well there is $100m+ of debt versus a market cap of $240m, and fixing the capital structure is of course important. there have been many opportunities to fix the capital structure in the last 5 years which have not been taken. so the timing is a little strange as even with the obscene interest rates, you would expect cuadrilla to be derisking quickly and any operational turnaround would give us some leverage to the upswing and allow us to payback the debt at higher (less dilutive) equity valuations.
on the other hand, if the strategic investor is new (and not an affiliate of kero) then taking some control away from kero may be a small positive. will have to wait and see what this is all about, but judging by history, the board does not seem to act in the benefit of all shareholders.
It's worth paying attention to what happened earlier this month with Anchorage/SGH... "The hedge fund that will soon have a controlling stake in endangered law firm Slater & Gordon has bluntly told retail shareholders not to expect it to protect their interests in the boardroom.
At a sometimes fiery annual general meeting, Slater & Gordon gathered enough support on Wednesday to pass a bailout plan that will see Anchorage Capital Group take a 95 per cent ownership stake in the company in exchange for forgiving some of the listed law firm's massive debts. Existing shareholders' will be reduced to 5 per cent of the share registry, and their shares will be consolidated on a 1 for 100 basis under the plan. That will see the stock devalued from Tuesday's price of 4¢ to between 0.3¢ and 1.1¢. Asked by a retail shareholder before the vote how his appointment would protect or assist existing shareholders, Mr Howes said his job was to work in Anchorage's interests."
And we have all seen what happened with Kero and iGas as well...
fingers crossed.
AJL Price at posting:
41.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
