London Asia Capital Share Discussion Threads

[loverat] 03/8/2013 18:32

Whatever price per share shareholders finally get, it will also be interesting to see a breakdown per share of where the rest of the realised and realisable assets ends up.

[unionhall] 03/8/2013 16:30

That would be pretty pathetic -

There is about £8m in Cash and Quoted shares.

Without Richpoint shares there would be 157m shares in issue.

Should be 5p odd per share minimum.

And Richpoint get an asset which has been valued at 11p to 20p and more per share.
Equivalent to 36p to 70p per share owned by richpoint.....



(All figures from memory - but not far off .....)

[loverat] 03/8/2013 12:21

That might be Simon Littlewood and Victor Ng - if I recall Victor Ng was also responsible for this mess.

[hashertu] 03/8/2013 12:04

David Buchler's guesstimate of the return to shareholders if this scheme with Richpoint were to come to pass was 2 - 3p.
Others in the room thought that 4 to 5 p / share should be possible.
The difference in valuation might be put down to management of expectations or the uncertainty associated with asset sale.

In this valuation it is assumed that Richpoint get the Zhongying holding and S Littlewood + 1 other (Ung?) have their shares cancelled.

[unionhall] 02/8/2013 15:37

Let us hope they can break the impasse.....

And start returning the value to shareholders without the mandatory shafting......

[topvest] 02/8/2013 11:34

Yes. Mildly encouraging, I suppose. They have just been re-appointed though and so I suppose they would be optimistic.

[dougcsv] 02/8/2013 10:35

update on the website

[loverat] 30/7/2013 15:02

curt3

I would not worry too much. It is usually the management of this company that are masters of the art. In fact it seems to be a thing with management now and in the past (with a few notable exceptions). I recall some years back going over this thread and reading Littlewood's old posts. (user name 'Painting') Now, he was certainly one who could spit a dummy.

[curt3] 30/7/2013 14:52

I could not be bothered to vote ! I know its childish but after being ignored for so long I just spat the dummy !! Shareholders have been teated with contempt.

[morro] 30/7/2013 09:34

If anyone is going to the AGM I would be interested in hearing if David Buchler is asked about the fees companies connected to him are paid.

[marksp2011] 28/7/2013 17:10

I have been sent to sunny Scotland for the week so won't make the AGM
Is anyone going who can post any gems that may arise?

[topvest] 10/7/2013 13:16

One additional thought - are the directors actually going to get re-appointed given the issues with some very large blocks of shares? I wouldn't bank on it at all. They don't seem very interested in doing so as they did not include a postage paid envelope. Mine therefore ended up in the bin, as I expect many others will! Might be a tactic to walk away if they don't want the fight!!!

[marksp2011] 10/7/2013 08:49

So now you see the difference between the moral high ground and what you can get.
Toby was on sticking it out and trying to get what was "fair". DB seems more on trying to get what can be got.

The question is what external leverage can be applied via the Chinese government etc to get the people to stump up enough to make the noise go away

Dumping bank stock was a play to drive down the price and encourage the primary holders to make a decent offer for the remaining stock as they were offering nout.

We had an out at a reasonable valuation but, the takeover panel wouldn't wear it. The regulator helped us not to get our money Better we get nothing and have our interests protected than get a recovery and be ripped off.

[loverat] 09/7/2013 22:11

No doubt DB who is taking part in these negotiations is aware of the difficulties and detail. I do wonder however what the previous directors think of his approach and what they might have done differently. The criticism by DB of previous management seemed to suggest there may have been a disagreement over his way.

As I said before I think a good negotiator should be someone who can adapt their approach to each situation. For example dealing with business people in China is well known to be difficult and probably alot of it boils down to whether LAC has any leverage or not. My feeling is that you have to be tough with these people and take some risks. The Chinese do not respect behaviour which is perceived as weakness.

