When he was only 28, Mr. Manny Pearlman realized his dream of having his own investment firm: Gemini Partners in Manhattan, New York. A young player in the takeover game, perhaps the newest and youngest, he was not the one to rest on his laurels. Soon after, he led a pack of investors to launch his first tender offer, a bid worth $240 million for Arkansas Best Corp. (with revenues amounting to $732 million in 1987), a firm engaged in trucking as well as furniture and tire manufacturing. Mr. Pearlman never gave undue importance to age. He said that appropriate homework and understanding were the two main factors behind the success of any business. He graduated from Duke and Harvard Business School, he also worked a couple of years for Plaza Securities, the firm of renowned corporate raider Asher Edelman. Agreeing with him that age is of no real consequence, Bankers Trust offered Mr. Pearlman financing worth $120 million, proving that Wall Street thinks the young man's takeover is no kid stuff.

Led by Mr. Pearlman, Gemini Partners also acquired 9.96 percent of Healthco International Inc. and said it might seek control of the Boston-based distributor of dental equipment. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the company said it had bought its 770,100 Healthco shares for an average of $13.73 each. Although the company said it had purchased a 7.5 percent stake in Armtek Inc., perhaps aiming to acquire the New Haven-based tire manufacturer, Gemini in fact sold most of the shares for a profit estimated at $3.5 million. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Gemini said Mr. Pearlman had talked with an investment banking company and with a commercial banking firm and ''also met with a company other than Gemini to discuss possible co-investment in the shares.