March 7, 1984

A Manhattan art dealer was indicted yesterday on charges that he had directed a $700,000 swindle involving at least four prominent art galleries and the selling and reselling of works by Degas, Matisse and Seurat. The dealer, Dennis R. Anderson, who is the author of three art books and a former museum curator, sold five works of art that he did not own, according to the indictment by a grand jury in State Supreme Court. An additional work is missing. Since his arrest late last month, a legal defense fund has raised more than $15,000.

The Gulf Corporation might still be independent today if it had invited T. Boone Pickens to lunch. But to put it kindly, Wall Street's tight little community - lawyers, investment bankers, arbitragers and institutional investors - is positively overjoyed that Gulf is being taken over by the Standard Oil Company of California. The seeds of Wall Street's distaste for Gulf were planted two years ago when the company made a deal to buy the Cities Service Company and then backed out when the Federal Trade Commission raised antitrust objections. Wall Street professionals, several of whom sustained heavy losses in that incident, felt certain that Gulf backed down without even trying to negotiate an antitrust settlement because it had bid far more for Cities Service than it should have.

A number of prominent trustees of New York City's enormous pension system are seeking to reduce investments in American companies that do business in South Africa. They argue that some kind of divestiture is morally compelling and fiscally sound. Their proposals, which would need approval from the boards of the five funds in the system to be adopted, are not yet on the table. But the thinking behind them, and the arguments against them, are likely to frame the debate here over the use of public funds for social causes. Support for a limited investment boycott comes from both city officials and labor leaders, the two groups that make up a majority of board members and that have the greatest economic stake in pension investment policies.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1984 Companies Lilco will suspend dividends and cut its work force nearly 20 percent this year, the Long Island utility announced. These and other measures, including pay cuts, are intended to conserve $374 million in cash this year and save the company from insolvency, the new chairman said. The problems have been caused by cost overruns at Lilco's Shoreham nuclear power plant, where completion has been stymied by technical and political setbacks. (Page A1.) The Gulf-Socal pact renewed talk in Congress about curbs on such takeovers. The possibility that legislators or regulators may block Socal's planned $13.2 billion takeover of Gulf unnerved the stock market, where oil shares tumbled. (D1.) There are few on Wall Street who are unhappy that Gulf has lost its independence. Traders say Gulf had many chances to deflect the unwelcome wooing by T. Boone Pickens. (D1.) Banks around the world began signing up to participate in a $14 billion credit for Socal. (D23.) As Socal's investment adviser in the Gulf deal, Morgan Stanley scored an important coup in the oil company merger sweepstakes. (D23.)

An article in Business Day on Feb. 23 about marketing to elderly consumers incorrectly located the offices of Senior Citizens Unlimited, a direct mail marketing agency. They are in Tuckahoe, N.Y.