Okay... we've all banded together strongly to keep ResApp out of Pfizer's hands and continue as a separate company to protect our investments. Now it's time to think about what happens next. Firstly, there is this from the Deed of Scheme Implementation Section 5.1, paragraph (l):
This means that the board and management at ResApp will:
- Meet major shareholders to solicit their support,
- Ask shareholders to assign their vote proxies to the chairman,
- Strongly promote the proposal in the Scheme Booklet.
It is the booklet that is our biggest risk. The booklet will go to every single shareholder on the register. The booklet will promote the takeover. The booklet may provide detailed instructions encouraging shareholders to either vote in favour, or at least to assign their proxies to the chairman, and explain how to do so. The booklet will contain a personalised, pre-filled proxy form and you can be certain that the Yes option will be strongly highlighted.
Shareholders who don't follow the company or financial news will have only the booklet as their source of information. They may well form the view after reading the booklet that the takeover offer is the best outcome they can hope for. If minor shareholders can be persuaded to vote in mass they will almost certainly carry the head count.
So now we have to decide whether we take direct action to inform shareholders of the case for voting against the takeover. I have received a couple of quotations for a mailout to shareholders. It's going to take a financial commitment of around $11,000:
- Up to $250 to obtain the shareholder register
- Estimated $2,000 at the mail house for data processing, laser print, fold, insert and lodge 7,500 letters
- Estimated $8,200 in postage
Using the no-vote register I've been collecting, everybody on the list would have to stump up $50 to cover the mail campaign.
Time is short. There are only four weeks from the release of the booklet to the vote at the meeting. The company can take up to a week to provide the shareholder register after it is requested. The mail house will take several days for development and production. Mail takes up to a week to be delivered. So if we wait until the booklet is released before starting to put a campaign together it will be impossible to get a statement out.
I propose the following:
- Prepare a statement in favour of the no vote and post it here for feedback by the end of the weekend (1st May)
- If there is broad agreement to send the statement, we go to the next steps
- I will start a crowdfunding campaign to collect the funds for the mailout
- I will request a copy of the shareholder register and prepare the statement and data ready to submit to the mailhouse
- Then we wait for the booklet. If we still agree that the mailout should proceed, and if the funds are available then we go to the next steps
- Make last-minute revisions if necessary based on information present in the booklet
- Send the job to the mailhouse
If we decide not to proceed, or if we don't have the funds I will return any "donations". Please ensure that you provide contact information with your donations. Anonymous donations are going to be an embarrassment!
