After the game, we congregated again at the
I didn't even put my suitcase back on the shelf, because I had another trip to make. I flew out to Philadelphia to take an interview in southeastern Pennsylvania, which I thought went well, and is somewhere I can definitely see myself being for a long time to come. A decision on that should come this week.
Events since that interview have made me want a favorable decision from that interview even more. Recall that Cooper Tire & Rubber has agreed to be bought by Apollo Tyres of India. The certainty of that "compelling transaction," as Cooper CEO Roy Armes calls it, is questionable at best, and quite likely doubtful. Two weeks ago, Cooper's stockholders approved the merger at the contractually agreed price of $35 per share. But the deal hasn't closed. Ostensibly, this is because Apollo has not concluded new collective bargaining agreements with two USW locals*. There may be other reasons, such as less than stellar performance forecasts from Cooper for 2013, and the fact that the Chinese factory we're a partner in isn't producing any of our tires. Apollo isn't inclined to buy every last share of CTB stock out there. Cooper is insistent that none of these events give Apollo the right to delay the transaction. In fact, Cooper is suing Apollo in the Delaware Court of Chancery to force this deal to go through. If you hate your life, you can read Cooper's suit here. We've got a Mexican standoff, one that Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III has to rule on. (That title and name in and of themselves add another nice layer to the story.) Given the market's reaction to all this news - that is, that Cooper's stock is almost back down to its pre-merger price - I don't expect this deal to go through at this price, if Cooper is simply maneuvering to keep the price as high as possible. If Cooper is committed to being bought out at $35 come hell or high water, then I don't see this deal going through at all. Regardless, this layers more uncertainty upon the whole thing.
Other than that, I'm making do. Nights are doing okay by my body. At the end of this week, I'll pick up a little bonus for the plant making certain performance targets during the third quarter. My weight is holding fairly steady. You have to take the positives when you can; otherwise, you'll just go insane. Yes, I know some may claim I'm already there, but you know what I mean.
* I am a member of one of those, Local 207L, and any opinion you read here is not the official position of said union, being instead solely my own.