Baker Fentress Announces Third Quarter Results
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 1999--Baker, Fentress &
Company (NYSE:BKF), a closed-end fund, today announced that as of
September 30, 1999, 72% of the Company's total net assets were in cash
and cash equivalents. Since August 19, 1999, the Company has ceased
investing in accordance with its previous investment objectives and
has been liquidating its holdings of public and private securities in
accordance with the plan to distribute most of its assets to
shareholders and de-register as an investment company.
The plan was approved by shareholders at a special meeting on
August 19, 1999. The plan calls for investing the proceeds of the sale
of the Company's public and private securities in short-term liquid
investments (primarily U.S. Treasury securities), and then liquidating
these securities and distributing the proceeds to shareholders. In
accordance with the plan, the Company's total net assets is comprised
as follows:
*T
Market Value
As of 9/30/99
(in millions)
-------------
Cash and cash equivalents $424.0
Public portfolio securities 56.2
Private placement securities 9.4
John A. Levin & Co., Inc. 102.0
Other assets less liabilities (6.4)
--------
Total net assets $585.2
*T
Since the announcement of the plan on May 6, 1999, 18.3 million
shares, or 46.8% of BKF's outstanding shares have traded, and the BKF
discount has narrowed from 25.8% on May 5, 1999 to 7.0% on September
30, 1999. For the nine months ended September 30, 1999, the
shareholder return was 33.5%. This compares to net asset value total
return for this same period of 7.5%.
The Company had made an initial distribution on September 24,
1999 and expects to pay the final distribution in one aggregate amount
in January 2000. After the final distribution, the BKF holding company
will have one principal asset - John A. Levin & Co., Inc. (Levco) and
related Levco companies. Levco, which is valued by the Baker Fentress
board of directors at $102.0 million, or $2.61 per BKF share,
represented 17.4% of total net assets as of September 30, 1999 |
