- 10 -
Willes opened the special meeting of the board of directors
by noting that market consolidation in legal publishing presented
immediate strategic questions that needed to be evaluated fully.
Willes and Kathryn M. Downing, a corporate officer of Times
Mirror, then presented a lengthy review of the situation and the
issues to be addressed. Following this presentation, there was a
substantive discussion among the board of directors. At the
conclusion of this discussion, the board of directors unanimously
instructed Times Mirror’s management to proceed with a formal
review of the company’s options with respect to its ownership of
Bender and its joint ownership of Shepard’s.
C. Times Mirror’s Announcement Sparks Interest by Reed and
Wolters Kluwer
On November 24, 1997, Times Mirror released a statement to
the public that announced the company’s decision to explore
strategic alternatives with respect to its ownership of Bender
and its joint ownership of Shepard’s. After Times Mirror made
this announcement, Reed, Wolters Kluwer, and many others
expressed an interest in acquiring Bender.
Parties that indicated an interest in Bender were initially
sent a standard confidentiality agreement. These confidentiality
agreements set out the ground rules for obtaining confidential
information in connection with a possible sale or other
disposition of Bender. On December 26, 1997, Times Mirror and
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011