[Letterhead of WLRK]
June 7, 2011
VIA EDGAR
Michele Anderson, Chief
Perry Hindin, Special Counsel
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Office of Mergers & Acquisitions
One Station Place
100 F Street, NE
Washington, DC 20549-3628
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| Re: |
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CKX, Inc.
Schedule 14D-9 filed on May 18, 2011, as amended through June 1, 2011
File No. 005-54765
Schedule 13E-3 filed on May 20, 2011, as amended through May 23, 2011
Filed by CKX, Inc., The Promenade Trust and Priscilla Presley
File No. 005-54765 |
Dear Ms. Anderson and Mr. Hindin:
On
behalf of our client, CKx, Inc. (the “Company”), set forth below are responses to the
comments of the Staff of the Office of Mergers & Acquisitions (the “Staff”) of the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) that were set forth in the Staff’s letter dated June 2, 2011
with respect to the filings referenced above. Proskauer Rose LLP, counsel to The Promenade Trust
and Priscilla Presley, has provided information for the responses as such responses relate to The
Promenade Trust and to Priscilla Presley. For the Staff’s convenience, the text of the Staff’s
comment is set forth below in bold followed by the response. All defined terms used here have the
same meaning as in the Schedule 13E-3 or Schedule 14D-9, as applicable.
References in this letter to page numbers and section headings refer to page numbers and
section headings in the amendment to the Schedule 14D-9 filed by
the Company on June 7, 2011 with
the Commission (“Amendment No. 4”) and to the amendment to the Schedule 13E-3 filed by the Company,
The Promenade Trust and Priscilla Presley on June 7, 2011, as noted in each response. We are also
providing, for the Staff’s convenience, four copies of Amendment No. 4 marked to show the changes
made since the original filing on May 18, 2011.
Michele Anderson
June 7, 2011
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Schedule 13E-3
Item 7. Purposes, Alternatives, Reasons and Effects
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Provide the disclosure required by Instruction 3 to Item 1013 of Regulation M-A with respect
to the Promenade Trust and Priscilla Presley. Please advise how such disclosure will be
disseminated in accordance with Exchange Act Rule 13e-3(f). |
Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the requested disclosure has been
provided with respect to the Promenade Trust and Ms. Presley. The additional disclosure appears on
pages 2-3 of the amendment, dated June 7, 2011, to the Schedule 13E-3.
We supplementally advise the Staff that it is our belief that the information required by
Instruction 3 to Item 1013 of Regulation M-A as it relates to the Promenade Trust and Ms. Presley
is not material information. All material information required to be disclosed pursuant to
Exchange Act Rule 13e-3(e)(1) has been previously disclosed and disseminated in accordance with
Exchange Act Rule 13e-3(f), including that such information has been distributed at least 20 days
prior to any purchase pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 13e-3(a)(3)(i)(A). We also respectfully submit
that Exchange Act Rule 13e-3(e)(2) requires that if there is any “material change” in the
information previously disclosed pursuant to Exchange Act Rule 13e-3(e)(1) to security holders,
that “the issuer or the affiliate must disclose the change promptly to security holders as
specified in paragraph (f)(1)(iii)” of Exchange Act Rule 13e-3. If the information required by
Instruction 3 to Item 1013 of Regulation M-A as it relates to the Promenade Trust and Ms. Presley
was considered by the Staff to be a “material change,” we have promptly disclosed the information
as required by Exchange Act Rule 13e-3(e)(2) in a manner reasonably calculated to inform security
holders and believe that no further action is required with respect to dissemination of the
information.
Item 8. Fairness of the Transaction
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We note that the filing persons listed on the Schedule 13E-3 have incorporated by reference
disclosure in the Schedule 14D-9 and the Offer to Purchase in response to Item 8 of Schedule
13E-3. Disclosure on page 28 of the Offer to Purchase indicates that the Board determined
that the terms of the Offer and the other transaction contemplated by the Merger Agreement are
fair and advisable to and in the best interests of “CKx and CKx’s Stockholders.” The Schedule
14D-9 provides similar disclosure, only indicating that the Offer and Merger are expected to
result in several benefits to all Stockholders, including the unaffiliated Stockholders. Note
that Item 1014(a) of Regulation M-A requires that CKx provide a fairness determination as to
unaffiliated security holders. Please revise the Schedule 13E-3 to expressly disclose whether
the Company reasonably believes that the going-private transaction is substantively and
procedurally fair to unaffiliated security holders. Alternatively, the Company may
incorporate such additional disclosure by reference to an amended Schedule 14D-9, or to the
Offer to Purchase, to the extent Apollo Management and its affiliates revise the Offer to
Purchase to provide such additional information. |
Michele Anderson
June 6, 2011
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Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the disclosure in “Item 4(a).
