Word: bendix
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Martin Marietta's Pownall recalls his epic battle with Bendix...
Thomas G. Pownall, 61, chairman of Martin Marietta and a survivor of last fall's great merger battle among Bendix, Allied and Martin Marietta, has emerged as a business folk hero. On the New York Stock Exchange floor a few days ago, traders eagerly shook his hand and told him that he had fundamentally altered the merger climate by proving that a takeover target could fight back and survive. At least three books are now being written on the whole saga, and several business schools are preparing courses on it. Pownall has turned down dozens of speaking invitations, including...
Allied Chairman Edward Hennessy, 55, eventually won the battle by taking over Bendix and has since pushed out former Bendix Chairman William Agee, 45. Pownall, meanwhile, has added the title of chairman to that of president and chief executive officer of Martin Marietta. His company has issued new stock and sold off chemical, cement and mining interests to reduce the staggering $1.3 billion debt largely built up during the takeover defense. But Wall Street has voiced its confidence in Pownall by pushing up Martin Marietta's stock from 33⅛s, its price at the beginning of the battle...
Your article "White Knights and Black Eyes" [Feb. 14] mentions the "golden parachute" package fashioned by Bendix directors for William Agee during the merger battle of the Bendix Corp., Martin Marietta and Allied Corp. Paying Agee so much money would not be in the best interests of Bendix stockholders. The cozy relationship between boards of directors and top executives amounts to corporate incest...
Agee hardly has to worry about a job. He is a director of several corporations, including Equitable Life Assurance and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal. At the time of the merger, his Bendix shares were worth about $1.4 million. In addition, unless shareholders sue successfully to stop him, he can pull the ripcord on a golden-parachute deal written into the merger agreement. It entitles him to receive his annual $825,000 salary for five years after he steps down, a plump severance package worth more than $4.1 million...