something else that stinks!

There is clearly a lot of dissatisfaction with the Asciano board, the fire sale, the lack of ASIC regulation and special treatment of one shareholder.

BUT, there is another issue that is clearly unfair:

The reason that there seems to be a sense of resignation that the “farm will be sold off” (regardless of anybody’s efforts) is probably because most people surmise that the vote will pass regardless of how retail investors feel or vote.

WHY? Because the current institutional shareholders get to vote ON THE VERY BILL THAT WILL GIVE THEM A LARGER AND UNFAIRLY DISCOUNHTED SLICE OF ASCIANO at the expense of retail shareholders.

Surely this is a clear case of a CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
Some would argue that as shareholders, they have the right to participate in voting on the future direction of the company – but that is not an accurate or complete picture.
If Asciano was a local council this is synonymous with a group of councillors voting for a resolution to approve their own subdivision (not the town swimming pool).
This situation is unjust and those institutions concerned should recuse themselves on the grounds that they would be voting for a direct profit for their institution.
Anything less is an outrage –just like voting for your own pay rise.

If anyone is interested, I would be happy to contribute to obtaining a legal opinion regarding the success of a potential injunction to prevent these institutions voting where there is a clear conflict of interest.

The following is taken directly from ASIC’s website-

What we do
ASIC is Australia’s corporate, markets and financial services regulator.
We contribute to Australia’s economic reputation and wellbeing by ensuring that Australia’s financial markets are fair and transparent, supported by confident and informed investors and consumers.

FAIR AND TRANSPARENT? .............ASIC PLEASE DO YOUR JOB!