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ENTREPRENEURS
Entrepreneurs William A. McMinn and J. Virgil Waggoner are senior founding partners of a new merchant banking group dedicated to the late Gordon Cain's investment philosophy--everybody wins. They have set up shop in Houston under the name of Legacy Equity Group to invest in specialty chemical, biotechnology, and other types of businesses. Cain, a one-time Conoco chemical executive who died last year at age 90, led a series of leveraged buyouts (LBO) that stunned the industry in the 1980s and 1990s. For instance, in 1987 Cain led the formation of Cain Chemical from seven ethylene-derivative operations and drafted former FMC Corp. executive McMinn, now 72, to lead the new company. Senior executives made millions when they sold the firm a year later to Occidental Chemical, but so did employees. The 1,350 workers shared a windfall of $536 million for their 43% share of the firm. Waggoner, 75, a former Monsanto executive, headed another Cain LBO--Sterling Chemicals, a 1986 buyout of Monsanto's Texas City, Texas, petrochemicals complex. Employees owned 60% of the firm and reaped millions in dividends, profit sharing, and stock by the time the firm went public in 1988. Greg Ford, a banker formerly with Texas Commerce Bank and a founding partner in Legacy Equity, says the group is "not just dedicated to Gordon Cain's memory, but to his spirit." Ford says the firm will invest in businesses where the key to success is "making employees partners." |
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