Bankruptcy Bonus: a Cool Million Peace Plan OK'd by Arab Leaders
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
\ 20 - MANCHESTER HERALD, Tues., Sept. 7, 1982 I Classified Manchester man Redgan and Habib Wallace faces offers alternative me&t on Mideast another vote Bankruptcy bonus: a cool million ... page 4 ... page 8 ... page 9 prime rate (the bank’s lending rate to its best touting the bankrupt company’s stock all over the place Increasingly, corporate directors are coming under customers). Assuming Saypol could even borrow at the as a “ terrific buy.” Manchester, Conn. fire for failing to protect the rights of the stockholder. prime rate, his sa^ngs in interest costs add up to $196,- Fair tonight One of the more flagrant abuses in this context, as a t h e (INL'Y DIRECTO R could reach was Eugene Bernard!, chairman of Lionel’s stock option committee. couple of irate shareholders see it, is the unanimous ap Dan Dorfman Interestingly, nearly half of Saypol’s debt— $310,000— sunny Thursday Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1982 He told me he would have opposed the Saypol settle proval by a 10-man board of directors of what amounts reflects money he received against an expected ’81 ment, but figured “ it was the only way to get rid of Single copy 25c to a $1 million parting settlemept to a chief executive bonus, based on ’81 profits. Significantly, Saypol took — See page 2 Syndicated^ him.” Bemardi went on to say he was “damned who led his troops into bankruptcy (Chapter X I). It’s $50,000 of that $310,000 in January of ’82 — roughly six how to succeed as a misfit, giv^n a board of puppets. Columnist aggravated” when he recently learned about ^ y ^ l HanrliPHtPr Mpralb weeks before Lionel declared bankruptcy and taking the $50,000 in January against a potential '81 The beneficiary of the $1 million payoff — which is. presumably when he should have known that company bonus. “ I hope we can do something about it,” he says. subject to court approval — is Ronald Saypol, who until results (especially in the toy business) were well below Saypol wouldn’t take calls from me. But let’s hope his recently was president of Lionel Corp., a toy retailer expectations. and electronic fcomponents maker that' went into successor — for the sake of the Lionel stockholders — is INCLUDED IN TH E board’s proposal to the court— bankruptcy last Feb. 19, less flamboyant than Saypol and Schilling in h|s cor Between now and August 1983, according to the which will be decided upon Sept. 28 — is a nearly $320,000 This column, by the way, is a follow-up to one I did in porate spending. Sources tell me Lionel paid the board’s proposal, Saypol is to receive $21,250 a month or parting settlement to Saypol’s second in command — early May. At that time, I detailed the good life the 52- following: (1) nearly $10,500 for 10 club memberships $255,000. He gets another $255,000 through the payment former chief operating officer Richard Schilling. year-old Saypol was enjoying both before and after for Saypol in ’81, including four hunting clubs and at Peace plan OK'd of $10,625 a month between August 1983 and August 1985. An obvious question; Why the board’s supers settle Lionel’s bankruptcy — all, of course, at company least one disco club; (2) $2,087 for limousines for a In addition, he stays on as honorary chairman which en ment — over $1.3^illipn — to the two men whose expense. Aside from his $2X5,000 annual salary, I talked three-day trip to Paris by Saypol and Schilling (nearly titles him to pension, medical and life insurance blunders led the m npany into bankruptcy? ' about the many thousands of dollar? he spent at lunch $700 a d ay); (3) a one-way special flight for four people, benefits-but there’s no obligation on his part to do any My first call to a Lionel director was to Don Anselmi, (often running more than $300 per lunch). inciuoing Saypol, from Phoenix, the site of a Lionel an kind of work. (It should only happen to all of us.) chairman of Lionel’s compensation committee at his And 1 also pointed out — thanks to the benevolence of nual meeting, to New York; the cost was $14,840, or over On top of all of this, Saypol is to receive another $3(X),- home in Wyoming. He answered the phone, identified his wonderfully understanding board — how Saypol $3,S00 a person, and (4) ’81 tennis charges (excluding 000 or $75,000 a year for four years from Dale Elec himself after I told him who I was, he said “ hello, hellol’ by Arab leaders managed to walk off with what later proved to be an un dues) of $10,605 for Saypol and Schilling; that’s for 