Business Career
In 1982, Heyman, a major investor in the GAF Materials Corporation, pursued the chairmanship of the then-troubled chemical and roofing materials producer. Rebuffed, he launched a proxy fight against the company's management that ended with shareholders voting to oust the board and install Heyman as CEO and chairman. At the time, Barron's called this development "one of the most striking achievements in the annals of corporate finance."
Within a year of Heyman's takeover, GAF's performance quickly improved thanks to a major cost-cutting initiative and increased research and development outlays. Today, it is the largest supplier of residential roofing materials in North America. In 1987, Heyman took GAF private despite an initial rebuff from shareholders.
During the late 1980s, Heyman attempted hostile takeovers of Union Carbide and Borg-Warner in an effort to increase the scale of GAF's chemical operations. Despite the failures of these takeovers, they resulted in large profits for GAF through its sales of stock in the targeted firms. Many of Heyman's takeover attempts were funded with debt from Drexel Burnham Lambert and Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1989, Heyman took GAF private through a leveraged buyout.
Two years later, Heyman spun off GAF's chemical business into a separate company, International Specialty Products. He spent much of the 1990s with the day-to-day chairmanship of the company as his primary business focus. In the late 1990s, GAF faced lawsuits related to its former asbestos business. Heyman unsuccessfully lobbied Congress to change the law governing asbestos litigation and eliminate punitive damages.
Heyman returned to corporate takeovers in 2000, when he was involved in unsuccessful takeover attempts on Dexter Chemical Corporation, the London Stock Exchange, and Hercules Corporation. In 2007, during Airline Partners Australia's attempted takeover of Qantas, his hedge fund, Heyman Investment Associates declined to accept Airline Partners Australia's offer for his shares in the airline. Much of the bidding team blamed Heyman for the takeover's ultimate failure.
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