Companies may benefit from new leadership, Gamco Investors says

By Aaron Hochman-Zimmerman

New York, Sept. 25 - Many of the companies Gamco Investors Inc. is invested in may benefit from new nominations to their boards of directors, a Gamco spokesman told Prospect News.

Gamco is focused on companies with "a poison pill or excess cash on hand," the spokesman said.

The Rye, N.Y.-based investment firm announced Wednesday that it may contact individuals with a view to asking them to join the boards of public companies. It named 13 companies that it said it is reviewing for discussions.

Rather than singling out one, which may have stigmatized the company, Gamco undertook the search for board members "en masse," a release said, and "we felt an obligation to file 13Ds," the spokesman added, referring to SC-13D filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that are used to announce the possibility that a shareholder will take an activist role.

The prospect of new board members was not intended as a warning, the spokesman said, but "they'll take it how they want to take it."

No timeline has been established for the search for new directors, Gamco said.

The companies are: CH Energy Group Holding; Pennichuck Corp.; Cablevision Systems Corp.; Telephone & Data Systems, Inc.; Fisher Communications, Inc.; Standard Motor Products, Inc.; Media General, Inc.; Gaylord Entertainment, Inc.; Myers Industries, Inc.; Alpharma Inc.; US Cellular Corp.; Sonesta International Hotels Corp.; and Trans-Lux Corp.

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