PROXMIRE OUTLINES INSIDER TRADING LEGISLATION Senate Banking Committee Chairman William Proxmire (D-Wis) said he planned to introduce legislation shortly to require greater public disclosure of corporate takeovers and fairer treatment for all shareholders. Speaking to the National Association of Manufacturers, Proxmire said recent insider trading stock scandals increased the chance that Congress will act to curb abuses. "We are proposing legislation that would provide for more disclosure, would be fairer to all shareholders, and would insure that takeovers are properly financed," he said. Among the provisions, the bill would reduce the threshold for notifying the Securities and Exchange Commission that a investor or group has acquired a percentage of stock in a company to three pct from the current five pct threshold within 10 days, Proxmire said. In addition, there would be a pre-notificaton requirement that an investor intended to aquire three pct that would have to filed with the SEC. Proxmire said the pre-notification requirement was meant to prevent arbitragers from having a jump on the general public in knowing about coming takeover attempts. Proxmire said he would call for extending the period that a tender offer must be kept open under the Williams Act to 60 business days from the current 20 business days. His bill would provide for private suits if the acquiring company violated the time period on the tender offer. To correct abuses in the financing of takeovers, Proxmire said the legislation would aim at insuring current margin requirments are properly enforced. The Federal Reserve Board has a 50 pct margin requirement for purchasing stock, but Proxmire said it is not generally enforced in hostile takeovers. Rather, the groups or individuals leading a takeover declare that they can raise the capital for a takeover without actually putting any of their own money, Proxmire said. He said his bill would allow private suits for damages for failure to meet the Federal Reserve's 50 pct margin requirements. The bill also would require more disclose when several investors form an alliance in a hostile takeover. "When Pickens and Icahn get together we want people to know about it," Proxmire said. Proxmire said he favored the approach used in Britain towards two-tiered tender offers that insures that all shareholders recieve equal treatment. He said he expected amendments to the bill also would cover defensive mechanisms such as green mail and poison pills. Proxmire said he intended to introduce his bill later this month and predicted the Senate committee would act this spring. He said he was hopeful Congress could pass a bill this year.