[Witnesses sworn.] Mr. DINGELL. You may each consider yourself under oath. Mr. Hurwitz, who came up with the idea‹do you have a statement? TESTIMONY OF CHARLES HURWITZ, CHAIRMAN, MAXXAM CORP., ACCOMPANIED BY STUART EIZENSTAT, COUNSEL; AND JOHN CAMPBELL, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, PACIFIC LUMBER CO. Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir, I do. Mr. DINGELL. Then we will recognize you for a statement. Mr. HURWITZ. Mr. Chairman, I have a brief statement, and it is broken into two parts. Mr. DINGELL. That is entirely appropriate. Mr. HURWITZ. John Campbell will give the second part. Mr. DINGELL. Very well, Mr. Campbell will be recognized after we recognize you. Mr. HURWITZ. Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee. I am Charles Hurwitz, Chairman of the Board of MAXXAM Group, and I appear here this morning voluntarily in response to the subcommittee's letter of invitation to discuss the recent acquisition of The Pacific Lumber Co. by MAXXAM. I am accompanied by Stu Eizenstat, counsel, and Mr. John Campbell, Executive Vice President of Pacific Lumber for Forest Products Operations. Mr. Chairman, when MAXXAM learned of the subcommittee's interest in this transaction, we set out to be as cooperative and forthcoming as possible. We instructed our attorneys to meet with the subcommittee staff and indicate that we intended to cooperate fully. That meeting took place on Monday, September 28. We provided the staff with a briefing on the details of the transaction on Thursday, October 1. We had extensive telephone conferences with the staff that day, as well, and we provided other information. Throughout our extensive contact with the staff, we understood that the MAXXAM-Pacific Lumber transaction was being used as a kind of ³case study," to illuminate some of the important policy issues now before the Congress in its consideration of legislation governing the tender offer process. On Friday morning, I began receiving telephone calls from reporters seeking my reaction to reports of possible insider trading and other allegations in connection with this transaction. It became evident that the focus of this morning's hearing was going to be very different. It is difficult enough, Mr. Chairman, to prepare adequately in the time normally permitted for appearances such as this. The events I have just described have made that task even more difficult; very difficult in fact, given that this weekend was a holiday for many of us. Nevertheless, we have worked hard to prepare for today¹s hearing, and we will try to be as helpful as we can. MAXXAM was advised at every turn by highly competent and experienced legal counsel, and we complied with the Williams Act, the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and all other laws. As I will describe in a moment, there was some unusual movement in the price of Pacific Lumber stock. To my knowledge, however, no one at MAXXAM or any of the people working for us were responsible for leaking any information about this transaction or responsible for any illegal trading. Mr. Chairman, MAXXAM's acquisition of Pacific Lumber in late 1985 was good for the company, good for its shareholders, good for its employees, and good for the somewhat depressed North Coast California logging community. The all cash tender offer at $40 per share for all outstanding shares was at a 30-percent premium over the previous market price of Pacific Lumber shares. Among the shareholders profiting from this transaction were Pacific Lumber employees, community residents and thousands of others across the Nation. Since the merger, Pacific has added 300 new employees, with the result that some $10 million annually in additional employee compensation has been pumped into the local economy. Pacific has sold a cutting and welding subsidiary at a profit, just as Mr. Bertain suggested, and disposed of an unneeded headquarters facility in San Francisco. It made some $34 million in major capital expenditures in the Scotia area in 1986, and by the end of 1987, we expect to have made another $22 million in such expenditures. Pacific Lumber has cultivated timber in California since 1869. It now owns 194,000 acres of timberlands containing Douglas fir, coastal redwoods, and other timber species in Humboldt County, CA. Pacific Lumber is an institution that has contributed greatly to northern California in its 100-plus years of existence. It was not operating up to its potential, however, from the point of view of its shareholders and employees and the surrounding community. In response to