MANAGING A CHILEAN COMPANY
April 12, 1967. Legal Constitution of the Company
Haldeman: Mr. Simian, the minister of mines, who got the legislation
through from '64 to "67 to be able to make the joint ventures,
resigned as minister.
Chilean legislature
The president said, "Mr. Simian, you can't leave me. I
want you to be president of the company. You know Bob, and
he'll be vice president. I want the two of you to run the
company. "
That's the way the thing was structured. On April 12,
1967, the company was legally constituted. We had the first
board meeting, and all of the transfer of titles, shares, and
assets were made. [looking at photo] You have here Mr. Simian
at the head of the table. On his right is yours truly, on his
left is Mr. Grant, and these are all the board of directors and
the alternates.
Swent: Eleven people. Maybe we can get a copy of that picture.
Haldeman: I'll get a copy for you and send it to you.
In April, just before this was signedalmost
simultaneously--Kennecott was in OPIC offices and the Eximbank,
and their loan agreement was signed by U.S. government agency.
Swent: Where were those offices?
former Chilean government building
Haldeman: In Washington, D.C. The Chilean ambassador at that time,
Radomiro Tomic, was present and signed for the Chilean
government at the same time we were down here signing. At that
meeting, the head of Eximbank gave a little speech, the Chilean
ambassador gave a speech, OPIC gave a speech, and Mr. Milliken
gave a speech in which, among other things, he said, "The man
who is responsible for the whole idea of this joint venture is
not with us today, and that's Bob Haldeman. He's in Chile at
this moment, signing the papers and setting up the first meeting
of this company. It was his idea."
Swent: So he did give you the credit
Haldeman:
But never to my face. [laughs] I don't care,
perfectly fine by me. We got what we wanted.
Index to Haldeman Interview
No comments:
Post a Comment