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Reminder to Management of Need to Report
Change in Control of Stock
(January 13, 2005)
Copied below is the text of a January 13, 2005 letter to the
corporate secretary of Farmer Bros., urging his attention to the reporting of
information needed by investors regarding the control of 6,269,580 shares (39%
of the outstanding shares) of company voting stock held in family trusts for
which the recently deceased Chairman
had served as sole trustee, as reported in a
November 19, 2004 proxy statement.
The letter refers to a
January 13, 2005 news
report that quoted a management spokesman as follows:
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When asked about the
family trusts' new trustee, Lucas said, "That's a private matter." |
As indicated at the bottom of the letter, a copy was sent to
the SEC Enforcement official responsible for reviewing Farmer Bros. matters
raised in a
January 8, 2004 request for investigation and
a February 13, 2004 request to require information
disclosures.
The addressee of the letter
responded the next day, advising that
efforts had been initiated to obtain and report the information. However,
the information was not reported as expected, and the Forum
repeated the request on March 11, 2005.
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[letterhead]
LUTIN & COMPANY
575 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10022
Telephone (212) 605-0335
Facsimile (212) 605-0325
January 13, 2005
By telecopier: 310/320-2436
John M. Anglin, Esquire
Secretary
Farmer Bros. Co.
20333 South Normandie Avenue
Torrance, California 90502
Dear Mr. Anglin:
I offer my condolences to you and others at Farmer Bros. for the
loss of your colleague.
Unfortunately, I must ask you to address the reporting of
information relating to your loss. This has become more urgent as a result
of a newspaper report today which quoted a company spokesman saying that the
identity of the trustee for family trusts which had been controlled by the
late Roy E. Farmer is “a private matter.”
Investors should know who owns a third of their company’s voting
stock. Some delay in reporting a change is understandable under the
circumstances, but I encourage you now to promptly provide the information
that is needed by shareholders and required by securities regulations.
Sincerely yours,
Gary Lutin
cc: Andrew Petillon, Esquire
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