He sold the company through a private transaction on December 31, 2002.

The bonds trade over the counter and through private transactions.

They can also be required in private transactions not involving a company that is traded on a public exchange.

"The only thing that's going to make this agreement worth more than paper is private economic transactions."

It is used in all public and private transactions.

Four years later, the second car fetched just $2.5 million, also in a private transaction.

So he said very smoothly, "A private transaction, is it?"

"Rather than go out into the market, some owners are trying to do private transactions, which we love to arrange," he said.

Their system of exchange makes a private transaction hard to trace.

It said it would buy 2 million more "in the open market or through private transactions."