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Gen. Wesley Clark Resigns From Stephens
ArkansasBusiness.com ^
| February 28, 2003
Posted on 03/01/2003 11:34:22 AM PST by HAL9000
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http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,582232,00.html Wes Clark Wins! (On Wall Street)
Kerry may have swept Iowa, but Wesley Clark has taken the Street.
FORTUNE
Monday, January 26, 2004
By Richard Behar
John Kerry may have won Iowa, but Wesley Clark cleaned up on Wall Street. On Jan. 20, just a day after the caucuses, bankers tell FORTUNE, Clark made about $1.2 million in paper profit on his investment in Messer Griesheim, when the private German maker of industrial gases agreed to sell most of its assets to rival Air Liquide. While the $3.3 billion deal went largely unnoticed in the U.S., it was the best investment Clark ever made. And it barely cost him a dimethanks to a low-interest, "non-recourse" loan from Goldman Sachs, which insulated Clark (a Messer director since August 2001) from any personal exposure. "Was he smiling yesterday?" wondered a Goldman executive, just hours after the Euro-deal was announced. "General Clark's probably got more money than he's ever had in his life."
Clark resigned nearly all his directorships last fall after he announced his candidacy. But he stayed on Messer's board until early January. Goldman co-owns 67% of the firm, and "Clark was our guy on the board," says a Goldman insider, who adds that the company wanted to find a way to give Clark a stake. But Goldman's stock was held by a fund whose bylaws didn't permit loans. So, in a complex swap, Messer loaned Clark 500,000 euros for his 6,734-share purchase in mid-2002, and then Goldman bought the note from Messer. The non-recourse terms mean that if the deal had gone south and Clark defaulted, Goldman would be stuck. In other words, pure upside for Clark, who repaid the notebut kept stock when he left the board.
Overall, that was the biggest home run of the general's brief tenure as a businessman. After leaving the military in mid-2000, Clark spent nearly three years working as a managing director for Little Rock's Stephens Group, one of the largest investment houses off Wall Street. He was eventually pushed outand left behind some sour feelings.
Clark's primary role was to help the firm expand into defense and IT sectors. He used his impeccable contacts to gain not one but two audiences with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, giving Stephens an inside track on the government's Iraq thinking. And he was likable, often speaking to packed rooms during client forums. "He's smart, he knows the technology, and has the contacts," says Warren Stephens, the firm's CEO. "But we needed about five years with himto help him filter deals. As with many who are new, he thought everything he saw was doable."
Clark helped one Stephens-backed firm, SmartSignalwhich uses harmonics to determine when an engine is failingto get a contract at DARPA, the DoD's research wing. And as both a lobbyist and board director, he helped another Stephens-backed firmAcxiom, one of the world's largest processors of consumer datasecure government contracts in homeland security.
But he couldn't persuade Stephens to back a DARPA-funded startup called PharmAthenea Virginia developer of biowarfare vaccines, whose chairman, Joel McCleary, is a former treasurer of the Democratic National Committee. (Clark joined PharmAthene's board last January, just days before Stephens suggested he resign.) And Warren tells FORTUNE that Clark never informed the firm about his Messer investment. According to top securities lawyer and ex-prosecutor Sean O'Shea, employees of securities firms "must disclose an outside investment" to their bosses. Violators can face disciplinary action by regulators. (Clark says he's "very grateful for the start" in business that the Stephens family gave him, but declines further comment.)
Warren says he nudged Clark out after the General began publicly criticizing the Bush administration and it became clear he had presidential ambitions. (Warren serves as finance co-chair of President Bush's reelection drive in Arkansas.) "He was disappointed, and so was I," says Stephens. At the time, Clark had a different spin. On March 1, he told the local paper that he had decided to leave Stephens to prepare for covering the war as a military analyst for CNNa post he had held since 2001.
Before packing his bags Clark asked Stephens's top deputy, Curt Bradbury, a staunch conservative, if Warren would ever rehire him. "When you get well," Bradbury responded.
101
posted on
02/06/2004 10:56:22 AM PST
by
Shermy
To: seamole; Incorrigible; aristeides; Grampa Dave; Mo1; mewzilla; wirestripper; HAL9000; Destro; ...
At #101 I posted a Clark Messer Griesheim article.
Turns out he didn't resign all his posts last year. I remember the stories of his resignations always omitted Messer.
The story how, and why, he was appointed to this German company in the first place has not been explained as far as I have read.
The deal with Messer to avoid NATO aerial bombing of its Yugoslav facilities still looks like something that an enterprising investigative journalist should look into.
