SEC Company Response from LOGAN COUNTY BANCSHARES INC (CIK 0000760327) — Jul 5, 2005
LOGAN COUNTY BANCSHARES INC (CIK 0000760327)
Date: July 5, 2005 · CIK: 0000760327 · Accession: 0001104659-05-031084
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: June 3, 2005
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm 101 South Queen Street Martinsburg, West Virginia 25401 Telephone (304) 263-0836 5th Floor, United Square 501 Avery Street Parkersburg, West Virginia 26101 Telephone (304) 420-5500 7000 Hampton Center, Suite K Morgantown, West Virginia 26505 Telephone (304) 285-2500 Sandra M. Murphy Telephone — (304) 347-1131 Facsimile — (304) 343-3058 ATTORNEYS AT LAW 600 Quarrier Street Charleston, West Virginia 25301 Post Office Box 1386 Charleston, West Virginia 25325-1386 Telephone (304) 347-1100 www.bowlesrice.com June 30, 2005 World Trade Center 333 West Vine Street, Suite 1201 Lexington, Kentucky 40507 Telephone (859) 244-7400 19 West Cork Street, Suite 102 Winchester, Virginia 22601 Telephone (540) 723-8877 8550 Mayland Drive, Suite 205-A Richmond, Virginia 23294-4704 Telephone (804) 314-5487 E-Mail Address: smurphy@bowlesrice.com Celeste M. Murphy, Esq. Special Counsel Division of Corporation Finance Office of Mergers & Acquisitions United States Securities and Exchange Commission Mail Stop 03-03 450 Fifth Street, N. W. Washington, DC 20549 VIA FEDERAL EXPRESS AND REGULAR MAIL Re: Logan County Bancshares, Inc. Preliminary Schedule 14A - Filed May 5, 2005 File No. 002-95114 Schedule 13E-3 - Filed May 5, 2005 File No. 005-80719 Dear Ms. Murphy: On behalf of Logan County BancShares, Inc. (“Logan”), we hereby submit the following responses to your comment letter dated June 3, 2005: Schedule 14A - General Comment 1. We note that you have not yet included your proxy card in your filing. Please provide us with your proxy card on a supplemental basis. If you choose to file your proxy card in the next amendment please do so in compliance with Rule 14a-6(e)(1) of the Proxy Rules. Response: The proxy card was filed with the Securities Exchange Commission on May 5, 2005, as Exhibit 99(A)(2) to Schedule 13E-3. Logan has revised the proxy card to replace the meeting date with a blank line which will be completed when the proxy materials are distributed to Logan’s shareholders. 2. We note that your meeting date is currently scheduled for June 21, 2005. Please confirm to us that this date is flexible and that your proxy card will be provided to your shareholders at least 20 business days prior to the date the votes may be used to effect the corporate action in accordance with Note D.3. to Schedule 14A. Response: Logan confirms that the date of the meeting of shareholders to vote on the proposed going private transaction is flexible. Logan will provide the proxy statement and proxy card to its shareholders at least twenty (20) business days prior to the date the shareholders meeting is held in accordance with Note D. 3. to Schedule 14-A. The Board of Directors will set a new record date to comply with Logan’s bylaws which provide that the record date may not be more than fifty (50) days before the meeting of shareholders. Summary Term Sheet, page 1 Recommendation of the Logan Board and Determination of Fairness of the Merger Proposal, page 5. 3. Item 1014(a) of Regulation M-A requires a filing person on the Schedule 13D-3 to state a belief as to the fairness of the proposed “Rule 13e-3 transaction” to “unaffiliated security holders.” Much of your disclosure throughout your document states that the special committee and the board of directors determined that the “merger” is fair to “you” or “shareholders who would receive cash,” etc. which include different concepts. We note that on page 17 you state that the board determined that the merger is substantively and procedurally fair to the unaffiliated shareholders. Further, on page 18, you state that the board of directors concluded that the proposed transaction was substantively and procedurally fair to the Company’s unaffiliated shareholders. Please revise throughout the disclosure materials to provide the finding of the fairness of the Rule 13e-3 transaction, not limited to the merger, as to non-affiliates as a distinct group, as required by Item 1014(a). Response: Logan has amended the following sections of the proxy statement to provide that the finding of the fairness of the Rule 13e-3 transaction was not limited to the merger and was made with respect to the unaffiliated shareholders as a distinct group: 2 Section Summary Term Sheet / Opinion of Financial Advisor Summary Term Sheet / Recommendation of the Logan Board and Determination of Fairness of the Going Private Transaction Special Factors - Background of the Merger Special Factors - Fairness; Recommendation of Board of Directors Special Factors, page 10 Background of the Merger, page 10 4. Please identify the securities counsel retained and asked to attend the board meeting held on November 1, 2004, Further, identify the alternative means of reducing the number of shareholders to a level which would permit the Company to suspend its SEC reporting obligations considered by the board of directors at this meeting. Response: The securities counsel retained and asked to attend the board meeting held on November 1, 2004, was Bowles Rice McDavid Graff & Love LLP. The alternative means of reducing the number of shareholders to a level which would permit Logan to suspend its SEC reporting obligations considered by the Board at its November 1, 2004, meeting were: (i) cash-out merger; (ii) reverse stock split; and (iii) tender offer. The disclosures on pages 11-12 of the proxy statement have been revised to include this information. 