Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : LHSP: Lernout En Hauspie -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: hdl who wrote (2432)	1/3/2001 4:29:41 PM
From: Randy Ellingson	Respond to of 2467

Has there been any material news? Should shareholders be happy that the Belgian gov't refused to offer L&H bankruptcy protection? I.e., does this mean they have to try to stand on their own two feet, and that the stock may yet again trade on the open market? Is there any hope? I notice that their products are still selling well...

To: hdl who wrote (2432)	1/19/2001 9:11:31 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2467

NEWSMAKER-L&H new CEO seen helping in debt talks By Gilles Castonguay BRUSSELS, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Philippe Bodson, Lernout & Hauspie's new chief executive, will provide key banking connections for the debt-laden speech technology company as it seeks new financing, analysts said on Wednesday. But his lack of knowledge of L&H's business might be a setback for a company with little time to pull itself back from the brink of bankruptcy, they said. ``He's got a lot of catching up to do,'' an analyst for a local group of fund managers said. Bodson, 56, a Belgian senator with the pro-business Liberal party and former chief executive of Belgian utility giant Tractebel, now the energy arm of French group Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux , was named late on Tuesday to replace John Duerden, as CEO, just five months after Duerden assumed the post. L&H, once a leader in the European technology sector, is restructuring while under protection from creditors in both the United States and Belgium. L&H said it chose Bodson for his experience as a ``crisis manager'' but it declined to comment on why Duerden had been replaced. Duerden, who remains a director, was unavailable for comment. CONFIDENCE WITH CREDITORS A familiar figure in the Belgian business community, Bodson is expected to instil confidence among L&H's creditors, who called L&H's loans in November after the company missed a payment. ``Belgian bankers might trust him more than Duerden,'' one equity analyst said on condition of anonymity. ``The company urgently needs capital and that is the main role of the CEO right now.'' ``He knows the banking sector, which might be good in renegotiating the debt,'' said Fortis fund manager Jacques D'Ursel. L&H, which has $489.6 million in debt, said in early January it was talking with a potential successor to General Electric Co.'s (NYSE:GE - news) financing arm to provide up to $60 million debtor-in-possession financing. Following the announcement of his appointment late on Tuesday, Bodson, said he took the job on condition that he had the banking community's support. ``Today different funding possibilities exist, and they will be further negotiated in the coming days,'' he said in a statement. ``My sole objective as the CEO of Lernout & Hauspie will be to develop the value for the shareholders,'' he added. ``I will do everything that is appropriate to reach this objective.'' Bodson declined further comment. The announcement came just over a week after Duerden unveiled a restructuring plan, which included drastically scaling back operations in Asia, withdrawing from the retail market, selling off assets, and cutting its workforce by 25 percent. VALUABLE TIME LOST Fortis fund manager D'Ursel said L&H was losing precious time by changing leaders in the midst of the restructuring. ``Each delay runs the risk of worsening the company's situation,'' he said. D'Ursel said L&H was also losing someone who not only knew the business but also the U.S. market, something which Bodson did not. ING Barings analyst Pierre-Paul Verelst said Bodson's biggest challenge was to make an impression with U.S. investors. ``He might be known in Europe, but not in the United States,'' he said. Although he thought L&H should have left Duerden to complete the restructuring that he began, Verelst said L&H could not have chosen a better person to replace him. ``(Bodson) is the best person we could have in Belgium to turn around a company,'' he said, noting that Bodson as chief executive of Glaverbel had restructured the glass maker in the early 1980s. ``He's perhaps more expeditious (than Duerden),'' he said. L&H, whose stock has been delisted from the U.S. Nasdaq market and suspended from trade on the Easdaq market in Brussels, is being investigated by U.S. and European regulators for misrepresenting sales figures since 1998. biz.yahoo.com My take: Ph. Bodson has likely a mandate to handle some sort of asset stripping of L&H (selling Dragon, Dictaphone,...) and later on, find a European buyer for the "streamlined" company --your best bet: Dutch consumer-electronics powerhouse Philips N.V.... If the guy's successful, he'll probably be offered a cabinet position in PM Verhofstadt's reshuffled administration (read a minister post)