or walk to Starbucks or CVS when it’s less than one mile away. Keep in mind that the school can’t provide this weeks lunch because of short-term funding. They said that Valmir keeps on false promising students things and continues to smile and laugh when he knows it’s all lies. They also said he made a case that the students weren’t aloud to order because it’s a liability issue and that simlar schools in the area don’t let their students get out. This is untrue, Burke students can leave campus with a huge radius. It was also funny when he compared Whittle to other schools like Sidwell-they will never be a Sidwell in the terms of education nor mission.

He was allowed to say this aloud?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s pretty striking this has not gotten to reporters…

Someone in DC is missing the opportunity of a lifetime - the likes of which John Carreyrou took with both hands when he came across Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. It is quite feasible that without his exposes, she might well have continued on for a while longer or have pivoted to something without her original deception seeing the light of day. You're right - it is curious why Whittle isn't facing similar scrutiny. The amount of capital he's vaporized is comparable. But he's smart and did it mostly out of the public eye whereas Elizabeth did it in broad daylight and on a global stage. There is still an incredible story waiting here for the right reporter

I keep hoping a journalist is in the process of investigating but who knows.

How are Whittle families doing?