New York Times article on WTC memorial design finalists, 2003

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Cypress to 37 3£

gobble up 2 rt> 3g

Meow Mix O a- TO

By ERICA COPULSKY Cypress Group wants to be the cat’s meow of the Morgan Stanley exit puts spotlight on succession I pet food market. Newhouse and Pandit will report to Unlike Scott, Newhouse will not “ Meow Mix Co., the By ERICA COPOLSKY and JENNY ANDERSON Chairman and Chief Executive oversee major divisions including § owner of the Meow Mix Philip Purcell. and Alley Cat pet food credit cards, the individual investor g. The unexpected retirement of The move signifies the highest- group and institutional securities, § brands, is expected to an­ Morgan Stanley’s No. 2 executive level executive change in the man­ nounce as early as today x<' Af has reopened the long-running ques­ agement ranks since John Mack re­ And industry insiders say the ap- that it is being acquired by tion of succession at the world’s sec­ signed as president following a pointment of Newhouse does not * New York-based buyout ond-largest securities firm. power struggle with Purcell, necessarily position him for the ® firm Cypress for about Yesterday, Morgan Stanley named However, it also raises questions CEO’s spot. “i. $425 million. Stephan Newhouse to succeed its about the perceived power of the “The elevation of Newhouse p Cypress is buying Meow 57'year-old president, Robert Scott, presidential post, casting doubt on doesn’t tip the balance of power Mix — which claims its who will retire on Dec.l after .33 whether it ultimately serves as a within Morgan Stanley, and I don’t food “tastes so good, cats years at the investment bank. stepping stone to the CEO’s spot at think it means that much from a sue- ask for it by name” — Newhouse, who has been with the the securities powerhouse created cession standpoint," said Reilly Tier- gv from Boston-based buyout when Dean Witter Discover merged ney, securities industry analyst at 3"' company since 1979, is currently with Morgan Stanley in 1997. firm J.W. Childs Associ­ chairman of Morgan Stanley Inter­ Fox-Pitt, Kelton. s ates. -® As president, Newhouse, 56, will national and co-head of the securi­ concentrate on expanding the firm’s Other contenders who may be on The Post reported Cy­ ties firm’s institutional securities the .succession list, sources say, in­ press ■'■Group’s intent to international activities and its global unit, alongside Vikram Pandit. investment banking franchise. clude Pandit as well as Mitch Merin, buy Meow Mix on July 25. sc With Newhouse’s appointment, president of asset management, and Secaucus, N.J.-based He also will also focus on building SCOTT Pandit will become sole chief of the relationships with .some of the firm’s John Schaefer, president of the pri­ I Meow Mix is the single Out at Morgan. institutional securities division. Both most important clients. vate client group. biggest brand in the U.S. dry cat-food market and a leading brand in the pre­ mium segment, with over 20 percent market share. J.W. Childs created the privately held, feline-fo­ cused company in early straitlaced fond firm fined over follies 2002, when it bought the Meow Mix and Alley Cat By PAUL THARP Leo Weils, a religious Fun while it lasted brands from Ralston Pu­ rina. It spent the last two zealot and creator of the years converting those nation’s largest private brands into a stand-alone real estate trust, has been iWbwfcrtttls ■ company. fined by regulators for In buying Meow Mix, partying too much. Cypress is betting that it The pious and charis­ j Dinner at Civil War fort can grow the business ex­ matic salesman and his ponentially and ultimately company. Wells Invest­ ment Services, were fined sell it or take it public. Meow Mix plans to grow $150,000, and he was ■ a by extending the brand barred as the company’s into new products, includ­ ing hairball control prod­ chief for one year. The NASD said the \A ucts and cat litter, as well 59-year-old Wells, who’s as expanding into interna- Mfon more than 100,000 ! tKinal markets. Meow Mix has already taken major steps to bol­ ster its brand. It has be­ investors to his ftind in just five years, was using illegal ways to convert them — with lavish, wild -I J I'-Z

come a sponsor of “Meow' parties in violation of reg­ TV,” a new television ulations. shbw devoted to cats and Wells bankrolled ex­ their owners, airing on the pensive, long weekends 'I Oxygen cable network. at his motivational camps for his sales force and

Lee in$1B .3,000 independent bro­ kers, often renting entire resorts in Florida and Arizona with all food, I vittles buy travel and entertainment paid. 'X

Thomas H. Lee Partners, One sales getaway was at "a Civil War fort cos­ jI the world’s second-biggest tumed with Civil War ' ' ' ■> buyout firm by assets, agreed to buy Michael Foods, the maker of Better ’N Egg All Whites and Simply Potatoes food heroes, fireworks, fife and drum players, skydivers, and a cannon reenact­ ment," the NASD said. S rSRvd.v.n. Fireworks SaStbiiBi iigJSWjSj k products, for about $1.05 Other sales parties in­ for doing deals, the Wells runs his $3.3 bil­ Wells offers his inves­ The Wells trust has billion. cluded golf trips, a “Fri­ NASD says. lion empire from modest tors 7 percent returns for come under attack from The current owners of day night ‘sock hop’ and a offices in Norcross, Ga., parking tlieir money with some analysts. Since it is •beach bash.’ ’’ the NASD Wells had no comment Minnetonka, Minn.-based on the censure and fines. where daily meetings him, higher than the typi­ a private real estate trust, Michael Foods include its said. begin with a prayer. cal 6 percent at other real investors are not permit- _ founding family and pri­ The NASD dismissed “They constituted lav­ estate trusts. Wells says ted to sell shares on the' Wells’ claim that his ish affairs that did not Drinking, long hair, his trust is safer than oth­ vate equity firms Vestar mustaches and beards, ca­ open market — and even Capital Partners and Gold­ meetings were educa­ meet the standards of ers because he pays for share transfers must be ner Hawn Johnson & Mor­ tional retreats, charging N'ASD rules,” said Mary sual dress and atheism all his properties in cash, handled through Wells. rison. that the typical three-day Scliapiro, vice chairman are grounds for dismissal, and doesn’t worry about Wells last year was the Senior executives such affairs spent just B hours of NASD. and Wells has been Imow foreclosures. nation’s biggest buyer of as Chairman and Chief Ex­ on actual real estate sales “The NASD will not tol­ to can staffers at the drop Such safety is also more class-A properties. It ecutive Gregg Ostrander training and education. erate any payment of of a hat. costly — Wells' fees can owns nearly 90 office also have a stake in the Salespeople for REITS non-cash compensation The company’s stated be 16 times .higher than buildings, including the company, which they took cannot accept gift or that runs afoul of those creed is “to glorify God those of typical leveraged nation’s third-tallest, the ★ private in April 2001 other non-cash payments rules," she said. and care for people.” real estate trusts. Aon Center in Chicago. Blooiafce® .sd aw J i

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