SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
__________
SCHEDULE 13D
(Rule 13d-101)
INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN STATEMENTS FILED PURSUANT
TO RULE 13d-1(a) AND AMENDMENTS THERETO FILED PURSUANT TO
RULE 13d-2(a)
(Amendment No. 2)(1)
News Communications, Inc.
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(Name of Issuer)
Common Stock, $.01 par value
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(Title of Class of Securities)
652484601
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(CUSIP Number)
Paul J. Pollock, Esq.
Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe LLP
1251 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020-1104
(212) 835-6280
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(Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person
Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications)
June 4, 2001
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(Date of Event Which Requires Filing of this Statement)
If the filing person has previously filed a statement on Schedule 13G
to report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is
filing this schedule because of Rule 13d-1(e), 13d-1(f) or 13d-1(g), check the
following box [ ].
(Continued on following pages)
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(1) The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting
person's initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of
securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would
alter disclosures provided in a prior cover page.
The information required on the remainder of this cover page shall not
be deemed to be "filed" for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 ("Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of
the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see
the Notes).
13D
CUSIP No. 652484601
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1 NAME OF REPORTING PERSONS
I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY)
Jerry Finkelstein
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2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a) [X]
(b) [ ]
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3 SEC USE ONLY
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4 SOURCE OF FUNDS*
PF
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5 CHECK BOX IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEM 2(d) or 2(e) [ ]
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6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION
U.S.A.
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7 SOLE VOTING POWER
NUMBER OF 587,388(1)
SHARES ------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENEFICIALLY 8 SHARED VOTING POWER
OWNED BY
EACH 76,612(2)
REPORTING ------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERSON 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER
WITH
587,388(1)
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10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER
76,612(2)
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11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON
664,000 (1), (2) and (3)
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12 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES* [X](3)
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13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11)
3.04%
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14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON*
IN
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(1) Includes 399,999 shares that may be acquired upon the exercise of
presently exercisable options.
(2) Includes 66,667 shares owned by Jerry Finkelstein's spouse and 9,945
shares owned by The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc.
(3) Excludes all shares owned by other parties (other than Shirley
Finkelstein and The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc.) to the Stockholders'
Agreement described in Item 6, of which Jerry Finkelstein disclaims
beneficial ownership.
2
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1 NAME OF REPORTING PERSONS
I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY)
Shirley Finkelstein
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2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a) [X]
(b) [ ]
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3 SEC USE ONLY
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4 SOURCE OF FUNDS*
PF
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5 CHECK BOX IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEM 2(d) or 2(e) [ ]
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6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION
U.S.A.
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7 SOLE VOTING POWER
NUMBER OF 0
SHARES ------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENEFICIALLY 8 SHARED VOTING POWER
OWNED BY
EACH 66,667(1)
REPORTING ------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERSON 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER
WITH
0
------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER
66,667(1)
--------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON
66,667(2)
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12 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES* [X](2)
--------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11)
0.62%
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14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON*
IN
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(1) Voting power is shared with Jerry Finkelstein, Shirley Finkelstein's
husband.
(2) Excludes 187,389 shares owned by Jerry Finkelstein, 399,999 shares that may
be acquired upon the exercise of currently exercisable stock options owned
by Jerry Finkelstein and all shares owned by other parties to the
Stockholders' Agreement described in Item 6, of which Shirley Finkesltein
disclaims beneficial ownership.
3
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1 NAME OF REPORTING PERSONS
I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NOS. OF ABOVE PERSONS (ENTITIES ONLY)
The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc.
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2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP* (a) [X]
(b) [ ]
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3 SEC USE ONLY
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4 SOURCE OF FUNDS*
PF
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5 CHECK BOX IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEM 2(d) or 2(e) [ ]
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6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION
U.S.A.
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7 SOLE VOTING POWER
NUMBER OF 0
SHARES ------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BENEFICIALLY 8 SHARED VOTING POWER
OWNED BY
EACH 9,945(1)
REPORTING ------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PERSON 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER
WITH
0
------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER
9,945(1)
--------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON
9,945(2)
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12 CHECK BOX IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES* [X](2)
--------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11)
0.09%
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14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON*
IN
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(1) Voting power is shared with Jerry Finkelstein, the sole director and
President of The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc.
(2) Excludes 187,389 shares owned by Jerry Finkelstein, 399,999 shares that may
be acquired upon the exercise of currently exercisable stock options owned
by Jerry Finkelstein and all shares owned by other parties to the
Stockholders' Agreement described in Item 6, of which The Finkelstein
Foundation, Inc. disclaims beneficial ownership.
*SEE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE FILLING OUT
4
Schedule 13D is hereby amended as follows:
Item 1. Security and Issuer.
This statement relates to the common stock, $.01 par value, of
News Communications, Inc., a Nevada corporation. The address of News
Communications' principal executive office is 2 Park Avenue, Suite 1405, New
York, New York 10016.
Item 4. Purpose of Transaction.
