Confirmation of Management Decision Against
Support of Restitution Fund Meeting
(February 25, 2005)
Copied below is a string of email correspondence confirming a
management decision not to cooperate with a
Forum program requested by the
government-appointed Administrator to present him with shareholder views
regarding the distribution of CA's $225 million Restitution Fund, as recorded in the following
sequence:
As indicated in the correspondence, CA management decided not
to provide voluntary financial support of the open meeting requested by the
Administrator and also
declined to identify the Committee members who are responsible for the employee
retirement plan's interests in the Restitution Fund. Management did not
respond in any way to the request for cooperation in notifying the company's
public shareholders of the opportunity to address their interests in the
Restitution Fund.
Management did not respond to the February 25 reply email's request for advice of any
information requiring correction. However, on
March 17, 2005, it was reported that the
executive with primary responsibility for management's position was no longer
with the company.
The Forum developed
alternative plans to respond to the Administrator's request for addressing
investor interests.
----- Original Message -----
To:
Kenneth V. Handal
Cc:
John A. Swainson
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 4:08 PM
Subject: Your letter in the mail
Mr. Handal -
Thank you for sending the copy of your
letter, which I had not yet received.
Responding to your advice that my letter to Mr. Swainson "contains a
number of incorrect statements," I will appreciate specific information
that will allow me to correct any errors and avoid repeating them.
Addressing your letter's broader message,
as well as your decision to mail me a letter rather than call, it does not
encourage expectations of any genuine cooperation from the current CA
management. Please let me know if I've misinterpreted your intent.
GL
Gary Lutin
Lutin & Company
575 Madison Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, New York 10022
Tel: 212-605-0335
Fax: 212-605-0325
Email:
gl@shareholderforum.com
----- Original Message -----
To:
Gary Lutin
Cc:
Swainson, John
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 2:21 PM
Subject: RE: Letter concerning issues to be addressed this week
Gary:
I
sent you the attached letter on February 23. I thought you would have
received it by now.
Regards.
Kenneth V.
Handal
Executive
Vice President and General Counsel
Computer
Associates International
Tel:
631-342-2930
Fax:
631-342-6828
kenneth.handal@ca.com
[from
attached file]
February 23, 2005
Mr. Gary Lutin
Lutin & Company
575 Madison Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, New York 10022
Dear Mr. Lutin:
I am writing in response to your February 17, 2005 letter to Mr.
Swainson. We note that your letter contains a number of incorrect
statements. However, rather than comment on those or on a variety
of related matters, we wish to advise you as follows:
1.
We previously informed you that CA, after careful
consideration and discussions with our legal and governance
advisors, decided to forego providing financial support for the
Forum’s activities with regard to the administration and
distribution of CA’s Restitution Fund. We stand by that decision,
and we note that it applies to both direct and indirect financial
support. Since you posted our decision on your website, we have
received additional unsolicited communications from responsible
parties in the investor and governance communities indicating
agreement with our position.
2.
We are confident that the fiduciaries of the Computer
Associates Savings Harvest Plan are cognizant of their obligation to
act in the best interests of the Plan’s participants and that they
will act in accordance with that obligation.
In closing, Mr. Lutin, I want to reiterate that CA fully supports
the fair and equitable distribution of the Restitution Fund. We
have utmost confidence that Kenneth Feinberg will accomplish that
objective. As you are no doubt aware, Mr. Feinberg was appointed by
the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New
York and is pre-eminent in the field.
Very truly yours,
Kenneth V. Handal
Executive Vice President and
General Counsel
cc: John Swainson
Daniel Kaferle
Robert B. Lamm, Esq.
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From:
Gary Lutin [mailto:gl@shareholderforum.com]
Sent: Friday, February 25,
2005 1:44 PM
To: Handal, Kenneth V
Cc: Swainson, John
Subject: Letter concerning
issues to be addressed this week
Copied below is
the text of a letter sent to you by fax a few minutes ago, followed by
the text of the accompanying February 17, 2005 letter to Mr. Swainson.
I hope we'll have
an opportunity to discuss the issues addressed in the letter this
afternoon or Monday morning. If I'm unavailable when you call, please
leave a message suggesting when and how I can get back to you.
Gary Lutin
Lutin & Company
575 Madison Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, New York 10022
Tel: 212-605-0335
Fax: 212-605-0325
Email:
gl@shareholderforum.com
[letterhead]
LUTIN & COMPANY
575 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Telephone (212) 605-0335
Facsimile (212) 605-0325
February 25, 2005
By telecopier: 631/342-3300
Mr. Kenneth V. Handal
Computer Associates International,
Inc.
One Computer Associates Plaza
Islandia, New York 11749
Dear Mr. Handal:
It was my
understanding that you would be communicating with me this week to
discuss some issues summarized in my February 17, 2005 letter to Mr.
Swainson, a copy of which accompanies this letter. I had therefore
offered to “juggle” plans for the March 9 Forum meeting with the
Restitution Fund’s Administrator until hearing from you.
Now, not having heard
from you and with no time left if we are to accommodate the
Administrator’s court-ordered schedule, I suggest resolving the three
“immediate attention” requests for CA management cooperation listed in
last week’s letter to Mr. Swainson as follows:
1.
Distribution of meeting information: It is
too late now for any effective distribution to all CA shareholders
informing them of the opportunity to present questions or views
concerning their interests in the Restitution Fund at the March 9
meeting.
2.
