A head scratch and initial thoughts which streamed through, was that if this is true, then this was likely an attempt at a strategic holding ; it’s obviously not an attempt of any takeover, as cash needs to be on hand and in an account before that even gets a pinch of attention .
Strategic holding … During this time the last thing the company wants is someone being posted onto the board ; Huayou were diluted out and the company were happy killing 2 birds with the one stone on that occasion ; could you imagine having a Chinese seat at the board table whilst we worked our way through this mess ; imo we’d probably have been on our fourth passing of being bent over.
Obviously Deelands 50m shares is not enough on its own as it only represents 1.3% of shares ; but the question is whom are the investors Deelands are supposedly acting on behalf , what’s the purpose off German / Swiss accounts only ? There is enough connected shares on the registry to pull together enough shares to gain a board seat, how is that done or what someone maybe playing at is anyone’s guess ; Chinese registered entity falls on FIRB sword; JV entity potentially registered elsewhere e.g Germany etc may have a bit more wriggle room
But during this period is a bit difficult to keep all your cards as close to the chest as possible, when you have asx guidelines to keep , but have been able to gain some shelter through voluntary suspension ( refer to asx listing rules guidance notes 16 4.3 for reasoning around vol suspensions and benefits ) ; it’s even more difficult to keep information from the ears you’d prefer to keep deaf if you have a mole at the table.
Omni’s legal case ; also march 23 date - legal costs of $9.5m before shareholders gain their share should they win… ; totally lame attempt to unsettle shareholders imo , but likely an attempt to unsettle enough holders to potentially shake some shares out . Has some thinking , How long does such a case take to flesh out ; what has the company got to cover these costs if required ; how long is this ML thing going to take to play out etc etc etc .
Remember more percentage owned by entities does allow for certain levers to be pulled - link below gives brief summary
The key shareholding thresholds in an ASX-listed Australian company from a Corporations Act perspective are: ≥5% (obligation to file substantial holding notice), >10% (ability to block compulsory acquisition), >20% (takeovers threshold), >25% (ability to block scheme of arrangement and special...
content.allens.com.au
Management always expected the Chinese to have a go ; they always expected some wrangling with the Chinese ; but they didn’t expect some of the tact’s deployed or having parts of DRC Gov also playing on behalf of the Chinese .
Hard to say ; ‘nah that would never happen’…. AVZ management said that about afew things which readily happened over the last 8 months imo.
Those high offerings by Deelands will also be having even the most hardened shareholders thinking …. Maybe let’s not be too greedy ; >$1.50 offering is a lot better than in pause at 0.78c…. Shareholders calls on the AVZ phone increase as offering price to German accounts increase
