"Cottee quit Nexus after just 16 months because he says the...

"Cottee quit Nexus after just 16 months because he says the board asked him to push harder on particular aspects of a complex deal when he knew those proposed terms were so utterly unacceptable to the outside party that the whole deal would fall over.

''There was a matter that had been going on for a while that I thought was essential to the company and to the shareholders' interests,'' Cottee said. ''They asked me to go back to the counterparty for the second time. I had advised them beforehand that the counterparty would not accept it, and I was right.''

Cottee said that, as he understood it, the outside party had since written to Nexus and rejected the deal."

and

"He even suggested he would consider returning to Nexus as CEO if there were changes to the board."

and

"What Cottee tried to get approved in September was a complex deal that he says would have assured Nexus of getting financing for the development of its Crux assets in the Browse Basin as well as meeting the demands of its exploration permit at nearby Echuca Shoals. To retain the permit, Nexus must drill a well.

In Cottee's view, if Nexus had taken on 100 per cent of the financial responsibility for the Echuca Shoals well, it would have thwarted Nexus's chances of closing the financing on its Crux assets.

''They did not accept my judgment,'' he said.

Nexus has said that some of the terms of the farm-out proposal Cottee presented were ''commercially unacceptable'', and on September 29 it said negotiations over the farm-in were continuing.

Cottee said all Nexus's debt had been restructured and extended beyond 2014, its cash burden had been cut from $7 million a month to $15 million a year, and the company was in a position to take on debt to fund Crux."

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/business/former-nexus-chief-gobsmacked-20111020-1ma9r.html#ixzz1bMCVILdE

Very Interesting. RC not allowed to work for someone else. I guess now that the outside party has rejected the proposed revised deal, RC will return as CEO and sign the deal he had originally negotiated: "a complex deal that he says would have assured Nexus of getting financing for the development of its Crux assets in the Browse Basin as well as meeting the demands of its exploration permit at nearby Echuca Shoals." I guess it was worth a try or am I been too optimistic?

Regards

SP