Why punters could have avoided DSH IPO

A number of people have already referred to the Forager Funds blog post regarding the DSH IPO rip-off as a reason one shouldn't have invested in the IPO.  If you haven't seen it it is well worth reading.
https://foragerfunds.com/bristlemouth/dick-smith-is-the-greatest-private-equity-heist-of-all-time/

A criticism with the blog analysis though is that it was undertaken based on information not available to potential investors at the time the IPO took place (i.e. the DSH FY14 Annual report).

However, if you read the prospectus you'll see (page 53 - section 5.3.1 Preparation of the Historical Financial Information) that people would be purchasing shares in a company that was going to acquire the assets and undertakings of Dick Smith Sub-Holdings Pty Limited (ACN 160 162 925).

If you looked the sub-holdings company up on the ASIC company register database with this ACN you would have found Anchorage had lodged in Oct-13 financial accounts for this entity for FY13. These financial accounts can be downloaded from ASIC for a fee ($35 from memory).  The notes to these accounts are pretty much identical to the ones used in the Forager Funds blog post.

If there is a lesson from this it is don't rely solely on the information in the prospectus and exercise professional skepticism.  It also raises the question as to why it wasn't relevant to include these detailed financial accounts in the prospectus.

Attachments:
Prospectus:
http://hotcopper.com.au/attachments...2/?temp_hash=3b48298853f5639cfc2faa8f1e53f6ea

FY14 accounts:
http://hotcopper.com.au/attachments...9/?temp_hash=2f4356fdfc1bcd4262863a96a9d4928d

FY13 accounts:
http://hotcopper.com.au/attachments...0/?temp_hash=2f4356fdfc1bcd4262863a96a9d4928d