Under the terms of the Stockholders' Agreement described
in Item 6, for as long as James A. Finkelstein ("James Finkelstein") is the
President and Chief Executive Officer of the Issuer, Jerry Finkelstein,
Shirley Finkelstein and The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc. (collectively, the
"Finkelstein Group") and the other parties thereto have agreed to maintain the
size of the Board of Directors at nine (9) members. The Finkelstein Group and
the other stockholders have further agreed to vote their shares so as to elect
as directors of the Issuer: (i) four persons designated by James Finkelstein,
one of whom shall initially be James Finkelstein and one of whom shall initially
be Jerry Finkelstein; (ii) one person to be designated by J. Morton Davis,
D.H. Blair Investment Banking Corp. ("Blair"), Rivkalex Corporation and
Rosalind Davidowitz (collectively, the "Davis Group") who shall initially
be Martin Bell; (iii) one person to be designated by Wilbur L. Ross, Jr.
("Ross") who shall initially be Ross; (iv) one person to be designated by
Melvyn I. Weiss and the M&B Weiss Family Partnership (together, the "Weiss
Group") who shall initially be Gary Weiss; and (v) two persons to be designated
by the mutual agreement of Ross, the Weiss Group and the Davis Group. See
Item 6.
Further, as more particularly described in Item 6, under
the terms of the Letter Agreement, stockholders owning a majority of the
Issuer's shares entitled to vote (including the Finkelstein Group) have agreed,
subject to board approval, to vote in favor of a transaction in which a newly
formed entity controlled by James Finkelstein would acquire all of the
outstanding shares of the Issuer for a purchase price of $1.30 per share payable
through a combination of cash, equity securities and/or debt securities. James
Finkelstein has no obligation to proceed with any such plan to acquire control
of the Issuer.
Except as set forth above, no member of the Finkelstein
Group has any present plans or intentions which would result in or relate to any
of the transactions described in subparagraphs (a) through (j) of Item 4 of
Schedule 13D.
Item 5. Interest in Securities of the Issuer.
(a-b) As of June 4, 2001, Jerry Finkelstein, Shirley
Finkelstein and The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc. may be deemed to beneficially
own 664,000 shares, or 3.04%, of the Issuer's common stock outstanding. Of the
shares owned by the Finkelstein Group, (i) Jerry Finkelstein has sole voting and
dispositive power over 587,388 shares (including options to purchase 399,999
shares) (ii) Jerry Finkelstein and his spouse, Shirley Finkelstein, share voting
and dispositive power over 66,667 shares owned by Shirley Finkelstein and (iii)
Jerry Finkelstein and The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc. share voting and
dispositive power over 9,945 shares owned by The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc.
5
By virtue of having entered into the Stockholders' Agreement,
each of Jerry Finkelstein, Shirley Finkelstein and The Finkelstein Foundation,
Inc. may be deemed under Rule 13d-3 and Rule 13d-5 promulgated under the
Exchange Act to be a member of a group with the other Stockholders described in
Item 6. However, under the Stockholders' Agreement, the members of the
Finkelstein Group have neither voting power nor investment power with respect to
the shares held by those other stockholders. Accordingly, pursuant to Rule 13d-4
promulgated under the Exchange Act, Jerry Finkelstein, Shirley Finkelstein and
The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc. expressly disclaim beneficial ownership of the
shares beneficially owned by the other Stockholders and the filing of this
Statement on Schedule 13D shall not be construed as an admission that any of the
members of the Finkelstein Group is the beneficial owner, under Section 13(d) or
13(g) of the Exchange Act, of the shares beneficially owned by the other
Stockholders.
Item 6. Contracts, Arrangements, Understandings or Relationships
With Respect to Securities of the Issuer.
The Finkelstein Group, James Finkelstein, the Issuer, the
Davis Group, Ross, the Weiss Group and the holders of the Issuer's $10
Convertible Preferred Stock entered into a Letter Agreement, dated as of May 8,
2001, pursuant to which, among other things, James Finkelstein was hired to
serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Issuer. The terms of the
Letter Agreement are incorporated herein by reference.
Under the terms of the Letter Agreement, the Finkelstein
Group, Ross, the Davis Group, the Weiss Group and James Finkelstein have agreed,
subject to board approval and the receipt of a fairness opinion, to vote in
favor of the following plan (the "Going Private Plan") if proposed before May
15, 2002:
1. James Finkelstein or an entity controlled by James
Finkelstein would form a new entity ("Newco") and James Finkelstein
would contribute all shares of the Issuer's stock owned by him to
Newco.
2. James Finkelstein would purchase, for an aggregate of
$310,000, additional shares of Newco Common Stock which, after giving
effect to the transactions described below, would represent 50.1% of
the issued and outstanding Newco Common Stock.