Congressman Oxley, the tender offer document says that its intention was to double the current cut. MAXXAM's evaluation of possible acquisition candidates began in late 1984. MAXXAM has just sold its pattern business, and with the cash on hand, publicly announced that it was interested in purchasing acquisitions. At this point, Pacific Lumber was only one of several companies under review. The investment banking firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert began to analyze various forest products companies for MAXXAM, and Pacific Lumber was among the companies that Drexel Burnham included in its analysis. MAXXAM's attention was also drawn to Pacific because Pacific made an oversubscribed offer to purchase its own stock during September 1984. In addition to the work that MAXXAM itself did to analyze and evaluate acquisition candidates, MAXXAM also found that many of the large Wall Street investment banking firms were calling to offer their services in helping MAXXAM to find appropriate acquisition candidates. While Drexel Burnham was doing its analysis concerning the merits of various investments or potential acquisition candidates, MAXXAM was itself raising additional funds and looking at other potential candidates. In May 1985, MAXXAM raised $150 million with an offering of high-yield securities which was intended, as was disclosed at the time, to finance future acquisitions. We raised this money in part so that we could increase the amount of cash we could pay to the shareholders of any company for which we decided to make a tender offer. MAXXAM was then approached by representatives of AMF, Inc., to explore whether MAXXAM would be interested in acquiring that company. After retaining the investment banking firm of Shearson Lehman Brothers to assist us, we made an offer to AMF¹s board to commence a tender offer to be followed by a merger. In the middle of June, we were outbid by another company. Had the AMF transaction been consummated, it is highly unlikely that we would have acquired Pacific Lumber afterwards. Having lost our bid, we began to focus in more detail on Pacific Lumber. Looking at Pacific Lumber, we saw a company with little debt, no concentration of ownership, and some timber assets that appeared to be essentially free from foreign competition. Starting on June 24,1985, MAXXAM began to purchase shares. As a result of our lawyers' analysis of Pacific Lumber's charter and bylaws, we concluded that MAXXAM should keep its purchases of Pacific Lumber stock under 5 percent. We came to that conclusion because under these corporate provisions, it was more difficult to consummate a merger after the tender offer if the acquiror owned more than 5 percent of Pacific Lumber's outstanding shares before the Board approved this merger. In that event, a super-majority vote of 80 percent of the shareholders and the Board would have been required to approve the merger. Pacific Lumber's charter and bylaws thus contained a defense mechanism against a takeover. We therefore made a conscious decision to keep our holdings of Pacific Lumber below 5 percent, and in fact, we owned less than 5 percent of the stock until we purchased shares pursuant to the tender offer. By August 1985, MAXXAM had purchased approximately 450,000 shares of Pacific Lumber. MAXXAM stopped at that level to permit us to continue to evaluate the feasibility and desirability of the transaction, and because under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Act, MAXXAM could not purchase shares valued at more than $15 million without obtaining antitrust clearance. There were, of course, no antitrust issues in this transaction, since MAXXAM owned no forest products assets. Nevertheless, we were careful to comply with this law. In early August 1985, I had discussions with Jefferies & Co. concerning the possibility of entering into a put/call option agreement with Jefferies for the purchase of a block of approximately 500,000 shares of Pacific Lumber stock. I learned from them for the first time of this option technique when Jefferies and Minstar used it in the AMF transaction in which MAXXAM had been an unsuccessful bidder. We were advised by our attorneys that MAXXAM could, consistent with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, enter into a Minstar-type option agreement for the purchase of an additional block of Pacific Lumber shares. I therefore told Jefferies that if he could accumulate a block of approximately 500,000 shares of Pacific Lumber stock, we were interested in entering into this type of an option arrangement, subject to an agreement when the time came on the price and other terms of sale. Sometime during the week of September 23, Jefferies indicated that he had accumulated the block of stock we had discussed. He told me that he would be willing to sell the shares at $29.10. I told him that the price was acceptable, but that he should send over a draft of the option agreement to our attorneys so that the other terms of the agreement could be worked out. Jefferies' attorneys, in fact, sent us a form of a proposed option agreement, without names or certain other terms, late in the day on Thursday, September 26. That document, however, called for a representation that there were no plans for a tender offer for Pacific Lumber. We could not make that representation, of course. On Friday, September 27, we told Jefferies that we would be unable to enter into the option agreement on the terms he proposed Instead, we proposed that MCO holdings and MAXXAM would buy shares outright at the $29.10 price. Jefferies agreed, and as a result of the purchases on that day, MCO and MAXXAM owned a total of approximately 4.6 percent of Pacific Lumber Co.'s outstanding shares, while neither entity owned shares with a market value of more than $15 million. I think it may be helpful to the subcommittee to clarify the way in which these purchases were made. First, our purchases of Pacific Lumber shares were always under 5 percent of the total shares outstanding. That includes the shares purchases from Jefferies. We were never in a posture that would have required the filing of a Schedule 13D. Second, until we agreed to purchase the shares on September 27, we did not own or control them. Third, we were advised by our attorneys that MAXXAM could enter into an option agreement, like that employed in Minstar and in many other subsequent transactions, consistent with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. We were also advised by our attorneys that MCO and MAXXAM could have purchased the shares outright, as they subsequently did. This arrangement, we were told by our attorneys, complied with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and all other applicable laws. And when our offer was announced, we made all filings appropriate under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act in a timely manner and obtained the necessary clearance under that statute before purchasing any shares pursuant to our tender offer. On Thursday, September 26, 1985, as the lawyers and investment and commercial bankers were working on the papers to structure the terms of the offer, the price of Pacific Lumber shares suddenly jumped from approximately $29 per share to $33 per share in the last hours of trading. This price jump has raised concerns about possible insider trading. I share those concerns. Insider trading is illegal and distorts the market. MAXXAM and I remain vitally interested in the results of any governmental investigation relating to improper trading in Pacific Lumber shares. If there has been any illegal trading, we will of course consider proceeding on our own against the individuals involved. All of us at MAXXAM were highly disturbed by the price jump, to say the least, and it nearly caused us to abort our bid, which we had planned to announce on Tuesday, October 1. Considering that there were roughly 21 million shares of Pacific Lumber stock then outstanding, the price jump may have cost MAXXAM upwards of $60 million. In preparing for the tender offer, we had maintained strict confidentiality, and we tried to limit the people who knew the name of the target company to those who needed to know to help us effect the transaction. We were also concerned that if there had in fact been a leak, the market would run away from us when it reopened on Friday morning. Hurricane Gloria hit New York, however, and the stock exchange did not open. MAXXAM had a reprieve, and we decided to take advantage of that Friday and the weekend to prepare to announce our offer the following Monday, September 30, 1985, before the markets reopened, thereby moving up by 1 day the time of the proposed tender offer. In light of interest that has recently been expressed, I want to state that I do not recall ever discussing Pacific Lumber stock as an investment with Stanley Cohen, although it is possible that the company's name may have come up in a conversation between us about a number of different investments. I know for a certainty that I never told or suggested in any way, shape or form to Mr. Cohen, or indeed anyone else, that MAXXAM was contemplating making a tender offer