SEC Company Response from UNITED SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY INC (CIK 0000350194) — Jun 29, 2005
UNITED SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY INC (CIK 0000350194)
Date: June 29, 2005 · CIK: 0000350194 · Accession: 0001157523-05-005805
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: April 15, 2005, June 23, 2005, June 23, 2005
Show Raw Text
<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>CORRESP
<SEQUENCE>1
<FILENAME>filename1.txt
<TEXT>
June 29, 2005
direct dial: 817.420.8209
vrew@winstead.com
direct dial: 817.420.8225
jhoover@winstead.com
Via Federal Express
-------------------
Ms. Maryse Mills-Apenteng
Division of Corporate Finance
Mail Stop 4-6
Securities and Exchange Commission
450 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Re: Response to Comments Received from the Staff of the Commission
with respect to the Schedule 13E-3 filed June 3, 2005 (File
No. 5-37771), which was previously filed on April 19, 2005 and
originally filed on March 7, 2005, and the Schedule 14A filed
June 3, 2005 (File No. 0-09574) , which was previously filed
on April 18, 2005 and originally filed on March 7, 2005, of
United Systems Technology, Inc.
Dear Ms. Mills-Apenteng:
As legal counsel to United Systems Technology, Inc. (the "Company"),
this letter sets forth the responses of the Company to the comments of the staff
of the Division of Corporation Finance (the "Staff") of the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "Commission") received by letter dated June 23, 2005
(the "Comment Letter") with respect to the above-referenced Schedule 13E-3 (the
"Schedule 13E-3") and Schedule 14A (the "Schedule 14A"). Enclosed herewith is
one clean and one black-lined copy of Amendment No. 3 to the Schedule 14A (the
"Amendment"), which, in response to the Comment Letter, includes revisions to
the Schedule 14A. Also enclosed is a copy of the Company's acknowledgment letter
in response to a request contained in your April 5, 2005 comment letter to the
Company.
For the convenience of the Staff, we have set forth below, in boldface
type, the number of each comment in the Comment Letter followed by the Company's
responses thereto. As applicable, after each of our responses below, we have
also provided the page number of the black-lined copy of the Amendment to
indicate where changes in response to your comments are located within such
copy.
<PAGE>
General
-------
1. The Company will file all future correspondence submitted to the Staff
in response to your comments on EDGAR, tagged as "CORRESP." Our
previous response letters dated April 15, 2005 and June 3, 2005 have
been so filed on June 27, 2005, and this response letter is being so
filed as of the date first set forth above.
2. Your comment is duly noted. As indicated in Item 2 of our April 15,
2005 response letter, the Company does consider the application of Rule
14a-12 with respect to any of its communications to shareholders that
may constitute proxy solicitations. The Company does not, and did not,
consider the contents of its May 20, 2005, May 31, 2005, or June 3,
2005 press releases to constitute proxy solicitations nor intend for
any such press releases to constitute proxy solicitations. That being
said, the Company will continue to take the possible application of
Rule 14a-12 into consideration with respect to future written
communications.
Schedule 14A
------------
3. The Company has corrected the tag on its April 18, 2005 proxy filing
(which was previously inadvertently mislabeled as a "definitive" proxy
filing) by resubmitting such filing on EDGAR with a "preliminary" tag
on June 27, 2005. However, we have been informed by an SEC Information
Officer of Corporate Finance (Jacob Fien-Helfman, 505-551-3506) that
the original, mislabeled "definitive" proxy filing cannot be removed
from the SEC's web site. Therefore, the web site will reflect both
"definitive" and "preliminary" filings corresponding to our first
amended filing to the Schedule 14A. Again, we apologize for this
discrepancy.
Special Factors
---------------
Fairness of the Transaction
---------------------------
4. We have revised the disclosure as requested.
[See Page 20 of the black-lined Proxy Statement.]
5. We have revised the disclosure as requested.
[See Page 21 of the black-lined Proxy Statement.]
With respect to going concern value (which the Board of Directors
factored in to its determination of the fairness of the
Reverse/Forward Stock Split to unaffiliated shareholders), the Board
of Directors relied on the going concern value presented in the
Valuation Report. The Board of Directors did not independently conduct
its own analysis of going concern value. The removal of the earlier
references to the Board of Directors' adoption of W&T's analysis was
not intended to diminish the disclosure regarding the reliance of the
Board of Directors thereon. In re-reviewing the disclosure, and in
consideration of your comment, we have once again included the express
statement that the Board of Directors has adopted the conclusion and
analyses of W&T contained in the Valuation Report and W&T update
letter.
[See Pages 6, 21, and 29 of the black-lined Proxy Statement.]
<PAGE>
6. We have revised the disclosure as requested.
[See Page 21 of the black-lined Proxy Statement.]
The referenced market premiums were obtained from compilations of
publicly-available information prepared by reputable investment
banking firms. The Company did not request or pay for any such
compilations, as they were provided by the investment banking firms
through their marketing efforts. It should also be noted that the
compilations did not identify any of the underlying issuers. Finally,
the compilations were presented to the Board of Directors prior to the
Company's receipt of the Constellation indication of interest letter.
