SEC Company Response from LIBERATE TECHNOLOGIES (CIK 0001085776) — Aug 26, 2005
LIBERATE TECHNOLOGIES (CIK 0001085776)
Date: Aug. 26, 2005 · CIK: 0001085776 · Accession: 0001104659-05-041635
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: August 2, 2005
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & FLOM LLP 525 UNIVERSITY AVENUE PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA 94301 FIRM/AFFILIATE OFFICES (650) 470-4500 Fax: (650) 470-4570 http://www.skadden.com BOSTON CHICAGO HOUSTON LOS ANGELES NEW YORK SAN FRANCISCO WASHINGTON, D.C. WILMINGTON VIA EDGAR August 26, 2005 BEIJING BRUSSELS FRANKFURT HONG KONG LONDON MOSCOW MUNICH PARIS SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO TORONTO Mark P. Shuman, Esq. Office of Computers and Online Services Division of Corporation Finance Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002 Re: Liberate Technologies Schedule 13E-3 filed June 23, 2005 File No. 005-58281 Preliminary Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A Filed June 23, 2005 File No. 0-26565 Dear Mr. Shuman: On behalf of Liberate Technologies, a Delaware corporation (the “Company” or “Liberate”), we have electronically transmitted under separate cover Amendment No. 1 to the Preliminary Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A (“Amendment No. 1 to the Preliminary Proxy”), which we have marked to show changes from the Company’s initial filing of the Preliminary Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A (File No. 0-26565), filed by the Company on June 23, 2005 (the “Preliminary Proxy”) and Amendment No. 1 to the Rule 13e-3 Transaction Statement on Schedule 13E-3 (File No. 005-58281) filed by the Company on June 23, 2005 (the “Schedule 13E-3”). The changes reflected in Amendment No. 1 to the Preliminary Proxy and Amendment No. 1 to the Schedule 13E-3 include those made in response to the comments of the Staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Staff”) set forth in the Staff’s comment letter, dated August 2, 2005. Set forth below are the Company’s responses to the comments raised in your letter. For your convenience, we have provided each of your numbered comments followed by our responses. To facilitate the Staff’s review, we have provided the Company’s responses in ordinary type beneath the corresponding Staff comment, which appears in bold type. Form 8-K filed June 16, 2005 1. We note the statement in your press release that “those statements above that involve expectations or intentions (such as those related to the proposed transaction) are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. securities laws, involving risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees of future performance.” Please confirm your understanding that statements made in connection with going private transactions are expressly excluded from the safe harbor protections afforded by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. See Section 21E(b)(1)(E) of the Exchange Act. In future filings relating to the going private transaction please include appropriate clarifying disclosure to remove the implication the statements may be properly defined as forward-looking under the federal securities laws and enjoy the corresponding protections. Response: We confirm our understanding that statements made in connection with going private transactions are expressly excluded from the safe harbor protections afforded by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We have deleted the cautionary statements regarding forward looking statements that previously appeared on page 11 of the Preliminary Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A filed on June 23, 2005. Schedule 13E-3 2. We note from page 13 of the proxy materials that Liberate was considering the “possibility of converting to a private company” at least as early as April 15, 2005. At that time or perhaps earlier, it had begun considering a reverse split as a mechanism for effectuating a going private transaction, as evidenced by the April 22, 2005 engagement of Duff & Phelps to evaluate the payment to be provided to fractional holders in a reverse split. We note that although the opinion of Duff & Phelps was delivered on June 15, 2005, and the board of directors approved the proposed stock split on that date, the definitive proxy materials for the SeaChange transaction filed on June 16, 2005 were not accompanied by a Schedule 13E-3 filing. In your response letter, please provide your analysis concerning whether the SeaChange asset sale is the first step of the Rule 13e-3 transaction and provide your analysis as to whether a Schedule 13E-3 was required in connection with the proxy solicitation of the SeaChange asset sale. We are aware that the SeaChange asset sale did not involve an affiliated purchaser and that it would not be a going private transaction considered separately from the reverse stock split solicitation. In 2 responding to this comment, please refer to Questions 4 and 15 of SEC Release 34-17719 and SEC Release 34-16075 (addressing multi-step going private transactions). Response: The SeaChange asset sale was not the first step of a Rule 13e-3 transaction, and accordingly, no Schedule 13E-3 was required to be filed in connection with Liberate’s proxy