033_Curry, J. T

              AMW
INTERVIEW SUMMARY J.T. CURRY WITH LOU KRAAR, FORTUNE May 25, 1977
(From notes taken by Jean M. Goity.   No tape recorder was used.)
Mr. Kraar opened the meeting with the comment that J.T. Curry was his ""missing link""  indicating that he had already talked with Messrs. Jones, Littlefield, & Al Way regarding the first merger discussions.   JTC said he wondered what Darwin would think about this ""missing link"" theory. Q. When did you first hear about the merger?
A. I heard about it in late October from Mr. Littlefield.   He indicated to me that Al Way was coming to S.F. and suggested that the two of us might get together just to talk in general terms to see if it made any sense for us to go forward with merger discussions.   I met with Al Way in his hotel room here in San Francisco on October 28, 1975 and we had dinner together.   We talked in general terms at this point regarding our companies and we generally took the opportunity to get acquainted personally and chatted about our families and things that people talk about in their first meeting.   One thing I was quick to discover was that he knew a lot more about Utah than I knew about GE.
Q. As I understand it, you had been looking into perhaps acquiring some company to achieve the diversification you were seeking?
A. Yes, before our discussions with GE, we had been charged with investigating acquisition possibilities for Utah.   However, I was not particularly comfortable with our internal capabilities to conduct a major investigation.   We would have had to increase our staff capabilities substantially to carry out a thorough investigation.
Q. What size of company were you looking at?
A. Our objective was to acquire a company with after tax earnings of $50 to $100 million.   Preferably a company in the natural resource area.   That's awfully