Moving Metal

“SOMEONE WITH A LITTLE FINANCIAL BACKGROUND”

I n 1971, Leslie A. Waite was a fresh- ly-minted MBA working for Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company. His area of expertise was private place- ments—the issuance of debt or equity to a small number of select investors. One day an offering brochure came across his desk for a company named Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. Up until then, Reliance had funded its growth either by bank loans or through earnings. But Bill Gimbel was convinced that it was “grow or go” in the metals service center industry. The company needed deeper pockets, so Reliance was trying something new—a “note offering” involving the placement of debt with insurance firms. Waite was intrigued and became deeply immersed in Reliance’s first private placement working on behalf of Pacific Mutual, one of several participating insurance companies. The first one yielded $7.5 million dollars; addi- tional private placements followed, and so the company’s growth was funded for the next thirty-two years. Pacific Mutual, it turned out, was the onlyWest Coast insurance firm toparticipate

Zurbach would begin. “How do we do this? Is it easy to do?” In 1977, when Reliance Director and banker Harlan Robinson died, Bill Gimbel made a telephone call of his own. “We need someone with a little financial background and someone younger,” Gimbel told Waite. “Would you consider coming on the Board?” Waite had the requisite financial background: during his career he worked for several prestigious investment advisory firms, even founding one of his own. He was indeed young, unusually so for a director of a major corporation. As of 2014, Waite has given Reliance thirty- eight years of financial expertise, bringing the insights and experience gained during the days of private placement to bear in the age of public offerings. In addition, Waite has provided the Board with priceless knowledge of equity markets and investor perspective gained from running investment funds. “It’s been an amazing ride for me to see how this company has grown and grown with style and integrity and honesty,” he commented.

Les Waite

in the private placements—the rest were in Massachusetts and New York. So although Waite was just one of several players in that first deal, he was soon working very closely with Reliance officers themselves, settling easily into the role of consulting financial advisor. Whenever Reliance needed to adjust the terms of one of its placements, Waite received a call from Bob Zurbach. “We need to change one little thing,”

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