Farmer Bros. asked to open books. (Up Front).The largest institutional investor Institutional Investor A non-bank person or organization that trades securities in large enough share quantities or dollar amounts that they qualify for preferential treatment and lower commissions. in Farmer Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . Co. has demanded that the company open its financial records to determine how it is managing its investment funds. The move by Franklin Mutual Advisers LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control comes a month after it asked the Los Angeles-based coffee concern to split its operating division from its investing activities. Franklin Mutual, which controls 9.6 percent of Farmer Bros. outstanding shares, has been involved in a years-long tussle with Farmer Bros. and its board, which are notorious for shunning investors. For the past few months, Franklin, a unit of San Mateo-based Franklin Templeton Investments Franklin Resources Inc. NYSE: BEN is an investment firm originally founded in New York in 1947 as Franklin Distributors, Inc. It is listed on the NYSE under the ticker BEN as in Benjamin Franklin, whom founder Charlie Johnson admired. , with $270 billion in assets under management Assets Under Management (AUM) is a term used by financial services companies in the mutual fund and money management or investment management business to gauge how much money they are managing. , has been sponsoring a shareholder forum to determine ways to boost Farmer Bros. stock. At issue is Farmer Bros.' pool of investment funds, which, as of the quarter ended March 31 totaled $226.8 million, 56 percent of corporate assets. Franklin believes the company has no certain plans for the money and wants Farmer Bros. to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment company. An investment company designation would change how Farmer Bros. reports its results and require the company to hire investment professionals to oversee the funds. To obtain the records, Franklin is taking advantage of a California law that allows shareholders to demand and inspect company records on site and during normal business hours BUSINESS HOURS. The time of the day during which business is transacted. In respect to the time of presentment and demand of bills and notes, business hours generally range through the whole day down to the hours of rest in the evening, except when the paper is payable it a bank or by a . The demands were made in a July 26 letter to Roy F. Farmer, Farmer Bros. 85-year-old chairman. A copy of the letter was attached to a filing with the SEC. Officials from Franklin were not available for comment. Farmer Bros. did not return calls seeking comment. Under California law, Franklin may send a team of lawyers and accountants to Farmer Bros.' Torrance headquarters. Farmer Bros., which has ignored Franklin's demands thus far, is not required to do more than open the door, according to Gary Lutin, an investment banker Investment Banker A person representing a financial institution that is in the business of raising capital for corporations and municipalities. Notes: An investment banker may not accept deposits or make commercial loans. who has been chairing the ongoing forum for Farmer Bros. shareholders. He said Farmer Bros. had not responded to the demand to open its books. |
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