Giddy“We are all well aware of the complete failure of...

Giddy

“We are all well aware of the complete failure of management to satisfactorily explain the trail of failed transactions going back a number of years. I raise these points regularly so no point you pointing them out to me like I'm unaware of them.”

Giddy while you have raised them at no point have you actually attributed all or part of the collapse of MST to them, most of your blame for this has been towards the actions of ASOF.

“My questions re the role of ASOF are nonetheless fair and reasonable. Those events did happen and they happened in the sequence that I described. The fact that management have many questions to answer doesn't in any way, shape or form mean that we should just ignore the actions of ASOF. Good try though.”

Yes the events, with ASOF, as you have outlined at nauseam did occur but conversely it does not mean that we should ignore all the other events as well, given that MST had been in the death throes long before ASOF, unless it is as it looks that you are trying to get us to do exactly that.

“As for the specific points you make, well there is more than a little spin being applied. For example you say: "It was the Directors that recommended approval of the original Notes to Harmony, and the new notes to ASOF, to the Shareholders, with a lower conversion factor of 90% of the last traded price, not ASOF" You can't be serious with that comment. The purchase of the notes by ASOF was a private transaction and nothing whatsoever to do with the company.”

Yes correct the purchase of the notes was between a willing seller and a willing buyer, the transaction however had everything to do with the Company as it had to be approved by the Shareholders. Tell me Giddy who made their unanimous recommendation to the Shareholders to approve this?

“Are you really trying to claim that the board woke up one day heard that ASOF were looking at an off market purchase of MST notes and just decided "hey, these guys seem nice, lets help them out and hold a special shareholder meeting in order to change the terms of the secured notes so that the equity value to the new purchaser increases by 500%"?”

Giddy you may have be aware, from press reports, that Harmony was looking to exit Australia due to a number of disastrous investments in Australia, hands up if you were a shareholder in Nylex, and the Cattle industry was also rattled after the GFC, MST was also not going all that well for them either. As it later turned out, at the time, that the Directors of Harmony were also looking to sell it as well, so they needed to clean up their books, although their investors were not treated that well, but that may be for another forum. So they were in the market and one could be cynical and suggest that they also enjoyed a little insider information. How Harmony and ASOF found each other can be the further subject of conjecture, conspiracy and fertile minds. Given that the notes were carrying a yield of 10%, and up to then MST had not missed an interest payment and of course the mother lode of all investors were about to come on board, why did it not look attractive to ASOF. I am assuming that you read the Directors explanatory document with the notice where they explained that the reduction in the face value of the notes was to bring them in line with the share price at the time, of course the Shareholders were also enjoying a diminishing share price as well. Why would ASOF, or any purchaser for that matter, not ask for the face value to be in line with the market. Of course the vendor may have also suggested it as sweetener for the sale, it is not unheard of for a vendor to do this type of thing. I am assuming that when you go to the supermarket you refuse to pay the reduced price on an item but the older higher one because that the sort of guy you are, don’t let anyone reduce the price to induce you to buy. Of course it also included the same lessor price that the Harmony notes enjoyed, so in actual fact the reduction in the face value, which you talk about, was actually irrelevant. Although I guess it is just something more to make us focus on the actions of ASOF.