Sons of Fortune (52 page)

“And
who will I be up against?” asked Nat. “The chairman of Fairchild’s?”

“No,
I don’t think so,” said Logan, “Murray
Goldblatz
is an
astute banker, but they won’t risk putting him on television.”

“Why
not?” asked Tom. “He’s been the chairman of Fairchild’s for over twenty years,
and he’s one of the most respected financiers in the business.”

“I
agree, chairman,” said Logan. “But don’t forget that he had a heart attack a
couple of years back, and worse, he stutters. It may not worry you because
you’ve become used to it over the years, but the chances are that if he goes on
television, the public will only see him once.

He
may be the most respected banker in the state, but stuttering spells dithering.
Unfair, but you can be sure that they’ll have thought that through.”

“So
I guess it will be Wesley Jackson, my opposite number?”
mused
Nat. “He’s about the most articulate banker I’ve come up against.

I
even offered him a place on our board.”

“You
may well have,” said Logan. “But he’s black.”

“This
is 1988,” said Nat angrily.

“I’m
aware of that,” said Logan, “but well over ninety percent of your shareholders
are white, and they will have taken that into consideration as well.”

“So
who do you think they’ll put up?” asked Nat.

“I
don’t have any doubt that you’ll be up against Ralph Elliot.”

“So
the Republicans have ended up endorsing Barbara Hunter after all,” said
Fletcher.

“Only
because no one else wanted to run against you,” Jimmy replied. “Once they
realized you were nine points ahead in the polls.”

“I
hear they begged Ralph Elliot to throw his hat in the ring, but he said he
couldn’t consider it while he was in the middle of a takeover bid for Russell’s
Bank.”

“A
good excuse,” said Jimmy, “but there was no way that man would have allowed his
name to go forward unless he knew he had a reasonable chance of beating you.

Did
you see him on television last night?”

“Yes,”
said Fletcher with a sigh, “and if I hadn’t known better, I might have fallen
for that “be assured of your future by joining the largest, safest and most
respected bank in the state.”

He’s
lost none of his old charisma. I only hope your father didn’t fall for it.”

“No,
Harry’s already pledged his one percent to Tom Russell, and is telling everyone
else to do the same thing, though he was shocked when I told him how much his
shares were worth.”

Fletcher
laughed. “I see the financial journalists are speculating that both sides now
have around forty percent, with only another week to go before the offer
closes.”

“Yes,
it’s going to be close. I only hope Tom Russell realizes just how dirty it will
become now that Ralph Elliot is involved,” said Fletcher.

“I
couldn’t have made it clearer,” said Jimmy quietly.

“When
was this sent out?” Nat asked as the rest of the board studied the latest
missive circulated to all shareholders by Fairchild’s.

“It’s
dated yesterday,” said Logan, “which means we have three days left to respond, but
by then I fear the damage will have been done.”

“Even
I wouldn’t have believed Elliot was capable of sinking this low,” said Tom as
he studied the letter signed by Murray
Goldblatz
:

Things
you didn’t know about Nathaniel Cartwright, the Chief Executive of Russell’s
Bank -Mr. Cartwright was neither born nor raised in Hartford;
comhe
was rejected by Yale after cheating in the entrance
exam;
comhe
left the University of Connecticut
without a degree, after losing the election for student president;
comhe
was sacked from I P Morgan after losing the bank
$500,000;

JEFFREY
ARCHER
comhe’s
married to a Korean girl whose family
fought against the Americans during the war;
comthe
only job he could find after being sacked by Morgan’s was with an old school
friend, who just happened to be chairman of Russell’s Bank. Pledge your shares
to Fairchild’s: be sure your future is secure.

“This
is the response that I propose we send out by express mail today,” said Logan,
“allowing Fairchild’s no time to respond to it. He slid a copy across to each
board member.

Things
you ought to know about Nat Cartwright, the Chief Executive of Russell’s Bank
-Nat was born and raised in Connecticut;
comhe
won
the Medal of Honor in Vietnam;
comhe
completed his
undergraduate degree at Harvard (summa cum laude), before going on to Harvard
business school;
comhe
resigned from Morgan’s, having
made a profit for the bank of over a million dollars;
comduring
his nine years at Russell’s as Chief Executive, he has quadrupled the bank’s
profits;
comhis
wife is Professor of Statistics at
UC-ONN, and her father was a master sergeant in the American Marines. Stay with
Russell’s: the bank that cares about you and takes care of your money.

“Can
I release it immediately?” asked Logan.

“No,”
said Nat, tearing it up. He didn’t speak for some fame
It
takes a lot to get me angry, but I am about to kill off Ralph Elliot once and
forever, so listen carefully.”

Twenty
minutes later, Tom ventured the first comment,
That
would be taking one hell of a risk.”

“Why?”
asked Nat, “if the strategy fails, we 11 all end up multimillionaires, but if
it succeeds, we’ll take control of the biggest bank in the state.”

“Dad’s
livid with you,” said Jimmy.

“But
why?” asked Fletcher, “
when
I won.”

“That’s
the problem, you won by over twelve thousand votes, which was tactless of you,”
said Jimmy as he watched Harry Junior running down the wing, the ball at his
feet. “Don’t forget that he only managed eleven thousand once in twenty-eight
years, and that was when Barry Goldwater was running for president.”

“Thanks
for the warning,” said Fletcher. “I guess I’d better avoid the next couple of
Sunday lunches.”

“You’d
better
not,
it’s your turn to be told how he made a
million overnight.”

“Yes,
Annie warned me that he’d sold his shares in Russell’s Bank. I thought he’d
made a pledge not to release them to Fairchild’s at any cost?”

