Aftermath of Takeover Bid : Firms Sell Off Gencorp Stock

The investor group that failed in its bid to acquire Gencorp has sold its remaining 1.9 million shares of the company’s stock, pushing total pretax profits from the effort to about $50 million.

General Partners, composed of AFG Industries of Irvine and Wagner & Brown of Midland, Tex., sold the shares late Friday for $118.125 each.

Two days earlier, the group had sold 250,000 shares at $118.50. The partnership accumulated the shares for the planned takeover in February and March at an average cost of $81.50 per share.

The Gencorp deal is the second time the two partners have consoled themselves with huge stock profits after failing to acquire a corporate target.

Late last year, stock profits of $37.6 million helped cushion the loss of Lear Siegler Inc. to another suitor.

Although the partners have twiced failed, AFG Industries Chairman R.D. Hubbard told shareholders Monday that he is still looking for more acquisitions, particularly among auto glass-related business, oil and natural gas concerns and low technology manufacturers.

The partnership with Wagner & Brown, an oil and gas exploration company, has not been dissolved.

“We’re looking at companies now. Some are small; some are significantly sized,”

Hubbard said. “We will continue to look for companies with undervalued assets.” He declined to be more specific.

Hubbard said AFG is particularly interested in continuing to expand its newly created auto glass manufacturing and sales business, an operation the company started last month in the wake of its failure to acquire Lear Siegler’s 262-store Safelite auto glass retail chain.

During the takeover attempt late last year, Hubbard made no secret of AFG’s strong interest in blending the Safelite operation into AFG if the acquisition went through.

Unable to buy Safelite, AFG is now trying to create a strong competitor from scratch.