The Burlington Free Press from Burlington, Vermont • Page 21

I New York Stocks 6B American Stocks 7B 5 8 I 1 v. Anonymous Investors Buying Orleans County Farms Lt. uim Thayer farm in Newport Center was sold to a corporation The 770-acre office in Monteplier, Memphremagog Farm was incorporated on March 3 of this year to acquire, hold, lease, mortgage and otherwise deal in farm lands and products. It was incorportated by its three directors, Andrew Pepin, David Lalime and Gregory Howe, all attorneys with the Newport firm of Pepin and Lalime. But these directors are clearly not the men who hold the corporation's 500 shares, and thus was incorporated last Nov.

17 with a list of six purposes, including real estate development, farming and property management. It was incorporated by Albert Raphael a Waitsfield attorney, who is a director along with two Montreal attorneys, Henry Altschuler and Harvey Lazare. Asked last week to identify Fairwind's owners, Altschuler declined with apparent surprise. "Why do you think we formed a corpo Supply in Vermont Banks Increases Photo by CHRIS BRAITHWAITE for $670,000 ration?" he asked. "I'm an attorney, and my client doesn't want any one to know who he is." Altschuler said that such corporate purchases are common in other states particularly in Florida and wondered why the press would be interested in the Thayer deal.

"It's a small sale not even a million dollars," he said. Asked if the money involved is Italian, Altschuler replied: "It could again it could be French." the first quarter totalled more than $6 million, roughly half the $13 million lent during all of 1976. The Burlington banking executive also said savings has accounted for increased mortgage capital. With mortgage funds in abundant supply, larger banks are able to keep down payments on conventional loans low, Wick indicated. He said Chittenden Trust usually requires about 10 per cent down on a conventional mortgage with the per- own and control the farm.

Last week, Lalime firmly declined to identify these owners. This reporter expressed surprise that land ownership could be so easily concealed. "It can be even more hidden than that," Lalime replied with a good-natured chuckle. "And next time around it probably will be." Thayer sold his 770-acre farm on Vermont 105 to Fairwind Realty Ltd. for $670,000.

Fairwind Realty ing institutions "have plenty of mortgage money this time" because of increased deposits. Sherman said it is too early to determine the mortgage money demand in the St. Johnsbury area, however, since the usually heavy spring buying and construction sea-, son is just getting underway. "We have been able to approve all the loan requests that have come to us," said Francis Leonard, president of the Northfield Savings Bank. Home Mortage Money Plentiful Again By CHRIS BRAITHWAITE Special to the FrM Press Some prime Orleans County farmland has recently attracted the interest of an anonymous group of investors.

Using local agents to approach farmers, and operating through corporations created to buy 'and hold the land, the investors have purchased two substantial farms in the town of Newport, and 'expressed an interest in other farms in Troy, Coventry and Irasburg. Their activities have excited considerable speculation across the county about who they are, where they come from, and why they are purchasing Vermont farms. Efforts to answer these questions 'have in large measure been frustrated by the corporate veil behind which the investors operate. But conversations with lawyers and agents who work for the investors tend to confirm the rumor that they are European, that they are seeking to invest their funds in a safe haven from the real or imagined threat of the election of Communist governments in Western Europe, and that their new interest in Vermont is due in part to recent efforts by the government of Quebec to discourage absentee land ownership in that province. The facts, such as they are, are these: Newly formed Vermont corporations have recently purhased farms from Marcel Roberts and Merton Thayer, both in Newport.

Roberts sold his 180-acre farm on Lake Road to Memphremagog Farm Inc. for $260,000. According to records in the secretary of state's JLTil Business I'jDDDI Briefs Dividend Announced A second quarter dividend of 16 cents per share has been announced by the Howard Bank's board of directors. The cash dividend was IS cents per share for the same quarter in the last fiscal year. The dividend will be paid May 3 to stockholders of record April 26.

Tax Seminar MONTPELIER Lawyers, trust officers and accountants have been invited to a May 6 tax seminar being sponsored by the Vermont Bar Association and National Life Insurance Co. Theme of the conference is "Post 1976 estate planning: liquidity and Directors, Officers MONTPELIER A new director and two new officers were elected during the 149th annual meeting of Vermont Mutual Insurance Co. and Northern Security Insurance Co. Austin B. Noble, a Montpelier lawyer and a former state tax commissioner, was elected a director.

Philip A. Bird, who has been with Vermont Mutual since 1950, was named assistant secretary of the company. And Clifford C. Odom was named resident vice president in South Carolina. Amtrak Stop PORT KENT, N.Y.

A new Amtrak stop, accessible to Burlington by Lake Champlain Transportation Co. ferry, will become effective today. Passengers can catch the New York City to Montreal "Adirondack" at 5:40 p.m. northbound and at 10:12 a.m. southbound.

The northbound train arrives in Montreal at 7:35 p.m. daily and the southbound train arrives in New York City at 5:20 p.m. The added stop on the Adirondack's run will not affect the schedule of the Montrealer, the Washington-to-Montreal train which runs through Vermont. New Director MONTPELIER Hugh H. Weedon of Wayne, Pa.

has been appointed director of equity marketing and elected an officer of National Life Insurance Co. He will be responsible for the marketing activities of the four investment companies with assets in excess of $300 million sponsored and managed by National Life's investment subsidiaries. These companies include the Sentinel Funds and the Sentinel Group Funds. i i 1 1 J. Z- .1 -i 1 ft 1- -J 1 Behind The News There is a lot of money in Europe now, he added, and people are worried about political gains made by the Communist Party in several countries.

