Word: marietta
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Takeovers earned a bad name during the destructive Bendix-Martin Marietta fracas last summer in which Bendix Chairman William Agee first lost control of his company and later lost his job, when Allied Corp. came to Bendix's aid as a so-called white knight in the battle but then forced him out. Even before that struggle, companies had moved to make outright takeovers more difficult by setting up so-called shark repellents. Example: some companies altered their bylaws to require a two-thirds or three-quarters majority of voting shares to make changes in company policy, and some...
Thomas G. Pownall, 61, chairman of Martin Marietta and a survivor of last fall's great merger battle among Bendix, Allied and Martin Marietta, has emerged as a business folk hero. On the New York Stock Exchange floor a few days ago, traders eagerly shook his hand and told him that he had fundamentally altered the merger climate by proving that a takeover target could fight back and survive. At least three books are now being written on the whole saga, and several business schools are preparing courses on it. Pownall has turned down dozens of speaking invitations, including...
Allied Chairman Edward Hennessy, 55, eventually won the battle by taking over Bendix and has since pushed out former Bendix Chairman William Agee, 45. Pownall, meanwhile, has added the title of chairman to that of president and chief executive officer of Martin Marietta. His company has issued new stock and sold off chemical, cement and mining interests to reduce the staggering $1.3 billion debt largely built up during the takeover defense. But Wall Street has voiced its confidence in Pownall by pushing up Martin Marietta's stock from 33⅛s, its price at the beginning of the battle...
Pownall's response was amazing also. Within 48 hours of the takeover bid, Martin Marietta's officers and board had concluded that Bendix would not be able to manage M-M's complex aerospace business. "Aerospace people think of themselves differently," said Pownall. "There is a special camaraderie. It is more than making money. We were glued together. We rode in the same cars, flew in the same airplanes. The fact is this was a truly great team effort, not just something that...
...American business community also gave some clear signals that it was rallying behind Pownall. When Martin Marietta was unable to get mid-Manhattan hotel rooms for the night before an important strategy session, Barron Hilton turned over his own Waldorf Towers suite to Pownall's five-man team...