re: smh confirms nbnz rumor Some facts are in order here .....1)...

re: smh confirms nbnz rumor Some facts are in order here .....

1) The overseas loan portfolio was reported in great detail by ANZ in their annual report released in November 2002 - this guy just cut and pasted what was already common knowledge into his HC posts in February 2003.

2) The so caled NBNZ scoop - again has been openly reported in the press months before Fairdinkum1 posted onto HC. The analysts were openly discussing that ANZ, CBA and Westpac would all be running the slide rule ove NBNZ and - guess what - they have all appointed advisors and are doing just that. If they were not all having a look at such a major transaction to create competitive tension and at least ensure it is not bought by your competitor for a song, you would be calling for the CEO's head for incompetence - looking does not mean that they will buy!!

3) Mcfarlane BOUGHT a net 350,000 shares!! He exercised 1,000,000 options at about $11.50 - very simple math here guys - instead of borrowing $11.5m and being very heavily geared and exposed to margin calls, the guy sold 650,000 of these shares so he could own the other 350,000 unencumbered. Of course, the full story does not suit Fairdinkum's aims - so a nice bit of selective reporting instead.

Jaysee