Sierracin Shareholders OK Purchase by Managers

Last week Sierracin’s shareholders approved a $30-million bid by its management to acquire the company. At the same time, the company neared a settlement in a lawsuit that had held up the deal.

A group led by Chairman Christoph Tribull of the Sylmar aerospace company and including Asahi Glass Ltd., a Japanese company that holds a large stake in Sierracin, last June bid $15 per share for the 50% of the company it did not already own.

Sierracin said shareholders approved the deal at the annual meeting on Jan. 24.

Herbert and Euretta Hastings, two shareholders who sued Sierracin in July, 1988, alleging “fraud, mismanagement and self-dealing,” will go to court with Sierracin in Delaware Feb. 5 to submit a proposed settlement to the suit. Sierracin is incorporated in Delaware.

Under the proposed agreement, the Hastings would accept the $15-per-share bid as sufficient to compensate them for the value of the stock and for any potential damages they say they might have won if they had pressed their suit.

The Hastings’ original complaint alleged that Tribull and three board members used Sierracin’s assets for their own gain. Sierracin denied the charges. The settlement makes no factual claims about the charges in the suit.