Ann: Takeover Bid Received from Paladin , page-15

Hi all,

It gets more bizarre the more I look at this. In the last annual report, they said the co. is finalising a JORC & 43-101 THIS MONTH for Valhalla North and is

"well placed to conduct its current activities and to pursue any new business opportunities that arise in the resources or energy sectors."

The remuneration vote was passed almost unanimously, indicating no shareholder activism at the AGM. The directors hold:

Code: Select all
Name / # shares / # options
Ian Middlemas 3,176,923 - - -
David Berrie (iii) 32,800 4,000,000
Matthew Yates (iii) 350,000 500,000
Matthew Rimes (iv) 3,800,000 1,500,000
Mark Pearce 265,385 - - -

All the options are well out of the money, even at the offer price. Looks like the management are heavily incentivizsed by out-of-the-money options. With all that cash why wouldn't they proceed to JORC and realise more value?

On first reading the message being sent out by the co. directors is : "don't trust us to manage add value to projects we get involved in".

All very fishy if you ask me! I don't hold. I would be very tempted to vote against this and replace management unless they can come up with a VERY good explanation for their recommendations.