less than 700000 buyers at 9.30am, page-29

some facts about the Patterson placement:

- ESG placed $50m, but had $120m worth of funds offered to them, $70m of which they rejected. They wanted enough money to forward their exploration and development, but chose not to unnecessarily dilute shareholders. That sounds to me like a company doing the right thing by shareholders.

- Do you remember what the index was at the time? Yep, close to the nadir of 3200. A good time to drop the price further with a public SPP? No, clearly not.

- David Casey was very explicit on this point at the AGM. He says that company ARE, and WERE, being looking at ESG as a target, and that there is a danger during capital raising as the share price drops. He did not wish to have ESG EXPOSED for any longer than possible, to an early opportunistic bid.

- As we have seen, SPP's drop the price down or below the issue price. ESG's share price was at 95 cents and heading north before the SPP was announced, and it dropped. This hurts all shareholders in the short term.

- And, as we have seen, raising money from existing shareholders is a pain in the neck. They whinge about not getting enough discount, they don't have the capital that instos have anyway, and then at the end of the day they undersubscribe anyway. Hardly surprising company's like quick, private placements, that to not supress the sp for long.


And as for your scaremongering about the next capital raising. We have just had one. ESG have lots of cash. And in 12 months time when they do want more cash, they will not come knocking at your door db76, for two reasons: you will not cough up, and two, you are not a shareholder.

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