Rejected on at least four occasions since last year, a group of Texas investors pursuing Gehl Co. say they remain interested in acquiring the West Bend, Wis., farm and construction equipment maker, according to the Nov. 15th edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In a filing with securities regulators on Nov. 14, the so-called Gehl Shareholder Value Committee renewed its proxy fight to unseat Chairman William Gehl from his company's board of directors. The Nov. 4th preliminary proxy filing by the group amounts to an appeal to shareholders to consider voting for the group's three nominees to the board, the newspaper said.

After rejecting several bids by the Texas investors this year, Gehl agreed in May to consider selling itself. In late September, the company said none of the offers it received, including the Texans' bid, was sufficient to justify selling the company.

Gehl Co., which normally holds its annual meeting in April, still has not scheduled this year's annual meeting. Company officials indicated in September that the meeting would be scheduled shortly.

Through a spokesman, Gehl Co. declined to comment on the recent filing or the timing of the shareholders meeting. The filing also discloses publicly for the first time that the Texas group and Halifax Group LLC were prepared to pay $19 to $21 a share in mid-2000 for Gehl. The Texas group made a public offer of $18 a share in late 2000, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said.

The Gehl Shareholder Value Committee now includes two nominees who have experience in the agricultural or construction equipment industry. The nominees include David Langevin, who was formerly with Terex Corp. and now runs KCS Industries, an investment fund. The other is Neil Arnold, who was senior vice president and CFO of Varity Corp.

“We are committed to the prompt sale of Gehl and to giving all of Gehl's shareholders an opportunity to receive maximum value for their shares,” the committee, backed by Harold Simmons, said in its filing.