Mr. Halpern was always able to seek and find an alternative investor if a major investor became uneasy about the Polychrome's performance or Mr. Halpern's leadership. He may have thought the situation was no different in 1978 when Rhone Poulanc management indicated their interest in raising their stake in Polychrome. Rhone Poulanc by then was not only a major investor but also an important business partner both in marketing and in research & development. Mr. Halpern's call to find an investor was answered by DIC whose president Mr. Kawamura was very much interested in expanding his business overseas. This time, however, the balancing act did not work out in Mr. Halpern's favor. Instead of having DIC to own only a part of the remaining Polychrome stock to counterbalance Rhone Poulanc, DIC ended up winning a bidding war... a first for a Japanese company to do so.... and owning most of Polychrome's share except for a few percent owned by Mr. Halpern.
Mr. Halpern still hoped to maintain his management control of Polychrome even after the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of DIC and all the indications were that DIC was willing to do so. Mr. Halpern then made a second mistake in judgement; he panicked and feared that his remaining shares may not be worth if DIC did not honor and buy them in future. He rushed to Tokyo and got an agreement to have them bought. This left him to be a mere employee of the company rather than a significant share holder. Mr. Halpern increasingly found himself to be out of management loop, moved out of his office (and moved into my office!) then tendered his resignation. This letter was sent to all the employees and was his farewell to his beloved Polychrome. You can read the whole text
HERE. By the way after losing this bidding war, Rhone Poulanc pulled out of the graphic arts business. We later bought Regma and Quadrimetal from them.
