Nick Bolton's Molopo cash box raid will prove costly as ASIC prepares for share sale
Colin Kruger, CBD
Published: July 16 2017 - 2:41PM
An ASIC ban from managing corporations for three years did not stop corporate cowboy, Nick Bolton, from starting the year with an attempted raid on listed cash box Molopo Energy.
But the final bill from his ill-fated raid – aided and abetted by the colourful Perth cowboy, Farooq Khan – might just cool his ardour a little.
The corporate regulator is expected to announce this week which broker has been signed up to sell off the 39.5 million shares that the Takeovers Panel has ordered Bolton's team to offload after taking a dim view of the raid.
The problem for Bolton and his associates is that the stock has plunged since all the excitement about their attempt to sweep the board, which means his crew are significantly under water on the stock which is now to be sold under the divestment order.
In November, one of the entities, Aurora, picked up 14.5 million shares at 15.7¢ each, and another 10 million in March at 17.5¢.
Molopo shares closed on Friday at 12¢. The broker will have up to six months to dispose of the stock, which amounts to 16 per cent of Molopo's issued shares.
That sort of overhang should do wonders for the share price unless the Molopo board find a brilliant investment for the company's $67 million cash pile.
And for those who were wondering, the sale by the nominated broker includes the "requirement that none of the Associated Parties or their respective associates may acquire, directly or indirectly, any of the" shares for sale.
We assume this includes Tony Hartnell – the former chairman of ASIC's predecessor, the Australian Securities Commission – who was nominated for a board seat by Bolton's team.