In fact, they were presented to the Board of Directors during the
early stages of its deliberations over the Reverse/Forward Stock Split
and prior to its approval of the initial per share consideration of
$0.0675 per share of Common Stock on March 3, 2005.
7. We have revised the disclosure regarding the June 2, 2005 meeting of
the Board of Directors to further explain the increase in the cash out
price to $0.08.
[See Page 34 of the black-lined Proxy Statement.]
As now indicated, two significant developments occurred since the cash
out price was initially set to $0.0675: (i) an increase in the
then-current market price for the Common Stock from $0.057 to $0.0735;
and (ii) the Constellation indication of interest letter. While it is
true that W&T did not alter its initial fair market valuation as a
result of either of these developments, the directives of W&T and the
Company are not the same. W&T was solely engaged to evaluate the fair
market value of the Common Stock on a non-controlling interest basis
(without a view towards the fairness of the going private transaction
or the cash consideration involved). W&T's financial models did not
attribute enough weight to current market price for clause (i) above
to have an impact on its initial fair market value, and clause (ii)
above was not relevant to W&T since the Constellation indication of
interest letter was based on a controlling interest value.
In contrast to W&T, the Company is required to ensure that the going
private transaction and the cash consideration involved are fair to
both Cashed-Out Shareholders and Continuing Shareholders. The Board of
Directors has determined that the interests of these two sets of
shareholders may be balanced by approving a cash-out price that
provides a premium over the historical and current market prices of
the Common Stock. As a result of the above considerations, the Board
of Directors concluded that an increased premium was warranted. As for
the $0.08 cash out price itself, such price was the first presented at
the June 2, 2005 meeting of the Board of Directors and received the
unanimous approval of the Board of Directors. As a result, no other
prices were considered.
<PAGE>
8. We have revised the disclosure as requested.
[See Pages 32 and 33 of the black-lined Proxy Statement.]
The discussion of the deliberations of the Board of Directors for May
12, 2005 and May 16, 2005 now indicate that the Company was not for
sale at the price and subject to the conditions presented by the
Constellation indication of interest letter (which was the original
intent behind the "not for sale" references). We believe that this is
consistent with your interpretation. At some point, an indication of
interest could include a mix of price and conditions which would
warrant that the Board of Directors consider a sale of the Company.
However, we have not revised the references to "currently not for
sale" which appear in the discussion of the deliberations of the Board
of Directors for May 18, 2005 and May 20, 2005, as these references
reflect true and accurate statements. Having only knowledge of the
Constellation indication of interest letter, the Board of Directors
determined that the Company was currently not for sale.
Summary Financial Information.
------------------------------
9. We have revised the disclosure as requested by providing the most
recent financial information for the quarterly period ending March 31,
2005.
[See Page 35 of the black-lined Proxy Statement.]
---------------
Should any member of the Staff have any questions or additional
comments regarding the Amendment or the responses to the Staff's Comment Letter
set forth above, please do not hesitate the call the undersigned at (817)
420-8209 or (817) 420-8225, respectively.
Sincerely,
Vernon E. Rew, Jr.
Justin A. Hoover
VER:jah
Enclosures
cc: Barbara C. Jacobs (w/ encl.)
Assistant Director, Division of Corporate Finance, SEC
Thomas E. Gibbs (w/ encl.)
Randall L. McGee (w/ encl.)
<PAGE>
June 29, 2005
Ms. Maryse Mills-Apenteng
Division of Corporate Finance
Mail Stop 4-6
Securities and Exchange Commission
450 Fifth Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Re: Acknowledgments Relating to Comments Received from the Staff
of the Commission with respect to the Schedule 13E-3 filed
June 3, 2005 (File No. 5-37771), which was previously filed on
April 19, 2005 and originally filed on March 7, 2005, and the
Schedule 14A filed June 3, 2005 (File No. 0 -09574) , which
was previously filed on April 18, 2005 and originally filed on
March 7, 2005, of United Systems Technology, Inc.
Dear Ms. Mills-Apenteng:
The acknowledgments below are being provided in connection with the
responses of United Systems Technology, Inc. (the "Company") to the comments of
the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance (the "Staff") of the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") received by letter dated June 23,
2005 (the "Comment Letter") with respect to the above-referenced filings.
On behalf of the Company, I hereby acknowledge that:
o The Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the
disclosure in the above-referenced filings;
o Staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to Staff
comments do not foreclose the Commission from taking any action
with respect to the above-referenced filings; and
o The Company may not assert Staff comments as a defense in any
proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the
federal securities laws of the United States.
Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.
Sincerely,
Randall L. McGee,
Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President-Finance of
United Systems Technology, Inc.
cc: Barbara C. Jacobs
Assistant Director, Division of Corporate Finance, SEC
Thomas E. Gibbs
Vernon E. Rew, Jr.
Justin A. Hoover
</TEXT>
</DOCUMENT>