Negotiations Held on Offer : National Lampoon Chief May Sell His Stake

Independent production company Grodnik/Matheson Co. disclosed Tuesday that it has been negotiating to buy out Matty Simmons, founder and chairman and chief executive of National Lampoon Inc., after being invited to make an offer for his 8.7% stake in the publicly traded firm.

Simmons has turned down an initial proposal of $5.375 for each of his 135,000 shares.

That offer would have required Simmons to resign as an officer and director and give the investor group led by Grodnik/Matheson a majority on the board. However, Grodnik/Matheson said discussions with Simmons on the subject are continuing.

A letter making the formal offer, dated Feb. 10, told Simmons he could retain the right to produce films through the company, “as you suggested.” It also offered to continue paying Simmons his $250,000 annual salary through 1991 in return for consulting services.

Revealed in Filing

Daniel Grodnik and Tim Matheson, partners in the Los Angeles movie and television production firm that made the offer, won three seats on the seven-member board last month, using as leverage the 21.3% stake held by their group.

The buyout offer was revealed by the investor group in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Simmons could not be reached for comment Tuesday at his Los Angeles offices. Grodnik said he could not add to the information in the SEC filing, which included the letter to Simmons.

In the letter, Grodnik and Matheson noted that Simmons had indicated “in recent discussions” an interest in receiving an offer from the group to purchase his shares.

National Lampoon’s stock price has risen above $5 a share from $4 since the group in late December began to seek a major role in management of National Lampoon. The group disclosed in its latest filing that it paid $5.16 a share for 25,000 shares as recently as Feb. 6.