It turns out you were probably right, some obscure "scaling back" seems to have happened, which either the broker or the management were not keen to be transparent about, as otherwise they would have put it in the booklet ... The method of scaling back could have been some give away indication of what the real purpose was in the CR; shareholder value (doubtful), mates value (?), last assault on shareholder's pocket (and "one for the money, two for the mates") (?), ... who knows?!
One thing that was very apparent is that the broker, who would had/has almost certainly been consulted and would have provided advice on how to go about the CR, wanted to facilitate the CR (for the obvious reasons), but did not want to tarnish their reputation with would be new (to this mess) holders, particularly that they would be sophs (or instos).
If any broker sold me this mess, they would lose me as a customer in future.
So, perhaps the broker (as advisor) and the management decided to get what is theoretically maximum possible out of existing (a lot of whim long term loyal) holders. Well, IF this goes flop, and the broker had a share in the plan how to do the CR, then they sure have a reputation to worry about.
Given that, the broker better be hoping the Zambian licence is restored, and if I were them, I would advise the management to abandon Murdie, given (a) drill results of most prospective locations showed nothing, (b), the technical difficulty drilling in the lake (salt, sand, liquid), and (c) the legal cost ... the management knows all this, but it seems Lindsay wants to keep in the equation ($$$alary), given he has been booted from Orpheus.
ARE Price at posting:
0.1¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