[vish65] 09/7/2013 21:57

Thing is LAC has little or no income and the liquid assets have been or are being sold (at a bloody loss !) DB seems to suggest 12 more months of trying in his write up and them some form of closure. One thinks that the Chinese are happy to sit and wait , prolong the agony , let LDC burn cash and then make a derisory offer.

I'd like to be more hopeful but....who really holds the upper hand ?

[topvest] 09/7/2013 21:44

Not sure I'm afraid - I'd assume it's gone though.

Bottom line I think on this is that Zhongying is still worth a great deal, but whether the directors can agree something is a big question mark, particularly when the other holder is counter claiming an even higher amount. I think the existing directors are probably more interested in just getting a deal done, but this could carry on for years. A lesson on doing business in China with the wrong people!

[loverat] 09/7/2013 21:08

topvest

Thanks - very interesting. I had forgotten how many parts to this business there were and the potential value of some of them. I think I will have a read back of the ancient RNSs to remind me of the background. I remember being staggered by the 6 million dollar loan which allegedly went missing in Croatia. Do you know if anything ever came of finding out where that money was?

[topvest] 09/7/2013 20:55

Just received the accounts in the post - they were signed on Friday. Some key points from a 15 minute read:

- Chairman's statement is not particularly positive sighting a lack of a positive response from the Far East in the Autumn of last year (nothing happened since?) and Takeover Panel issues.
- Admin expenses reduced from £1,026k to £830k, but still too high!
- Net assets £18m or 7.9p so a 0.2p increase on last year.
- Cash increased slightly to £8.5m due to £1.4m of investment sale proceeds offset by the ongoing cash burn.
- One of the directors earned £168k in the year.
- One investment, Bank Mayapada, being sold for a loss in 2013 which will reduce the net asset value.
- Disclaimer of audit opinion again, as expected! Audit and tax fees still £64k.
- Zongying holding valuation is at cost of circa £12m - but various upside valuations mentioned of £17m at latest forex rates + various valuations of £27m, £39m and £57m - wow! Highest valuation would add 12.5p

So the realistic valuation range is circa. 2p-20p bottom-end based on giving 50% of the liquid assets back and top-end based on the better valuation for the key investment. albeit very unlikely that this will be achieved. 0-10p is my guess and I will keep valuing at 2p for now as there is just so much uncertainty.

[kingsbridge] 09/7/2013 11:30

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF LONDON ASIA CAPITAL PLC


NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Annual General Meeting (the "Meeting") of London Asia Capital plc (the "Company") (incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 03784771) will be held at The Park Room, Westbury Hotel, Bond Street, Mayfair W1S 2YF on Wednesday 31 July 2013 at 3.00 p.m.

[topvest] 07/7/2013 15:26

Quite frankly, I don't really care about getting fair value and believe it is unrealistic to expect such given the historical issues and the quality + ethics of individuals involved. Anything back would be a bonus to me. For all of us this has been a very poor / disastrous investment. 2p-5p is my expected (and probably optimistic!) range.

[unionhall] 04/7/2013 08:51

Hopefully the A/cs will be out before the AGM......


Letter to Shareholders
Posted: 03 July 2013

Dear Shareholder

Pursuant to an agreement made between the Company, Professor Francesco Gardin and others on 3 July 2013 to reconcile the differences between them referred to in my letters to shareholders of 11th and 20th June 2013, Professor Gardin has agreed to resign as a director of the Company at or before the forthcoming General Meeting.

The Company and Professor Gardin wish each other well for the future. At a Board Meeting held earlier today the Directors resolved to convene an Annual General Meeting to be held later this month. Full details will be posted on the website and to shareholders shortly. I am very pleased that we can now move forward with a united Board and look forward to seeing shareholders at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Yours sincerely

David Buchler
Chairman
London Asia Capital plc

[topvest] 04/7/2013 08:47

I don't see why the valuation should take much time if the auditors disclaim opinion anyway. My guess is that they are paid by the hour and are making a meal of it, whilst bickering! £120k is a lot of money to get these accounts out!