Solicitation/Recommendation” and “Item 4(c). Reasons for the Recommendation” has been revised
to clarify that the CKx Board has made a fairness determination as to CKx’s unaffiliated
stockholders. The revised disclosure appears on pages 13, 24, 26
and 27 of Amendment No. 4.
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All of the factors listed in paragraphs (c), (d) and (e) and in Instruction 2 to Item 1014 of
Regulation M-A are generally relevant to the fairness determination and should be discussed in
reasonable detail. See Question Nos. 20 and 21 of the Exchange Act Release No. 34-17719
(April 13, 1981). The discussions in the section of the Schedule 14D-9 entitled “Reasons for
the Recommendation” and on pages 28 and 29 in the Offer to Purchase, both of which are
incorporated by reference into the Schedule 13E-3 in response to Item 8(b), do not appear to
address the factors described in clause (vi) of Instruction 2 to Item 1014 and Item 1014(c)
and (e). If CKx, the Promenade Trust or Priscilla Presley did not consider one or more of
these factors, state that and explain in detail why the factor(s) were not deemed material or
relevant. If the procedural safeguards in Item 1014(c) and (e) were not considered, please
expand the disclosure to include a statement of the basis for the belief as to fairness
despite the absence of these safeguards.
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Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the Company has made additional
disclosure in “Item 4(a). Solicitation/Recommendation” and “Item 4(c). Reasons for the
Recommendation.” The additional disclosure appears on pages 13,
26 and 27 of Amendment No. 4.
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We note disclosure on page 28 and 30 in the Offer to Purchase indicating that CKx adopted as
its own the financial analyses of Gleacher & Company in the course of reaching its fairness
conclusion and that the Trust and Priscilla Presley considered the Board’s receipt of Gleacher
& Company’s fairness opinion in reaching their fairness conclusion. Please advise us in your
response letter how each of the filing persons was able to reach the fairness determination as
to unaffiliated security holders given that the financial advisor’s fairness opinion addressed
fairness with respect to security holders other than the Excluded Persons, which is defined to
only include the Sillerman Stockholders as opposed to all affiliates of CKx, including
officers and directors of CKx. |
Response: The Company, The Promenade Trust and Ms. Presley supplementally advise the
Staff that the CKx Board reached its conclusions regarding the fairness of the Offer and the Merger
to CKx’s unaffiliated stockholders after considering all of the factors discussed in “Item 4(c).
Reasons for the Recommendation,” and that the Board’s fairness conclusions were not based on any
one factor or aspect of any particular factor in isolation. We would draw the Staff’s attention to
the fact that, as disclosed on page 26 of Amendment No. 4, the CKx Board did consider the matters
described in “Item 3(a). Past Contracts, Transactions, Negotiations and Agreements — Arrangements
with Directors and Executive Officers of CKx” in reaching its fairness determination. Accordingly,
the fact that Gleacher & Company’s opinion referenced stockholders other than “Excluded Persons”
rather than “unaffiliated stockholders” did not alter the CKx Board’s fairness determinations.
Michele Anderson
June 6, 2011
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Item 9. Reports, Opinions, Appraisals and Negotiations
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We note the discussion of Gleacher & Company’s discounted cash flow analysis on page 33 of
the Schedule 14D-9. Please describe the assumptions with respect to the future performance of
CKx’s business underlying the “A Case” and the “B Case” projections prepared by CKx
management. The revised disclosure should also explain the difference in assumptions that led
to the two different sets of projections. |
Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the information in “Item 5.
Persons/Assets Retained, Employed, Compensated or Used” of the Schedule 14D-9 has been revised to
provide additional disclosure. The revised disclosure appears on
page 34 of Amendment No. 4.
