I am not a lawyer, so the statements etc below do not come from any professional point of view, but I do consider myself a reasonably well read person with a little bit of common sense. But form your own opinion of what is written below.
It is difficult to say how long the judgement may take. Justice O'Bryan stated in paragraph 146 (out of 146 paragraphs), of his judgement of September 20th 2019 (in the link from my previous posting) that;
" At this point in time, it is a matter of speculation as to what steps, if any, shareholders or noteholders may take following the appointment of a provisional liquidator. There is always the prospect of discussions and negotiations between the shareholders, noteholders and ASIC as to the future governance of Merlin. It seems reasonably likely that if the present board of Merlin had resigned, or if shareholders had acted to replace the board, at an earlier point in time, ASIC may not have felt compelled to bring this proceeding. In the circumstances, the possibility, and I consider it to be no more than a possibility, that noteholders may act to appoint a receiver to the assets of Merlin is not a reason not to appoint a provisional liquidator."
He (Justice O'Bryan) originally set down 3 days for the hearing for March 10th of this year (which can be found in the document Dated October 17th, 2019 in the link above), and yet the hearing on the 10th lasted a day (or less). As far as I can tell from documents submitted to the Federal court since December 11th last year (the last time any ruling or judgement was made), there are only three players. These are ASIC, Merlin Diamonds (representing the former members of the board of Merlin - J Gutnick etc.. as far as I can tell), and an entity known as Cove St Pty. Ltd. I assume this is a significant share holder unrelated to Gutnick et. al. But I am not certain of this.
The scheduled 3 days, being reduced to 1 either suggests there was no significant contest by either Merlin or any other Interested Party; or an agreement has been made by all parties prior to the court hearing as mentioned by Justice O'Bryan above "the prospect of discussions and negotiations between the shareholders, noteholders and ASIC as to the future governance of Merlin". And the Judge is to rule on that agreement. Personally after reading through the Judgement of the 20th September 2019, I suspect that the "no contest" is the more likely of the two options (IMO). Though I am surprised Merlin - at least did not fight over the allotted 3 days. That is what I would have done;..... but I am not them.
I guess either of the two possibilities above, the fact that it took a day (or less) suggests the ruling will not likely take to long to publish.
MED Price at posting:
0.6¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
