[PEN-L:1895] Michael Dingman

["Hugo Radice" <HKR@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear pen-lers,

A Wall Street operator called Michael Dingman is currently buying up
control over a large chunk of Czech industry - 7 of the biggest
companies so far.  He claims he's going to 'restructure' etc., but
many suspect he's planning a form of greenmail and looking to cream
off speculative profits.

I badly need some info on Dingman to pass on to Czech contacts.  Can
anyone help?  Doug, does he figure in the LBO files?  He is operating
in the Czech Republic through a vehicle called Stratton Investments.
His partners in crime are two:  Viktor Kozeny, a Czech (well,
ex-Czech now) who began the whole investment privatisation fund
business in what was then Czechoslovakia in 1991, when he launched
his 'Harvard' group of funds to collect in citizens' privatisation
coupons, and who controls key strategic stakes in many of the top
Czech firms;  and a Mr Daniel Arbess, a Canadian lawyer, who used to
head the Prague offices of a US law firm, White and Case.  For
further current info see Business Week, December 4 1995 (but it may
only be in the 'European' edition!).

Send any information urgently to me:

Hugo Radice
hkr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx