I think the conspiracy theories are all getting in the way of...

I think the conspiracy theories are all getting in the way of the bigger picture. The way I look at it is this:

If you are a trader who was not privy to the insider info on the placement and blames HDR management for misleading and deceptive conduct by not letting you on the action - it is for this precise reason the HDR make the placement to institutions. As a preference HDR does not need traders in this stock. Price volatility from traders is not what HDR wants. Institutional shareholders will hopefully stick around for the long haul. From HDR’s viewpoint, hard cash and firm backers are what matters and they got this from the placement.

For investors it is somewhat unfair that the placement was not offered to all. However, there are drawbacks of a retail offer including higher cost, more disclosure requirements and the risk that not all the retail offer would be taken up. From memory, the 40c options issued by the company before Ching 1 was 80% taken up by investors. The risk of the a placement shortfall doesn’t stack up against the need to please all shareholders. In any case, if you really want HDR stock you can buy on market now at a 2.8% premium and buy a stock diluted by around 10%.

The point is, if I were HDR management, I would have done the precise same thing. If you are a long term holder – stick around. If you are a trader and pissed off for missing out a slice of the pie, it is just not a fair world.