How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Nearly bankrupt ten years ago, Uni<strong>on</strong> Texas Petroleum<br />
is now flush with profits <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> the trail<br />
of 1 billi<strong>on</strong> barrels of oil .<br />
Elephant hunter<br />
By T<strong>on</strong>i Mack<br />
ON JULY 1, 1984 Clark Johns<strong>on</strong> was<br />
named chief esecud ve of Uni<strong>on</strong> Texas<br />
Petroleum Holdings . He didn't<br />
celebrate for l<strong>on</strong>g . Three days later<br />
Johns<strong>on</strong> «'as told that his parent company,<br />
the old Allied Corp„ wanted to<br />
start cashing out of Uni<strong>on</strong> Texas .<br />
Unless Johns<strong>on</strong> could find some<strong>on</strong>e<br />
to buy half of Uni<strong>on</strong> Texas, Allied<br />
would sell the whole company, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
Johns<strong>on</strong> would be out of a job .<br />
Thus began eight tumultuous e'ears<br />
during which Johns<strong>on</strong> fought to save<br />
not <strong>on</strong>ly his job bu t Uni<strong>on</strong> Texas, too .<br />
In July 1985 he c<strong>on</strong>vinced Kohlberg<br />
Kravis Roberts & Co . to pay Allied<br />
S250 milli<strong>on</strong> for 50% ofli ni<strong>on</strong> Texas .<br />
KKR, of course, financed the deal bq<br />
borrowing heavily against<br />
the oil outfit's assets <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> i<br />
cash flow . But within a year 3<br />
the price ofoil crashed from ~<br />
527 to $11 a barrel, <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
Uni<strong>on</strong> Texas' cash flow was<br />
barelv adequate to sen'ice<br />
its debts .<br />
Johns<strong>on</strong> kept Uni<strong>on</strong><br />
Texas afloat bv slashing<br />
spending <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g> selling assets .<br />
Debt was further reduced<br />
in September 1987, when<br />
Allied (which bv then had<br />
merged with Signal Cos . to<br />
form AlliedSignal Inc .) <str<strong>on</strong>g>and</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
'~lcti each sold a 12% stake in<br />
Uni<strong>on</strong> Texas to public<br />
investors .<br />
Unfortunatelv, Uni<strong>on</strong><br />
Texas' two c<strong>on</strong>trolling<br />
shareholders argued over<br />
what to do with Uni<strong>on</strong><br />
Texas . "AlliedSignal wanted<br />
to get its cash out,<br />
whereas ?