"People are afraid and they're putting their money where it's safe. Where could it be safer than in the United States?" Altschuler agreed that such purchases might drive farm prices higher. "Look at the Montreal real estate market," lie "It's been driven sky high because of foreign buyers." But about a year ago the Quebec government imposed a 33 per cent tax on land purchases by non resident foreigners and that, combined with the election of the Parti Que-becois and Canada's declining economy, may have sent European investors south to Vermont. "Vermont is a good state to invest in," Altschuler added. "It's safe, it's reliable, and the prices can do nothing but go up." But the Montreal lawyer said he does not expect foreign purchases to generate a land boom in Vermont.

"Vermont is a small state," lie noted. "You may see a little more, Turn to INVESTORS, Page CB centage ranging from 10 to 20 depending on the buyers assets and purchase prices. Housing officials and Bankers say the majority of Vermont buyers are seeking houses priced at $30,000 or less, but because of spiralling real estate values few such homes are on the marker. Richard Myette, chairman of the Vermont Mousing Finance Agency, said there is a "terrible dearth" nf homes on the current market that are affordable by low and moderate income wage earners families. "We could sell 100 of them in six months if they weie available, said Myette, who is also general manager of a Burlington real estate office.

Myette attributed the shortage partially to stale health regulations and the environment 'd laws enacted in the early 1970s which he said discouraged builders from developing large subdivisions in high demand areas. Instead, many are now seeking single building lots that command high prices and also retail costs. According to Myette. the supply of private mortgage mouey is so great that he doesn't "anticipate a single family program this year" that is agency financed. Contractots are expecting a better year than when single-family housing starts were made by members of the Vermont Home-builders Association, said Morton Julius, the trade organization's executive director.

"It's going to be a terrific year," he claimed. "There is plenty of money available, not only through the banks but through groups like the Vermont Mousing Finance Agency and the Farmers Home Administration. Our people are all busy." The biggest construction boom will probably occur in the northern part of the stale, said Julius, because of new orders for vacation homes and increased business and industrial activity as in Burlington where a computer electronics fiim, Digital is about to build a major manufacturing plant. Julius estimates that the 1,000 construction workers employed by member firms represents about half the number involved in the state's homebuilding trade. The Vermont Home Mortgage Guarantee Board, which underwrites portions of homo mortgages for low and moderate income buyers, has accepted more loans during the first quarter of this year than in the comparable 1976 period.

By the end nf March the board had guaranteed 1 loans, 12.6 per cent more than the 174 accepted 12 months earlier. Under the piogram the state agency guarantees to repay a portion of an accepted mortgage loan if the buyer defaults on payments before the insured part is paid off. In return, lending institutions agree to require low down payments, usually ranging between 5 and 10 per cent of the purchase price thus allowing families with limited assets to buy their own homes. According to Leonard, the demand has "dropped off in the last few weeks" at his bank which has nevertheless made committments for $1.5 million in home purchase and construction loans through the first part of 1977. Chittenden Trust, one of the state's largest banks, has loaned out twice the normal amount so far this year, according to President Hilton Wick.

Wick said housing loans during 0 11 By WALT PLATTEBORZE FrM Press Staff Writer Home mortgage money is again plentiful, according to Vermont bankers, but the low and moderately priced houses being sought by purchasers are few and far between. Joseph Sherman, president of both the Citizens Savings Bank and Trust in St. Johnsbury and the Vermont Bankers Association, said last week that most of the state's lend Associoted Press Wireohoto Empty shells waiting for assembly sit in the yard of now-closed Brockway Motor Truck Works in the small town of Courtland, N.Y. iPn A I turn mBu iu Huskietown Hurt by Truck Firm Pullout Brockway trucks, known as Huskies, were assembled from component parts. The heavy-duty trucks carried an average price tag of about $30,000 and were custom-made.

The trucks enjoyed a good reputation in the trucking industry. The nation of Iran once ordered 500. Brockway produced about eight trucks a day and accounted for only about 1.4 per cent of the market. "Basically, Brockway was a high-quality, custom-built truck, but with low volume, which strangled them," a Mack spokesman said. Brockway trucks began their decline around 1974 when the rest of the trucking industry declined, company officials said.

Brockway never recovered. Mack officials tried to sell Brockway without shutting the plant down, but the strike complicated the situation, a Mack spokesman said, denying the action was designed to punish the union. A spokesman for Mack said that because of the slump in Brockway sales, Brockway had "outlived its usefulness to Mack." property will probably be reduced since the company is no longer viable, Forcucci said. The shutdown also may affect construction of a new hospital addition which was to be partially funded by pledges made through payroll deductions by Brockway employes, the mayor said. Company officials say they are still negotiating severance benefits with union officials.

"We're obviously not going to just walk away and thumb our nose at Cortland. We're a more responsible company than that," a Mack spokesman said. As many Brockway employes as possible will be hired by Mack, the company spokesman said. Forcucci said Mack officials told him a year ago that they wanted to sell Brockway. They asked for city assistance in making a sale.

The officid announcement of the closing was made three weeks ago. "The ultimate closing came as a bit' of a shock," Forcucci said. "But I think we knew about it for a year." U-J By MIKE HENDRICKS Associoted Press Writer CORTLAND, N.Y. This is Huskietown, home of Brockway Trucks. At least that's what the signs on the highway say.

But the last Brockway truck built at this site moved off the assembly line last month. Brockway Trucks, one of the largest industries in this small upstate city since 1912, is being liquidated by its parent company, Mack Trucks Inc. The shutdown has thrown some 500 people out of work, raising concern about the economic impact of the closing on this city of 20,000 with an unemployment rate of 10 per cent. "I dare say it may have a domino effect," said Mayor Sam Forcucci, pointing out that there are other companies in the city that were heavily dependent upon Brockway for business. City officials said Brockway paid $33,521 in property taxes, a significant contribution toward the city budget.

The assessment on Brcckway's e- i Continued on Page tBjy.