Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 14-A
Perry Plant Employs 250
Talks Underway To Merge
Or Sell Medusa Cement J
(Editor's Note; The
following news story
appeared in the Wed.,
August 23, edition of the
"Cleveland (Ohio) Plain
Dealer.” The story is
about the possible sale or
merger of the Medusa
Cement Corp., which is
headquartered in
Cleveland, Ohio. One of
Seminar For Women
Set Here Sept. 21
The local branch of
AAUW will sponsor an
"Educational Vocational
Awareness tor Women"
seminar beginning
September 21 at 9:00 a.m.
The six week course is
available through an
Educational grant from
the national organization
(AAUW) and will
therefore cost only a
SIO.OO registration fee.
The first 24 women to
register will find this 18
hour workshop a valuable
tool for redefining goals,
developing self
awareness and realizing
job potential. Com
munication skills, in
terview techniques and
interest-skill iden
tification will be
analyzed. The classes
will be Thursdays from
9:00 12:00 a.m. at All
Saints Episcopal Church
and babysitting services
will be provided. For
information and
registration, call: 922-
0172, 922-3749 or 923-4811.
BOCK TO COLLEGE I The Bank Os Perry I
S First National Bank
Os Houston County
Iff Security Federal Savings
1 A Division Os Georgia
Federal Savings
CM Will Be Closed Monday,
|fe| j Sept. 4 In Observance
Of Labor Day.
k ii. ii f win Our Offices Will Re-Open Tues.
Keep your young adults well mtormed ol local happenings -r* * 0 ,
by sending their hometown newspaper to college with At Regular Business Hours.
them. They will enjoy reading hometown news and feel ,
they have a companion in a strange surrounding.
The Houston Home Journal Have A Safe & Ha PPy Holiday!
Call For Rates 987-1823 '
x.• . _
Medusa's top plants is
located at Clinchfield,
Ga., five miles south of
Perry. The Perry plant
employs about 250 per
sons in this area and is
one of the county's
leading industries.)
Medusa Corp. and
Kaiser Cement & Gyp
sum Corp. called off their
Bale after rolled bale of hay makes a dramatic harvest
scene in this field on the Mike Jaros farm 5 miles north of
Perry on highway 41. This is Jaros’s second cutting, showing
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL, THURSDAY, AUGUST 31. 1978
merger late yesterday
afternoon, saying they
could not revise terms of
the agreement that
started falling apart a
month ago.
"About the same time,
Crane Co. of New York
gave more details about
its proposal to acquire all
or most of Cleveland
based Medusa.
"Crane is one of two
companies that wants to
buy Medusa, a major
cement producer. The
other suitor has not been
named, but it is reported
to be a European com
Harvest Time In Houston County
pany.
In a statement to the
Securities and Exchange
Commission, Crane said
it met Monday with
Medusa's management
and invited negotiations.
The New York company
offered to pay not less
than $47 a share for 48
percent of Medusa's
common stock. The
remainder of Medusa
common stock would be
acquired with a tax-free
exchange of Crane
preferred stock.
Medusa executives
could not be reached last
a high yield of hay, which he will use to feed the cattle on his
farm. *
night for comment about
whether they would
accept Crane's offer.
Crane already owns
more than 20 percent of
Medusa's common stock.
The* New York com
pany reported its
ownership late Monday in
a document required by
the SEC. For its 600,100
shares of Medusa, Crane
paid about $26 million.
Crane's chairman,
Thomas Meilon Evans,
has a reputation of being
a ruthless takeover king.
Regularly, he and his
company have bought
companies against the
will of management. In
corporate jargon, Evans
is called a takeover
"shark".
But Crane's ownership
of Medusa does not fit
Evans's usual takeover
tactics, a New York stock
analyst noted.
The analyst said Evans
often buys 5 percent or
more of a company's
stock, only to sell ii at a
profit when the price
swells due to a rumor of
takeover.
With Medusa, it looks
as though Crane's
ownership is more than
just an investment.
In its statement filed
with the SEC, Crane said
"its intention would be to
operate (Medusa) as a
separate subsidiary in
the same manner as it is
presently operated."
Crane also revealed
yesterday that it
suggested acquiring
Medusa early this year.
Medusa management
rebuffed Crane, saying it
wanted to merge with
Cleveland-based Oglebay
Norton Co.
The merger with
Ogelbay fell through less
than two months after it
was announced.
But before it was
abandoned, the deal
helped ward off a possible
unfriendly takeover of
Medusa by Moore Mc-
Cormack Resources Inc.
of Stamford, Conn. Moore
McCor mack owns
Cleveland - based
Pickands Mather & Co.
Medusa was not
without a suitor for long
after the Ogelbay Norton
deal was called off at the
end of January. Its plan
to merge into Kaiser was
announced in April.
The canceled merger
agreement between
Kaiser and Medusa
called for Medusa
shareholders to be paid
$47 for each common
share or 2.5 shares of
Kaiser common stock
instead of cash. The deal
was worth about $l5O
million.
Under the agreement,
Medusa would have
merged into Kaiser and
moved to Oakland, Calif.,
home of Kaiser.
Both companies are
major regional cement
producers.
"We'll just have to wait
for the next act in all of
this," Stanley M. Berger,
an analyst here said of * M
yesterday's events.
"First we saw Moore
McCormack, then we saw
the arbitrageurs. Then
we saw Oglebay Norton
and Kaiser. Now we see
Crane. We'll just have to
wait and see what Crane
does next." Medusa stock
has not traded since Aug.
15, when it closed at $44 a
share. The trading halt
was requested by
Medusa, and it is not
known when trading will 4
resume.
YARD SALE]
14 Mile N.
Os Hayneville
A Little Bit Os
Everything
From Antiques
to Clothes!
Thurs., Fri.,
& Sat.