one of substantial holders ran away, page-14

Veteran Perth dealmaker Michael Fotios says Investmet's decision to sell a big package of Northern Star Resources shares ahead of an announcement it would tap equity markets was a "complete coincidence".

He said yesterday he had no involvement with Northern Star since quitting as a director.

Mr Fotios is a director and shareholder of Investmet, and was a Northern Star director until October. The company said at the time he would take up a role as a consultant.

That relationship raised eyebrows when Investmet emerged as the seller of four million Northern Star shares at 95� on January 21, just ahead of the gold miner's January 23 decision to call a trading halt ahead of the $75 million acquisition of Barrick Gold's Kanowna assets.

Northern Star shares fell 10 per cent on Friday after announcing a $100 million capital raising at 86¢ to help fund the acquisition, and traded as low as the raising price this week.

Mr Fotios told _WestBusiness _ the timing was entirely coincidental and. Although he may return to Northern Star as a consultant in the future, he was now focused on the recapitalisation of Swan Gold.

"We had no idea what was going on at Northern Star," he said. "I said to them when I left that, given my role with Swan, I'd be focusing on that for the first few months.

"Obviously, if I'd been a consultant there I wouldn't be involved in any changes in the (Investmet holding), but that was also a decision of a couple of the other directors of Investmet, to sell some shares to pay a tax bill."

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/21137936/northern-star-sale-a-coincidence/