Mark does not only fail to communicate properly with his shareholders (at least with us small retailers) but he fails badly to secure funds for the project and/or to find a partner on project base for Kanyika. He was not able to create shareholder value for a long period of time. Remember the first cap raising was @ .88$ and the share was trading above 1$. If I take all the progress in the field of project development into account it's a shame that we havn't found a partner on the project base yet. The most annoying thing is that Mark did it again to give away shares at a huge discount to his mates in Perth probably to cover short positions or to fill up the account after selling into the run. I'm wondering why institutions like ASIC are not investigating such activities. I know that German supervision is not much better but in my view such behaviour deters serious investors from resource companies. In my opinion Mark's stake in GBE is not an argument at all to tolerate the ECE takeover because 1) he get a lot of freebies and cheapies and 2) we don't know how Mark is compensated for closing the ECE deal. I think the major problem of most Aussie resource hopefuls is management quality. At the end of the day many companies have great potential deposits and great geologists but obviously not the financial mangement skills to bring the deposits into production. Further it appears to me that there is an unhealthly distance between CEOs and the financing mob in Perth, Sidney or Melbourne. A lot of "good old boys" networks the demand goodies from resource companies and as a CEO you never know how long you can ride the horse and how quick you need to change the business model. Mark obviously is involved in this type of networking that hasn't helped GBE not at all but causes dilution. There is an obvious willingness to pay higher prices in the market but as long as shares are sold down in the know of a cheap placement we are in a vicious circle that is supported by management. We had a longer period with share prices above 35-40ct and we have an offer for 34.5ct at the table. If a sophisticated shareholder is buying shares in this situation he a) up for the quick $ or b) a longterm holder that believes in the ECE future. Apparantly we got the type A holder becaue the other type would have accepted higher share prices. I'm so disappointed by Mark and I hope that he will be replaced rather sooner than later and that we find a manager who is pursuing the legitimate interests of all shareholders.
GBE Price at posting:
31.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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