Patriot Financial Partners, L.P. said it's finished raising $300 million in ten-year commitments from investors, and it's ready to make "four to six" $5M to $25M stock nvestments in U.S. small banks and financial-service companies (with market caps of $250M-$5B), starting at today's depressed prices, each year for the next four years.

Patriot, run by ex-Sovereign Bank executive and longtime Philadelphia business lender Jim Lynch and former Progress Bank chief Kirk Wycoff, is one of the partnerships that make up Ira Lubert's $11 billion-asset Independence Capital Partners, West Philadelphia.

Besides partners Lynch, Wycoff and Lubert, Patriot principals are Wilson L. Smith, CFA and Kevin J. Kooman, CPA along with Fund Associates, Conor D. McDonnell and Matthew Morris. More info at  www.patriotfp.com

Philadelphia borrowed $165 million from investors by selling general obligation bonds last week, priced mostly to yield 7 percent or more. Pennsylvania borrowed $300 million two weeks ago, and paid just over 5%. But Pennsylvania has a better credit rating.

Compared to the city's previous bond sales, "it's a little higher because of the turmoil in the market," said city finance director Rob DuBow. "But it's important to bring the cash in to keep our capital projects flowing,." including repairs to  police and fire stations and recreation centers. Better to borrow now, than go without and hope for cheaper money next year. "We're not sure it will get better soon."

Morgan Stanley led the underwriters for the sale. The city also spent $4.267 million on "bond issuance costs," including fees for four law firms -- Cozen O'Conner and Booth & Tucker LLP, co-bond counsel, and Greenberg Traurig LLP and Andre C. Dasent. (All four were donors to Mayor Nutter last year -- but, among big Philadelphia law firms, who wasn't?) By comparison, Pennsylvania's "bond issuance" costs for its larger issue came in at just $250,000, said state revenue director Rick Dreher. (UPDATE: We're not sure these numbers are strictly comparable. For example, PA didn't list its underwriters' counsel or how much they were paid.)

"We did well, compared to some other cities," said Dasent, who said his office has worked on Philadelphia bond sales since 1985. He said his next finance job is with the city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works, which is trying to avoid "tens of millions of dollars" in extra debt service by restructuring its finances. Christopher Booth said he's worked on bond issues since the early 1990s, and that his current firm, which specializes in civil litigation, has been doing bond work since it helped with the Eagles and Phillies stadium deals, soon after it was founded in 2000.

NOTE: This item originally referenced "general obligation pension bonds." These were G.O. bonds -- in no way were they pension bonds.

After U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings questioned him from Congress, American International Group chief executive Edward Liddy, who's working for $1 a year, went on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning to defend spending $400 million in bonuses for 2,000 senior managers at his company, which is dependent on more than $140 billion in U.S. government financial support after Liddy's predecessors ran it into the ground with stupid financial investments.

"To pay back every single penny that has either been loaned to us or invested in us," Liddy said,"we have to sell 70% of our company." But to make those businesses saleable, "you have to keep the people in place.... If you don't use retention bonuses -- those people are some of the best in the insurance industry, they will go elsewhere and we won't have anything to sell ... and we can't pay back the federal government. We want to pay back the federal government.

"Now, with respect to a large bonus, there are not many of those, and that would go to a person probably running a business that generates $25 or $30 billion in revenue and makes between $2 and $4 billion a year. We want that person locked in place...

"We need to get back to being a public company, not be on the dole, if you will, from the federal government and we need to do that as quickly as possible. It is good for the taxpayer and the company."

GlaxoSmithKline, the UK-based multinational drugmaker that owns what used to be Smith Kline & French in Philadelphia and Montgomery County, said in a brief statement it will "voluntarily stop all corporate political contributions." U.S. grants to the pharmacy company's friends in Washington and state capitals totalled $585,425 so far this year, of which about 58% went to Republicans, said spokeswoman Sarah Alspach.

"We believe that stopping corporate political contributions is the right thing to do," in order to "improve transparency in terms of our interations with governments, political leaders and candidate for office," said new Glaxo chief executive Andrew Witty in a statement. Though he also saw fit to deny that previous contributions had given Glaxo any "special privileges."

But Glaxo said it will keep its political action committee "to facilitate contributions by eligible GSK employees." The committe collected $726,550 from around 5,000 employees this year to give to U.S. politicians this year, with roughly 58% again going to Republicans, Alspach said.

J.G. Wentworth LLC, the Bryn Mawr firm that buys discounted legal settlements and annuities from people who want their cash up front in one big discounted chunk, said today it securitized notes totalling $74.6 million backed by structured settlements and annuities, selling them to institutional investors despite what cfo John Calamari called a difficult environment for asset-backed securities. 

The firm didn't announce financial details of the sale. Last month, Moody's downgraded Wentworth's "corporate family" credit rating to Caa1 from B2, citing "a dramatic increase in its funding costs." Standard & Poor's made a similar cut.