And companies under his control: Look up que,oeq, and bel all paying monthly salaries to the Khan mob.
Corporate raider Farooq Khan may have failed to overthrow the Biota board this year and seize control of its swollen cash reserves, and he may have also lost out on grabbing bombed-out tech SofCom in 2002, but this time it looks as though he's on a $19 million winner thanks to a long-forgotten deal signed by mining giant Anaconda Nickel.
Seven years ago Anaconda Nickel chief executive Andrew Forrest successfully settled a legal action that threatened the development of the company's famous Murrin Murrin nickel project.
The prized asset was threatened by a junior explorer named Central Bore that cast doubt over Anaconda's ownership of the project's tenements.
Mr Forrest settled the legal imbroglio out of court in what was hailed as a win for both companies.
In summary, Mr Forrest agreed that Anaconda would pay Central Bore $19 million if the 12-month average London Metals Exchange nickel price hit $US4.08 a pound, indexed to the US consumer price index.
A lot has changed since that deal was struck. Mr Forrest has left Anaconda to start up another mining company, Anaconda has changed its name to Minara Resources, and Central Bore is now Central Exchange.
But all the time the nickel price has been slowly appreciating in response to demand from China and a robust world economy.
Enter Mr Khan, who controls almost 49 per cent of Central Exchange through publicly listed investment vehicle Queste Communications, and the corporate raider from the west is now eager to collect on the Anaconda-Central Bore deal.
In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday, Mr Khan said his calculations showed that the nickel price/US CPI trigger had been hit on November 28, meaning that Anaconda, now Minara Resources, had two weeks to pay up.
Such a transfer of cash to Central Exchange would be a huge windfall for Central Exchange shareholders, and in particular Mr Khan's Queste Communications. Central Exchange has only 8.5 million shares on issue, meaning the potential cash injection from Anaconda would give a cash backing of more than $2 a share to the stock, which has been suspended since July.
But Minara company secretary John Quayle yesterday warned that its auditors were yet to test if the trigger had been pulled for the $19 million payment to Central Exchange.
Mr Quayle confirmed that Minara had the funds to pay Central Exchange if need be, but he said that if a payment did have to be made, Minara's liability would be only $11 million, with its joint venture partner at the time, Glencore, liable for the balance.
SRK Price at posting:
42.0¢ Sentiment: Sell Disclosure: Held
