There is absolutely no doubt that, to the extent such exists, the best reading in public filings with the SEC are in a few areas. Letters to management attached to SC 13Ds filings are always amusing, particularly when penned by a scribe with the dark sense of humor or acerbic with of Loeb or Chapman. Occasionally you might even find an S-1 that has potential. But for the real gold, sometimes you have to go to good old SC 14A, particularly in the face of a good, solid proxy fight. It is also hard not to be entertained by Rule 424 filings for things like sovereign bond issues. Consider these headings under "Recent Political Development" for a bond issue by the Republic of the Philippines:
Election Protest of Legarda
Arrests in Connection with Coup Attempts
Impeachment Complaints Filed Against President Arroyo
Communists and Affiliated Groups
Abu Sayyaf and Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Government Expropriation of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3
Proposed Amendments to the Constitution
I mean really, when have any of Apple's filings been so entertaining?
Posted by guest , Apr 17, 2008 11:29AM
Communists and Affiliated Groups?
Don't most American firms need to include something similar on their filings this year as well?:
Potential of a Democrat-controlled Congress and President
Thadius R. Rogers
Financier/Evaluator of Talent
Posted by guest , Apr 17, 2008 11:36AM
Impeachment Complaints Filed Against President Bush
- Just to be 'Fair and Balanced' because I know some Democrat would probably want to include that as well. Frankly, I don't like either of the two primary parties. Both have some good people and some good idea. Both have lots and lots of idiots and corrrupt people with lots and lots of bad ideas. And third-parties in the USA are almost comical.
Thadius R. Rogers
Financier/Evaluator of Talent
Posted by AJ , Apr 17, 2008 11:49AM
Once worked on a debt deal in Kazakhstan where a condition to close was that the president be reelected... Helps that he's a "president for life" type... Didn't help that some other high-ranking official "committed suicide" a week or two before we closed by shooting himself twice in the chest and once in the head...
Posted by Anal_yst , Apr 17, 2008 1:31PM
Aj, that dude had some serious dedication, or dreamed up one helluva rube goldberg to be able to pull off a exit like that, gotta hand it to him for that
Posted by guest , Apr 17, 2008 2:10PM
Reminds me of this exchange between a panelist and an editor during a 1986 stock-picking roundtable for Barron’s, as documented by Peter Lynch:
Ed Goodnow (a panelist touting Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.): I understand the service is not so good out in the provinces. One of the problems is that it’s hard to get the guys to go up the poles to fix the lines because they sometimes get picked off by snipers. But other than that, they’ve got a very solid operation.
Barron’s Editor Alan Abelson: Do you call that a “long shot”?
Posted by guest , Apr 17, 2008 8:35PM
Good story, AJ. I think the "president for life" in Kazakhstan has since died, but before he died he made his belief system and personal history a state religion.
Paul Theroux of The New Yorker did a story on this guy. As he described it, the world of Kazakhstan was strange beyond belief.
Posted by Novice , Apr 17, 2008 9:57PM
8:35, that's Turkmenbashi, of Turkmenistan.
Nazarbayev runs Kazakhstan as a president for life who knows who pays the bills. Business-friendly for Americans, though one Russian partner had a story similar to AJ's: he committed suicide on a one man hunting trip by a rifle to the back of the head. Despite them suspending drilling permits for three months because Nazarbayev's son-in-law bought a neighboring field, I like the place.
Posted by AJ , Apr 18, 2008 12:15AM
Ha! I heard the same story about the hunting trip too. Love those countries
Posted by guest , Apr 18, 2008 1:26AM
Thanks for the informative comment, Novice.