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Lex: Willamette
Published: January 13 2002 20:21 | Last Updated: January 13 2002 20:23 The war of the woodmen drags on. But it seems increasingly obvious that Willamette sees its own shareholders as enemies, as well as rival forest product group Weyerhaeuser. Or at least the 64 per cent of them who have agreed to tender their shares to Weyerhaeuser for $55 a share. That is an impressive mandate, particularly since up to 30 per cent of Willamette's shares are held by insiders. That Willamette should continue to ignore its shareholders' wishes is no surprise. But its talks with Georgia Pacific about buying GP's building products unit or forming a joint venture look very much like a threat to scorch the trees. GP's asbestos exposure aside, it is difficult to see how acquiring GP's commodity assets or forming an alliance would fit with past strategy pronouncements. Almost two thirds of Willamette's shareholders clearly agree. Willamette's poison pill, and staggered board, protects its managers from its owners for now. But Weyerhaeuser is not going away. In June it should get three more of its nominees on to the board, providing the majority needed to dismantle the takeover defences. Hence Willamette's threat to strike a match. The lawsuit filed by Franklin Mutual Advisers and WyserPratte Management to stop the GP negotiations is unlikely to succeed. Yet at least it demonstrates the interests of "real" investors and arbitrageurs are aligned. The tender vote should already have made that clear. But it is encouraging that an institutional shareholder is fighting the corporate governance battle rather than voting with its feet. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited |