Page 1 of 1

"Trench" as in "receive the next trench of ca

Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 6:06 pm
by Bix
This is a word I thought I heard today, during financial discussions at work. Twice people referred to the next "trench" or "trunch" of money coming from the investors.

This is one I can't find any reference to and I wonder what the scoop is. One of the people who said it was from the Netherlands, although he speaks superb english.

Does anyone want to hazard a guess?

Posted: Thu May 24, 2007 9:20 am
by Perry
Are you certain that the word spoken wasn't trend? Trench makes no sense in this context. And trunch would seem to have a more negative implication.
Trunch n. 1. A stake; a small post.
truncheon
c.1300, "shaft of a spear," also "short stick, cudgel," from O.N.Fr. tronchon, O.Fr. tronchon (11c.) "a piece cut off, thick stick, stump," from V.L. *truncionem (nom. *truncio), from L. truncus (see trunk). Meaning "staff as a symbol of office" is recorded from 1575; sense of "policeman's club" is recorded from 1880.

Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 10:51 am
by Bix
They were saying "trench" with a little hesitancy - if I google "Trench of money" I get a few hits, I'm thinking it must come from some financial term or something. I'm going to ask the guy when he comes again.

Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 4:14 pm
by Stargzer
Searching Yahoo! for "trench of money" turned up several hits, including this quote from someone's blog:
Ginza is an infinite trench of money and extravagance, but ..
It also appears in a document at un.org:
SENGUPTA: What are the checks and balances on the countries that potentially receive these Funds? There are governments that are accused of not properly acknowledging the scope of the AIDS epidemic in their countries, there are governments that have refused to spend their money on anti-retro virals. What do you require governments to do in order to receive the Fund? Anything? Do they have to be transparent? Do they have to have [a] human rights record that is respectable?

MOGHALU: All those things are actually part of what we look at when we are considering proposals. Countries have to be accountable for Funds that they are requesting and we make it very clear, the Global Funds business model is what we call a results-based disbursement. And that is when you are successful with the grant, we give out a portion of it, and we watch how you perform. You submit your report and if you are performing well, we give up the next trench of money. In a bad programme performance we definitely call for a reaction from the Fund, and we have to find a way to walk around it. So there are other requirements, and that is that the proposals that you submit must be technically sound and feasible. They must have the potential to save lives. There has to be efforts at ending stigma against people with AIDS. All these things are part of what we look at.
It take it to mean a large chunk of change.

Stargzer discreetly corrects an egregious misspelling.

Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 4:16 pm
by Perry
You know, they may be using this term interchangeably with trough. Financial analysts often look at the peaks and troughs of a stock, or of a market, over a period of time to look for cyclical behavior.

Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 11:37 am
by Bailey
I dunno, I think trough has a piggish lilt to it, and trench/trencher has a more genteel feel, but 'trench of money' drags it right back down to the pigs. Then again trenchers with their medieval table manners , yeah....

mark bar-bar-ian Bailey

Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 1:32 am
by bnjtokyo
Dear Bix,

I believe the word you heard was probably "tranche," a block of money or stock or other financial instruments being convayed from one party to another. Merriam Webster says it comes from Old French "trenchier, trancher, to cut"
and defines it as "a division or portion of a pool or whole; specif : an issue of bonds derived from a pooling of like obligations (as securitized mortgage debt) that is differentiated from other issues especially by maturity or rate of return"

I understand that Venture Capital groups provide the start-up company with money in "tranches" rather than giving the company the full amount all at once. (Better for the investment group since they don't need to have all the money all at once and they can withhold funds if the company in which the investment is being made does not make the progress promised.)

I have also heard it in reference to the wine trade where a chateau in Bordeaux will commit a portion of a vintage to the furtures market before the wine is even in the bottle and then will release further portions (further tranches) to the market over the following years. Thus the winery is able to enjoy any incease in value that the vintage may have gained over the years that the wine remained in their cellars rather than let it all go to the negotiant that stored it for the intervening years.

Cheers,

Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 1:12 pm
by Ferrus
I remember The Guardian's obituary for Saddam Hussein. Whilst discussing his dealings with Iran in the late 1970's they said they were able to strike a deal over the 'tranche' of land along the Shatt al-Arab. Hastily searching my dictionary it appeared that the word is French for 'slice' and is usually used in financial contexts.

Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 6:24 pm
by Perry
[Slapping his own forehead] But of course. How did I miss that?

Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 7:10 pm
by sluggo
BJ, nice call on tranche. It would seem some corruption is getting entrenched right before our ears.

I don't know how reliable this quote is- I stole it from a colleague for use on the jugband site:

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." --Hunter S. Thompson

(FWIW, further research shows the original quote was actually about TV, and the 'negative side' punchline was added in by urban legend tradition)

Posted: Tue May 29, 2007 12:07 am
by skinem
Looks like BJ nailed it.

Guess they'll have to retrench now.

Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 5:28 pm
by Bix
Dear Bix,
I understand that Venture Capital groups provide the start-up company with money in "tranches" rather than giving the company the full amount all at once. (Better for the investment group since they don't need to have all the money all at once and they can withhold funds if the company in which the investment is being made does not make the progress promised.) Cheers,
Obviously, that would be it. M-W.com gives the pronunciation with a french accent, hence the hesitation on the part at least the one guy in repeating it. Thanks.

Also thanks Sluggo, for the excellent quote from Hunter Thompson. :)