I honestly don't know what to make of the takeover that never...

I honestly don't know what to make of the takeover that never eventuated. Initially, it seemed like a coup and a huge windfall - it was difficult to believe that the Technology division (with revenues of around $6m and bumpy contract wins) could ever be worth $25m unless they had some technology we were unaware of. Aschmoun seemed to track back to an Antoine Schmouni of Eastern European background, with no obvious reason to have an interest in technology of this type. Targetting a small listed company in the ASX seemed bizarre. The whole process seemed amateurish and the handling of the situation by Inventis seemed equally amateurish - with $US23m at stake, surely the hiccups should have been ironed out a bit faster!

I could only imagine what it must have felt like to be working in the Technology division during that period - I would have thought it would have been totally directionless, short on funding and with the potential of some unknown Eastern European taking over the business...I know I would have been looking for another job in that situation!

I took an interest in IVT at one stage - like you I became excited at one point...however, I came to the conclusion that I did not feel comfortable with the management of this company - too many seemingly poor decisions. Also, I do not trust them to separate private and company interests well - maybe wrong there, but seems to me a risk that this company is of a type where any value flows disproportionately towards management rather than shareholders. The partnerships concept may provide ample opportunity to prove or disprove this.