Silesian-American Corporation
| Company type | Corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mining |
| Founded | 1926 |
| Headquarters | United States |
Area served | Poland (Upper Silesia) |
| Products | Mining assets (through Giesche Spolka Akcyjna) |
Silesian-American Corporation (SACO) was established in Delaware in 1926 to take over ownership of Giesche Spolka Akcyjna (Giesche), a company incorporated in Katowice, Poland during the interwar period. To finance Giesche’s Erben, SACO issued $15,000,000 in collateral trust sinking fund bonds set to mature on August 1, 1941. The entity Giesche represented the assets of the German firm Bergwerksgesellschaft Georg von Giesche's Erben located in Upper Silesia, a region that had shifted from German to Polish control.
Ownership of SACO was divided between the Silesian Holding Company (holding 51% of common stock and 58.33% of preferred stock) and Giesche (holding 49% of common stock and 41.67% of preferred stock). Control of the Silesian Holding Company rested with Anaconda Copper Mining (65%) and W. Averell Harriman, whose interest was subsequently managed by his associates and affiliated parties.
WWII
Following the 1939 invasion, SACO came under the authority of German military commissioner Dr. Albrecht Jung. The company ceased receiving revenue from its European assets and was unable to distribute dividends on bonds due in 1941, retaining only approximately half a million dollars in liquid funds. As a result, SACO sought reorganization protection under Chapter X of the U.S. Bankruptcy Act.
Repatriation scheme
Before the United States entered WWII, executives at Giesche's Erben initiated a "repatriation scheme" aiming to reclaim control over SACO through General Manager Eduard Schulte and Jung. In 1941, Schulte and Swiss bank LaRoche founded Internationale Kapitalanlegen Gesellschaft (Ikap) in Switzerland. Schulte convinced Harriman and Cornelius Kelley (president of Anaconda Copper) to transfer their shares in the Silesian Holding Company to Ikap. Nevertheless, these deals were halted by the U.S. Treasury Department due to a Presidential freeze order extended to Switzerland on June 14, 1941, which mandated approval for transfers potentially benefiting enemy entities. Between July and December 1941, three requests for stock ownership transfers were rejected.
On November 17, 1942, pursuant to the Trading with the Enemy Act, the Alien Property Custodian took possession of German-owned SACO shares. Prior to August 31, 1939, these shares had been held by Non Ferrum, a Swiss company acting on behalf of Bergwerksgesellschaft Georg von Giesche's Erben. This intervention effectively ended Schulte’s repatriation attempts.
The post-war times
During the 1950s, before its eventual dissolution, Silesian-American was engaged in several significant legal cases.
External links
- Time Magazine Jun. 14, 1926
- United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit, July 3, 1946 SILESIAN-AMERICAN CORPORATION et al. v. MARKHAM, Alien Property Custodian
- U.S. Supreme Court Dec. 8, 1947 SILESIAN AMERICAN CORPORATION V. CLARK
- Sixteenth Annual Report of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1950
Additional Polish materials concentrate on the development of Silesian industry and coal mining within Katowice and its environs:
- www.giszowiec.sewera.pl
- www.kopalnia.com.pl
- Jerzy Jaros, Secrets of Upper Silesian Corporations (Tajemnice górnośląskich koncernów), Śląski Instytut Naukowy, Katowice, 1983