Paul J. Isaac’s Conflicted Role In American Community Properties Trust Buyout

The extent to which the buyout of American Community Properties Trust (APO) by Federal Capital Partners is flawed was revealed in the company’s recent proxy filing. One of the unhappy shareholders, Paul J. Isaac, was given the opportunity to continue to own ACPT even after the buyout. The other shareholders will forgo the opportunity to get full value for their shares.

The Wilsons and Issac together own 69% of the shares and have the ability to force the deal

American Community Properties Trust May Attract A Higher Bid

Surprise, surprise! American Community Properties Trust (APO) is selling itself. And you won’t even get market value for your shares: while ACPT trades between $8.35 and $8.50 the buyout will happen at $7.75.

The sudden sale at a discount to the market price comes out of the blue for shareholders who still remember the failed attempt by the Wilson family, the 50.68% owners, to take the company private in 2007. The Wilsons had engaged a financial adviser

The End Is Near For Wilshire Enterprises

Wilshire Enterprises (WOC) finally launched its $2 tender offer for 4 million shares, roughly half of the outstanding shares. It is a bad deal for shareholders and we anticipate that worse is to come because public shareholders will be minority holders in a firm whose management has a record of poor decisions, such as the refusal to sell at $8.50 to Mercury Real Estate Partners a few years ago.

Pershing Square Misleads About General Growth’s Equity Value

Pershing Square Bill Ackman’s presentation about General Growth Properties (GGWPQ) at the Ira Sohn Investment Research conference has us wondering what he is up to. The tone of the presentation clearly targets an audience that is not familiar with bankruptcy investing. At the same time, his financial projections for GGP are overly optimistic and do not square (no pun intended) with current results. We believe that some of his analysis is very misleading.

Is A Sale Of Wilshire Enterprises Imminent?

The shareholder meeting of Wilshire Enterprises (WOC) has been adjourned for the second time. This is actually the third delay of the shareholder meeting, which was originally scheduled for February 26 in Wilshire’s preliminary proxy materials. The meeting was then set for March 24^th and at the last moment adjourned to March 30^th. Today, the meeting was adjourned again to April 20^th.

Wilshire Enterprises’ Future Decided This Tuesday

Wilshire CEO Sherry Wilzig Izak with Mina Otsuka, her brother "Sir Ivan" and friends (left to right)

The end of the first round is approaching in this years most underreported proxy fight, the battle over Wilshire Enterprises (WOC) between Phil Goldstein’s Bulldog Investors and Wilshire’s CEO Sherry Wilzig Izak. Two directors will be elected at Tuesday’s meeting, and shareholders will also vote on proposals to end the staggered board, seek a liquidity event and abolish the poisons pill. We have written extensively about the battle previously (here, here).

Buyout Of American Community Properties Trust As Slow As That Of Wilshire Enterprises

Shareholders of American Community Properties Trust (ticker: APO) are eerily reminded of the stalled sale of Wilshire Enterprises (ticker: WOC). Chairman and CEO Michael Wilson proposed a going-private transaction in July, and it has dragged on for half a year without any visible progress.

How Low Can Wilshire Enterprises Go?

While the process of selling Wilshire Enterprises (ticker: WOC) continues to drag on into its seventh month after the announcement that “initial bids are in,” WOC’s shares have fallen to a level where they trade almost at the level of cash on WOC’s book. We have pointed previously to the disastrous record of its management team, and the current trading levels are only increasing our enthusiasm for the deep value opportunity in WOC.