102
posted on
02/06/2004 11:00:45 AM PST
by
Shermy
To: Shermy
The story how, and why, he was appointed to this German company in the first place has not been explained as far as I have read.Because cattle futures would have looked suspicious! :-)
103
posted on
02/06/2004 11:06:39 AM PST
by
Incorrigible
(immanentizing the eschaton)
To: Shermy
The Clintons are cutting deals with Kerry for cabinet and judicial appointments - and I suspect Clark will be among them. Clark is focusing most of his attacks on Edwards now.
104
posted on
02/06/2004 11:07:59 AM PST
by
HAL9000
To: HAL9000
I noticed at a recent debate Kerry being solicitous of Clark.
Clark has a good shot at VP because he brings in the Soros - Clinton - Hollywood money.
105
posted on
02/06/2004 11:16:23 AM PST
by
Shermy
To: Shermy
106
posted on
02/06/2004 11:27:27 AM PST
by
Grampa Dave
(John F' Kerry! You are not John F. Kennedy! You're just another $oreA$$ puppet.)
To: HAL9000
Kerry - Clark. It's a Jacques Chirac - George Soros ticket. Joseph Wilson will be our Secretary of State Villepin.
107
posted on
02/06/2004 11:28:57 AM PST
by
Shermy
To: Shermy
Clark has a good shot at VP because he brings in the Soros - Clinton - Hollywood money. I think Edwards or Richardson have a better shot as Kerry's running mate.
But picture this: Kerry appoints Clark as Secretary of Defense - then Clark takes revenge on his enemies in the Pentagon.
108
posted on
02/06/2004 11:45:08 AM PST
by
HAL9000
To: HAL9000
109
posted on
02/06/2004 12:08:39 PM PST
by
Shermy
To: Shermy
Putin is preparing for this scenario: Heh.
110
posted on
02/06/2004 12:19:53 PM PST
by
HAL9000
To: Shermy
The deal with Messer to avoid NATO aerial bombing of its Yugoslav facilities still looks like something that an enterprising investigative journalist should look into. Surely, you're not suggesting that General Weasley, a presidential confidante and gentleman soldier of the old school, would...???
111
posted on
02/06/2004 4:22:41 PM PST
by
okie01
(www.ArmorforCongress.com...because Congress isn't for the morally halt and the mentally lame.)
To: okie01; HAL9000; Destro; Mo1; mewzilla
112
posted on
02/25/2004 4:47:54 PM PST
by
Shermy
To: HAL9000
He should fit rite in with that lieing bunch of Ba$tards.
Thier motto all lies all the time.Any lie worth reporting is reported on cnn.
113
posted on
02/25/2004 6:27:39 PM PST
by
solo gringo
(Always Ranting Always Rite)
To: Shermy
VP watch: Sure looks like it
114
posted on
02/26/2004 12:43:59 AM PST
by
Mo1
(" Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?")
To: Mo1; okie01; AGreatPer; Grampa Dave; HAL9000
115
posted on
03/05/2004 10:29:56 PM PST
by
Shermy
To: Shermy
Clark may want it .. but if Kerry's wife has anything to say ... he won't get it
116
posted on
03/06/2004 3:29:25 AM PST
by
Mo1
(Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?)
To: Mo1
Why do you say that Mo. What does Terri Kerry have against Clark?
117
posted on
03/06/2004 4:05:27 AM PST
by
McGavin999
(Evil thrives when good men do nothing!)
To: McGavin999
I don't think she has anything "against" Clark .. and I can see them giving Clark a different slot in a Kerry Adm. but not the VP .
But Clark doesn't really bring anything to the table as in voters and that is what they need
I've been watching Terri Kerry and she WANTS to be First Lady in a big way
118
posted on
03/06/2004 4:44:15 AM PST
by
Mo1
(Do you want a president who injects poison into his skull for vanity?)
To: Shermy
Yeah, with Clark as Kerry's VP, the rats could have two former military members who hate America and would use our military against us, like in Waco.
119
posted on
03/06/2004 9:43:21 AM PST
by
Grampa Dave
(America can't afford a 9/10 Kerry after 9/11.)
To: Mo1
Clark VP watch...
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8188406.htm "Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who lost his bid for the Democratic nomination, will speak for Kerry in Ohio."
Any other former contestant still campaigning for Kerry???
As for Teresa Kerry, yep, she's ambitious.
120
posted on
03/15/2004 8:17:26 PM PST
by
Shermy
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