"A wacko situation"

Humphrey Cripps controlled 67% of Velcro Industries NV. In the late 1980s, however, Cripps wanted the whole thing. To buy out Velcro's minority holders cheap, he attacked Velcro's stock price. He eliminated the dividend, delisted the company from the Montreal Stock Exchange, and aggressively wrote down assets to slash earnings. Velcro dropped from 30 a share in 1987 to 12 in 1988, then climbed back to 20 by 1990, at which time Cripps magnanimously offered to buy the public out at 21 3/4. He expected no serious opposition. However, one investor, Alan Kahn of New York's Kahn Brothers, with 37,000 Velcro shares, figured Cripps was swindling the minority shareholders. Kahn sued. When a New York judge ruled that the US was the proper jurisdiction (Velcro's operations are based in Manchester, New Hampshire, but legally Velcro is headquartered in the Netherlands), Humphrey decided to call off his offer.