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For all the panicking and pouring over court documents up until now it all seems to sort itself out one way or another, Im not saying all the sleuthing is a bad thing I am very grateful just that a little information can be very dangerous tb
hing. I wouldn;'t be surprised if most oil / gas deals go along these lines even for the supermajors.. ie uncertain for years up until then end , I just don't think investors would normally be driven to (through fear and lack of trust) digging around to the level us lot have had to and as a result we dig up stuff that does not complete a full picture and in a way does more harm than good! What ever happns this has been one wild ride.
Starrage ,
Thanks.
I suppose it's possible that it has been paid now, do you have a view ?
Whilst I would support Moles general view , I can not help but think there are also other factors afoot which in broad terms have been discussed before. It seems clear to me at least that the Company could have fallen over many times before but somehow a white Knight has appears out of the blue , add to this the huge political support we have and the strategic desires of both the USA and to a lesser extent the EU and whilst limited the desire of the Georgian Government to both join NATO and and some stage maybe even the EU ( if it still exists)
I have suggested before that my own view is that this is a game of 3D chess with us being nothing more than a pawn. I may be wrong but how many of us could even play a game of 3D chess without seeing all three boards? I certainly could not but being blind to 3 boards it certainly looks as though we are a goner but we are not and the game is still on JUST. Could be that we are reaching an end point some time in the near future and it works out that our little pawn becomes a Queen and then check mate? Remember there is so much at stake with the USA involved if it comes down to a few quid that will be found as Uncle Sam may just want to prove a point and all this transfer of assets from one jurisdiction to another with perhaps the key Company being USA based as far as legal stuff goes ( and we all know American courts/legal system can be influenced? My four pennyworth but I have to live in hope until the end.
I have one question which I seek some wisdom on. Here in the UK if arbitration is used and some form of agreement is agreed then fine but you still have the option of going full Hogg to the courts. What is our situation . could we still go to court and where? I suppose I should add which company is the the one who holds the relevant asset? I really am getting a bit lost.
Its very hard to believe we have seemingly got ourselves in so much of a mess legally and financially.
Trillions of TCF have been talked about for years yet we could not pay Hope $2 million in interest the employees a few million , Caymans lawyers and possibly YA.
Hope did need to go as he was blocking funding but once he was out the way I would have thought they would at least have paid the employees even if Zaza did out of his own pocket just to keep that out the press. The lawyers might not have been paid as we were not happy with their service . YA seem to have gone away , been paid or are happy to wait. Cant quite get my head around that situation .
I believe in Zaza however I dont believe in him because of his share holding . I believe he wants to do what best for the people of his country and the wealth to be shared. I think that's his main priority , it would be mine. I also believe he wants to crucify Hope and the shorters.
It's like an iceberg. 8/9th s is under water we just see and make a judgement on what we are allowed to see either with a glass half full or half empty attitude. The important points are well hidden below water atm .
If we do end up with nothing , not even 1% after spending 23 years and $580 million that's a travesty and a huge mistake management as they could have made most of our problems go away with a minute % of what value is potentially on the ground .
The ironic thing is that the least of my worries is that theres an empty box.
Our best hand might be that the GG dont want to be tied up in years more litigation because if they dont back down and Zaza even has a tiny case for litigation I'm.sure he wont hesitate to take that route.
Like I said earlier I do still believe in Zaza but that's more my personality.
Keeping the faith that we have an ace up our sleeve.
GL
What we know right now is only what we are allowed to know. It is easy to assume the worst for fear of raising hopes. Other parties standing against us can say all they like and they are doing so, in the knowledge that FRR are hamstrung by sensitivities. But, in the end, crucially, there are limits to what GG can do. FRR need to simply comply by the terms and the timeline, which I am confident they will. This while GG appear increasingly desperate to put a positive spin on this.
Having considered everything in the arbitration context, including the GG prancing about in the press and media, am far more inclined to believe FRR than the GG.
Good luck all the genuine folks!
Tsbs: under their duty as auditors they should have, so I think it is unlikely that they didn't, but not impossible.
odr
what I mean is they may not have checked themselves
First to make this clear Steve and Zaza are clearly aligned to shareholders as captains and significant owners of the good ship frontera. We are passengers and part owners.
A successful frontera rewards both the captains, the shareholders and the crew. So we are aligned through mutual interest.
Does that mean the captains have always made the best decisions and may have taken considerable risks on this journey that as shareholders we were not aware of before embarkation?
Yes in my opinion they have. That is more a question of competency than trust. But without knowing all the constraints the decisions were made under its hard to determine whether that was the right decision or not at the time. The point I would make is how we have ended up where we are while not unimportant to not nearly as important as what course of action is planned from here.
If the boat is holed below the waterline there may be no option to save the ship.
However, the captains may have planned a rescue mission with 1% of the cargo to salvage something fro. The situation.
The problem is that even having salvaged 1% the company still has loans it used to buy the ship that is not sunk and the 1% needs to cover those costs.
So we are aligned but that does not mean mistakes potentially very costly one have been made.
As for KPMG there job will be to audit the accounts and looking for items that cast uncertainty on them and in particular the balance sheet. The arbitration is of interest mainly due to the potential liabilities it could generate. That will be there focus. I doubt they are interested in the PSA per se. It would appear from some of the statements that the cost of the arbitration was shared in full or part and the Georgian side stumped up some funds when FRR declined to do so. That would make FRR now a debtor (an asset) to GOGC until any liability was settled. What makes this complicated is that you have both GOGC and the SAOG involved as entities. You need to see the very slight differences between the two parties. GOGC proving material breach is what potentially enables SAOG to terminate the PSA.
