Legal Commentary

That wild Landry's ride continues

By Tom Kirkendall

Owning shares of stock in Houston-based Landry's Restaurants, Inc. has never been for the faint-hearted.

First, Landry's board of directors failed to obtain a standstill agreement from Landry's chairman and CEO, Tilman Fertitta, as his failed take-private offers over the past couple of years that would have prevented Fertitta from acquiring majority stock ownership in the company while its stock tanked.

Then, the Pershing Square Capital hedge fund entered the picture, bought up a bunch of Landry's shares and announced that it opposed Fertitta's most recent buyout offer.

Now, as Steve Davidoff explains, it appears that Fertitta has not been complying with his board's instructions in making public disclosures about his buyout offers.

At least partly as a result, counsel for a special committee of Landry's board that was created to negotiate Fertitta's buyout offers resigned, apparently in protest.

As a result of this disclosure and other developments, don't be surprised if the Securities and Exchange Commission comes knocking on Landry's door to look into these developments.

And Tilman Fertitta's firm grip on Landry's from its inception may be slowly slipping away.

Full post as published by Houston's Clear Thinkers on December 20, 2009 (boomark / email).