ANNUAL MEETINGS : Hammer Says Oxy Won’t Prevent a Hostile Takeover

Occidental Petroleum Chairman Armand Hammer said the Los Angeles-based oil company isn’t taking any steps to prevent a hostile takeover, despite his belief that Occidental’s large Colombian oil reserves might make the company “a tempting target.”

Shareholders at the meeting in Santa Monica Civic Auditorium voted 92.4% of the shares against a shareholder resolution that would have prohibited “greenmail”--paying a minority shareholder an above-market price for stock without making all shareholders the same offer. Hammer had urged the resolution’s defeat, saying Occidental needed “flexibility” to ward off possible raiders.

Last July, Occidental bought back the shares of Los Angeles financier David Murdock, paying $40.10 a share, a 42% premium over market. Hammer said that wasn’t greenmail. Murdock, who resigned as an Occidental director as part of the deal, “was so out of step with the rest of the board and management, it was in the best interests (of the company) to buy him out.”

Hammer applauded Unocal Chairman Fred L. Hartley’s success in warding off corporate raider T. Boone Pickens Jr., who on Monday ended a three-month battle for Unocal, the Los Angeles-based parent of Union Oil of California.

“He sent a strong signal to the raiders,” Hammer said of Hartley. “We may begin to see the end of this now,” he added, referring to hostile takeovers.

Hammer also said that Occidental has signed an agreement with Chinese government agencies on a joint venture to develop a $600-million coal mine in Shanxi Province, 300 miles west of Peking. It will be the world’s largest open-pit mine.

Hammer said Occidental would receive 25% of the production, estimated at 15 million tons yearly. He said Occidental is developing the mine in partnership with the Bank of China.