The respective attorneys of Kirk Kerkorian and DaimlerChrysler on Wednesday both claimed moral victories after the Las Vegas billionaire gave testimony in the case he brought against the manufacturer.
The respective attorneys of Kirk Kerkorian and DaimlerChrysler on Wednesday have both claimed moral victories after the Las Vegas billionaire gave testimony in the case he brought against the manufacturer.
CARtoday.com reported on Wednesday that Kerkorian was demanding R6,2 billion in punitive damages from the manufacturer, saying he was cheated out of the premium price he would have demanded for his shares had he known Daimler-Benz intended to dominate Chrysler.
Kerkorian’s lawyer, Terry Christensen, reportedly said Daimler-Benz avoided paying an acquisition fee of up to 62 per cent on the billionaire’s shares when the companies merged. Kerkorian owned 14 per cent of Chrysler’s shares at the time of the merger, making him the company’s primary shareholder and Christensen noted in an earlier statement that DaimlerChrysler took control and “didn’t pay for it.”
On the stand, Kerkorian said that he was surprised by DaimlerChrysler chief executive Juergen Schrempp’s “revelation” in a press interview that the so-called merger of equals was a psychological ploy to make the merger deal acceptable to those who would otherwise have rejected the idea of a takeover.
But DaimlerChysler’s legal team countered that Kerkorian had attempted to buy Chrysler himself in the mid-1990s and had encouraged the merger.
Kerkorian also said that he liked the proposed deal with Daimler-Benz and that his decision was not influenced by a warning memo from Jerome York, the former Chrysler chief financial officer he employed to help him learn more about the company during the takeover attempt.
In a memo, York warned that certain factors could threaten the car manufacturer’s future stock price. Yet, Kerkorian had noted that these details did not influence his decision as he stood to make millions from the deal.
