Davis Cos

Davis, Reinfrank Form Company: Davis Cos., an investment firm controlled by financier Marvin Davis, announced the formation of Davis Reinfrank Co. by Davis, John Davis and Ruldolph Reinfrank. The new concern will invest in companies with market values of $30 million to $150 million, particularly in communications and financial services, Davis Cos. said in Los Angeles.

Billionaire investor Marvin Davis boosted his takeover bid for Carter-Wallace Inc. to $20 a share on Monday, just two weeks after the maker of Trojan condoms and Arrid deodorant turned thumbs down on an earlier bid of $18 a share. A spokeswoman for Davis said the sweetened proposal from the financier's Los Angeles-based Davis Cos. was valued at $928 million, based on Carter-Wallace's 46.39 million shares outstanding, up from the original price of $835 million.

Consumer and health-care products company Carter-Wallace Inc. said it received an offer to be acquired for $835 million, or $18 a share, from billionaire real estate investor Marvin Davis. The maker of Arrid deodorant and Trojan condoms said it received a letter from Davis' company, Davis Cos. of Los Angeles, stating that it was prepared to begin talks to buy the company. Carter-Wallace shares soared $3.25 to close at $15 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Consumer and health-care products company Carter-Wallace Inc. said it received an offer to be acquired for $835 million, or $18 a share, from billionaire real estate investor Marvin Davis. The maker of Arrid deodorant and Trojan condoms said it received a letter from Davis' company, Davis Cos. of Los Angeles, stating that it was prepared to begin talks to buy the company. Carter-Wallace shares soared $3.25 to close at $15 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Billionaire investor Marvin Davis boosted his takeover bid for Carter-Wallace Inc. to $20 a share on Monday, just two weeks after the maker of Trojan condoms and Arrid deodorant turned thumbs down on an earlier bid of $18 a share. A spokeswoman for Davis said the sweetened proposal from the financier's Los Angeles-based Davis Cos. was valued at $928 million, based on Carter-Wallace's 46.39 million shares outstanding, up from the original price of $835 million.

Marvin Davis Cuts Stake in Mesa: The billionaire investor reduced his stake in the Irving, Texas, oil and gas company to 2.4% and disbanded a shareholder group that previously sought to oust Chairman Boone Pickens. Davis sold 518,000 common shares at $3.87 to $4 each from April 11-23, according to a Schedule 13D filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He now holds 1.56 million common shares. The SEC filing included an April 22 letter from Davis Cos.

Billionaire Marvin Davis and the Prudential Insurance Co. of America said today they will purchase Spectradyne Inc., which provides pay-per-view movies to the hotel industry. Davis' Los Angeles-based Davis Cos. and Prudential said they agreed to pay about $635 million for the company from a group that had acquired it two years ago in a $450-million deal. The selling group consists of Acadia Partners, L. P., of Fort Worth, an entity affiliated with billionaire investor Robert M.

Through one of the biggest office lease transactions in Los Angeles history, Fox Entertainment Group Inc. will stay put at the landmark Fox Plaza in Century City--at least for 15 more years. Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's Fox team is consolidating various lease arrangements in the building totaling more than 315,000 square feet through a transaction said to be valued at more than $250 million--pretty close to what billionaire investor Marvin Davis paid for the building 28 months ago.

Davis, Reinfrank Form Company: Davis Cos., an investment firm controlled by financier Marvin Davis, announced the formation of Davis Reinfrank Co. by Davis, John Davis and Ruldolph Reinfrank. The new concern will invest in companies with market values of $30 million to $150 million, particularly in communications and financial services, Davis Cos. said in Los Angeles.

Burton (Buddy) Monasch, 68, entertainment lawyer brought into 20th Century Fox as top negotiator by Marvin Davis. A Yale-trained New York lawyer, Monasch came to Los Angeles and Fox at Davis' behest in 1982, becoming executive vice president in charge of the studio's 70-member legal department. Among the deals he negotiated for Davis, a college friend from New York University, was the sale of the Beverly Hills Hotel to the Sultan of Brunei.