175 tronics, an 82 percent publicly owned subsidiary of several times and hung up. A return call within about 15 warranted bonus of $500,000. This came about when the days, and about $7,000 of the costs involved hiring club Lionel. In this case, though, the board, you’ll be pleased -seconds was answered by his wife who explained that board OK’d an early bonus payment against what was pros to make up a foursome. to hear, is requiring some work for the money — but . Anselmi was not there; he never did call back. itiative announced last week- by supposed to be a sizable ’81 profit; actually, the com Against this background. Judge Edward Ryan of the FEZ, Morocco (UPI) — Arab nothing strenuous; Saypol will be a consultant. Another director, a nervous and seemingly worried President Reagan. pany wound up with a $5.5 million loss. U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Court will have to decide on leaders have agreed on a Mideast ' Carrying Saypol’s proposed settlement slightly over Joseph Gimma, head of Lionel’s audit committee, and a ■ikach of the plans called in some that $1.3 million payout to Saypol and Schilling.. peace plan that incorporates Presi the $1' million mark are the interest savings qnjpm e senior vice president and broker at Shearson American BULLETIN degree for the recognition of Israel SAYI’ O L’ S c o o l ) life at corporate expense was dent Reagan’s proposals on the $665,000 he owes the company. The debt, which is to be Express, immediately hung up the phone when I — something the Arab League has, much better than I had imagined. But first to that $1 “ Too bad,” as one angry Lionel shareholder put it, Palestinian problem, an Arab news paid off in full by July of ’88, carries a proposed interest broached the subject of Lionel. Reports have it that Israel sai^ytoday its until now, failed to agree upon. million and the board’s response (and lack of it) to its “ that he’s not a hanging judge.” agency said today . lofty settlement. rate of just 8 percent — a full 5’A percent below the Gimma, said to be a close friend of Savpol’s, had been warplanes destroyed a Egypt was ousted from the Arab The official United Arab Emirates League for signing the Camp David News Agency in Abu Dhabi, quoting ' Syrian SAM-9 anti-aircraft battery in eastern Lebanon peace agreement with Israel, and unidentified sources at the Arab divisions among hard-liners and summit, also said the leaders near the confrontation line In Brifif. m od erates in the Arab camp agreed to terminate the mandate of dividing Syrian and Israeli dimmed the chances of an Arab the Syrian pttece-lfeeping force in forces. breakthrough. Labor watching Lebanon. “ Tension between Syria and There was no immediate com Garaventa picked Israel and the PLO ’s repent ouster ment on the Emirates report by from Beirut make it difficult for the summit officials. called off when Syria snubbed a David E, Garaventa of 19 Meadow Lane has been hard-liners to adopt any framework The meeting, which began Mon Saudi Arabian peace plan that tacit named vice president, finance, by the Glastonbury which makes room for any recogni day, has been held under top-secret ly retognized the state of Israel. advertising agency of Adams, Richard & Mason, EB union vote This time.the summit conferees tion of Israel without firm condi|.ions with little information Inc. ^ guarantees for something in made' public. met in a series of private meetings Garaventa has counseled AR&M in financial return,” one well-placed. A'rab The Mideast peace plan was ap and formal sessions — all behind matters since its start. NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (UPI) - Electric Boat, a division of General diplomatie source said. , proved by leaders of 15 Arab coun closed doors in two of the palaces of Garaventa, a Certified Public Accountant, has In a vote watched closely by organized Dynarnics, builds the giant hulls for the But Arab sources agreed the tries and top-level representatives • Morocco’s King Hassan II — and owned and operated his own public accounting firm labor, 3,850 workers at Electric Boat’s nation’s 688-class submarines. It is the United States still was the key of five other Arab nations at a ses focused on three different peace in Manchester for 10 years. A cum laude graduate submarine hull plant will decide'^ largest private employer in Rhode power able to play a decisive role in sion Tuesday night, the usually well- plans. of the University of Hartford, he is a member of Wednesday and Thursday whether they ) Island. resolving the Arab-Israeli crisis' informed agency said.