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In addition, despite the reference on page 33 to “two sets of projections” prepared by CKx’s
management for the projection period between fiscal years 2011 and 2015, the disclosure on
page 38 of the Schedule 14D-9 only appears to disclose one set of projections. Please advise.
If management did prepare two sets of projections, please disclose. |
Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the information in “Item 8(h).
Projected Financial Information” of the Schedule 14D-9 has been revised to provide additional
disclosure. The revised disclosure appears on pages 40-41 of Amendment No. 4.
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We note the disclosure on page 31 of the Schedule 14D-9 that Gleacher & Company performed a
Comparable Companies Analysis. Please discuss in greater detail the methodology and criteria
used in selecting companies that it determined to be “reasonably comparable to CKx in one or
more respects.” Also, indicate whether the criteria were consistently applied and, if any
company was deliberately excluded from the dataset, briefly indicate the reasoning behind such
exclusion. |
Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the information in “Item 5.
Persons/Assets Retained, Employed, Compensated or Used” of the Schedule 14D-9 has been revised to
provide the requested additional disclosure. The revised disclosure
appears on page 34 of
Amendment No. 4. Gleacher & Company supplementally advises
the Staff that the criteria were consistently applied and that no
company was deliberately excluded from the dataset.
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Disclosure on page 38 of the Schedule 14D-9 indicates that CKx provided certain financial
forecasts prepared by senior management to Apollo Management, Parent and Merger Sub and also
provided financial forecasts to the Board and Gleacher & Company in connection with their
consideration of the Offer and Merger. Please |
Michele Anderson
June 6, 2011
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confirm whether such financial forecasts were the same. If not, please disclose all such
forecasts. |
Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the information in “Item 8(h) —
Projected Financial Information” of the Schedule 14D-9 has been revised to clarify and to make
additional disclosure. The revised disclosure appears on pages 40-41 of Amendment No. 4.
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Disclosure on page 39 of the Schedule 14D-9 indicates that the projections reflect numerous
estimates and assumptions. Please describe the material assumptions and limitations
underlying the projections described as well as any other projections provided in response to
the preceding comment and comment 6. Your revised disclosure should also explain the
difference in assumptions that led to the two different sets of projections themselves. |
Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the information in “Item 8(h).
Projected Financial Information” of the Schedule 14D-9 has been revised to include the requested
disclosure. The revised disclosure appears on page 41 of Amendment No. 4.
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We note that the projections on page 38 include non-GAAP financial measures. Please revise
to provide the disclosure required by Rule 100 of Regulation G or advise why you believe such
disclosure is not required. Refer to Question 101.01 of the Division of Corporation Finance’s
Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures. |
Response: In response to the Staff’s comment, the information in “Item 8(h).
Projected Financial Information” of the Schedule 14D-9 has been revised to include the requested
disclosure. The revised disclosure appears on pages 41-42 of Amendment No. 4.
Schedule 14D-9
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We note that CKx has requested confidential treatment with respect to Exhibit (a)(2)(F) to
Schedule 14D-9. Comments on the request will be sent under separate cover. |
Response: We have received the Staff’s comments with respect to the Company’s request
for confidential treatment for portions of Exhibit (a)(2)(F) to Schedule 14D-9. In response to
those comments, the Company has sent to the Staff, concurrently with the submission of this
response letter, a revised confidential treatment request and has also re-filed Exhibit (a)(2)(F)
with Amendment No. 4 to adequately mark the portions of the document for which confidential
treatment is being requested.
Michele Anderson
June 6, 2011
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* * * *
The Company, The Promenade Trust and Priscilla Presley have each authorized us to advise the Staff that it acknowledges that:
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each of the Company, The Promenade Trust and Priscilla Presley is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of its disclosure in the
filings; |
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the Staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to Staff comments do not
foreclose the Commission from taking any action with respect to the filings; and |
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each of the Company, The Promenade Trust and Priscilla Presley may not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceeding initiated by
the Commission or any person under the federal securities laws of the United States. |
Should you have any questions or comments regarding the foregoing, please do not hesitate to
contact the undersigned at (212) 403-1314.
Sincerely,
/s/ David E. Shapiro
David E. Shapiro