$30 Million : Chairman’s Group Makes Sierracin Bid
Sierracin Corp. said Friday that a group led by its chairman, Christoph Tribull, is offering to buy the Sylmar aerospace company for $15 a share--about $30 million--for the 50% of the firm that the group does not already own.
The group, SCS Acquisition Corp., includes other Sierracin executives and Asahi Glass Ltd., a Japanese company that is a major Sierracin stockholder with about 225,000 shares. A Sierracin spokeswoman said the group would have to buy about 2 million shares to acquire the company.
The offer for the company, which makes cockpit windows for airplanes and other aerospace equipment, had been expected. In April, the Tribull group said it was considering offering $15 a share. Sierracin’s directors are expected to meet later this month to consider the bid.
The proposed buyout is contingent on the approval by a judge in Delaware Chancery Court of a proposed settlement of a lawsuit filed in 1987 against Tribull and other Sierracin officers by Herbert and Euretta Hastings, who own about 7% of the company’s stock. In the suit, the couple alleged fraud and mismanagement, which the company has denied.
The Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Sierracin for nearly two years on similar allegations. Last October, the agency announced that it had ended its probe, adding that it would not recommend any enforcement action against the company or any of its employees.
Sierracin’s stock jumped $1.875 a share Friday to close at $13.75 on the American Stock Exchange.