Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994 TAG: 9404060106
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
The inquiry focuses on trading prior to Tyson's offer to acquire Arctic Alaska Fisheries Corp. of Seattle in 1992 and its bid for WLR Foods Inc. of Broadway, Va., in January, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
WLR spokeswoman Gail Price said the National Association of Securities Dealers provided the company with a list of people who regulators said traded the company's shares prior to Jan. 24, when Tyson made its $329 million hostile bid.
It's a violation of federal securities laws to trade in a company's securities based on confidential information about takeovers and other major corporate events.
NASD regulators asked WLR officials if any of those named on the list had relationships with the company, Price said.
She said the list didn't include any WLR directors or officers, but two employees were named. She said those employees had been longtime shareholders of the poultry processor, which has annual sales of about $700 million.
James Blair, general counsel for Tyson Foods, called the NASD inquiry a routine examination that would be conducted when any stock showed unusual behavior prior to the release of market-moving news.
Blair said that to his knowledge, no Tyson executives or employees were among the several hundred names on the NASD list.
by CNB