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Hollinger examines Perle investments
Financial Times | 11/12/2003 | Stephanie Kirchgaessner

Hollinger examines Perle investments By Stephanie Kirchgaessner Published: November 12 2003 21:57 | Last Updated: November 12 2003 21:57

Hollinger International is examining investments that were made by Richard Perle, a director on the publisher's board and prominent defense advisor, on behalf of the company.

The investigation is part of a wider internal probe at the publisher of the Daily Telegraph and Chicago Sun-Times into some of the company's corporate governance practices, including the payment of nearly $300m in management fees to Conrad Black, chief executive and chairman, and his deputies.

That probe, which is being lead by former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Richard Breeden, is wide-ranging and involves close scrutiny of so-called "related-party transactions", or deals in which members of Hollinger's board or executives personally benefited from deals the publisher agreed with other companies.

One transaction that caught the attention of some Hollinger investors was a $2.5m investment earlier this year in Trireme Partners, a venture capital company in which Mr Perle, an independent director, is a managing partner.

Mr Perle has also played a prominent role in the late 1990's and early 2000 in directing investments in other companies through Hollinger Digital, Hollinger's investment arm.

Under review is a $14m investment the company made under Mr Perle's direction through Hillman Capital, a venture capital group controlled by Gerald Hillman - who has since become a partner at Trireme and is a member of the Defense Policy Board, as is Mr Perle.

The $14m investment contributed to a fund used by Hillman Capital to acquire - with another private equity group - more than 70 per cent of Cambridge Display Technology, a UK-based technology group that holds a patent in light-emitting polymers, in 1999.

Early investors in CDT included Lord Young, a former business adviser of Baroness Thatcher's.

Mr Perle has been criticised in the past over perceived conflicts of interest in his business dealings.

Mr Perle resigned as chairman of the Defense Policy Board earlier this year after he was criticised for having a $750,000 contract with Global Crossing, the bankrupt telecoms group. Global Crossing was at the time seeking to overcome Defense Department objections on its sale to Hutchison Whampoa, a Chinese-controlled company.

Paul Healy, head of investor relations at Hollinger, refused to comment. Mr Perle and Mr Hillman were unavailable for comment.

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CONRAD'S BLACK EYE / By TIM ARANGO / NY POST

November 15, 2003 -- Newspaper baron Conrad Black's Hollinger has filed false financial statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission - a disclosure that could trigger an SEC investigation and increase pressure on Black to step down.

The company was due to file its quarterly report yesterday but instead filed for a three-day extension as it tries to clean up its books.

The inaccuracies, the company said, stem from the amount of money in non-compete fees Hollinger reported from a deal in 2000 to sell most of the company's Canadian newspapers to CanWest.

As part of that deal, as previously reported, Black and his top executives personally received roughly $50 million in fees, raising the ire of shareholders, who noted that typically such fees go to the company's coffers.

The company's disclosure yesterday indicates those payments could be higher.

The company filed a brief statement with the SEC saying "there are inaccuracies in prior public filings of the company involving the amount, authorization and purpose of such payments, among other things."

"It's unbelievable," said one Hollinger investor. "This should spark an SEC investigation."

In June, the company announced that it had formed a special committee to investigate allegations of financial shenanigans raised by shareholders, including compensation for Black and other top executives.

The probe, headed by former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden, is not expected to be completed until early next year.

Black has defended the payments, saying they were initiated by the papers' new owners and subsequently approved by Hollinger International's audit committee.

One of the audit committee members, Marie-Josee Kravis, the wife of billionaire financier Henry Kravis, resigned Oct. 6. Sources said her resignation was related to ongoing problems at the company, but Black said she left because her husband's firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, was bidding for a rival newspaper company.