SEC Company Response from LYNCH INTERACTIVE CORP (CIK 0001088771) — Oct 3, 2005
LYNCH INTERACTIVE CORP (CIK 0001088771)
Date: Oct. 3, 2005 · CIK: 0001088771 · Accession: 0000921895-05-001623
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OLSHAN
OLSHAN GRUNDMAN FROME ROSENZWEIG & WOLOSKY LLP
PARK AVENUE TOWER
65 EAST 55TH STREET
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10022
TELEPHONE: 212.451.2300
August 31, 2005 FACSIMILE: 212.451.2222
WWW.OLSHANLAW.COM
DIRECT DIAL: 212-451-2232
EMAIL: JATKINS@OLSHANLAW.COM
VIA FACSIMILE
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Ms. Cheryl Grant
Mail Stop 0407 (1 Station Place)
450 Fifth St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Facsimile No. (202) 772-9205
RE: LYNCH INTERACTIVE CORPORATION
AMENDED PRELIMINARY PROXY MATERIALS
Dear Ms. Anderson:
We are securities counsel to Lynch Interactive Corporation (the
"Company") and are submitting, on behalf of the Company, its responses to oral
comments we received from the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
"Commission") in a telephone conversation with you on August 26, 2005, relating
to the filing of the Company's amended preliminary proxy materials. Pursuant to
our telephone conversation with you, we are attaching only the relevant pages of
the Company's amended preliminary proxy statement (the "Amended Preliminary
Proxy Statement") as indicated below, marked to show changes from the last draft
that we filed on August 19, 2005 where applicable.
SCHEDULE 14A
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1. PLEASE SUBMIT THE PERFORMANCE GRAPH REQUIRED BY ITEM 402(E) OF
REGULATION S-K PROMULGATED UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF
1934, AS AMENDED (THE "ACT").
NEW JERSEY OFFICE
2001 ROUTE 46 / SUITE 202
PARSIPPANY, NEW JERSEY 07054
TELEPHONE: 973.335.7400
FACSIMILE: 973.335.8018
August 31, 2005
Page 2
This information appears in the clean Amended Preliminary Proxy
Statement; the relevant page of the clean version is attached hereto.
2. THERE ARE A FEW INSTANCES IN THE AMENDED PRELIMINARY PROXY STATEMENT
WHERE DISCLOSURES ARE MADE AS OF MARCH 31, 2005. PLEASE UPDATE ALL
SUCH DISCLOSURES TO REFLECT THE INFORMATION AS OF A MORE RECENT
DATE.
The Amended Preliminary Proxy Statement has been amended to update
this information, and all marked pages reflecting these changes are
attached hereto.
3. THROUGHOUT THE DOCUMENT, YOU REFER TO CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS AS
"FAIR." PLEASE INDICATE THAT THESE TRANSACTIONS ARE "SUBSTANTIVELY
AND PROCEDURALLY FAIR."
The Amended Preliminary Proxy Statement has been amended to reflect
this requested change, and all marked pages reflecting these changes
are attached hereto.
4. THE COMMISSION IS CONCERNED THAT THE COMPANY'S DECISION TO "GO DARK"
IS MOTIVATED BY A DIP IN THE PRICE OF THE COMPANY'S COMMON STOCK,
PAR VALUE $0.0001 PER SHARE (THE "COMMON STOCK"). PLEASE ELABORATE
ON THE REASONS THAT THE COMPANY IS DECIDING TO DELIST AND DEREGISTER
THE COMMON STOCK AT THIS TIME.
As indicated in the Amended Preliminary Proxy Statement, the
Company's choice to "go dark" at this time is motivated by the
imminent applicability to the Company of Section 404 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. We have highlighted the discussion of
this decision in the clean version of the Amended Preliminary Proxy
Statement and attached these pages for your reference. The Company's
decision to delist and deregister is unrelated to movements in the
price of the Common Stock.
CLOSING
We welcome a further discussion on any of our points addressed
within this response letter. I may be reached at (212) 451-2232.
Very truly yours,
/s/ Jessica L. Atkins
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Jessica L. Atkins
cc: Robert E. Dolan
John A. Cole
Paul Goldstein
David J. Adler
RESPONSE TO QUESTION #1
PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE GRAPH
The graph below compares the cumulative total stockholder return on
our Common Stock for the period January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2004, with
the cumulative total return over the same period on the broad market, as
measured by the American Stock Exchange Market Value Index, and on a peer group.
The peer group index is based on the total returns earned on the stock of the
publicly-traded companies included in the Media General Financial Services
database under SIC Code 4813, Telephone Communications, except Radio Telephone
(135 companies). The data presented in the graph assumes that $100 was invested
in our Common Stock and in each of the indexes on January 1, 2000 and that all
dividends were reinvested. The stock price performance shown on the following
graph is not necessarily indicative of future price performance.
[OBJECT OMITTED]
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RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS #2 AND #3
MARKED PAGES
As of August 26, 2005 there were approximately 2,752,251 shares of
our Common Stock outstanding and approximately 889 holders of record. As of such
date, approximately 690 holders of record held fewer than 100 shares of our
Common Stock. As a result, we believe that the reverse stock split will reduce
the number of our holders of record to approximately 200, while only reducing
the number of outstanding shares to approximately 27,410 (2,741,000 on a
pre-reverse stock split basis).
