To: John Arnopp who wrote (1790 ) 10/16/1998 7:51:00 PM From: michael r potter Read Replies (1) | Respond to
John, have been trying to respond for two days, every time I hit submit, the whole thing goes up in smoke. Start all over. Has a significant bottom been achieved in the NAV? I believe so despite considerable individual investor tax loss selling upcoming in November. How about a bottom in SFE? Not as clear. Unless conditions improve, they will not be able to do rights offerings under the usual terms [the only exception would be internet related]. If true, an indication will be made on the 20 th. The assumption is that this will be the case, and it may not be built into the stock price. I agree, but sentiment towards SFE is as negative as I have seen it [10n yrs.] so a lot of potential negatives are already built into the stock price. If NAV has bottomed, then even if a negative announcement comes from the meeting, a worst case scenario would be a quick drop to a now rising NAV. If this does not occur, a premium should be maintained on top of a rising NAV. In either case, the risk/ reward looks favorable. Mgmnt. has almost 20% of SFE and furthermore takes immense pride in being able to deliver results. Just as when the stock was $40 we could not imagine negatives that would crush NAV to $15 in a matter of months, there are positives that will emerge from SFE and possibly on a macro level that will propel SFE higher. SFE will not Liquidate and distribute. They have ridden through a lot of tough times. I have been a deflation bear for a long time, but even with that bias, I repeat again NAV has bottomed IMO. Bought CMPC yesterday. Not the best company, but the logic present on a previous post was compelling. A question for anyone? SFE has considerable salaries and overhead. It is sort of like a closed end fund with a high expense ratio. In "normal' times expenses come out of rights offerings and especially sale of now public partnership companies that have gone up. How do expenses get paid when there are no offerings and they are not only not selling public companies, are actively buying in the open market? Credit line? Cash from previous sales? Any ideas on what gives if the market stays bear for a long time and the sales window stays shut? Thanks, and best of luck, Mike
