Rochester Business Journal

Zapata Corp. posted a loss in its third quarter, the company said Wednesday. The Brighton-based holding firm also disclosed plans regarding its merger with the Harbinger Group Inc., which includes a name change—Zapata will be called Harbinger.
 
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Zapata posted a net loss of $345,000, or 2 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $188,000, or a penny share, last year.

Zapata is a holding company with approximately $153.2 million in consolidated cash, cash equivalents and investments and owns some 98 percent of Zap.Com, a public shell company. The company is currently searching for candidates for acquisition or business combination.

On Tuesday, Zapata’s board of directors adopted a merger agreement between Zapata and its newly formed, wholly-owned subsidiary, Harbinger Group. As part of the agreement: the domicile of Zapata will change from the state of Nevada to the state of Delaware; Zapata’s stockholders will receive one share of common stock of Harbinger Group for each share of Zapata common stock owned by them at the time the merger is effected, and current Zapata management and directors will serve in their positions with Harbinger. The firm’s trading symbol will change to “HRG.”

In July, the company announced a billionaire hedge fund manager had been named chairman, president and CEO of Zapata after his New York City firm acquired 51 percent of the company for roughly $74 million.

At that time, Avram Glazer, its former leader, had resigned from his post and board position, as had family members Edward, Darcie and Brian Glazer.

The board appointed Philip Falcone in Glazer’s place. Falcone is chief investment officer and CEO of Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, a $13 billion firm specializing in struggling companies that Harbinger believes still have value.

In late June, Harbinger took a 51.3 percent ownership stake in Zapata, buying nearly 9.9 million shares from Glazer family members, mainly through the Malcolm I. Glazer Family Limited Partnership, documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show. Harrbinger paid $7.50 a share.

Zapata expects that the merger will become effective 20 calendar days after the date Zapata mails the definitive information statement to its stockholders.

Shares of Zapata (NYSE:ZAP) at 3 p.m. were trading at $6.90, up some 3.5 percent from Tuesday’s close of $6.67.

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