Price and Chart HIO, page-3835

@jb7 - in case it helps, here are my thoughts as to why there is no institutional shareholders on the share register at this stage:

1. HIO is outside the ASX 300 - this would preclude many super funds and institutional investments
2. Whilst many of us believe in the potential of HIO, it has not yet completed the BFS - therefore would be considered too risky for many and probably most institutional investors.
3. There are no other large shareholders that they could purchase a large volume of shares from.
4. If there was a fund that wanted to acquire a 5% stake in HIO, this would be very difficult to do on market. Can you imagine what trying to buy 35 million shares on market would do to the price? It would be over $1 before we knew it.
5. Institutions are not going to buy based on FOMO. They will know that there will be opportunities in the future, such as construction funding, purchase of shares from LDA etc. Even if Bryan was talking about construction funding shares being issued at well over $1, it could be more compelling for them to wait to buy, i.e., buy 35M shares on market now at an unknown price but likely well over $1 with an unknown BFS outcome, or wait until BFS is complete and still pay well over $1 but with a known BFS outcome.
6. Management have no need at this stage to have one or more large institutions on the share register. It could even be good if there are none on the register when the BFS is completed. Bryan and Glenn may be lining up a large group of institutional investors (a conga line perhaps) that would like to assist with construction funding and then have some sort of a friendly auction to ensure the maximum price paid and minimal dilution.

I am not concerned about there not being any institutions on the share register at this stage. If there were none six months after the BFS I might be a little concerned, but I really can't see that happening. For where we are at now, fully funded for BFS (with access to LDA funding), a very strong and loyal retail base with the capacity to communicate amongst ourselves, growing market awareness and support, I think we are sitting in a very nice position.