Alot depends me on whether the ruling explicitly covered the matter of the full PSA and termination or not. I tend to reconcile the two through Zaza possibly looking at the arbitration but SAOG going beyond the arbitration and back to their rights on material breach once GOGC had fought the arbitration case on sub clauses of the PSA.
Both parties can't be right. But given FRR believed they could circumvent the relinquishment clause you have to be nervous that they have miscalculated on the termination clause.
I still of the view the SAOG had the discretion unless explicitly ruled on in the arbitration to terminate. Exercising that was a calculated political move in my opinion. There may well be more to this and so something else to be revealed. If so its going to be interesting if there is. If not the company will lose the license and be left with bills and no m
Personally I give more credence to Hogan lovels statement .They most certainly are aquinted with the arbitration process and award .They absolutely would not state a material breach was proved if it were untrue imv .
Zz however as lashbully points out is proven to be less than truthful . Frr last line of defence is relying on the us regime dept and it is quite likely that zz is playing to them and the opposition with probably a sweetheart deal being brokered by us diplomats and zz .any idea that georgia is more corrupt than the usa is pretty fanciful .
That said ,the powers that have laid waste to half the middle east for oil may well prevail which is all most here care about . So still not over.Is that speedboats I here .
Tsbs: these are the words of the GOGC, so not surprising tbh!
think I said that this morning, its word for word what the gogc said.
R8: thanks for reverting. We seem to have our own opinions on the importance or otherwise of this note in the accounts, but good to have a reasoned debate on the matter. I hadn't appreciated the significance of Zaza's insistence on a live TV interview until you helpfully spelled it out.
GLA
ODR - I agree, but we still don't know whether KPMG are going by the GOGC statement or the arbitration result (full or partial). Nonetheless, nothing damning or contradictory has been declared other than what Zaza has stated on live TV. Why live... because the media is Russian owned and previous statements have no doubt been amended.
This IMO is a non event that has been blown out of proportion this morning.
Thanks R8pilot,
Something that is nagging me is it seems clear we have to pick up the arbitration bill. Why would we have to do that if we won 12 of the 14 points.
I might answer my own question here but could it be the two points we lost on were the points the arbitrators were asked to make a judgement on by the GG and the other twelve points we won were points we raised but had to pick up the bill aa we didn't bring the arbitration .
I can't quite get my head around it but it could be a reason both sides are claiming victory as both sides won the points they asked a judgement to be made on.
R8: KPMG did not state any of that. It was all the words of GOGC. KPMG state an opinion (earlier in the statutory accounts) on the figures and notes in the accounts. To do so KPMG will have done a load of audit work and part of that should have included reviewing the arbitration result to ensure that the GOGC comment was not a material misstatement. The arbitration panel rules will permit auditor scrutiny, but clearly publication requires the consent of both GOGC and FRR.
So this is independent confirmation by a big four accountancy firm which many businesses worldwide decide to appoint as their auditors and which their shareholders approve.
This means a hell of a lot more than an unregulated interview on TV. However, we can hope that KPMG staff did not pay a great deal of attention to the arbitration document, or misread it. Either is possible but if anyone was gambling on whose interpretation of the arbitration outcome was the most likely based on the evidence then we are backing the rank outsider I'm afraid.
R8, Beat me to it.
Spoken with clarity.
So out of all of the 14 points raised in the arbitration award, the best KPMG can state are the mineral tax and court costs owed. .... nothing else?! Zaza announced on a live interview that the GOGC won 2 awards but failed to win the remaining 12.
Stay focussed on the main prize which is the 1% of B12 and not the unwanted waste land. The validity of terminating the whole PSA after the arb for this 1% has been covered by more knowledgeable posters than a petulant fool who states he took Carin to court.
"On 17 April 2020 the arbitration tribunal rendered its final award as to the matters in dispute. The arbitration tribunal has upheld the Company’s and SAOG`s interpretation of the PSA as it defines the parties’ respective rights and obligations. Among the issues decided by the Arbitration Tribunal, it ruled that the respondent - Frontera committed material breach of the PSA by its refusal to relinquish and return to the State the exploration area. According to the award Frontera and Frontera Resources US LLC are obligated to reimburse the amount of the mineral usage tax paid by the Company on behalf of Frontera as well as the costs incurred by the Company with regard to the arbitration proceedings. The arbitral award effectuates withdrawal of and dismissed the counterclaims that had been filed by Frontera. The arbitral award is final and binding on the parties, in accordance with its terms and the PSA."
GLA
KPMG hasn't opined on the arb results...not the point of audit-services
Im just saying SR maybe you need to take a step back a little and see the bigger picture you do seem to charge in with rash judgments on very little information.
Jeez ...should read ... They have signed off what they have written as a true reflection of what GOGC have told them .
Im just a little concerned SR that you are beleiving what you read on the internet without any proper research into where the information is coming from, you don't seem to know much about KMPG , it amazes me that people make significant investments without doing proper research.
They have signed off that what they have written is a true reflection of what GOGC have told them .
In my position I am interviewed each year by auditors ( who are a sizeable firm ) with questions that cover many issues including litigation . Never been asked to verify what I have told them & they cover themselves with disclaimer.
here we go again, KPMG very good at what they do
'The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has commenced two investigations into the audits of Eddie Stobart Logistics plc for the years ended 30 November 2017 (KPMG) and 30 November 2018 (PwC)
Genuine question star why are you here?
I am saying they have been fined for dishonessty 5 time in teh last 15 months and tehy are the cases that got caught and taken all the way through the judicial system.. so probably plenty of others as well