Article October 20, 2008 Issue

Hostile takeover, wonderful outcome

When a corporate power struggle looks like the end, prayer can open new paths to blessing.

BY WILLARD HANZLIK

When I was employed as an executive in a publicly traded corporation, we became involved in a highly contested battle for ownership control. The company's interests in a foreign natural resources extraction project became a key to exercising voting and management control over the foreign enterprise, and thus my employer's role became controversial. This unusual situation became the basis for an ugly intercorporate fight.

Although there were early signs of problems brewing, a hostile offer for control of my employer was announced unexpectedly by another company that also held interests in the foreign project. It seemed the ultimate corporate power struggle.

At the time, my wife and I had just begun an extensive remodeling of our home and were living in a temporary rental house. Our personal financial situation was precarious because of the remodeling costs, and it became clear from the business facts at hand and the tone of the corporate dispute that my employment would end if our current management lost the contest.