solicitation of the SeaChange asset sale. As you are aware, the SeaChange transaction did not involve an affiliated purchaser. The SeaChange asset sale and the proposed reverse stock split are separate and independent transactions, and the asset sale had neither a reasonable likelihood nor purpose of producing the effects set out in paragraph (a)(3)(ii) of Rule 13e-3. The SeaChange asset sale agreement was approved by the Liberate board of directors at a meeting on April 15, 2005, after several months of discussion and negotiation with SeaChange and its representatives. At the same meeting, the board of directors and Liberate’s management engaged in discussions regarding potential plans for Liberate after closing the asset sale following the closing of a successful sale to SeaChange - as Liberate would no longer have any significant operating product or service business. Accordingly, the board of directors directed management to evaluate potential ways of addressing the costs of continuing as a publicly traded company while Liberate continued to operate to wind down its business and resolve its liabilities and return cash to shareholders. The alternatives that the board and management considered included dissolution and liquidation of the Company, sale as a public company shell, a reverse stock split, a share repurchase, an extraordinary dividend and other alternatives. The board had previously declared a special dividend of $2.10 payable upon the closing of the sale of the North American business to Double C Technologies LLC (which was paid on April 8, 2005) and subsequently declared a special dividend of $0.15 payable upon the closing of the sale of the Non-North American business to SeaChange (which was paid on July 13, 2005). Duff & Phelps was engaged as a financial advisor to advise the Board on these special dividends. At the time Liberate filed its definitive proxy statement in connection with the SeaChange asset sale on June 10, 2005, these evaluation efforts were still ongoing and the board of directors had made no determination with respect to potential plans for Liberate after the asset sale to SeaChange. On May 5, 2005, the board of directors met and considered available alternatives, including a reverse stock split. At that meeting, a representative of the Company’s legal advisors presented to the board of directors various methods available to accomplish a going private transaction and management presented to the board its evaluation of the alternatives. After discussion the board directed management to conduct further evaluation of the reverse stock split for follow up consideration and approval by the board. On June 15, 2005, the board of directors met to consider a reverse stock split. At that meting, management presented its evaluation of the merits of being a private 3 company versus a public company and the reverse stock split, a representative of the company’s legal advisors revisited with the board the legal process for the reverse stock split and the fiduciary duties and legal obligations that should guide the board’s consideration, and a representative of the company’s financial advisor presented the results of its evaluation of a potential reverse stock split and determination of the fair value for the consideration that may be paid to holders of fractional shares. At the June 15, 2005 meeting, after additional discussion, the board of directors concluded that a reverse stock split followed by a forward stock split in the same ratio was in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. The Response to Question 4 of SEC Release 34-17719 provides that a transaction will be regarded as one step in a series of transactions which together constitute a Rule 13e-3 transaction if the specific transaction is effected by the issuer as a part, or in furtherance, of a series of actions which, taken together, have either a reasonable likelihood or a purpose of producing, directly or indirectly, any of the specified effects. The SeaChange asset sale, however, had neither a reasonable likelihood nor a purpose of producing the effects set out in paragraph (a)(3)(ii) of Rule 13e-3. As described above, the Liberate board of directors approved the asset sale and the definitive proxy statement in connection with the asset sale was filed before any determination to effect a going private transaction was made. The SeaChange asset sale was approved by the board of directors based on an assessment of the opportunities and challenges facing Liberate and the uncertainties surrounding Liberate’s ability to achieve business success and the other reasons described in Liberate’s definitive proxy filed on June 10, 2005. Neither the board’s approval nor completion of the asset sale was contingent on the occurrence or approval of a subsequent reverse stock split (or any other going private transaction). In determining the amount to be paid to cash out shareholders in exchange for their fractional Liberate shares, Liberate’s board of directors did assume that the SeaChange asset sale would have closed. However, that was only in order to determine the fair value of fractional shares. The reverse/forward stock split could have been accomplished before the asset sale transaction. Liberate’s stockholders retain the