Establishment Investment Share Discussion Threads

[mattjos] 01/3/2012 22:59

i am reminded of this from Matthew on 3/6/10:

Dear Matt,

Many thanks for the email which was great appreciated. For the last 3 years since listed on AIM, the management has tried a lot of things to communicate and educate the UK-based institutional investors but to no avail. Our share price has been lingering around 30 p for the last 12 months and more, hence the KUONI bid was a nice solution to our current UK problem. Equally the management has a lot of hope that by learning from the best in the trade, we can capture the rapidly rising affluent traveler in China. Well, it is a good results for shareholders who would like to see some return, but as you rightly pointed out, that we will be leaving AIM and UK market for good.

Again I would like to thank you for your support and encouragement and wish you all the best in your future investment in Chinese companies in UK.

Kind regards,

Matthew

Matthew C.Ng

[mattjos] 01/3/2012 22:57

a very good change of defence lawyer it seems .... would love to see this come back to the market at some stage.
In my dialogue with Matthew Ng he struck me as a decent enough guy and hard working .... when all this blew up it struck me as a case of sour grapes and a well orchestrated move to grab back what he was shaping up to be a cracking business. Wilkl it retrun to market? Who knows but, i do keep watch & thanks for posting holidayhome.
Good luck Matthew

[pimsim] 14/12/2011 10:05

If ever you wanted a reality check about investing in China, this is it. A company that was 1 day away from being bought out by Kuoni in July 2010 for £52m is now effectively wound up with the executives in jail with long sentences.

[zangdook] 07/12/2011 05:07

He's got 13 years.

[holidayhome] 07/7/2011 00:00

Attached press report that ETC is still trading 'uninterrupted'. Seems the future of the CEO and I fear of ETC being assumed by the state may well be decided by the Chinese authorities. Still a wait and see at the highest levels.

'Matthew Ng set for trial after China spurns Julia Gillard appeal'

• Michael Sainsbury, China correspondent
• From: The Australian
• May 06, 2011 7:36PM
CHINA Communist Party leaders have spurned a personal appeal by Julia Gillard on behalf of detained Australian businessman Matthew Ng and will send him to trail for embezzlement.
The decision which has shocked his family appears to indicate that six months of talks between the shareholders of Mr Ng's company Et-China and Guangzhou authorities have failed to reach a positive conclusion.
The Australian government would not confirm the news but The Australian has learned that Chinese police referred Mr Ng's case to prosecutors today after what they describe as an "investigation." No date has been set for the trial.
"We remain in close contact with Mr Ng's family and legal representatives. We are not in a position to comment any further at this stage," a Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson said.
It now appears unlikely that Mr Ng who is a major shareholder and chief executive of Et-China will avoid a jail sentence, as most cases referred to prosecutors in China result in a conviction.
The Prime Minister raised Mr Ng's case along with that of jailed Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao when she made her first visit to China as Australia's leader two weeks ago.
In the past, the Chinese have used such visits to release or shorten sentences of foreign nationals in Chinese custody, but seem to have dropped the practice in recent years.
Mr Ng, a Guangzhou native and Australian citizen, was detained by the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau last November after a the failure to reach a resolution in a dispute between Et-China which is listed on London's AIM stock exchange and state-owned Lignan Group over assets that Et bought in 2006 and 2007.
The Australian understands that Mr Ng's lawyer and his wife Niki Chow who has remained in Guangzhou with the couple's two children were hoping that he would be released to a lighter form of detention, such as house arrest, rather than sent to trial.
In June 2006, Et-China paid 36.33m yuan ($4.85m) for 28.57 per cent of Guangzhou Travel, a major division of the state-owned Lingnan Group, the province's largest travel group, which had been turned into a profitable business by leading Party cadre and Lignan's internal Party Secretary Zheng Hong.
In August 2007, Lingnan's Labour Union Committee and some other individual shareholders sold another 24.09 per cent for 25.1 million yuan, handing Et-China control. Mr Zheng and other executives also sold shares to Et-China.
In July last year, Et-China's biggest shareholder, Switzerland's Kuoni Group, made a cash offer to buy all outstanding shares in the company and valuing it at £52 million.
An extraordinary general meeting on July 15 passed the deal.
As a result, Et-China had paid less than $10m for a company that accounted for 97 per cent of the sales of a group that was valued at $86m last July.
But Lingnan had sent a letter to Kuoni on July 5, claiming control of GZL's assets by Et-China was illegal, despite not challenging the original deal.
Mr Zheng was detained under special Party rules in September and Mr Ng was detained in November, as Lingnan attempted to halt the deal and get back its assets. Et-China was suspended from the AIM stock exchange.
At the end of March, police requested a further two months for their investigation of Mr Ng, but it is believed that talks between Lingnan and Et-China shareholders, led by acting chief executive and board member Peter Rose did not come to a resolution that would lead to Mr Ng's release.
Et-China's business which sends more than one million Chinese overseas to dozens of countries - including Australia - continues to run uninterrupted.
The Guangzhou Procuratorate could not be reached for comment.

