Bull Street (A White Collar Crime Thriller) by David Lender

Author:David Lender [Lender, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612182261
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Published: 2011-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

NEW YORK CITY. “MAN, OH man,” Milner said aloud, sitting alone in his office, looking at his computer screen. All of the press reports—CNBC, Bloomberg, CNNMoney, Fortune, even those yahoos at Yahoo Finance—were universally negative on his Tentron bid. Tentron’s stock was trading at $41.50, well above his offer. That spoke volumes more than the press: market expects higher bid.

Sandy called him and said he was coming over. “You seen the press?” Milner said to him when he arrived.

“Like flies on dog shit.”

Milner sat back, hooked his hands behind his head. He said, “It’s odd, intentionally shooting myself in the foot. Against my instincts.”

“I agree. Why don’t you just get it over with and take out a full-page ad in the Journal that offers a $100 million reward to anybody that tops your bid.”

“Sanford F. Sharts, I’m surprised at you. Stooping to sarcasm.”

“You’re bringing out the worst in me, playing around with the public markets, risking both of our hides if the SEC finds out you’ve made a frivolous offer. That it’s to buy you time to figure out what to do about the shit you’ve stepped in.”

“It’s no different than bidding for something you don’t really want in a charity auction. Coaxing some jerk you can’t stand into the bidding, then running the price up on him so your favorite cause gets a higher price.”

“Since when is Walker your favorite cause?”

That stopped Milner. “Point taken.”

“Sitting around isn’t going to solve the core problem. Are you going to cop a plea or run?”

Well, that about summed it up. No hiding from Uncle Sandy. “I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to decide.”

“Just don’t get too cute. Remember you’ve got a fuse burning, and you don’t know how long it is.”

About ten minutes after Sandy left, Jack called and asked for a meeting. Milner said sure. It was like A Christmas Carol. He wondered when the next ghost would visit.

A half hour later when Jack got there, he didn’t even waste time grinning and preening himself before saying, “What’s going on with this half-assed bid?”

“Not much if you believe the press.”

“Quit screwing around. What’re you doing?”

“I’m trying to buy a company.”

“Doesn’t look that way to me.”

“No? I’ve spent a million bucks in fees and committed to six billion in financing. What does that look like to you?”

“At forty bucks a share? A wet fart. We’ve got a ton of capital at risk on this one. And not only that, we need the profits to shore up the firm, what with the losses we’re taking from this credit market meltdown.”

“So now I’m responsible for helping you address macroeconomics?”

“Don’t fuck with me. After you called him, Sir Reginald doubled down his position. Jeez, we own over 25% of the stock. If you pull out or blow it the stock will drop like a stone. It could bankrupt Walker. I’m not gonna let that happen.”

“You gonna dictate my deal tactics now?”

Jack just stared at him. Milner didn’t know if Jack was thinking of what to say next or was just trying to be intimidating.

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