power to approve or reject the reverse stock split notwithstanding the closing of the asset sale. The asset sale did not have the effect of giving Liberate or its affiliates any greater voting power with respect to the proposed stock split. In addition, the SeaChange asset sale is not of the type described in SEC Release 34-16075 which are designed to provide tax benefits to substantial shareholders or allow the seller’s senior management to benefit from any increased profitability of the business sold. The Response to Question 15 of SEC Release 34-17719 provides that the Schedule 13E-3 must be filed concurrently with the filing of the preliminary proxy or information statement relating to the sale of assets constituting the first step in the Rule 13e-3 transaction. Since the SeaChange asset sale was not the first step in a 4 Rule 13e-3 transaction, no Schedule 13E-3 was required to be filed in connection with Liberate’s proxy solicitation of the SeaChange asset sale. 3. Please describe any contact and communication between representatives of the Company and any of the five percent or greater stockholders listed in the share ownership table that took place since October 1, 2004, concerning the possibility of terminating the reporting obligations of Liberate, whether by means of a reverse stock split or otherwise. Response: Liberate confirms that there have been no communications between representatives of the Company and any of the five percent or greater stockholders listed in the share ownership table since October 1, 2004 concerning the possibility of terminating Liberate’s reporting obligations other than discussions involving such stockholders who are directors or executive officers of Liberate and which are described in the Preliminary Proxy in the section entitled “SPECIAL FACTORS — Background for the Reverse/Forward Stock Split Proposal — Board Deliberations and Background of the Reverse/Forward Stock Split”. 4. Provide us with a detailed description of any direct or indirect benefits realized by any executive officer, director or more than five percent stockholder as a result of either the Double C or the SeaChange asset sale. Response: As detailed in the Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A filed by the Company on March 9, 2005 in connection with the Double C asset sale and the Definitive Proxy Statement on Schedule 14A filed by the Company on June 10, 2005 in connection with the SeaChange asset sale, executive officers, directors and more than five percent stockholders of Liberate realized the direct and indirect benefits described below as a result of the Double C and SeaChange assets sales. In connection with the consummation of the Double C asset sale, Liberate’s executive officers, David Lockwood, Philip Vachon, Gregory Wood and Patrick Nguyen, and non-employee directors, Charles N. Corfield, Patrick S. Jones, David C. Nagel and Robert R. Walker, held unvested stock units or unvested options to purchase shares of Liberate common stock that became fully vested, in accordance with their existing terms, as set forth in the table below. Unvested Options to Purchase Shares of Common Stock Exercise Price of Unvested Stock Options Unvested Stock Units David Lockwood 704,167 $ 1.75 — Philip Vachon 956,250 $ 2.39 80,000 Gregory Wood 704,167 $ 1.75 120,000 Patrick Nguyen 704,167 $ 1.75 120,000 Charles N. Corfield — 7,692 David C. Nagel — 7,692 Robert R. Walker — 7,692 Patrick S. Jones — 7,692 5 In addition, under the terms of the retention agreements with David Lockwood, Philip Vachon, Gregory Wood and Patrick Nguyen, each of these executive officers became entitled to receive a payment equal to twice his total taxable compensation for the prior fiscal year, with a minimum payment of $500,000 and a maximum payment of $750,000, upon actual or constructive termination of his employment within one year following the closing of the Double C asset sale and within one year following the closing of the SeaChange asset sale. In connection with these asset sales, Messrs. Lockwood, Vachon, Wood and Nguyen became entitled to severance payments in the aggregate equal to a range of $2,250,000 up to $3,000,000. As described in Liberate’s annual report for the year ended May 31, 2005 filed on Form 10-K on August 15, 2005, on June 15, 2005, the Liberate board of directors approved payments in connection with the amendment of these executive officers’ existing employee retention agreements. The board determined that Liberate’s continuing operations would benefit from continuing employment of such executives, and approved that such executives would no longer be required to have terminated employment to be entitled to the payments thereunder. Instead, Liberate would pay to each such executive the amount he would otherwise have been entitled to had such executive’s employment been terminated pursuant to the terms of those agreements, at which time the agreements would terminate and the executives would not be entitled to any further payments or benefits thereunder. The value of the payment amounts pursuant to the employee retention agreements remained unchanged, and the payments were made on June 17, 2005. As described in Liberate’s current report filed on Form 8-K filed on July 20, 2005, on July 14, 2005, the