Word: berners
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Curtiss-Wright did make a peaceful effort last month to get minority representation on the Kennecott board. But Kennecott's dour and demanding chairman, Frank Milliken, 64, turned down the request. So T. Roland Berner, 67, Curtiss-Wright's chairman, declared war by nominating a slate headed by himself to take control. The rather geratic group includes George Moore, 72, former chairman of Citicorp; Robert Meyner, 69, former Governor of New Jersey; George Bunker, 70, former chairman of Martin Marietta; and Fred Kirby II, 58, chairman of Alleghany Corp. and Investors Diversified Services, the mutual fund concern. Curtiss...
...Berner's strategy is similar to his attack on Curtiss-Wright in 1948. Management had been piling up cash; Berner, then a Wall Street lawyer, badgered it to distribute the hoard in a special dividend to shareholders. Curtiss-Wright refused, so Berner launched a proxy fight, forced the company to dispense dividends liberally and eventually had himself elected a director and chief executive...
...recent years Curtiss-Wright has not been a distinguished performer. Profits dropped from $19 million in 1976 to $16.3 million last year, while sales fell from $337 million to $310 million. Berner, a silver-thatched figure, has become something of a recluse. That is a stance he must now abandon; a proxy fight is a campaign for votes, and the attacker must be as much a politician as a businessman...
...Berner succeeds and severs Carborundum, what is left of Kennecott will be anything but a prize property. One of the world's highest-cost copper producers, Kennecott thrives only when prices of its metal are handsome. Last year profits were a pittance of $300,000 on sales of $977 million. Copper inventories of more than 2 million tons are now overhanging the market, forcing the U.S. spot price down to about 620 per lb., below Kennecott's average cost. Some analysts, however, believe that copper might go as high...
...Jeff Berner Mill Valley, Calif...