Morgan Stanley & Co. v. Securities Exchange Com'n

• Decision Date: 20 February 1942
• Docket Number: No. 129.,129.
• Citation: 126 F.2d 325
• Parties: MORGAN STANLEY & CO., Inc., v. SECURITIES EXCHANGE COMMISSION.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

126 F.2d 325 (1942)

MORGAN STANLEY & CO., Inc., v. SECURITIES EXCHANGE COMMISSION.

No. 129.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

February 20, 1942.

John W. Davis, of New York City (Davis, Polk, Wardwell, Gardiner & Reed, George A. Brownell, and Amory H. Bradford, all of New York City, on the brief), for petitioner.

Chester T. Lane, Gen. Counsel, and Lawrence S. Lesser, both of Washington, D. C. (Christopher M. Jenks, Robert Blair-Smith, Maurice C. Kaplan, and Nathan L. Halpern, all of Washington, D. C., on the brief), for respondent.

Before L. HAND, CHASE, and CLARK, Circuit Judges.

CLARK, Circuit Judge.

This is a petition for review of an order of the Securities and Exchange Commission declaring petitioner, Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc., to be an affiliate of the Dayton Power & Light Co. for the purpose of denying underwriting fees to petitioner in connection with a refunding operation of Dayton. This order was issued pursuant to Rule U-12F-2 of the Commission under the Public Utility Holding Company Act, 15 U.S.C.A. § 79a et seq. Petitioner urges that the record lacks substantial evidence to support the order, and that the Rule is invalid under the Act. We do not agree with either contention of petitioner.

Before we take up the facts, some reference to the purposes of the Act and the Rule are necessary in order to place the problem in its proper perspective. The general background of the Act is well known. Both the unprecedented and generally unregulated growth of utilities, particularly electric, and the vicissitudes of the depression pointed the way for nationwide action. Because of the importance of holding companies as a means of obtaining credit, considerable attention was given to the financial practices of these companies. Here was found, among other evils, a close tieup between investment banking houses and large holding companies. As the National Power Policy Committee observed in its report to the President, transmitted by him to Congress: "Fundamentally, the holding-company problem always has been, and still is, as much a problem of regulating investment bankers as a problem of regulating the power industry." H. R. Doc. No. 137, 74th Cong., 1st Sess., 6.¹

This evil was one of the many aimed at by the bill. Section 1(b), 15 U.S.C.A. § 79a(b), observes that "the national public interest" is or "may be adversely affected — * * * (2) when subsidiary public-utility companies are subjected to excessive charges for services * * * or enter into transactions in which evils result from an absence of arm's-length bargaining or from restraint of free and independent competition; * * * (5) when in any other respect there is * * * lack of economies in the raising of capital." Many provisions of the Act, from the stringent requirements of registration with the Commission and approval of security transactions by the Commission to the disqualification of officials of banking institutions from serving as officers or directors of holding companies or their subsidiaries, implement the avowed purpose of protecting the public and investors from undue banker influence. In addition, the Commission is given broad rule-making powers for furthering the statutory provisions.

It is one of the Commission's rules which is in issue here. Rule U-12F-2 requires, in effect, that no underwriter's fee can be paid on security issues if the underwriter is in the holding-company system, is an affiliate,² or is a person "who the Commission finds stands in such relation to the issuer, that there is liable to be or to have been an absence of arm's-length bargaining with respect to the transaction." The Rule is not applicable, however, if there is an effort to obtain competitive bids, or if competitive bidding is not practicable and the fees are otherwise reasonable. The purpose of the Rule is obvious. As we noted above, one of the objects of the Act is to reduce the cost of financing by encouraging competition. Such requirements as the Act itself imposes were found of little avail because, for example, even after the elimination of interlocking directorates many banking relations continued unchanged. And since there has always been an unwritten rule that investment bankers do not disturb existing issuer-banker relationships, it was evident that some further step was necessary. See Comment, Competitive Bidding in the Sale of Public Utility Bonds, 50 Yale L. J. 1071-1075; and the TNEC hearings there cited. Rule U-12F-2 was designed to find these subtle relationships and prevent their continuance.

