Shareholder Group Settles With TLC Beatrice

A dissident shareholder group has settled its lawsuits against TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc., ending its fight for the return of millions of dollars in compensation paid to TLC Beatrice’s late founder. Carlton Investments, made up of former Drexel Burnham Lambert executives, had contested the $22.1 million paid over five years to Reginald Lewis, the legendary creator of TLC Beatrice who died in 1993. The Carlton group claimed the compensation was excessive. The former executives, who had worked with junk-bond king Michael Milken in arranging the nearly $1-billion leveraged buyout that created TLC Beatrice, sued the company in New York in 1994 and subsequently in Chancery Court in Delaware. Under the settlement, the Lewis family will return $15 million to TLC Beatrice, the nation’s largest black-owned company, which claims sales of $2.2 billion last year. The company spent about $10 million in legal fees defending the actions. The Carlton group is expected to withdraw its New York case today.