Siegler-related funds invest in COHR

Several investment funds related to Medical Resources chairman Gary Siegler have accumulated a large stock position in independent service organization COHR, according to documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As of Dec. 31, Siegler, a business partner, and firms related to the two owned a total of 33% of Chatsworth, CA-based COHR.

Siegler runs several investment funds that often acquire positions in medical imaging companies like Medical Resources, in which Siegler invested in 1990. Siegler's activities at Medical Resources are at the center of a controversy that erupted in November, when a number of executives left the imaging services firm in a dispute over what they said were improper advisory fees paid to one of Siegler's companies (SCAN 12/17/97).

According to the SEC documents filed Jan. 7, Siegler and his business partner, Peter Collery, have also been building a large position in COHR. As of Dec. 31, Siegler and Collery each held 9.3% of COHR common stock, while investment funds controlled by them, including SC Fundamental, SC Fundamental Value Fund, and SC Fundamental Value BVI, hold a further 14.4%, for a total position of 33%. The SEC documents, called 13D filings, must be submitted whenever an investor acquires more than 5% of a registered security, according to the SEC.

COHR has undergone some turmoil in recent months. Chairman and CEO Paul Chopra, who led the company on an aggressive acquisition drive, left the ISO last year after the company reported disappointing second-quarter earnings. COHR announced in December that it had retained Lehman Brothers to help it explore strategic alternatives that might include the sale of the company (SCAN 1/14/98).

A spokesperson for COHR said the company would be unable to comment on how much of COHR the Siegler-related firms own until the company receives SEC documentation in mid-February. Siegler declined to comment on the investments as of press time.