I agree that it is worthwhile exploring shareholders’ rights under the Sons of Gwalia principle. Often this is not worthwhile as the company in trouble has no assets worth attacking. This, hopefully, is not the case for CMR.
Shareholders do not have a right to equal treatment with unsecured creditors under the SOG principles. They must effectively become creditors by proving a claim against the company. The easiest path, usually, is to show that the company has engaged in misleading conduct through breach of the principles of continuous disclosure. The first hurdle is to convince the administrator to accept this. Any long term shareholder, whether still holding or no, can attest to the bizarre announcements coming from management. So the evidence-gathering that Cuzo is orchestrating is important.
On another matter, let me chide you for your use of the phrase ‘begs the question’. One lesson from the CMR mess is that clear logic is important in investment. It is sloppy logic to use ‘begs the question’ to mean ‘raises the question’. As a classical scholar you know that Aristotle coined the phrase ‘en archei aiteisthai’ in his book on Logic. This was translated into the Latin as ‘petitio principii’ and then into English as ‘begs the question’. This original sense means a logical fallacy, of taking for granted or assuming the thing that you are setting out to prove. To take an example, you might say that CMR management is wrong because companies must always benefit shareholders. This is a circular argument and makes no sense. The statement is assumed to be true without evidence other than the statement or claim itself.
A second meaning of the term ‘begs the question’ is ‘to avoid the question’. This meaning is common and most authorities agree it is now part of standard English.
The meaning you seem to use is ‘to raise the question’. This is a new usage. A few dictionaries state it is now permitted — but it is not generally accepted, is ambiguous and is likely to raise the hackles of fogies like myself who were drilled in Latin and Greek by Fr Craig and Fr Fitzgibbon and liberal doses of the strap.
Which is what should happen to GT and the other mismanagers of CMR.
CMR Price at posting:
15.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
