“Of course, Mr. Barnes. I’m at your disposal.”
“Our usual meeting place at St. Clair is not available to us at this moment. I wonder if we might meet at your offices?”
“Certainly.” Charley gave him the address and explained the entry requirements for the building. “When would you like to meet?”
“Would six o’clock this evening be convenient for you?”
“Yes, sir, it would.”
“Then we will look forward to seeing you at that time, in your offices.” The two men hung up.
Charley reestablished his conference call.
“What’s up, Charley?” Stone asked.
“Gentlemen, the board of directors of St. Clair Enterprises is going to be meeting at six o’clock — in my office.”
Nobody said anything for a moment. Finally Stone spoke up. “Do you have any idea why?”
“Nothing that would make any sense,” Charley said. “I was struck, though, at how solicitous Mr. Barnes sounded on the phone. His more usual style might be thought of as imperious.”
“Charley,” Mike said, “it sounds like these gentlemen want something from you. What might that be?”
“Perhaps investment advice?” Charley hazarded. “Christian St. Clair introduced me to them at the time he hired me, and he spoke to them of his hopes for me at St. Clair.”
“Sounds like you impressed them,” Mike said.
“Well,” Stone said, “let’s talk about what Charley might want from the board.”
“How about their company?” Charley said. “I’d like for Triangle to own that.”
“I doubt if that’s up for grabs, but let’s take a look at their assets. Do you have a list?”
“I do.”
“Then why don’t you run over that list before your meeting and see what plums you’d like to pick from their tree, and what each of them is worth to us.”
“I can think, right off the bat, of two of their assets I’d like to own.”
“And what are those?” Mike asked.
“Their building,” Charley said, “and their yacht.”
“I’ve been aboard the yacht,” Stone said, “and it is gorgeous — made me salivate just to be on her. And she’s brand-new, built in a small yard in Maine that Christian bought just to build the vessel. He told me the yard is already turning a profit, working on antique and traditional yachts.”
“And what about the building?” Mike asked.
Charley spoke up. “It’s a very large town house, maybe seventy-five feet wide, in the East Sixties. Beautifully renovated and decorated. It has an apartment upstairs, which was Christian’s, another, smaller one for his secretary, maybe a dozen bedrooms, most of which have been converted to offices, and a garage on the lower level that will hold a dozen cars. It has a living room ideal for large cocktail parties, a dining room that will seat at least twenty, a beautifully designed garden out back, and a gorgeous library, which Christian used as his office.”
“Both of those assets sound very desirable,” Mike said.
“Listen, I’d like for both of you guys to be in the building while I’m talking to the board. I might need you on short notice.”
“I’ll come over,” Stone said, “and have a drink with Mike while you have your meeting.”
“We’ll be available,” Mike said.
“Be prepared to improvise,” Charley replied, and ended the call.
34
The three-man board of directors of St. Clair Enterprises arrived, as one man, precisely at six PM. Charley figured they had all come in the same limo. Hands were shaken and acquaintances renewed. Charley seated them all in his collection of leather furniture.
“Mr. Fox,” Elihu Barnes said, “I will come directly to the point, if I may.”
“Certainly you may, sir,” Charley replied, with appropriate deference.
“After a long and substantive discussion,” Barnes said, “we would like to offer you the position of chief executive officer of St. Clair Enterprises.” He held up a hand to deter protestations. “In our years of serving Christian St. Clair, we found him to be an excellent judge of both competence and character, and we were all impressed when he introduced us to you.”
Charley allowed himself to breathe again. “Thank you, sir.”
“Before Christian met his untimely death, he had not expressed to us any sort of idea of succession, and then Erik Macher came to us with a will appointing him CEO with extraordinary powers over the board. We have since learned that the will was fraudulent, concocted with the collusion of Thomas Berenson, our former corporate counsel.”
Charley had noticed that Berenson was not present.
Barnes took a sheet of paper from his briefcase and handed it to Charley. “This is our proposal for authority, compensation, and perquisites. Please take as long as you like to peruse it.”
It took Charley about six seconds to take it in, but he pretended to take longer. “Gentlemen,” he said, “this is generous. As you may know, I have entered into a partnership with Mr. Michael Freeman of Strategic Services and Mr. Stone Barrington, a partner in the law firm of Woodman & Weld.”
“We all read that in the Wall Street Journal,” Barnes replied.
“If I may, I would like them to join us in discussing this matter.”
“Of course, if you wish.”
“If you will excuse me for a moment.”
“Certainly.”
Charley left the room and called upstairs from his secretary’s desk. Mike Freeman answered, and Charley requested to be put on speakerphone.
“Go,” Mike said.
“They’ve offered me the CEO job at St. Clair,” he said.
“And what do you intend to do?” Stone asked.
“I think we should make them an offer for the company,” Charley said.
“What sort of an offer?” Mike asked.
“I’ve been through the assets and the profit-and-loss statements, and I value them at about seven hundred million, including the building and yacht. I propose that we offer them half a billion for the lot. We can then dispose of the companies at our leisure and make a lot of money.”
“Mike?” Stone asked.
“Good idea,” Mike replied.
“Charley, you have our agreement,” Stone said, “but we shouldn’t buy the company, since we’re not aware of what sort of liabilities it may have. Make the offer for the assets only.”
“Right, now get your asses down here pronto!” Charley said. He hung up and waited another minute before returning to his office. “Mr. Freeman and Mr. Barrington will be here shortly,” he said, dragging a couple of chairs over from his desk to the seating area.
As he resumed his seat there was a knock at the door, and Mike and Stone entered. Charley made the introductions.
“Gentlemen, may I continue?”
“Yes, please,” Barnes replied.
“Regretfully, I must decline your generous offer.” He gave them a moment to rearrange their faces. “However,” he said, “the Triangle Partnership, that is, the three of us, would like to acquire all the assets of St. Clair Enterprises.”
Barnes exchanged glances with his fellow board members and received an almost imperceptible nod from each, which indicated to Charley that they had previously discussed this move.
“What is your offer, Mr. Fox?”
“We offer half a billion dollars for all the company’s assets, including the building and the yacht.”
After a brief pause, Barnes said, “We have discussed this possibility, and we concur in our belief that a more acceptable offer would be six hundred million, the value of the assets being what it is.”
“I can understand your feelings in the matter, gentlemen. You could certainly hire a firm like my previous home, Goldman Sachs, to come in, value each property separately, and dispose of them piecemeal. Alternatively, they could seek a buyer for the entire company, but I’m sure you realize that either process would consume many months of your time and many millions in fees and costs. We offer an immediate purchase, to close in, say, thirty days, and we will assume the responsibility of the preparation of the documentation for the sale, to be approved, of course, by your new counsel. Have you chosen one yet?”