excerpt
“We can do a lot better if we change our direction and if we stick together,
Robert,” Peter says.
Robert Major, who has somehow got the picture and who cares only for
himself, asks, “Alright, you guys want to take it and drive it, where do you think
you can take it? How far do you think you can go without Lorne? What tells me
you can do better than he?”
Peter sips his beer, “We have a group of financiers on hand to bring in a good
chunk of fresh money. We have a public relations company ready to work with
us and we can get much more attention for our stock price. We can achieve a lot
more than what Lorne can; it’s as simple as that.”
“Alright boys, then tell me who is going to eat up all the stock that Lorne and
his pals have on hand? Are you going to let it float out in the market? If you do
that, you sign a death warrant for the price of the shares for a long time, you
know that,” Robert insists.
Hakim listens to their comments, and knowing this moment would have
come sooner or later, turns to Robert and lets him know that Lorne is not a
stupid man and has no ego problem. He tells Robert that Lorne will simply try to
get the best under the circumstances because he knows he and Ibrahim have a lot
more shares than all the others combined, and because he also knows he cannot
get into a proxy fight with a billionaire. He’ll simply stick around for the longest
time and try to grab the most shares possible from the market. That’s how Lorne
is going to play and they all agree on that. On the other hand, Hakim suggests
they can always offer him a golden carrot.
“Yes, but Lorne is not one who will take a carrot, Hakim. He knows the game
as well as you. Would you do what you expect him to do?”
“Yes, I would. There’s always another car coming down the tracks, as the
saying goes. But Robert, you have to understand this is a course we’d like to take,
no matter what it’s going to cost. The money is available and time is on our side.
The financiers Peter referred to are our people and money from them comes
only if and when we run the show. The public relations company is our reference
and they sign with us only when we run the show. We have the ability to take this
company to the shareholders’ meeting in a month and a half. However, if you
come along we don’t even need to call one; we can speed up the process and save
a tonne of the company’s money, in the process.”
Robert realizes that the blood is ready to be spread and wants to have his
share of the spoils. He can always play hard to get for a while and try to squeeze
them for something extra.
“In other words, you have to have me along. Okay then, what are you offering?”
Manolis Aligizakis 