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Show MFS decision Department of Business Regulation) and threatened him Crawford with a lawsuit. denied to the Enterprise he had made such a threat. How they got information Duncan said he proved at the hearing the commissioners were not guilty of any impropriety which may have caused the sudden wave of sell ordThe commission had ers. made its decision on a Friday afternoon; the sell orders came in Monday morning. There was a question as to how the sellers found out about the order so quickly. Continued from page 1 According to Duncan. Crawford admitted at the hearing to having called several people about the order over the weekend. Duncan also speculated the orders came from large stockholders because of the large number of shares being offered at once and that it was possible the offers were made without any prise the PSC issued a press release announcing its order and Mountain Fuel in turn issued one too, as required by NYSE and Securities and Exchange Commission rules because the news was of material interest to stockholders. Crawford said he never knew who made the sell offers but didnt feel there was any attempt at manipulation of the situation. The sell orders were Boye discounted any possibility of manipulation in the matter. They weren't bluffing. They wanted to se!!, he said, because of the action of the PSC. The commission order cut the legs out from under the company as a viable entity by giving money, in effect, to the public rather than investors who had risked their money for a return. Boye, who came to Utah coming from all over the U.S. and more sophisticated invest- to testify about what happen- ors probably immediately jumped on the thing, he said. expectation that someone would buy the shares in order to influence the commission. A lot of money also could have been made on shorts although there was no evidence anyone did, Duncan said. Crawford denied all the charges. He told the Enter Less than half the selling price Crawford admitted conto advise him Lambert tacting of the stock trading suspension but claimed he did not threaten a lawsuit. Crawford explained that in excess of half a million shares out of onlv 3.1 million outstanding wrerc being offered for sale the Monday morning after the PSC order. The only offer for a small number of shares was for about $35 a share, less than half the selling price just before. MFS stock had opened at $89 Jan. 14 and closed at 84. The stock didn't trade again until Jan. 22 when it opened at 80 and closed at 69-3Crawford said. Thus, despite reversal of the PSC position, the stock dropped substantially. Bob Boye of Kingsley, Boye and Southwood, who is one of the specialists handling Mountain Fuel stock on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, told the Enterprise both small and large shareholders tried to sell, although the smaller number of investors held the greater number of shares. But thats normal for any stock due to the impact of GtRiQR 933B1 mm&mv Specialists in Providing Capital ed ed at the March hearing, said the commission members had no idea of the impact of their decision. If the order had been allowed to stand, Mountain Fuel would be worse off than the city of New York, he asserted. Zundcl, who did not participate in the original order because he had just been appointed to the commission and had not heard the evidence, said the first order was a mistake. He cited testimony by Franklin D. Saunders, of First Boston Corp., warning the commission that the stock would drop drastically if oil and gas accounts were lumped together for ratemaking purvice-preside- nt poses. But Frank Warner, an Ogden attorney who then was PSC chairman, defended the decision. He said he felt good about the order when it was made and that it should have been made years ago when the company first began its own oil and gas exploration activities. In his estimation, the stock was trading at a speculative level way above book level, Warner said, but he did not anticipate the reaction on the market would be as severe as it was. Reversal was necessary According to Warner, the rehearings were handled in a very arm's length, open manHe said evidence ner." received at the March hearing showed it to be just inconceivable" that someone could have manipulated the stock. He also said he was convinced after the hearing that reversal of the original decision was necessary for the company to maintain its financial stability. Lambert told the Enterprise the hearing after the trading suspension was private in order to avoid any speculation on the stock that would hurt small investors. Continued on page eleven 4, Leases on all major Machinery Computer Systems Medical and Dental Equipment For more information call 5833788 Mate! institutional interests, said. Boye A FACILITY THAT MEETS YOUR NEEDS -- at attractive lease rate-- EXCELLENT FOR Shops -- Manufacturing -- Distribution 507 W 7th South in the heart of Salt Lake's Industrial area -- OFFERED EXCLUSIVELY BY 10,000 sq ft building 2785 sq ft of office space Fenced, hard surfaced yard Site 184 x 130 ft 3 ton bridge crane Approved paint room Act now. For full information Call Tracy (801)531-900- 0 PARK CITY, UTAH 177 East 1st South OPEN NOON TO 10:00 PM 7 DAYS A WEEK |