for Pacific Lumber shares. I did not hear that Transcontinental Services Group or anyone affiliated with it might have purchased shares prior to our tender offer until long after the tender offer, when we received regulatory inquiries mentioning its name. I would like to turn over, Mr. Chairman, if I may, the second half of this to John Campbell. Thank you. Mr. DINGELL. MR. Campbell. [see TESTIMONY OF JOHN CAMPBELL] The Chair is going to recognize himself first. Mr. Hurwitz, who came up with the idea of taking over Pacific Lumber‹was it you or was it some other person such as Drexel Burnham Lambert? Mr. HURWITZ. Mr. Chairman, I think it was probably a combination. I have looked, I am somewhat of a student of companies that are listed on the various national exchanges‹I have had an interest in the forest product industry for some period of time. In our New York office, another gentleman, not myself, did ask a fellow named Bob Quirk, who was a security analyst in the forest product industry at Drexel Burnham Lambert to look at the industry for us, and it was one of, I think, 8 to 10 companies that was in the list, and out of that, Pacific Lumber is the one that was eventually picked. Mr. DINGELL. You are saying you came up with the idea you were to take over forest products company, and then Drexel Burnham Lambert identified it for you? Mr. HURWITZ. I wouldn't say that we came up with the idea that we were going to take one over. It was an industry that we had an interest in. We were trying to get more familiar, and we asked Drexel Burnham to do some work in that industry. Mr. DINGELL. To identify a company in which you might acquire an interest? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. They did not come up and pick out Pacific Lumber and say, this is the most attractive. They gave us a list, and I think combined that we determined that Pacific Lumber was an attractive company. Mr. DINGELL. They said it was a good company? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes sir. Mr. DINGELL. Did you then decide to take the company over? Mr. HURWITZ. A lot goes in between there. There are a lot of companies that look interesting. We look at many of them. Mr. DINGELL. There were others who were involved in this judgment? Mr. HURWITZ. Well, sir, during this period of time, as I testified, we almost took over AMF and we were asked by the company to come in, and they had someone else trying to take it over, and we came, I think, within maybe 25 cents a share of being a successful owner of that company. Mr. DINGELL. Now, who all participated in that judgment when it was made‹just you or did Drexel Burnham Lambert participate in the judgment? Mr. HURWITZ. We had a fellow in New York, and he spent most of his time, a fellow named Robert Rosen, and most of this work, virtually all of it was done in New York City. Mr. DINGELL. Did any of the other companies that you own or have interest in participate in those judgments? Mr. HURWITZ. No, sir, other than myself. Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Hurwitz, the documents provided to the subcommittee by the Irving Trust Co. show that a great deal of effort was expended by MAXXAM to keep secret the identify of the target company, Pacific Lumber. Is that level of secrecy in a takeover attempt such as Pacific Lumber the normal and orderly course, or does it go beyond the orderly course of acquisitions? Mr. HURWITZ. I do want to say, Mr. Chairman, that this is the only hostile takeover that I have personally ever been involved with. Now that I have said that, I think there is secrecy and should be, and I know that we went to great lengths to make sure that no one was involved that didn't have to be involved. And one of the things we did is we tried to do what we call a timber put with Lloyd¹s of London, and my personal largest concern was that they¹d have to take the company over there to Lloyd's and disclose it to people that we didn't know, and that had a great deal of concern. Mr. DINGELL. Can you tell us why such secrecy is necessary to accomplish a takeover on financial terms that are favorable to the acquiring company? Mr. HURWITZ. Mr. Chairman, I think what would happen if the information got out, that the stock would probably go up, and it would go up to a point where it would not be economically feasible to take over the company. Mr. DINGELL. Are there legal requirements that takeover of the company be kept secret until a public announcement of the takeover is made? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. I don't think that legally you can announce that you are taking over a company unless you have the financing and documents ready to do so. Mr. DINGELL. What are the statutory requirements that require that the name of the target company be kept secret until the takeover process commences? Mr. HURWITZ. I am not a lawyer and I don't know that I can quote that. Mr. DINGELL. As a matter of fact, you are not aware of any, are you? Mr. HURWITZ. It is my understanding that you are not supposed to disclose anything, particularly if you are going to make a takeover of a company. Mr. DINGELL. On what basis? Mr. HURWITZ. I would guess to avoid insider trading. Mr. DINGELL. That is only to avoid insider trading, but if you announce it publicly, everybody knows. Mr. HURWITZ. Yes Sir. Mr. DINGELL. Then what is the purpose of the secrecy in this case? Was it to avoid insider trading problems? Was it to avoid alerting the target company? Was it to comply with some particular statute-you were obviously advised by lawyers. Why did your lawyers advise you to maintain this high level of secrecy? Mr. HURWITZ. Well, certainly for the reasons you mentioned, to avoid insider trading and two, I assume, having the company not know about it until you are ready. Mr. DINGELL. You didn't want the company to know about it? Mr. HURWITZ. No, Sir. Mr. DINGELL. According to the time line prepared by your company, the takeover of Pacific Lumber was considered and studied by MAXXAM for a period of about 10 months, from December 1984 until public announcement of a tender offer on September 30, 1985. The effort by MAXXAM involved company firms of MAXXAM and it involved persons at Drexel Burnham Lambert, and it also involved personnel at at least three law firms; is that correct? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, Sir. Mr. DINGELL. Can you tell us what procedures were used to keep secret the identify of Pacific Lumber as a takeover target? Mr. HURWITZ. Well, I don't know that I can tell you the exact procedures except we were certainly advised all along the way that insider trading would be bad for this, and that we shouldn't talk to anyone about the possibility of taking over the company, plus the fact is that we didn't know until right at the end whether we were ever going to make a tender offer for it. Mr. DINGELL. Were there ever any written instructions made in your company or by letter to any of your associates or the other companies that were associated with your corporation or with regard to the lawyers with regard to this point, or did the lawyers ever make any responses to you with regard, or to any of the other corporations, with regard to silence on these points? Mr. HURWITZ. No, Sir, not that I recall. Mr. DINGELL. When was the decision made that MAXXAM would attempt a takeover of Pacific Lumber? Mr. HURWITZ. You mean what date? Mr. DINGELL. Yes, Sir. Mr. HURWITZ. We worked on it in late August and all the way through September. Mr. DINGELL. This is of 1984 or 1985? Mr. HURWITZ. This is 1985. And we didn't know until approximately that time whether it was even a good candidate, and we had gone out and had a new cruise made to see if it was something we really had an interest in. Mr. DINGELL. Did you buy any Pacific Lumber stock before the decision to actually effect a takeover was made? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir, we did. Mr. DINGELL. Can you tell us how much stock you purchased and on what date? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. I think we purchased approximately 450,000 shares-- Mr. DINGELL. That was bought on what date? Mr. HURWITZ. I am checking here. We started buying in June. I am trying to see when we finished here. Mr. DINGELL. You say that began in June? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. DINGELL. And when was it completed? Mr. HURWITZ. I think in early August. Mr. DINGELL. Now, can you tell us when the decision was made to commit MAXXAM to the takeover, and how was a decision made? Mr. HURWITZ. Well, I think that we worked on financing. You mentioned Irving Trust. We had a lot of conversations with them, and they had to tell us whether, in fact, they could put together a bank syndicate. You mentioned that we went to great lengths to make sure it didn't leak out of Irving Trust. We asked them not to contact other banks during that period of time, even though we had to disclose the name of Pacific Lumber to them. Mr. DINGELL. When did those discussions with Irving Trust take place? Mr. HURWITZ. I think those were in September. Mr. DINGELL. September. Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. DINGELL. Like what day in September. Mr. HURWITZ. Mr. Chairman, I am searching for it. I did not have those conversations with Irving Trust. They were done all in New York, and I was in Houston. Mr. DINGELL. Would it be fair to say that you actually began your discussions with Irving Trust as early as August 23? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir, that is certainly possible. Mr. DINGELL. So that is before September. Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. I didn't know the date. Mr. DINGELL. And those discussions continued through August, through October 2? Mr. HURWITZ. Again, I don't know the dates on that. Mr. DINGELL. What were the initial discussions with Irving Trust? Mr. HURWITZ. Again, I didn't attend any of those meetings with Irving Trust. Maybe I attended one. But all of the negotiations were handled in New York, and I think the conversations were: "Would they be willing to put up some type of loan to take over Pacific Lumber?" Mr. DINGELL. Did you make those discussions? Mr. HURWITZ. Did I personally? Mr. DINGELL. Yes. Mr. HURWITZ. No, sir. Mr. DINGELL. Who did? Mr. HURWITZ. It was handled by Robert Rosen and Glen Kassan. Mr. DINGELL. Robert Rosen, who is he please? Mr. HURWITZ. Vice Chairman of the Board of MAXXAM. Mr. DINGELL. Could you identify the persons at MAXXAM and other organizations under control of yourself or MAXXAM who knew Pacific Lumber was a takeover target prior to the public announcement? Mr. HURWITZ. You said inside of MAXXAM? Mr. DINGELL. Yes, sir. Who were at MAXXAM or associated with MAXXAM or you who knew of the takeover? Mr. HURWITZ. Lillian Affinito, she was President of MAXXAM. I mentioned Robert Rosen, he was Vice Chairman; Glen Kassan, he was the Chief Financial Officer. Mr. DINGELL. Could you give us the dates on which they became aware also, if you please? Mr. HURWITZ. I don't know, sir. Mr. DINGELL You don't know the dates? Mr. HURWITZ. No. Mr. DINGELL. Who else at MAXXAM or in companies associated with MAXXAM knew this? Mr. HURWITZ. There were two other people in MAXXAM's office, a fellow named Walter Fitzgerald and Seth Mandel. Mr. DINGELL. Who else. Mr. HURWITZ. I believe that is it at MAXXAM, in MCO holdings. Mr. DINGELL. You said Owens? Mr. HURWITZ. No, sir. No, sir. MCO holdings, another company. We have MCO holdings, Dr. William Leone, Bill Leone knew. Mr. DINGELL. When did that company, and who were the officers in that company who became aware of this? Mr. HURWITZ. We had a Board of Directors meeting in July. Mr. DINGELL. July? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. And we informed the Board that we were looking at Pacific Lumber, and the Board of Directors knew we were looking at it, but they also knew that we were interested in other things as well. It was very preliminary. So the Board of Directors of MAXXAM, as well . Would you like those names, sir? Mr. DINGELL. If you would read them quickly please. Mr. HURWITZ. George Kosmetsky, David Lerner, John Sands, Bob Johnson, and the other names I had already mentioned knew about it. Mr. DINGELL. MCO holdings is an affiliate of MAXXAM? Mr. HURWITZ. No, sir, MCO holdings owned at the time approximately 37 percent of MAXXAM. Mr. DINGELL. So they are part owner of MAXXAM? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. DINGELL. Thirty-seven percent? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir, approximately 37 percent. And there were some other people at MCO holdings that knew. Jim Iaco, the Chief Financial Officer; and Paul Schwartz, Senior Vice President; and Howard Bressler, General Counsel. Mr. DINGELL. They were all aware of that? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. DINGELL. The Chair notes that my time has expired. I will return to these questions later. The gentleman from Oregon. I am sorry, the Chair is going to recognize the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Bliley. Mr. BLILEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Hurwitz, how did MAXXAM intend to go about undertaking the tender offer? Mr. HURWITZ. We announced it was an all-cash offer for 100 percent of the shares. Mr. BLILEY. Was the first step to acquire a stake in Pacific Lumber without public disclosure? Mr. HURWITZ. I didn't get the last part. Mr. BLILEY. Was the first step in this takeover process to acquire a stake in Pacific Lumber without public disclosure? