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K. Sale Discussions With Minnetonka
Another suitor of JPMS was Minnetonka Corp. (Minnetonka), a
publicly traded company. Robert Taylor was Minnetonka's president
and chief executive officer. Mr. Taylor co-founded Minnetonka in
1961 and took the company public in 1968.
Minnetonka was involved in consumer product brands, primarily
those that were sold through the department store, gift, or beauty
trade. Minnetonka was the licensee for Calvin Klein and created
Obsession and Eternity women's fragrances. In addition, Minnetonka
created Foltene, a treatment used in the beauty salon business for
fine and thinning hair, a product line for home fragrance, and a
gift soap product line for department stores.
In 1990, Mr. Taylor started a salon-only hair products
company, Graham Webb International, which grew to $25 million in
sales in 5 years. From 1992 or 1993 to approximately 1995, Mr.
Taylor was on the board of directors of Banker's Trust Venture
Capital Fund in New York (Bankers Trust), which specializes in
providing funds for small businesses or recapitalization funds.7
7 Bankers Trust had $200 million to invest in
recapitalizations or buyouts that it used primarily for companies
in the $5 million to $100 million range. During his tenure with
Bankers Trust, Mr. Taylor reviewed approximately 100 proposals
for the use of this money.
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