Word: harkens
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...1980s, Harken was bloated and indebted, but it won a windfall. Bahrain, which produces a mere 42,000 bbl. of oil a day (Saudi Arabia's output: more than 8 million), decided to hunt for more crude. In 1989 Bahrain officials suddenly and mysteriously broke off promising talks with Amoco. One minister then telephoned an old friend, Michael Ameen, the respected former head of Mobil's Middle East operations. "They wanted a small American company," claims Ameen, who says he drew a blank. But 10 minutes later, Ameen got a call from an investment banking friend in Arkansas, who recommended...
...Harken had almost no cash to carry out the job, so it brought in the billionaire Bass brothers to finance the drilling, which could ultimately cost $50 million. What remains inexplicable is why Ameen or the Bahrainis didn't go to the Basses or other experienced wildcatters in the first place...
With the Bahrain deal in hand, Quasha decided to dump almost everything else. The company owned 1,000 wells and 600 gas-station pumps, all of which helped produce more than $40 million in losses in 1990. Earlier this year, Quasha spun off Harken's debt-laden businesses into separate public companies and then retired as chairman. "I've yet to find a business that's had nothing but successes," says he. "We've obviously had disappointments...
George Bush Jr. was probably never a prime mover behind the Bahrain deal. In fact, board members say he voiced doubts about whether Harken had the means and expertise for such a distant oil play. Even so, he has already earned a handsome profit from it. In late June 1990, five months after the deal was ( sealed and about a month before Iraq invaded Kuwait, young Bush sold 66% of his Harken stake (or 212,140 shares) at the top of the market for nearly $850,000, which represented a 200% profit on his original stake. Yet he failed...
...sale when it reaches Fort Lauderdale, its final destination. But its creators are hopeful that many of the innovations it incorporates can be offered on smaller boats with less imposing price tags. "In the future you'll see bipod masts and carbon-fiber construction all over," says Olaf Harken, co-founder of Wisconsin's Harken Yacht Equipment, the world's second largest manufacturer of boat hardware, and a driving force behind the Procyon. "The benefits are so substantial." Push-button sailing, anyone...