Postal Service Not Taking Allied-Signal Deal Lightly
If the proxy statement and prospectus are any indication, Allied’s rapidly approaching merger with San Diego-based Signal Cos. will produce a real heavyweight.
Allied and Signal this weekend will mail 165 tons of documents to 329,800 shareholders around the world. The 324-page package of documents weighs more than a pound. They describe in detail the merger proposal to be voted on at shareholder meetings Sept. 18.
In addition to being weighty, the documents are ponderous. The cover alone generated 14 footnotes that fill the second page.
The documents will be mailed first class, at a minimum of $2.40 a crack. That means that the total postal bill will be at least $791,520.
“I’m sure it costs more for overseas, and we’re obviously not going to get any discounts,” Allied spokesman Mike Ascolese noted.
Most of the documents are being shipped from Bank of New York, the stock-transfer agent for Allied that is handling the mailing.
“We’ve taken over the cafeteria in the bank to process it all,” Ascolese said.
Although the massive mailing is impressive, it will be lost among the 470 million letters and packages that the U.S. Postal Agency handles on a “typical” day, a spokesman said.
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