Committee members responsible for employee
retirement “CASH” Plan: Please either provide me with the names of
your retirement plan’s Committee members or tell me why you can’t save
me the trouble of getting the information from other sources. It is
important for them to be able to address your employees’ $3 million
interest in the Restitution Fund.
3.
Support of shareholders’ meeting costs:
Each of the Forum participants who told me they agreed with Mr. Lamm’s
stated position – that corporate funding might create questions about
the activity’s independent integrity – had the same response to my
question about who, if not the company, should properly pay for it: the
Administrator. Since the Administrator would of course be reimbursed by
CA, I see no reason to create extra layers of costs and administrative
burdens for a purely cosmetic purpose. Very real and visible integrity
can be established much more efficiently by simply providing for CA’s
payment of an amount that will cover the meeting’s budget, without any
conditions that would allow CA management to influence decisions about
the meeting. This is what companies routinely do in supporting all
kinds of independent activities ranging from investigations to academic
programs, and as a practical matter we do not have time for more
creative solutions. I will make inquiries to find out how much
recognized event managers would budget for the type of meeting planned
and report the amount on Monday. If you pay that amount, I will assume
responsibility for any costs over the budget, and anything not spent on
the meeting will be contributed to the not-for-profit Forum “Institute”
which is being organized.
Please call me at your
earliest opportunity. I will of course welcome your suggestions of
alternatives to resolve these issues, but assume you appreciate the
urgency of our respective responsibilities to support CA shareholders’
interests in the Restitution Fund.
Sincerely yours,
Gary Lutin
cc: Mr. John A. Swainson
[letterhead]
LUTIN & COMPANY
575 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Telephone (212) 605-0335
Facsimile (212) 605-0325
February 17, 2005
By telecopier: 631/342-3300
Mr. John A. Swainson
Computer Associates International,
Inc.
One Computer Associates Plaza
Islandia, New York 11749
Dear Mr. Swainson:
I am glad that you
have now assumed full CEO responsibilities, and look forward to seeing
the results of your leadership. Specifically, I hope you will support
efforts to address the interests of CA’s shareholders, including the
development of new marketplace practices to meet the investor
responsibility challenges which have been a subject of recent media
attention.
As you may know, I met
last week with Dan Kafferle and Bob Lamm, at their request after several
weeks of informal communications, to learn their response to my December
8, 2004 letter requesting CA management cooperation with “Forum”
programs being conducted for your shareholders.
Very little was resolved, however, since they informed me at the meeting
that they lacked the authority to deal with my letter’s requests. But
they assured me that CA management wants to continue a “dialogue” about
cooperation, and based on that encouragement I ask you to direct me to
management representatives who can address those matters.
Requests for
cooperation requiring the most immediate attention are those relating to
shareholder interests in the allocations of CA’s $225 million
Restitution Fund. We are trying to arrange an open meeting on March 9,
2005 for the Fund’s court-appointed Administrator to hear shareholder
views that he wants to consider in his preparation of a distribution
plan.
For us to proceed with a fair and effective program, we would have to
address the following issues by tomorrow:
1.
Distribution of meeting information: CA
management cooperation is needed to distribute information about the
meeting to all shareholders how may be interested, not just the narrow
range of professionals and active investors who are familiar with Forum
programs. I received telephone inquiries this week, for example, from
people like a retired fireman with a substantial portion of his savings
invested in CA stock who went to some trouble to find me after reading
an article that mentioned a meeting. Whatever CA does to distribute its
routine shareholder reports might provide a practical way to inform
everyone like this about the opportunity to address their interests in
the Restitution Fund.
2.
Committee members responsible for employee
retirement “CASH” Plan: We need to know who will be addressing the
interests of the CA employee’s retirement fund (the Computer Associates
Savings Harvest Plan, referred to as the “CASH” Plan), which is among
the largest owners of CA stock with a reported holding of 8,107,373
shares, or 1.38% of the total outstanding. That gives the CASH Plan a
base $3,114,798 share of the Restitution Fund, so that even a 5% shift
in the allocation would result in a six-figure difference to employees.
Mr. Lamm has been representing the interests of the CASH Plan, but has
indicated that his primary responsibilities as a CA management executive
might confuse his representation of the Plan in relation to the
Restitution Fund. I have requested contact information for the members
of the Plan’s governing Committee, but have not yet received it.
3.
Support of shareholders’ meeting costs:
Since Mr. Lamm had reported deciding against financial support of the
Restitution Fund meeting based on concern that the activities should be
"totally independent of CA, both in fact and in perception,"
I have sought the views of shareholders and others on alternative
sources of support. Seeking payment for participation would be viewed
by many as unfair, like a poll tax, and seeking sponsorship from a few
investor or professional sources would raise questions about motives and
influence. This suggests returning to the conventional solution of
direct or indirect corporate payment – spreading the costs
proportionately to all shareholders – and focusing on ways to eliminate
any real or apparent influence of the shareholder process. It seems
reasonable to assume that if a company can contribute $100,000 to
support an inauguration program without raising concerns about improper
influence of the government, we should be able to define conditions that
will eliminate any concerns about improper influence of the
shareholders.
Please let me know if
you have any questions about these matters, or if you have any
suggestions for the Forum’s support of your efforts to respond to
shareholder interests.
Concluding with a
personal comment, I have been very favorably impressed by the reports of
your leadership initiatives. If you show CA’s shareholders the same
respect you’ve shown the company’s other marketplace relationships, you
will certainly win their confidence in CA’s success.
Sincerely yours,
Gary Lutin
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