[sea and sky] 05/2/2011 00:31

Thanks for that Holidayhome... certainly makes our plight rather insignificant!

I haven't received any share certificate or letters from my broker so I will chase them up Monday.

[sea and sky] 10/1/2011 11:16

wish I had! these were my last AIM investment too... grrrr. I have done much better on 'normal' stocks

[mattjos] 06/1/2011 20:36

thank f i sold at the hi. put it into ygh

[sea and sky] 31/12/2010 11:06

Having spoken to my broker this morning the thinking is that shareholders will be sent share certificates in due course as they will no longer be tradeable on the LSE. It is possible for them to relist at some point but that is in the lap of the gods. I imagine Kuoni are smarting as I seem to remember they hold around 33%. What a mess!

Luckily I only have a small amount in these johnnies but a smart warning on the perils of chinese investments methinks!

Happy New Year (and an extra round I think is in order tonight to drown sorrows!)

[davydoo] 31/12/2010 11:04

Well it means as an unlisted security its going to be very difficult to trade, especially when you consider the reasons the listing has been cancelled.

In 08/09 a lot of AIM stocks delisted and some did so with a clear route out for small shareholders. I was in one called Axis Intermodal, they announced what they were planning, so i just sold out before they delisted (price had fallen though)

It will depend whether ETC maintain a shareholder register and are willing to match buyers with sellers. Although I cant imagine any buyer is going to pay a lot though knowing the situation the seller is in.

Also as the company wasnt profitable or paying a dividend, maybe there is less incentive to buy back their own shares.

Good Luck. This experience has taught me a very valuable lesson in when to sell in bid sitations.

[sea and sky] 31/12/2010 10:48

Anybody know what this means for beleaguered shareholders? I have not experienced this before...

[ericardlussa] 22/12/2010 20:47

think they might hang in there as a play on Chinese Travel growth, all depends on the magnitude of the alleged criminal activity.

[davydoo] 21/12/2010 09:43

I just speculated the same thing on iii, i assume they would walk away completely which is a lot of stock to hit the market against a backdrop of a failed takeover and a ceo in trouble.

I also wonder what the focus and morale mustve been like within the business over the last 6 months.

[zangdook] 21/12/2010 09:40

When they do start trading again, are Kuoni likely to dump their stock?

[davydoo] 21/12/2010 09:32

Interesting. You may get another chance Mattjos.

[sea and sky] 21/12/2010 09:25

oh dear... these will obviously plummet the day they become active again.



... win some lose some

[sea and sky] 23/11/2010 08:50

bananas!

'Carry On Up The Yangze' no less!

[ericardlussa] 22/11/2010 19:51

If they go ahead with the deal that is?

[mattjos] 22/11/2010 14:11

:-) ... glad i sold when i did. sure it will get sorted. Kuoni still got a bargain, imo

[davydoo] 22/11/2010 13:05

blimey.

Wonder what Kuoni make of it though.

YNG, AMEI and now ETC time to look for some private prison operators ro invest in Mattjos?

[mattjos] 22/11/2010 09:53

good grief:

Et-china, a leading travel services group in the fast growing region of South China, has been notified that Mathew Ng, Chief Executive Officer, has been detained by Guangzhou police as part of their investigations as a suspect of the crime of misappropriation of company assets. At present Et-china has no further information about the cause of his detention. As far as Et-china is aware at present Matthew Ng has not been charged with any offence.

Chris Rose, Non-Executive Director, will assume the role of acting CEO of Et-china.

Chris Rose, acting CEO, commented "the Board are supportive of Matthew and are seeking an early resolution of this matter to enable him to resume his role as Chief Executive Officer as soon as possible".

A further announcement will be made in due course.

[ericardlussa] 10/11/2010 23:00

damned inscrutable these Chinese..............and the Swiss on the opposite side :(

[sea and sky] 09/11/2010 15:09

This from 20 Oct might mean some movement at last.... or will hell freeze over first...

"RNS Number : 7316U
Et-china.com International Holdings
20 October 2010

ET-CHINA.COM INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS LIMITED
("Et-china", "the Group" or "the Company")

Holding in Company

Et-china, a leading travel services group in the fast growing region of South China, has been notified by Mintpine Pty Limited ("Mintpine"), a corporate shareholder that holds ordinary shares in the Company on trust for certain individuals including Matthew Ng, Kitty Yang and Chris Rose, that it has transferred the interest in 785,441 Ordinary Shares in the Company from Michael Zhengjun Tang to Hongsheng Yang, Weixin Zhang and a further 31 existing and former employees of GZL, the Company's subsidiary which is one of the largest travel package holiday providers in South China. Following this transfer, Mintpine continues to have an interest in 10,276,752 shares which represents approximately 24.56% in the issued share capital of the Company, which stands at 41,845,033."