Word: would
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...supervisors and nonunion personnel to put the final touches on dozens of jets that stand virtually completed at its assembly plants in Renton and Everett, Wash. The company pledges to observe strict safety standards. But the Federal Aviation Administration, taking no chances, announced last week that it would "significantly expand" its inspections of the company's assembly lines to ensure compliance with FAA rules...
Nearly everyone saw an attacker on the horizon. The question was who it would be. For weeks the rumors swirled that someone might launch a takeover raid on American Airlines, the largest and most respected U.S. carrier. In August the board of American's parent company, AMR, bolstered its so-called poison-pill defenses by allowing management greater flexibility to issue new stock in order to make a takeover more expensive. The Fort Worth company also signed up the high-powered Wall Street firms Goldman Sachs and Salomon Brothers to develop a full-defense strategy. AMR even asked...
American's best defense seems likely to be an attack on the amount of debt needed to finance a takeover attempt. Trump, whose personal fortune is estimated at between $1 billion and $3 billion, has offered to put $1 billion of his own money into the deal. The rest would come from bank loans. Trump may get the money, but politicians and air-safety experts have alleged that highly leveraged carriers might be tempted to skimp on safety measures to maintain profits. AMR released a statement last week saying it "continues to believe that excess levels of debt...
American may also find an ally in Washington. Shaken by the upheavals at Northwest and United, which involved extensive foreign financing, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation approved a bill last week that would prevent any buyer from acquiring more than 25% of an airline without the explicit approval of the Commerce Secretary. When Senator Lloyd Bentsen learned of the attempt to buy American, the Texas Democrat prevailed on the Commerce committee to make the bill retroactive so that it would apply to the Trump bid. "The Congress must send a strong message that highly leveraged buyouts...
...side, Trump has several factors in his favor. For one, an estimated 80% of AMR is owned by institutional investors, who generally show less loyalty to management than do individual shareholders. For another, AMR has not paid dividends to its shareholders since 1980, contending that the money would be better spent to build the company. In addition, AMR's board of directors can be removed by a simple majority vote of shareholders. Because Trump gave the company only until Oct. 20 to respond to his offer, he "has got them on a very short leash," says Owen Dowd, a senior...