LV company delays annual meeting

Thursday, April 22, 1999 | 11:33 a.m.

The meeting, once scheduled for March and later for April 30, will now be held three days later, on Monday, May 3, at the company's Pioneer hotel-casino in Laughlin.

Ray Brown, a Santa Fe spokesman, said the company had to delay the meeting because it did not send its proxy materials to investors early enough to meet Securities and Exchange Commission annual meeting notice requirements.

"They did not get their proxy materials out in time," said Brown.

The meeting is likely to be lively. Preferred shareholders will be eligible to elect two special directors to the company's board for the first time. David Lesser, whose New York investment firm Hudson Bay Partners LP owns nearly a third of Santa Fe's preferred stock, has offered a slate of directors in opposition to the company's nominees.

Hudson Bay also owns bonds issued by Santa Fe subsidiary Pioneer Finance Corp., which is in bankruptcy along with Pioneer hotel-casino operator Pioneer Hotel Inc. Last month, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge denied a Hudson Bay attempt to force Santa Fe Gaming into bankruptcy.