Doug:
1. If needed, I can ask my wife to go. She works in La Jolla not far from FPA's offices.
2. I'm thinking out loud here. Would our best chance at cost effectively thwarting the re-org plan be to oppose it with a motion before the bankruptcy judge? I assume any move towards a shareholder meeting and vote can be delayed, if management is skillful, until after discharge. Can we petition, through the shareholder's committee, to have the plan stricken or modified? I think one thing we don't want is to give the judge an impression of pandemonium- some federal judges have a low threshold for disorganized pro-se litigants....
3. If the motion is granted, the time would then seem more ripe to try wrest control from Dresnick and the new consultants-turned-employees-turned-owners. (What a fine piece of work that was: Tom Allison came aboard as CFO from his role as an Anderson consultant on July 10th and two weeks later has done a fine enough job to receive options on a chunck of 8 million new shares. Tom, can you even spell "conflict of interest"?). In trying to convene a meeting, I suspect we may be outflanked since the new class of shares will no doubt assume our voting rights, mooting our meeting. This could happen quickly since those who are feathering their nests at our expense probably realize that time is not their friend here....
4. Longer term, do you agree the key to control is the BoD? They've got to be fully aware of their exposure if they act against shareholder's interest. I suppose we (FPA) have insured them against such liability, but the collective losses of all shareholders will probably exceed policy limits many times over. The board has not weighed in yet as far as I know, but it may already be stacked by the CEO and his associates.
5. If you have time or inclination, I would be grateful if you would consider a role on the shareholder's committee. Your numerous posts here demonstrate far more than a passing familiarity with FPA and, in sum, demonstrate the kind of integrity that is completely absent the the company's senior management. Ideally, committee expenses are funded through the debtor's estate, so you should personally bear none of the cost of assuming a role on the committee.
6. Finally, regarding opposing the re-org plan, please comment on 'what's in it for us.' In other words, given the likelihood of our success or failure, is this fight worth the candle or will we be throwing good money after bad?
r/s
Ben |
