Part 27 (2/2)
”You'd be p.i.s.sed, too,” McGuire snapped.
”Why?”
”I had to give up my gun to that p.r.i.c.k by the lobby doorway,” McGuire fumed, his face turning red. ”What the h.e.l.l's going on around here?”
The new policy Stiles had referred to. It had to be. Everyone would be searched at the Everest door from now on. No exceptions. ”I've put Quentin Stiles in charge of my personal security. What he says goes.” Gillette had never even known McGuire carried a gun. ”It has to be this way.” Stiles had probably implemented the policy just for McGuire. Just to p.i.s.s him off. But so be it.
”And you took my people off the a.s.signment. From what I understand, Stiles is totally in charge of your security now.”
Stiles had made that request yesterday, and Gillette had agreed. ”Yeah, that's right.”
”I don't understand,” McGuire complained. ”What's the problem? Don't you trust me?”
”Calm down, Tom.”
”Calm down? I've got a lot of satisfied customers who'll tell you we've done a tremendous job protecting them. But the guy who owns my business fires me. Now, I've got a lot of satisfied customers who'll tell you we've done a tremendous job protecting them. But the guy who owns my business fires me. Now, you you tell tell me. me. Should I feel good about that?” Should I feel good about that?”
”Tom, I-”
”How much diligence did you do on Stiles before you hired him?” McGuire pushed. ”How do you know if he's any good?”
”Oh, he's good.”
”How do you know?”
”I was attacked again a few minutes ago, and he saved my life.”
McGuire turned his head to the side, as if he'd been struck by something. ”What?” ”What?”
”Yeah, right out on Park Avenue.”
”What happened?”
”A guy ran his car into mine, then jumped out and tried to shoot me. But one of Stiles's men nailed the guy. They had it covered.”
”Jesus,” McGuire said softly. ”Well, I'm glad you're all right. But I still don't understand why my people were taken off the job.” His voice had gotten strong again.
”Too many fingers in the pie, Tom. Simple as that. Stiles wanted his guys on it and n.o.body else's. I don't know much about personal security, but it made sense to me from an organizational standpoint. Consolidation of leaders.h.i.+p and all that. I okayed it.”
”What happened to the guy who tried to shoot you?”
”He's dead.”
”Good. Whoever's behind all this needs to understand that you're protected by people who know what the h.e.l.l they're doing.” McGuire looked down. ”I'm glad Stiles's people are doing a good job.”
”Thanks.” Gillette stood up and moved to his desk. ”You're here today to talk about buying the company.” He clicked the computer mouse several times as he moved it around on the pad. ”Right?”
”Yes, I-”
”Give me one second, Tom.” Gillette punched in the Dominion Savings & Loan ticker and recoiled at what he saw. Dominion's stock price was off six dollars in overnight trading. Off almost 15 percent from yesterday's close. ”Christ,” he whispered.
”Something wrong?”
”No, nothing.” Gillette moved back to the chair and sat down, wondering what was going on with Dominion. Focus, he told himself. On the task at hand. ”So let's talk. Earlier this week you offered me 300 million for McGuire & Company.”
”Which, according to my backer, is a fair price.”
”Of course he'd say that,” Gillette replied calmly. ”He's on the buy side.”
”Whatever. Look, he's pretty connected to Wall Street, and he tells me there've been investment bankers sniffing around Everest offering to take McGuire & Company public. Tells me you guys are close to signing an agreement with one of the Wall Street firms. He says if you do that, I won't have a chance to buy the company.”
Gillette shook his head, irritated that the news had gotten out. Probably some young punk a.s.sociate who couldn't keep his mouth shut had leaked it. ”That's right,” he admitted.
”What are they telling you they can get for it?”
”Five hundred million.” Typically, Gillette would have kept his cards close to his chest, but McGuire needed to understand how big the difference in offers was. ”Two hundred million more than you'll pay. That's a huge gap. One I can't ignore. I have a responsibility to my limited partners to listen to these guys. I'd have a lot of unhappy investors if they found out I had pa.s.sed on $200 million.”
”You're telling me the investors wouldn't be happy if you doubled their money? Which is what $300 million does.”
”Not if I left two hundred on the table.”
”They wouldn't have to know.”
”Somebody would find out, Tom. Somebody would have a contact at one of the investment banks we're talking to. Just like your backer does. Then all of our partners would know, and I'd be out of a job.”
”Yeah, well, your investors can kiss my a.s.s,” McGuire snapped. ”They don't see how hard it is to run this company. They don't see the c.r.a.p Vince and I deal with. The tough decisions we make on a daily basis. The risks we take. They don't see any of that. They don't deal with the stress.”
”And they're happy not to,” Gillette replied. ”They just want to make as much money as they can, and they don't give a d.a.m.n about your stress. That's why they have us hire you. To deal with all that.”
McGuire took a deep breath, trying to keep his cool. ”I don't know a lot about IPOs, but doesn't the process take a while? Isn't there a lot of back and forth with the SEC?”
”Usually,” Gillette agreed.
”And isn't that market unpredictable? One day, IPOs are everywhere. The next, the door shuts and nothing goes public for a year.”
”That can happen.”
”Well, the deal I'm offering you will be quick, clean, and ironclad. We could have it done in thirty days. And you won't have people trying to find out if you wear boxers or briefs. We already know everything.”
Now that Stiles had taken over his personal security, there was no reason to bargain. ”Tom, you should think about how the sweat equity shares we gave you when we bought the company would be worth tens of millions in an IPO,” Gillette advised strongly. ”And I'll make sure the investment bankers don't lock up your shares. I'll make sure you get cash.”
”But our backer is willing to give Vince and me half half the company if you agree to sell it to him,” McGuire countered. ”For no money.” the company if you agree to sell it to him,” McGuire countered. ”For no money.”
McGuire had mentioned that in the limousine, but Gillette wasn't buying it. Giving managers half the company for no money down was outrageous. Ten to 15 percent allocated over three to four years was normal-what Everest usually did. And he'd heard of very experienced executives getting as much as 25 percent, if performance warranted it. But never fifty. That kind of allocation made it nearly impossible for the investors to earn an acceptable return. So, if it was true, there was something strange going on. ”Would you get any cash in his deal?”
”Some.”
<script>