Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

On Monday morning, the First Boston group was “pumped” (422). They had until the following Tuesday afternoon to submit their updated bid. Kim Fennebresque, Brian Finn, and Greg Malcolm focused on different aspects of the process. Malcolm oversaw the financial team and “had to convince a bank to lend First Boston up to $15 billion against the installment notes it would issue (423). Fennebresque needed to identify the hypothetical profits from selling Nabisco’s businesses. Finn advised all groups. RJ Reynolds’s former CEO Tylee Wilson was also working with First Boston and “was delighted to finally join the battle, although he had deep doubts about First Boston’s chances” (434). Wilson, too, did not have much of an “in” into the company having only two friends on the board: John Clendenin and John Medlin.

At this time, the First Boston group wondered whether Kravis would make a second bid at all because “his $94 bid was a joke” (423). Some at Shearson, like Peter Cohen, had the impression that Kravis would pull out. The special committee, too, wondered whether Kravis was “trying to lose” (426). The committee’s objective was “to keep alive two bidders” and aim for more (427). Felix Rohatyn, the dean of the committee’s banker group, decided that “Kravis had to be saved” (427).