To everyone: Let's calm down, get organized, plan our offensive, and execute.
Step 1: Calm down. Now that we've all vented our spleens, let's remember that the merger MUST be approved by shareholders, which is us. And since the directors only control 20%, that means only 62.6% of the remaining shareholders must vote against the merger. This is doable.
Step 2: Get organized. Know what we want, which I will assume is a guarantee of $6.30/share or the equivalent in immediately liquidatable TRY stock (i.e. based on the market value the day of the merger, not on a fixed ratio of shares). This does not mean we will not accept less, just that this is our opening offer. We should also pick a name for our proposal, "Cable Car Shareholder's Initiative" or some such.
Step 3: Plan our offensive. Someone with free web space should put up a site containing information about the merger and our arguments against it. Someone with some free time should rent out a PO Box (I'd chip in for it) to serve as a point of contact for people who need hard copy of the information.
At this point, someone should write a press release briefly stating the facts of our opposition to the current plan and our alternative proposal.
Step 4: Execute. All of us should then call up Cable Car IR and let them know we will veto the merger as currently planned, but that we support an alternative. Give pointers to the website and send a copy of the information and press release. All of us should also give the information to any full-service brokers we use or know, because they would also want a fair price for anyone involved.
The press release will also be sent to all the financial papers and magazines. It will probably get thrown away, but perhaps not. Imagine the impact!
Activism can be done effectively. Anyone want to step up and try it?
Steve
(Note that if the readers on this board control only 50,000 shares, that is over 1/2% of the stock outstanding! Twenty readers and lurkers owning 2500 shares each gets you there...) |