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. BLILEY. How big a stake did you intend to acquire? Mr. HURWITZ. We decided we did not want to go over 5 percent of the bylaws and that triggered 80 percent of the people who had to vote for the merger. So what we wanted to accomplish is to buy up to 5 percent. Mr. BLILEY. How did you go about acquiring the shares, how did MAXXAM go about acquiring the shares? Mr. HURWITZ. Sir, it involves approximately 450,000 shares, and in late‹ Mr. BLILEY. Who bought the shares? Mr. HURWITZ. MAXXAM Group purchased them. Mr. BLILEY. On the open market? Mr. HURWITZ. They bought 450,000 shares in the open market, yes, sir, and then‹ Mr. BLILEY. What brokerage houses handled the accounts? Mr. HURWITZ. I just don't recall, sir. I know Drexel Burnham purchased some shares, sir, and there may have been other brokers. Mr. BLILEY. But you don't know who, and you don't know how many? Mr. HURWITZ. I don't recall at this time. Mr. BLILEY. Will you provide that for the record? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. [See appendix A, p. 141.] Mr. BLILEY. Thank you. When were the shares purchased? When did it begin, and when did they end? Mr. HURWITZ. June 24 is when we started purchasing, and sometime in early August that 450,000 shares was purchased. Mr. BLILEY. That accounts for about half of the 994,300 shares that MAXXAM owned on the day the tender offer was announced. What about the rest? Mr. HURWITZ. Well, the balance of that, sir, was purchased in late September, of which MCO holding bought approximately 500,000 shares, slightly less than that. Mr. BLILEY. Is not MCO holding under your control, Mr. Hurwitz? Mr. HURWITZ. Sir, I am the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, yes, sir. Mr. BLILEY. And the bulk of those 494,900 shares were purchased from one seller? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. BLILEY. The date of that sale? Mr. HURWITZ. I think that was September 27. Mr. BLILEY. Were they purchased from Jefferies and Co.? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. BLILEY. How did the sale come to take place? In other words, how did MCO know Jefferies had this large block of Pacific Lumber sales? Mr. HURWITZ. In early August, I talked with Jefferies and Co. and told them that I had an interest in purchasing approximately 500,000 shares of stock under a put-and-call option agreement. And subject to the terms of that agreement and the price and the number of shares that I had an interest in doing that, and I became aware of that in the transaction with AMF. They had done that transaction with the other party, a company called Minstar, so I asked them if they would do such a transaction. They said that they would. Their lawyers, on August, I think August 5, contacted our lawyers, and our lawyers informed me that this type of transaction was legal, and if we wanted to, we could certainly enter into such an agreement. I talked to Jefferies, I told him that, and told him if in fact he could show us a large block of stock‹ Mr. BLILEY. You talked to Jefferies personally? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. BLILEY. Do you remember what day? Mr. HURWITZ. No, sir. It was in early August. Mr. BLILEY. It was in August, 1985? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. BLILEY. How much did you pay Jefferies for those shares on September 27? Mr. HURWITZ. $29.10. Mr. BLILEY. How was this price arrived at? Mr. HURWITZ. From the time that I originally talked to Jefferies and told him that I had an interest in this put-call option, which my lawyers reviewed and said it was legal, and that many people were doing them, I talked to Jefferies during that period of time, and he did inform me in late September that he had in fact approximately 500,000 shares of stock, and I told him would he please send the documents under such arrangements to our lawyers, and that we would like in fact to enter into such an agreement; and he told me at that time that his, the price would be $29.10 a share, which was the approximate market at that time. They did, in fact, send the papers over to my lawyers, and the lawyers looked at it, and they found that there was a great deal of difficulty and the difficulty came that in the agreement that Jefferies sent over, it said that they would not enter into such agreement if there was a contemplated tender offer. Mr. BLILEY. I am aware of that in your other testimony. Were you aware at any time that Jefferies was buying stock himself? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. BLILEY. At what point? Mr. HURWITZ. During this period from August he had mentioned from time to time that he may be purchasing stock with the idea, and we told him that we certainly had an interest in a large‹500,000 shares, roughly 500,000 shares if he could give it to us under this option agreement at the right price. Mr. BLILEY. Now, you bought this on September 27 at $29.10 a share. Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. BLILEY. Do you know that the stock actually closed that day at $33 a share? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. The market was closed that date Congressman, as you know. Mr. BLILEY. You got quite a deal. Mr. HURWITZ. Well, sir, when I talked to Jefferies earlier that week, we had determined the price, and we were riding in agreement. That was the price we had agreed to. Mr. BLILEY. Mr. Jefferies, I am sure, had been involved in these type operations a lot of times. I can't understand why a knowledgeable player, such as Mr. Jefferies, would be willing to sell you this large block of shares at $29.10 in a rapidly rising market. Do you know? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir, I do know that he had agreed with me earlier that week that we were going to attempt to do this put-call arrangement, which I mentioned to you, and that was the price that was going to be in it. Mr. BLILEY. But did you actually do a put-call or did you do a straight sale? Mr. HURWITZ. We had found out we couldn't do the put-call, and so we called him up, I asked my lawyers what alternatives we had, and they said the other alternative which we had discussed all along was for MCO holdings just to purchase the shares, and by doing that, that they would enter into an agreement with MAXXAM in case we were unsuccessful in the tender offer that it would be for a sum of the costs. Mr. BLILEY. Did you have any explicit or implicit agreement with Boyd Jefferies to acquire and hold Pacific Lumber stock for you., Mr. HURWITZ. No, sir. Mr. BLILEY. I would be happy to yield, Mr. Chairman. Mr. DINGELL. In your statement, you said, ³This arrangement, we were told by our attorneys, complied with the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and all other applicable laws. When our offer was announced, we made all filings appropriate under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and obtained the necessary clearance under that statute before purchasing any shares pursuant to our tender offer.² Is that correct? Mr. HURWITZ. Yes, sir. Mr. DINGELL. You also said earlier, ³We were advised by our attorneys that MAXXAM could enter into an option agreement like that employed in Minstar and in many other subsequent transactions consistent with Scott-Hart-Rodino. We were also advised by our attorneys MCO and MAXXAM could have purchased the shares outright², as they subsequently did. Did you function then under an option arrangement, or did you function by simply purchasing outright? Mr. HURWITZ. MCO purchased the shares outright. Mr. DINGELL. Now, why did you purchase them at $29 a share when the market price was $33 or $34 a share? Mr. HURWITZ. MCO purchased the shares outright. Mr. DINGELL. Now, why did you purchase them at $29 a share when the market price was $33 or $34 a sham? Mr. HURWITZ. I talked to Mr. Jefferies earlier that week and told him that we wanted to go ahead with the put-call option arrangement. Mr. DINGELL. And did you go through with the put-call option arrangement? Mr. HURWITZ. He sent the papers, and when we found out in the papers there was a statement we couldn't sign and that statement was, if we were contemplating a tender offer, he wouldn't do that, we had not seen that before in the papers. Mr. DINGELL. He said that he wouldn't do it or couldn't do it, which? Mr. HURWITZ. I don't know. I just know that it was in the papers Mr. DINGELL. He may have said he wouldn't and he may have said he couldn't. Now, the question is: Which did he say? Mr. HURWITZ. My attorneys talked to him. Mr. DINGELL. He probably said he couldn't because it was illegal. Isn't that right? Mr. HURWITZ. I don't know that. Nor do I-- Mr. DINGELL. It is possible it was an illegal arrangement, is it not? Mr. HURWITZ. Possible what? Mr. DINGELL. It is possible that it was an illegal arrangement, and that is the reason he said he wouldn't or couldn't, isn't that right? Mr. HURWITZ. No, this was a sample of other documents that he had used before. Mr. DINGELL. He couldn't‹if he was going to make you or himself disclose the arrangement, that was one of the things in the agreement he asked you to sign, is that not so? Mr. HURWITZ. If we had signed the document, it certainly would have been disclosable. The fact we purchased the stock, that was also disclosable. Mr. DINGELL. The gentleman's time has expired.