EFFECTS ON STOCKHOLDERS WITH FEWER THAN 100 SHARES OF COMMON STOCK
If the reverse stock split is implemented, stockholders holding
fewer than 100 shares of our Common Stock immediately before the reverse stock
split, sometimes referred to as Cashed Out Stockholders, will:
o not receive a fractional share of Common Stock as a result of the
reverse stock split;
o receive cash equal to the fair market value of the shares of our
Common Stock they held immediately before the reverse stock split in
accordance with the procedures described in this proxy statement;
o not be required to pay any service charges or brokerage commissions
in connection with the reverse stock split;
o not receive any interest on the cash payments made as a result of
the reverse stock split; and
o have no further ownership interest in our Corporation and no further
voting rights.
Cash payments to Cashed Out Stockholders as a result of the reverse
stock split will be subject to income taxation. For a discussion of the federal
income tax consequences of the reverse stock split, please see the section of
this proxy statement entitled "Material Federal Income Tax Consequences."
If you do not currently hold at least 100 shares of Common Stock in
a single account and you want to continue to hold shares of our Common Stock
after the reverse stock split, you may do so by taking any of the following
actions:
1. Purchasing a sufficient number of additional shares of our Common
Stock in the open market or privately and having them registered in
your name and consolidated with your current record account, if you
are a record holder, or having them entered in your account with a
nominee (such as your broker or bank) in which you hold your current
shares so that you hold at least 100 shares of our Common Stock in
your account immediately before the effective time of the reverse
stock split;
2. If you hold an aggregate of 100 or more shares in two or more
accounts, consolidating your accounts so that you hold at least 100
shares of our Common Stock in one account immediately before the
effective time of the reverse stock split; or
3. Transferring your shares into an account with a broker or bank so
that the shares are held in "street name," and if the nominee holds
at least 100 shares and does not receive instructions from you to
cash out your position, your beneficial interest will continue.
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ALTERNATIVE TRANSACTIONS CONSIDERED
In making the determination to submit the reverse stock split for
approval by our stockholders, our Board of Directors considered the feasibility
of certain other alternative transactions, as described below, each of which was
ultimately rejected because of its disadvantages:
o ISSUER TENDER OFFER. Our Board of Directors considered the
feasibility of an issuer tender offer to repurchase the shares of
our Common Stock held by our unaffiliated stockholders. A principal
disadvantage of this type of transaction relates to our ability to
secure the debt financing needed to effect a tender offer in which
there is full participation by unaffiliated stockholders. We
recently replaced our $5 million of line of credit from First
National Bank of Omaha with a $10 million line of credit from
Webster Bank, N.A. The purpose of this line of credit is to supply
us with needed working capital. Our Board does not believe, given
our leveraged capital structure, that additional debt is desirable
at this time, even if it could be obtained in amounts sufficient to
purchase the shares of every stockholder that might want to
participate. In addition, although the voluntary nature of such a
transaction is an advantage for our stockholders, we would have no
assurance that the transaction would result in a sufficient number
of shares being tendered. Finally, the going private rules regarding
the treatment of our stockholders in a tender offer, including
pro-rata acceptance of offers from our stockholders, make it
difficult to ensure that we would be able to significantly reduce
the number of holders of record to a level below 300.
o TRADITIONAL STOCK REPURCHASE PROGRAM. In September 1999, subsequent
to our spin-off from Lynch Corporation, the Board of Directors
authorized the purchase by the Corporation of up to 100,000 shares
of our Common Stock. Through January 5, 2005, when all purchases
stopped, the Corporation had purchased 72,700 shares at an average
price of $32.26 per share, with prices ranging from $20.10 on May 5,
2003 to $53.97 on January 28, 2002. Our Board of Directors
considered increasing the number of shares subject to this stock
repurchase plan. However, repurchasing enough shares in this manner
to enable us to deregister under the Exchange Act would likely take
an extended period of time, would have no assurance of success and
would be of indeterminate cost.
The Corporation was not considering going dark in September 1999
when it approved the repurchase plan and did not consider this step
until August 2004. Also, shares purchased since July 2004 were made
automatically pursuant to a non-discretionary arrangement until
January 5, 2005, when all purchases stopped.
The Corporation reserves the right to recommence purchases following
the reverse stock split under the present Board authorization and
has made no decision as to whether or not to ask the Board to
increase the number of shares authorized for purchase in the future.
o ODD-LOT REPURCHASE PROGRAM. Our Board of Directors also considered
the feasibility of a transaction in which we would announce to our
stockholders that we would repurchase, at a designated price per
share, the shares of our Common Stock held by any stockholder who
holds fewer than a specified number of shares and who offers such
shares for sale pursuant to the terms of the program. The voluntary
nature of such an approach would be an advantage for our
stockholders. However, because our stockholders would not be
required to participate in the program, we could not be certain at
the outset whether a sufficient number of odd-lot stockholders would
participate and thereby result in the number of holders of record
being reduced to below 300. In terms of timing, such a program,
especially after giving effect to any extensions of deadlines for
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tendering into the program, would likely necessitate a longer time
frame than that of the reverse stock split.
o MAINTAINING THE STATUS QUO. Our Board of Directors also considered
maintaining the status quo. In that case, we would continue to incur
the expenses of being a public reporting company without enjoying
the benefits traditionally associated with public reporting company
status.
Expense reductions may be achievable through centralization of
various functions (e.g., accounting, receivables and payables, etc.)
and moving financing activities up to the parent level. This
approach has always been rejected in favor of a decentralized
approach which maintains autonomy for management at the
Corporation's operating subsidiaries. Both management and the Board
of Directors believe this distinguishes the Corporation from its
competitors and makes it an attractive company to sell a privately
owned business to. Despite this, the Board of Directors recently
approved a $10 million capital budget for 2005, as compared to $22
million for 2004. However, the Corporation continues to face
significant cash expenditures in defending the Taylor False Claims
Act case disclosed in the Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K,
which expenditures to date are approximately $5,000,000. Although we
believe that this lawsuit is completely