5. How did the special committee determine that the $3.00 premium over the $47.00 value contained in the Southard Financial valuation report was sufficient to compensate small shareholders for having their shares purchased against their wishes? Response: For several reasons, the Special Committee determined that the $3.00 premium over the $47.00 valuation price was sufficient to compensate small shareholders for having their shares purchased against their wishes. First, the $47.00 valuation price represented a 6.82% premium over the most recent trading price known to the Special Committee of $44.00. By increasing the amount paid to cash-out shareholders to $50 per share, Logan will pay them a premium of 13.6% over the last known trade. The Special Committee also believed that the $47.00 per share was sufficient because it was based on a valuation analysis typically used 3 in determining the value of shares owned by a controlling shareholder. The Special Committee concluded that using the controlling shareholder valuation analysis when valuing the unaffiliated minority interests was a conservative approach that would fairly compensate the minority shareholders. The Special Committee also believed that the $3.00 premium over the $47.00 valuation price would take into account the possibility that if the consummation of the going-private transaction were delayed, Logan’s earnings during this time could cause the value of Logan’s stock to increase. 6. Please revise your disclosure to identify the alternative structures to the going private transaction considered by the board at its February 22, 2005 meeting. Response: The disclosure on page 13 of the proxy statement has been revised to clarify that the Board discussed certain risks of the going private transaction including the risk of a third party offer to acquire Logan. The Board did not consider alternative structures to a cash-out merger at its February 22, 2005, meeting. 7. Clarify whether the fairness finding of Southard addressed the fairness of the price to Logan County Bancshares’s unaffiliated shareholders. If not, explain here or where appropriate in the disclosure document how the board analyzed the fairness finding of Southard, addressed to “cashed out” shareholders generally, to arrive at a finding of fairness as to the unaffiliated shareholders as a distinct and separate group. Response: The fairness opinion of Southard Financial did not distinguish between the unaffiliated shareholders and the affiliated shareholders. Southard Financial’s fairness opinion addressed whether the cash paid to the cashed-out shareholders was fair from a financial point of view to the cashed-out shareholders and the shareholders of Logan remaining after the going private transaction. As discussed more fully in its preliminary proxy statement, the Board of Directors considered Southard Financial’s fairness opinion relating to cashed-out shareholders and to the remaining shareholders as one of various material factors in concluding that the proposed going private transaction pursuant to a cash-out merger was fair to unaffiliated shareholders. Significantly, the shareholders being cashed-out will consist solely of unaffiliated shareholders. There will be no affiliated shareholders who will be cashed-out as a result of the transaction; however, there will be unaffiliated shareholders who will remain shareholders of Logan after the going private transaction. Accordingly, the Board considered Southard Financial’s opinion as to the cashed-out shareholders and the remaining shareholders in concluding that the transaction 4 was fair to the unaffiliated shareholders from a financial point of view. In reaching its determination, the Board of Directors also considered the historical market prices of Logan’s common stock, the lack of a market for trades in Logan’s common stock, Logan’s net book value per share, the going concern value of Logan’s shares as determined by Southard Financial, Logan’s earnings for the past three (3) years, and the fact that the cash consideration provides liquidity for unaffiliated shareholders who are cashed-out. The Board also took into account the positive and negative factors listed on pages 17 - 18 of the preliminary proxy statement. 