“He
did, and he would have kept to it, but the day before the offer was due to
close, and the shares had peaked at $7.10, he had a call from Tom Russell,
advising him to sell. He even suggested that he get in touch with Ralph Elliot
direct so the deal would go through quickly.”

“They’re
up to something,” said Fletcher. “There’s no way Tom Russell would have told
your father to deal with Ralph Elliot unless there’s another chapter still to
be written in this particular saga.”

Jimmy
said nothing. “So can we therefore assume that Fairchild’s has secured over
fifty percent?”

“I
asked Logan the same question, but he explained that because of client
confidentiality, he couldn’t say anything until Monday, when the official
figures would be released by the SEC.”

“Ouch,”
said Jimmy, “did you see what that Tail kid just did to Harry Junior? He’s
lucky Joanna’s not
here,
otherwise she would have run
onto the field and whacked him.”

“Those
in favor?” asked the chairman.

Every
hand around the table rose, though Julia seemed to hesitate for a moment. “Then
it’s unanimous,” declared Tom and, turning to Nat, added, “
perhaps
you should take us through what’s likely to happen next.”

“Certainly,
chairman,” said Nat. “At ten o’clock this morning, the SEC will announce that
Fairchild’s has failed to secure control of Russell’s Bank.”

“What
percentage do we think they’ll end up with?” asked Julia.

“They
had 47.89 percent at midnight on Saturday, and may have picked up a few more
shares on Sunday, but I doubt it.”

“And the price?”

“At
close of business on Friday they were $7.32,” said Logan, “but after this
morning’s announcement, all pledges are automatically released and Fairchild’s
cannot make another bid for at least twenty-eight days.”

“That’s
when I plan to put a million of Russell’s shares on the market,” said Nat.

“Why
would you do that?” asked Julia, “when our shares would be certain to fall
sharply.”

“So
will Fairchild’s because they own nearly fifty percent of us,”
said
Nat, “and they can do nothing about it for twenty-eight
days.”

“Nothing?”
repeated Julia.

“Nothing,”
confirmed Logan.

“And
if we then use the extra cash to buy Fairchild’s shares as they begin
dropping...”

“You
would have to inform the SEC the moment you reached six percent,” said Logan,
“and at the same time let them know that it’s your intention to make a full
takeover bid for Fairchild’s.”

“Good,”
said Nat, as he pulled the phone toward him and dialed ten digits. No one spoke
as the chief executive waited for the phone to be answered.

“Hi,
Joe, it’s Nat, we’re going ahead as planned. At one minute past ten, I want you
to place a million of the bank’s shares on the market.”

“You
realize they’ll drop like a stone,” said Joe, “because you’re about to turn
everyone into a seller.”

“Let’s
hope you’re right, Joe, because that’s when I want you to start mopping up
Fairchild’s shares, but not until you think they’ve bottomed out.

And
don’t stop until you’ve got hold of five point nine percent.”

“Understood,”
said Joe.

“And,
Joe, just be sure you keep an open line night and day, because you’re not going
to get much sleep during the next four weeks,” added Nat before replacing the
receiver.

“Are
you sure we’re not breaking the law?” asked Julia.

“Certain,”
said Logan, “but if we pull it off, my bet is that Congress will have to
rewrite the legislation on takeovers in the very near future.”

“And
do you consider what we’re doing is ethical?” asked Julia.

“No,”
said Nat, “and it wouldn’t have even crossed my mind to behave this way if we
hadn’t been dealing with Ralph Elliot.” He paused.

“I
did warn you that I was going to kill him. I just didn’t tell you how.”

“Y’VE
got the chairman of Fan-child’s on line one, Joe Stein on line two, and your
wife on line three.”

“I’ll
take the chairman of Fairchild’s.

Ask
Joe Stein to hold and tell Su Ling I’ll call back.”

“Your
wife said it was urgent.”

“I’ll
call her back in a few minutes.”

“I’m
putting Mr.
Goldblatz
through.”

Nat
would have liked a few moments to compose himself before he spoke to the
chairman of Fairchild’s; perhaps he should have told his secretary that he
would call him back. For a start, how should he address
him:

Mr.
Goldblatz
, Mr. Chairman or sir?

After
all, he had been chairman of Fairchild’s when Nat was still at Harvard Business
School doing case studies on banking.

“Good
morning, Mr. Cartwright.”

“Good
morning, Mr.
Goldblatz
, how can I help you?”

“I
wondered if perhaps we could meet.” Nat hesitated because he wasn’t quite sure
what to say.

“And
I think it would be wise if it were just the two us,” he added.
“
Jus.jus.just
the two of us.”

“Yes,
I’m sure that would be all right,” said Nat, “but it will have to be somewhere
no one would recognize us.”

“Might
I suggest St. Joseph’s Cathedral?” said Mr.
Goldblatz
,
“I don’t think anyone will recognize me there.”

Nat
laughed. “When did you have in mind?” he asked.

“I
would have thought sooner rather than later.”

“I
agree,” said Nat.

“Shall
we say three o’clock this afternoon? I can’t imagine there will be that many
people in church on a Monday afternoon.”

“St.
Joseph’s, three o’clock, I’ll see you there, Mr.
Goldblatz
.”
No sooner had Nat put the phone down than it rang again.

“Joe
Stein,” said Linda.

“Joe,
what’s the latest?”

“I’ve
just picked up another hundred thousand of Fairchild’s stock, which takes you
up to twenty-nine percent. They’re currently around $2.90, which is less than
half their high point.

But
you do have a problem,” said Joe.

“And
what’s that?”

“If
you don’t get hold of fifty percent by next Friday, you’ll be facing exactly
the same problem Fairchild’s had a fortnight ago, so I hope you know what your
next move is.”