Russian oil and gas oligarch Roman Abramovich versus Perth iron ore explorer Tony Sage — the billionaire owner of London's Chelsea Football Club versus the owner of sporting minnow Perth Glory.
Sometimes, though, the underdog wins the match.
Cape Lambert was one of the last hurrahs of the iron ore boom. In February it announced a deal to sell its key iron ore project to China Metallurgical Group for $400 million. With the money paid, Cape Lambert is now a handy cash box with $226 million at the bank. Little wonder that sharks started to circle. Evraz Group SA, the steelmaker partly owned by Abramovich, bought a 16 per cent stake in Cape Lambert Iron Ore to become the biggest shareholder. Some considered it a bid to derail the China sale.
Hong Kong-based Power United, which is controlled by globetrotting prospector Mick Shemesian, then became the second-biggest shareholder.
"It's two schools of sharks circling the same pool of money," quipped one Melbourne-based broker to Full Disclosure at the time.
Last month, Power struck and gave notice of an extraordinary meeting to replace several company directors, including Sage.
Shemesian — known as "Mick Manynames" in investment circles due to the many spellings of his surname on documents — proposed that Melbourne trader Leo "The Gun" Khouri join the board.
Sage and Shemesian both went to work on Evraz, hoping to secure the vote of the biggest shareholder. Sage won the day, and Power withdrew the resolutions, including the one to remove him.
Sage thought the battle had been won. Ahead of the Cape Lambert annual meeting, he flew to Brisbane to watch Perth Glory play Queensland Roar on Sunday. It became a night to forget. Not only did Perth Glory get beaten, but news arrived Evraz had done a back-flip.
Evraz's proxies went against three key resolutions at yesterday's annual meeting — one to issue 44 million new shares to pay for a Sierra Leone joint venture, one to issue 8.35 million options to employees and consultants of the company, and one to increase the pay of non-executive directors from $120,000 to $600,000 per year.
Of note, the Sierra Leone deal is with a company run by convicted Australian heroin dealer Frank Timis.
By all accounts, Sage went into a tizz after the late tackle from Evraz, which also opened the door for Power United to try to remove him from the board once again.
It all came down to yesterday's vote, and only in Perth can a showdown between a company chairman, a Russian billionaire and a mystery investor with nine different spellings of his surname take place in a fish and chip shop. Cape Lambert's annual meeting was held at Kailis Bros Fish Market and Cafe in Leederville, where Sage produced a document that red-carded his rivals.
On Monday, the Supreme Court of Western Australia issued an injunction preventing Power United from voting its Cape Lambert shares or asking questions at the annual meeting. Under that injunction Power United cannot sell its holding, or have access to dividends from Cape Lambert. More than $10 million of dividend payments is sitting in a trust account.
The action was instigated by Brett Matich, a man who has had a few run-ins with Shemesian over the years regarding tenements owned by Fox Resources, which were sold into Cape Lambert. Matich is questioning the ownership of Shemesian's Cape Lambert shares — something to do with different spellings of the surname on official documents.
"Cape Lambert is not a party to the action and is not involved, other than it was served with a copy of the injunction along with Computershare, which is our share registry," said Cape Lambert spokesman David Tasker. "Cape Lambert understands that the action relates to previous dealings in relation to Cape Lambert shares between Power United, Michael Shemesian and Brett Matich."
So Sage lives to fight another day, Shemesian's shares have been impounded by Computershare, and Evraz is keen to sell it's 16 per cent shareholding back to the company. And trading in listed companies, as always, is colourful out west. http://business.theage.com.au/business/another-brisconnections-bolt-from-the-blue-20081125-6his.html?page=1
CFE Price at posting:
17.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)