Shareholders Call for the Liquidation of Walter Industries, Inc.
NEW YORK, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Simplon Investments Limited and Simplon Partners, L.P., private investment funds managed by T.A. McKay & Co., Inc., have proposed a shareholder resolution to be considered at the October 19th annual meeting of Walter Industries, Inc. which calls for the liquidation of the company through the sale for cash of each of the company's five unrelated business units in order to repay debt, pay taxes and pay dividends to shareholders. If this were done, McKay believes that shareholders would receive distributions in the range of $20 1/2 to $25 per share, a 155% to 212% premium to the current share price of $8. This course of action makes particular sense in light of last month's appointment of a new chief executive officer at Walter, the fourth chief executive that the company has had in eight months so far this year, pending completion of a search for a person who would be the fifth chief executive this year. In McKay's opinion, such discontinuity of management is harmful to the morale of the company's employees and ultimately results in a diminution of shareholder value.
The two funds managed by McKay own 795,000 shares of Walter Industries common stock or 1.7% of the total 47 million shares outstanding. |
