Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Why would ASLR want restricted stock in MESH rather than its own opportunity to acquire a material stake in Sentiance? I don’t get it. Why would ASLR put its value at the mercy of MESH?
Raising £70m seems unlikely in current economic climate, particularly when £50m couldn’t be raised for the same transaction last year. Also a listing isn’t going to happen with Robert Bonnier on the board.
So instead of acquiring a tangible holding in Sentiance and an option to acquire a further stake up to 32%, and completing the RTO, ASLR will get some unspecified amount of restricted ordinary shares in MESH, which is private, owns just 14% of Sentiance and has failed multiple times to raise the cash required to acquire a controlling interest.
The MESH announcement says only that it has made an offer to acquire 100% of Sentiance. There are no details whatsoever about that offer or any timeline for acceptance/completion.
All MESH says is it will complete its deal with ASLR, which is cashless and means nothing, by 10 August.
The timing suggests ASLR is in no position to proceed with the RTO before the 14 August deadline on suspension and this transaction allows ASLR and MESH to kick the Sentiance acquisition into the long grass again.
The question for holders of ASLR is what is the value of restricted stock in a private company that has proved time and again it cannot complete the acquisition of Sentiance and currently owns only 14%.
Note that MESH took a substantial write down on its stake in Sentiance in its recently published accounts valuing it at just £8.9m and it has taken a substantial secured loan from the Bonnier family at 16% pa to keep it solvent.
Hard to see how restricted stock in MESH is appealing.
Well said Reso.
Even the simplest of calculations tells us if AAA complete this placing and the price goes to 3p, its market cap is £24m. Its “valuable” asset would be owning up to 18-19% of ASLR.
To support AAA’s price, ASLR would have to have a market cap of approx £123m.
Currently, ASLR’s much touted asset is a non-binding term sheet to buy around to 35.9% of Sentiance NV.
Let’s assume all that happens (and ignore that ASLR will need to issue a huge number of shares to make it happen), for ASLR to be worth £123m, Sentiance NV would need to be worth about £350m. That’s £2,350 per Sentiance share.
So how come Sentiance are selling their existing shares at €650 and new shares at €750? Doesn’t make sense.
Why have the trades in ASLR that went through after the suspension on 14 Feb (listed below) disappeared from the trade history so that now you only see the trades at 70p?
21/02 @ 51p
27/02 @ 51p
04/03 @ 35p
18/03 @ 35p and 55p
31/03 @ 35p
They’re still shown on other sites but not here.
The point of any forum is to share views that are in opposition. Why are views that question whether a company is worth what its purported to be worth in a reasoned way met with aggression and derision, and notably no meaningful rebuttal?
What are the chances that come the end of June, MESH’s Sentiance option will lapse because they haven’t raised the required £30m, for the umpteenth time, and then ASLR will announce they have assumed MESH’s option and then there will be a necessary further delay while ASLR tries to raise what will need to be in the region of £60m and that will go on until time runs out and ASLR gets kicked off AIM?
70p was not a price paid in cash in the course of normal trading activity. The 70p trades were existing ASLR shareholders (principally Peter Antonioni) swapping their shares in ASLR for shares in AAA (as announced by AAA on 30 March) and confirmed by announcement of 192 pte Ltd’s holding in AAA on 16 April. As such it’s much more to do with the relative value of AAA to ASLR and ensuring 192 pte Ltd a meaning stake in AAA. It gives the appearance of a master plan coming together perhaps but the overall effect is to ramp the value of both companies.
Anyone asked to swap ASLR shares for shares in AAA, which is virtually worthless would ask for a premium in terms of a share swap.
No one has paid 70p for ASLR shares.
Click on the small “i” next to each trade posted.
Can someone explain why sizeable trades in this stock are delayed reported or what uncrossing trades are? What does it mean?
I think you have the wrong Peter Antonioni. I think it’s more likely the Peter Antonioni who is a mate of Mike Powers, CEO of MESH, and sometime inter dealer broker, nightclub owner and Singapore resident.
To Skittish’s comments, MESH and backers couldn’t raise £25m to take 80% of Sentiance 10 months ago. Markets significantly more challenging now and the figure required by MESH and ASLR to complete the Sentiance acquisition is £50+. Tall order is an understatement.
Reef13 what Deloitte report are you referring to? I can only find one from 2019 in which Deloitte nominated Sentiance 50 out of 50 tech companies in Belgium.
In any case, revenues of $5m don’t support the current supposed value of ASLR.