Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 4, 1995 TAG: 9503060041
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The board of the privately held restaurant chain, on which Foti sits, fired Wachtel after he announced he was making a $13 million tender offer to buy out other shareholders. Wachtel already owns 22 percent of the company's stock.
Foti was in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday, meeting with Wachtel and did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Wachtel said in a statement that he made the tender offer after a dispute with the board over growth plans that he considers essential to the company's future. The board ``simply wanted to abandon the plan to build a base of company stores, already approved by the shareholders, and use the corporate assets for other purposes,'' Wachtel said.
But John Wingo of Blacksburg, a shareholder and owner of five franchised Western Sizzlin steakhouses in Southwest Virginia and West Virginia, said if the plan to build the company stores had been approved by shareholders, he wasn't included in the decision. ``I haven't voted to approve anything,'' he said.
Asked if he thought the feuding between Wachtel and the board would hurt the chain, Wingo said he doesn't think any feuding is good. ``I'd rather not see it,'' he said.
Wachtel has offered $3.875 per share for the 3.4 million shares of Western Sizzlin stock that he doesn't already own. He said he will pay in either cash or security in the surviving corporation. Hal Kennedy, a Wachtel spokesman, said no cutoff date has been announced for the offer, but Wachtel said he expects to complete the stock acquisition in 90 days.
On Friday, Wachtel said he would file a breach of contract suit against Western Sizzlin because he had four years left on his five-year employment contract. He promised to make his firing ``a very expensive proposition'' for the company.
Before meeting with Foti, Wachtel said any settlement would have to give him at least $10 million.
Wachtel was builder of the O'Charley's restaurant chain and former president and chief executive of Shoney's Inc., another Nashville-based chain. He and other shareholders bought the assets of the former Western Sizzlin business in 1993. Those investors include Foti, Wingo, Charles Mantooth of Danville and A.V. Grantham of Richmond.
Western Sizzlin Corp., founded in 1962, owns one of the 279 steakhouses that carry its name. The rest are franchised operations. Wachtel placed the value of the chain at $350 million.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
by CNB