8. Did the special committee, at the meeting on March 15, 2005, make a determination of the fairness of the Rule 13E-3 transaction to unaffiliated shareholders? Response: Yes, the special committee at the meeting on March 15, 2005, made a determination that the Rule 13E-3 transaction was fair to Logan’s unaffiliated shareholders. 9. Did the board of directors, at the March 22, 2005 meeting, make a determination of the fairness of the Rule 13E-3 transaction to unaffiliated shareholders? Response: Yes, as discussed more fully above in question 7, the Board of Directors at the meeting on March 22, 2005, made a determination that the Rule 13E-3 transaction was fair to Logan’s unaffiliated shareholders. Purpose and Reasons for the Merger, page 14 10. Please state the reasons for undertaking the Rule 13E-3 transaction at this time in the Company’s operating history, as required by Item 1013(c) of Regulation M-A. Response: The reason for undertaking the Rule 13E-3 transaction at this time in Logan’s operating history is to suspend the reporting and other obligations applicable to Logan under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). If Logan is able to suspend its reporting obligations under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, then it will not be subject to the external auditor attestation of internal control functions under Rule 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. In addition, Logan will not incur incremental expenses for legal, accounting and other direct 5 and indirect costs associated with being a reporting company, which management anticipates will be approximately $168,300 in 2005 and $206,000 in 2006. We have revised our disclosure on page 14 of the proxy statement to clarify Logan’s reasons for undertaking the Rule 13E-3 transaction at this time in Logan’s operating history. Fair Price Considerations, page 18 11. Please provide us with your analysis for why the certain directors and executive officers and other purchasers of shares during the past two years did not constitute the first steps in the going private transaction. Refer to Rule 13e-3(a)(3) and Question and Answer No. 4 of Exchange Act Release No. 17719 (April 13, 1981.) Response: For the reasons discussed more fully below, the purchase of shares of Logan common stock during the past two years by certain directors, executive officers and other affiliated shareholders does not constitute the first steps in a series of transactions involving a going private transaction. These purchases were not in furtherance of and did not have the purpose of producing directly or indirectly Logan’s common stock to be held of record by less than 300 shareholders. A. Facts The following table lists the purchases of shares of Logan’s common stock by affiliated shareholders during the last two years: Date of Purchase Purchaser Position with Logan Number of Shares June 10, 2003 Eddie Canterbury Director, Executive Officer 100 June 10, 2003 Harvey Oakley Director, Executive Officer, Principal Shareholder 1,000 June 10, 2003 Glenn Yost Director 100 June 10, 2003 William W. Wagner Director 1,100 June 10, 2003 Mark Mareske Executive Officer 50 September 17, 2003 Earle Queen Director 58 November 14, 2003 P. Clinton Winter Principal Shareholder 14,400 April 29, 2004 Harvey Oakley Director, Executive Officer, Principal Shareholder 102 May 24, 2004 Harvey Oakley Director, Executive Officer, Principal Shareholder 1,754 June 9, 2004 Harvey Oakley Director, Executive Officer, Principal Shareholder 10 September 3, 2004 Harvey Oakley Director, Executive Officer, Principal Shareholder 107 January 13, 2005 Earle Queen Director, Principal Shareholder 29 January 13, 2005 David McCormick Director Principal Shareholder 85 May 6, 2005 P. Clinton Winter Principal Shareholder 9,000 May 25, 2005 Michael Winter Director 200 Totals 28,095 6 • Messrs. Canterbury, Oakley Yost, Wagner and Mareske purchased shares on June 10, 2003, from the Estate of Edna Hall. These purchases eliminated one (1) shareholder. • Mr. Queen purchased shares on September 17, 2003, from the Estate of James Ferrell. Subsequently, the executor of Mr. Ferrell’s estate located an additional stock certificate and requested that Mr. Queen acquire the shares represented by the additional certificate. Mr. Queen purchased the additional shares on January 13, 2005. These purchases eliminated one (1) shareholder. • Mr. P. Clinton Winter purchased shares on November 13, 2003, and May 6, 2005, from the Sarah Matteson Irrevocable Trust. This purchase did not eliminate a shareholder. 7 • Harvey Oakley purchased shares on April 29, 2004, May 24, 2004, June 9, 2004, and September 3, 2004. These purchases eliminated a total of three (3) shareholders. • Mr. McCormick purchased shares on January 13, 2005. These purchases eliminated two (2) shareholders. • Mr. Michael Winter purchased shares from Paul Clinton Winter. This purchase did not eliminate a shareholder. Logan is a small, communit