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To: Boplicity who wrote (958)	4/7/2000 12:58:00 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13572

"Its Good to be the King"...local boy makes good S.F. Mayor Had Inside Track for IPOs Brown benefited by deals rarely offered to any buyer David Lazarus, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, April 7, 2000 San Francisco -- San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown says he participated in eight red-hot stock offerings late last year because he had an arrangement with brokerage Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to pick up any ``IPO remnants.' If so, the mayor enjoys a highly unusual relationship with his broker. Usually, there are no ``remnants' left over from much-sought-after initial public offerings of technology and Internet stocks. Moreover, it is rare, indeed, for an individual investor to get a taste of such action, let alone to participate in numerous IPOs during a single four-week period. ``An individual investor who gets in on a lot of IPOs, that just doesn't happen,' said Les Childress of Childress Investment Research in Seattle. ``There are institutions that can't even get in the door on IPOs,' he said. Brown's investments came to light after the mayor filed a financial disclosure statement with the city Ethics Commission on Monday. Because financial reporting laws stipulate only that investments be listed in broad ranges, the exact amount of the mayor's investments is known only to him, his accountant and, eventually, the Internal Revenue Service. Subsequent news reports, including one in The Chronicle, stated Brown's portfolio was worth as much as $1 million and quoted his press secretary as saying that he had amassed this fortune day-trading in his spare time. It turns out that Brown's earnings were considerably less, but the fact remains that Brown enjoyed considerable luck on the IPO market. There is nothing illegal about participating in so many IPOs. Nor is there any evidence that Brown has performed favors for companies in which he holds stock. Moreover, the mayor's office denied yesterday that there is any connection between the mayor's trades with Morgan Stanley and his 1997 selection of the brokerage to sell $100 million in bonds to finance a proposed new stadium for the 49ers. Still, the question remains: How did he get in on so many new share offerings? Stewart Pillette, a San Francisco investment manager, said that individual investors generally participate in popular IPOs only if they are preferred clients for an underwriting brokerage and generate substantial fees from transactions.