In the Matter of Cts Corp.

428 N.E.2d 794, 1981 Ind. App. LEXIS 1751
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 2, 1981
Docket2-1280-A-430, 2-181-A-27
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 428 N.E.2d 794 (In the Matter of Cts Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In the Matter of Cts Corp., 428 N.E.2d 794, 1981 Ind. App. LEXIS 1751 (Ind. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

BUCHANAN, Chief Judge.

CASE SUMMARY

CTS Corporation (CTS) appeals from the determination of the Securities Commissioner of the State of Indiana (Commissioner) that Dynamics Corporation of America (DCA) had not engaged in any act or practice constituting a violation of the Indiana Business Take-Over Offers Act (I.C. 23-2-3-1 et seq.) with respect to DCA’s acquisition of CTS stock, claiming, inter alia, that the Commissioner’s conclusion is not supported by the evidence and is contrary to law, and that the Commissioner erred in refusing to reopen the record to receive additional evidence.

We affirm.

FACTS

The facts most favorable to the determination of the Commissioner are as follows:

CTS is an Indiana corporation with its principal place of business located in Elk-hart. CTS manufactures electronic components. DCA is a corporation chartered by the state of New York, with its principal place of business in Greenwich, Connecticut. DCA deals in air distribution and environmental equipment, fabricated metal products, and electronics equipment.

CTS is a publicly held corporation, with about 4,392,153 outstanding shares of common stock which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Commencing August 8, 1980, DCA started buying CTS stock. By November 6, 1980, DCA held 455,400 shares of CTS, or 10.37% of the outstanding stock. The purchases of the stock were made in the following amounts through the following brokers:

Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith 5,000
Paine, Webber, Jackson & Curtis 4,700
Hertzfeld & Stern 7,500
Mosely, Hallgarten, Estabrook & Weeden 30,000
A. G. Becker, Inc. 45,100
Dean Witter Reynolds 142,400
Jefferies & Co. 220,700

During the period in question, DCA corporate officers made the decisions as to whether to buy CTS stock offered to their corporation by the various brokers listed above. Such decisions were based upon a number of factors, including market forecasts, the price of a given offering, the size of a given offering, and DCA’s cash or credit situation.

By October 13, 1980 DCA had acquired enough CTS stock to necessitate the filing *796 of a Schedule 13D pursuant to federal law. 1 In that statement DCA asserted that it “may wish to acquire CTS or control of CTS,” and that it “expects to acquire additional shares of CTS stock in the future through open market or privately negotiated transactions.” (Commissioner’s Finding of Fact Number 28).

Before the market opened on October 13, CTS issued a press release which was carried on the wire services. It stated that CTS had been informed of DCA’s planned filing of the Schedule 13D, and that CTS would “determine whether any action by CTS is required or advisable” after receipt and review of the Schedule. (R. Vol. V at 2714.) Additionally, at about this time the Elkhart Truth, a local newspaper, carried articles alluding to the possibility to a tender offer being made for CTS stock.

In response to the CTS press release run earlier in the day of October 13, DCA issued a press release announcing that it had in fact filed a Schedule 13D and substantially re-iterated the portion of the Schedule stating DCA’s intentions: “DCA may in the future wish to acquire CTS or control of CTS but it has no present intention of doing either.” (R. Vol. IV at 1980-81.)

On October 15, 1980 CTS issued a press release stating that the purchase by DCA of 7.9% of CTS’s stock “is not in the best interest of CTS and its shareholders.” (R. Vol. IV at 1783.) DCA responded the following day with a press release stating that it would continue to purchase CTS stock when market conditions were favorable, and reaffirmed the statements made in its Schedule 13D and earlier press release: “We’re standing by everything we said earlier this week.” (R. Vol. V at 2650.)

On October 17, 1980 CTS issued a release stating that the Indiana Securities Commissioner had issued a cease and desist order prohibiting further purchases by DCA of CTS stock until DCA complied with the requirements of the Indiana Business TakeOver Act, and also announced CTS’s filing of a federal suit against DCA in the Northern District of Indiana.

On October 24, 1980, DCA filed Amendment Number 1 to its Schedule 13D, reflecting DCA’s acquisition of 97,100 additional shares of CTS stock.

Despite the Commissioner’s ex parte cease and desist order issued October 16, 1980, DCA, on the advice of legal counsel, continued to purchase CTS stock. City Investing Co. v. Simcox (7th Cir. 1980) 633 F.2d 56 was handed down on October 17, 1980. In that case, the Seventh Circuit held that the issuance, by the Commissioner, of ex parte orders violates the Indiana TakeOver Act’s “explicit prohibition against such action.” Id. at 58. The Commissioner, on November 10, 1980, followed Simcox, supra, and vacated the October 16 cease and desist order. (R. Vol. III at 1058.)

A hearing was held before the Commissioner on November 10 and 11, 1980. CTS and DCA both presented extensive evidence regarding their conduct. Much of the hearing and a great deal of CTS’s subsequent appellate argument focuses on the actions of Jefferies & Co. (Jefferies), a broker *797 through whom DCA acquired about half of the CTS stock it possessed at the time of the hearing. CTS sought to establish that the conduct of Jefferies personnel in offering to buy relatively large blocks of CTS stock from various investors, coupled with DCA’s generally acquisitive course of conduct, constituted a “creeping tender offer,” and was thus violative of the Indiana Business Take-Over Act.

In support of his Conclusions of Law the Commissioner made detailed findings of fact, setting forth much of the activity occurring within the DCA and CTS corporate structures, as well as the actions of Jeffer-ies in attempting to supply DCA with CTS stock. Because the findings are detailed and voluminous, we do not reproduce them here. Based upon the findings of fact, the Commissioner entered the following Conclusions of Law and Final Order:

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The Commissioner has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this controversy pursuant to the provisions of the Act, Ind.Code § 23-2-3-1 et seq.
2. CTS is a “target company” as that term is defined in Section l(j) of the Act.
3.

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428 N.E.2d 794, 1981 Ind. App. LEXIS 1751, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-matter-of-cts-corp-indctapp-1981.