sack the board , page-8

Wow your are spot on J, maybe that's what they(the COA board) mean by a 'highly conditional'offer?

'Highly conditional'offer might be code for.... 'if we (COA board) go ahead and recommend this offer to all our shareholders then we will all might risk end up losing our board seats'!

Everyone knows KS likes having his own people on the board that's either worked for him or had close personal business dealings with, because at the end of the day there are BIG BIG $$$bucks(non more so than in the mining,infrastructure and non residential and associated services sectors) and reputations ARE at stake!

Have a look at NLX and NHR as examples there might be many others as well?

Basically KS likes to have his own people in there on the board so he can be reassured that he has some level of control of the company operations and that the businesses end up performing efficiently for ALL the stakeholders!

Nothing wrong with that at all!

Have a look at the turnaround in NHR, perhaps with a combined NHR,WESTRAC,ACE P/L,COA and maybe ELPH P/L the consortium lead by KS and the CARLYLE group is just trying to replocate the performance in a fresh new entity 'ACELPH LTD'(eg.)to whats been occurring in the financials of NHR over the past two years but on a far much larger scale and take full advantage of the forthcoming infrastructure boom curtousy of the spending due by both FEDERAL and STATE GOVTS and increased exposure to the current mining boom

There's probably alot of things on the minds of the current COA board members but most notably might be summarized as:
1-hedge fund holdings
2-offer price by consortium
3-conditions within the offer
4-loss of their board seats

Sadly, i think that the loss of their board seats and hedge fund positions might be weighing heavily on the current incumbant on the board of COA rather than the price representing any value or not

The failure to provide any detailed colour on the specific conditions within each of the offers made not once but twice might seem to suggest that the current incumbants on the COA board are more concerned about their own positions rather than their sharholders who have i might remind them faithfully elected them to such status that they currently enjoy!

In the best interest of all shareholders(and thank god i'm not one of them!)the COA board should in my humble opinion recommend to the market and ALL their shareholders any proposals or offers that are credible and that are sufficient above market value and provide synergy benefits so that all shareholders will have an opportunity to have a say in the future of COA by either accepting or rejecting any offers put before
them

The strategy to me seems pretty clear cut for the consortium comprising the CARLYLE GROUP AND NHR so far(and anyone else who wishes to join?eg.ACE P/L & ELPH P/L)

Having knocked back an offer of $6.29 ex divi,COA is now due to officialy go ex divi 11 cents shortly on 10/9/07 and on a close today(6/9/07)$5.70-0.11cents that then = a theoretical price of approximately $5.59 but DOES NOT taking into account any market volatility which may see the price go even lower in the near future, putting it now at a 11.13 per cent discount to the ex divi offer $6.29(or $6.40 cash) made by the consortium to the COA board

COATES HIRE LIMITED
11c-FUILL YEAR DIVI
10/09/2007- EX DIVI DATE
14/09/2007- RECORD DATE /BOOKS CLOSE DATE
03/10/2007- DATE DIV PAYABLE
DIVI FRANKING DETAILS-100% Final 11C FRANKED @ 30% D.R.P NIL DISCOUNT

Unfortunately,The COA board are not worthy of a higher offer! because they have demonstrated they don't want to bow to the inevitable and the weight of money backing this large bid and now work in with the bidders offering a good price(above market value 6/9/07 closing price=$5.70)

I think ACE P/L,WESTRAC,CARLYLE GROUP,ELP P/L,NHR & anyone else who wants to get on board WITH THE CONSORTIUM GROUP should ALL stand in the market on ex divi date 10/9/07 should,if and when the hedge funds start unwinding their positions and all parties should creep at least 3 per cent each and mop up as many shares possible!

ELP P/L (Mr Dale Elphinstone owner of William Adams) already owns about 5 per cent of COA

That will give the combined group at the very least 20 per cent and then i think they are left with, but NO choice unfortunately but to make a hostile conditional bid eg getting to at least 80 per cent shares on issue and any shares outstanding will clearly then be minority shareholders(5-10 per cent) and most likely these might end up being the current incumbant COA board members

LOL

:-)