The Rule became effective on March 1, 1939, and several cases soon arose in which it was applied without contest.³ The present case arose in January, 1940, when the Dayton Power & Light Co. filed its request to issue $25,000,000 in bonds. Representatives of the Commission indicated that they would question petitioner's status as principal underwriter under the Rule. To avoid delay in financing the issue, stipulation was entered into whereby petitioner's underwriting fees were impounded pending a determination of its status. After hearing, the Commission found "that the special relationship between Morgan Stanley and Dayton was such that there was liable to have been such an absence of arm's-length bargaining in the Dayton bond financing of 1940, that it is both necessary and appropriate in the public interest and for the protection of investors and consumers that Morgan Stanley be subject to the obligations, duties and liabilities of an affiliate of Dayton for the purposes of Rule U-12F-2." Matter of Dayton Power & Light Co., Holding Company Act Release No. 2654, Mar. 28, 1941. Subsequently the Commission ordered petitioner's underwriting fees, $100,562.50, paid over to Dayton. Holding Company Act Release No. 2693, Apr. 15, 1941. It is this finding and order which are contested.

The Commission's opinion — Matter of Dayton Power & Light Co., supra — is long and comprehensive, and we see no need for covering the same ground so thoroughly. Briefly, four steps are taken to adduce the likelihood of absence of arm's-length bargaining. They concern asserted connections from Dayton Power & Light to Columbia Gas & Electric Corporation, the parent of Dayton, from Columbia to United Corporation, a holding company having a substantial stock interest in Columbia, and from United to Morgan Stanley through the connection of both these latter corporations with the banking house of J. P. Morgan & Co.⁴ We consider each of these four relationships separately. First is the relationship between Dayton Power & Light and Columbia Gas & Electric, a conceded relationship because the former is wholly owned by the latter, with interlocking officers and directors. Second is the relationship between Columbia Gas & Electric and United, which owns 19.6% of Columbia's voting stock. Although petitioner argues that the mere fact of Columbia's status as a "subsidiary company" within the definition of § 2(a) (8), 15 U.S.C.A. § 79b(a) (8) — as owning 10% of the stock — is not controlling, we think there is little need to discuss this point. Columbia has never carried through any attempt to have the Commission find that it is within the exceptions of § 2(a) (8); and in the absence of such action by Columbia, the Commission is warranted in relying on the statutory definition of a subsidiary company. Furthermore, the 20% holding of United is the largest block of voting securities; and there is supporting evidence in the record showing various connections between United and Columbia. We are not unaware that much less than a majority of stock is frequently sufficient for purposes of control, and we see no reason to contest the legislative view that 10% may be sufficient.

The third step is the relationship between United and J. P. Morgan & Co. This is the most difficult to establish, and we shall discuss it more fully below. The final step is the relationship between J. P. Morgan & Co. and Morgan Stanley. The latter was organized in 1935, when several partners and employees of J. P. Morgan & Co. and Drexel & Co., the Philadelphia office of J. P. Morgan & Co., left to form an investment banking house. Prior to 1933, J. P. Morgan & Co. had been both commercial bankers and investment bankers, but after the Banking Act of 1933, 48 Stat. 162, 188, and of 1935, 49 Stat. 684, 707, 12 U.S.C.A. § 377, it was necessary for one activity to be dropped. Investment banking was discontinued, and creation of Morgan Stanley soon followed. Most of the old business of the Morgan house went over to the new company, as anyone would have expected. Whether these facts alone would be sufficient to warrant a conclusion that whatever investment business J. P. Morgan & Co. might be able to influence would be thrown Morgan Stanley's way we need not decide, for the Commission adduced still further facts. It was shown that at the time of organization most of the capital was supplied by other Morgan partners than those who formed the new company. Though not so large as formerly, Morgan partners still hold about 30% of the capital and surplus in the form of approximately 44% of the non-voting preferred stock, 4% cumulative, 6% if earned.⁵ From this fact the Commission inferred that J. P. Morgan & Co., through its interested partners, stood to gain financially by getting business for Morgan Stanley. Petitioner claims that even all this is insufficient to support the Commission's conclusion. We admit that there are many facts in this case which require far-reaching inferences to support the conclusions announced. This is hardly one. Tangible proof of a goodly financial stake in successful business relationships should be enough to satisfy the most confirmed doubter that there is likely to be mutual effort expended in obtaining business.

We come, therefore, to what is undoubtedly the most tenuous step in establishing the likelihood of an absence of arm's-length bargaining — the relationship between J. P....