Global Natural Energy Share Discussion Threads

[currypata kai] 27/3/2009 07:34

so thats it then...this is wrong,wrong,wrong !!

[brando69] 17/3/2009 18:20

Simon

How are you feeling about our once beloved and now much trampled upon Georgian belle, FRR?

Brando

[dogdig] 17/3/2009 16:47

Ah well, enough is enough - I'm out!

[dogdig] 16/3/2009 23:54

So what are the chances of a counter offer from someone else - my guess is rather less than "Nil".
So that leaves just the ratty offer proceeds for us to look forward to - any ideas of the approx date when we get paid please? I need cheering up!
Thanks!

[chrismez] 16/3/2009 21:43

Yeah goml but he and his cohorts have picked up a sizeable chunk of GNE for between 150p and 190p - would it have really hurt Norcliffe that much to offer say 225p for the remainder. This is what irks me that Port didn't hold out for more or negotiate harder on our behalf. But then again why would he since he would have been going up against his future employer!

[goml] 16/3/2009 17:53

I also take some comfort from the fact that ratcliffe must be (at the very least) 'irritated' at having to make an offer.

His annoyance = my pleasure.

[chrismez] 16/3/2009 17:17

lol - succint as ever S.

Interesting report in the Torygraph this morning on GNE and Port (there's even a photo of Port included - albeit wearing the obligatory hard hat!!) which ends:

"Keith Moss, the private investor who led the action group and lobbied for management to abide by its special dividend plan, said the board had done "a very poor job" given that the 190p offer remained substantially below GNE's net asset value of 240p to 250p a share.

But it was preferable to the initial plan pursued by Mr. Ratcliffe, Mr Moss said, and attested to the power of private investors who took their shareholder vote seriously."


Elsewhere in the article there is talk of "fierce resistance from activist private shareholders" - has a certain ring to it don't you think?

[simon cawkwell] 16/3/2009 09:33

C

Re port: dunno.

S

[chrismez] 16/3/2009 08:25

Simon - apologies - my lack of correspondence wasn't meant as a discourtesy - I had to dash off on Sat following my mid-afternoon posting.

As to evidence there is none. It is in the nature of these things that when one is speculating what a person might do at some point in the future, all one has to rely on is one's experiences and knowledge of the past.

Very much in the same way that we all speculate on what the share price of a company might do in the future.

I feel sure that were a higher offer to materialize Port would feel embarrassed and conflicted for reasons referred to above by kooba myself and others.

Let me turn this around - do you believe Port has acted wisely, in the interests of all shareholders and in the absence of any form of conflict, in recommending the 190p cash offer so quickly?

Sincerely interested to hear your views.

C.

PS I'm indebted to you for inter alia British Energy and GNE and of course your book of boasts.

[giovannina] 15/3/2009 17:20

thanks Simon...

[brando69] 14/3/2009 23:17

Simon

How are you feeling about our once beloved and now much trampled upon Georgian belle, FRR?

Brando

[simon cawkwell] 14/3/2009 21:06

G

IPL

S

[giovannina] 14/3/2009 20:17

Simon....please..... could you just tell me where should I put my long awaited GNE rewards....a mate of ours suggested KMR....what do you think?

[kooba] 14/3/2009 19:52

so you think that mr port has done a good job in safeguarding shareholders in gne against the obvious opportunism of mr ratcliffe and chris mills through firstly the recommended strategy switch and now the recommended discount offer do you mr cawkwell?

[simon cawkwell] 14/3/2009 19:44

Model635,

It probably is. But my point was to highlight the folly of criticising somebody without evidence.

Simon Cawkwell

[model635] 14/3/2009 17:51

Simon don't you consider this a done deal?

[simon cawkwell] 14/3/2009 15:46

Chrismez,

You may be of this firm view but you do not explain why.

Simon Cawkwell

[kooba] 14/3/2009 13:45

mr cawkwell,as directors of a company the board must surely been duty bound to act in the interests of all shareholders which would in the circumstances of both strategy 1 and 2 now being abandoned involve a timely winding up of the company releasing imo 240-250p per share.mr ratcliffe could [and probably has] blocked a winding up as it would require a special resolution and has used this position to force through the 190p fait a compli.i do not see how his position is not seriously conflicted as his offer is not maximising shareholder value.

[simon cawkwell] 14/3/2009 13:30

CHRISMEZ,

I suppose that it is not impossible that another and higher cash offer might emerge. Are you alleging that Port would turn it down?

Simon Cawkwell

[chrismez] 14/3/2009 13:09

If GNE has cash balances of 230p or more, perhaps considerably more, and still has assets including 3 or 4 gas stations etc etc, how is it that Port can recommend a 190p cash offer as being in the best interests of all shareholders.

It may be in the best interests of Port, Ratty and Wacko Jacko, Hambros and this North Atlantic mob (because as Kooba rightly points out, they are simply trying any old strategy that will nick shareholder value) but is it really in the interests of ALL shareholders? Of course its not.

I would like to know (as goml points out) exactly what the ToP and AIM have been doing about all of this.

Had the offer been at say 225p then maybe I could understand Port recommending it.

What happens if another suitor arrives on the scene offering say 210p - will Port recommend that as being in the interests of ALL shareholders? Of course not because it wouldn't be in the interests of Ratty and pals!

This really is all very murky and sordid and I agree with Kooba re the future of AIM if stuff like this is permitted to go on.

[kooba] 14/3/2009 10:21

FT.
GNE recommends share cash offer
By Neil Hume and Bryce Elder

Published: March 14 2009 02:00 | Last updated: March 14 2009 02:00

Cash shell GNE was in focus yesterday after recommending a 190p a share cash offer.

The bid came from two of its biggest shareholders: Martyn Ratcliffe, the chairman of software group Microgen, and JO Hambro and is backed by several large investors.

As they hold 54 per cent of the company, the investors will have enough votes to force the deal through.

This will be a blow to a group of rebel shareholders who have been fighting a plan by Mr Ratcliffe to transform GNE into an investment trust and use its cash to make investments in the technology sector. Traders reckon GNE has cash balances equivalent to 230p a share.

Shares in GNE closed 22 per cent higher at 190p

[goml] 14/3/2009 09:38

Gents, it's quite obvious that the ToP and AIM have been all over the Nomad and the directors like a cheap suit. They will have forced this issue as a result of the many complaints made.

From the perspective of the Board and its advisors, this is the best way to ensure that their poor advice is overlooked.

I'm accepting the offer and getting on with my life. It's a mediocre result in a poor market which is better than a poor result in a poor market!!

:-)

[topvest] 14/3/2009 08:10

What a rubbish report. The guy is comparing the value of cash versus the FT small cap index and then missed the takeover bid. Quality journalism!