3. Newco would enter into a merger or other agreement with
the Issuer pursuant to which Newco would acquire all of the shares of
the Issuer not owned by it for an aggregate consideration of $1.30 per
share on the following terms:
i. Each of the Finkelstein Group, Ross, the Weiss
Group, the Davis Group and the holders of the Issuer's $10
Convertible Preferred Stock would receive for each share of
the Issuer's Common Stock owned by them approximately 0.175
shares of Newco Common Stock and approximately $1.125
principal amount of Newco's 5% Subordinated Notes (the
"Control Shareholder Consideration").
ii. All other stockholders of the Issuer will receive
for each of the Issuer's shares owned by them $.35 in cash and
$.95 principal amount of Newco's 8% Senior Subordinated Notes
due on the fourth anniversary of the
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consummation of the Going Private Plan (the "General
Shareholder Consideration").
In connection with the consummation of the transactions
contemplated by the Letter Agreement, the following documents were delivered and
the following transactions were consummated involving the Finkelstein Group:
1. James Finkelstein, the Finkelstein Group, Ross, the
Weiss Group and the Davis Group (each member of the Finkelstein Group,
the Davis Group, the Weiss Group, Ross and James Finkelstein,
individually, a "Stockholder" and collectively the "Stockholders")
entered into a Stockholders' Agreement dated as of May 8, 2001 (the
"Stockholders' Agreement").
Pursuant to the terms of the Stockholders' Agreement,
subject to limited exceptions, James Finkelstein has been granted an
irrevocable proxy to vote all of the shares held by the Davis Group
until such time as James Finkelstein ceases to be employed as the
President and Chief Executive Officer of the Issuer. In addition, the
Stockholders' Agreement provides that, for so long as James Finkelstein
is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Issuer, the
Stockholders have agreed to act to maintain the size of the Issuer's
Board of Directors at 9 members and to vote their shares so as to elect
as directors of the Issuer as follows: (i) four persons designated by
James Finkelstein, one of whom shall initially be James Finkelstein and
one of whom shall initially be Jerry Finkelstein; (ii) one person
designated by Ross who shall initially be Ross; (iii) one person
designated by the Weiss Group who shall initially be Gary Weiss; (iv)
one person designated by the Davis Group who shall initially be Martin
A. Bell; and (v) two persons designated by the mutual agreement of the
Davis Group, the Weiss Group and Ross. The terms of the Stockholders'
Agreement are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Jerry Finkelstein entered into a letter agreement with
Blair, Melvyn I. Weiss ("Weiss"), Ross and Hillel Weinberger dated May
23, 2001 (the "Weinberger Letter"). Under the terms of the Weinberger
Letter, Jerry Finkelstein, Ross, Blair and Weiss agreed to exchange, on
a pro rata basis, 150,000 shares of the Issuer's Common Stock which
would be entitled to receive the Control Shareholder Consideration for
the 150,000 shares of the Issuer's Common Stock owned by Mr. Weinberger
with respect to which Mr. Weinberger would be entitled to receive the
General Shareholder Consideration. The terms of the Weinberger Letter
are incorporated herein by reference
Except as set forth above in this Item 6, no member of the
Finkelstein Group has entered into any contracts, arrangements, understandings
or relationships (legal or otherwise) with any person with respect to any
securities of the Issuer.
The foregoing description of each of the agreements
incorporated by reference into this Item 6 are qualified by reference to the
actual agreement attached as an exhibit to this Schedule 13D.
7
Item 7. Material to be Filed as Exhibits.
The following are filed herewith as Exhibits:
Exhibit Description Exhibit No. in
Referenced
Document
1. Letter Agreement dated as of May 8, 2001 by and between News 10.1(1)
Communications, Inc. and James Finkelstein.
2. Stockholders' Agreement dated as of May 8, 2001 by and among Jerry 10.2(1)
Finkelstein, The Finkelstein Foundation, Inc., Shirley Finkelstein,
Wilbur L. Ross, Jr.; Melvyn I. Weiss, M&B Weiss Family Partnership, J.
Morton Davis, D.H. Blair Investment Banking Corp., Rivkalex Corporation,
Rosalind Davidowitz, and James Finkelstein.
3. Letter Agreement dated May 23, 2001 by and among D.H. Blair Investment 10(2)
Banking Corp., Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Melvyn I. Weiss, Jerry Finkelstein
and Hillel Weinberger.
(1) Incorporated by reference from Current Report of the Issuer on Form 8-K
relating to events occurring on June 4, 2001 and filed with the SEC on June 14,
2001.
(2) Incorporated by reference from Amendment No. 18 to Schedule 13D of J. Morton
Davis, D.H. Blair Investment Banking Corp. and Rosalind Davidowitz relating to
events occurring on June 4, 2001 and filed with the SEC on June 14, 2001.
8
SIGNATURE
After reasonable inquiry and to the best of its knowledge and
belief, the undersigned certifies that the information set forth in this
Statement is true, complete and correct.
Dated: June 20, 2001
/s/ Jerry Finkelstein
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Jerry Finkelstein
/s/ Shirley Finkelstein
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Shirley Finkelstein
THE FINKELSTEIN FOUNDATION, INC.
By: /s/ Jerry Finkelstein
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Name: Jerry Finkelstein
Title:
9