George Frangeskides, Chairman at ALBA, explains why the Pilbara Lithium option ‘was too good to miss’. Watch the video here.
I know people get feisty on this board about maths. However, can I just run this past you - if they're paying £112.8 m for 51% of the concession does that not mean the asset is worth about £225 m. Even if the rest of the company is worth zippo that equates to about £0.20 pence a share. Then there's some possibly upside potential with drilling. So why is the market valuing the share at 6 pence which values us roughly at £6 m? I suppose that's the market sentiment though. I still think it's a rubbish deal though.
This is indeed a dreadful deal. Given all the presentations and interest apparently shown is this the best deal anyone offered? No major at all interested and no clean break. A poor offer and no shareholder upside that I can see. This deal stinks and I wonder if anyone from the "team" will have the goodness to explain to us poor investors why this deal is worth taking rather than just drilling TE11.
What is particularly depressing is that all the comments are pure speculation (or unfortunately pointless abuse). Apart from the readily available reports we all know absolutely nothing about the state of the marketing process.
This is a really good question DC. I think there must be time for at least one FSC which will need a week or so notice. A sale of assets could I think be achieved without the need for a shareholder vote but a sale of the company would. Surely that would take at least a couple of weeks. Following a confirmed sale there would have to be a transition period before the takeover but I do not know how long that would take. I don't think we could go beyond the first two weeks of November without hearing something. Just my opinion though.
Given that the company will have to go through a number of administrative processes in any sale, investor vote on any deal, drawing up legal documents, transfer of assets, etc.etc. I imagine that an offer would have to be made public within the next couple of months at the outside , squeezing everything into a couple of weeks at the end of the period is just impractical. The board must have left themselves plenty of time surely?
"why a potential buyer would just not wait till we run out of money and pick over the bones"
I simply think a potential buyer would actually want to buy the assets available. They would not want to wait around for someone else to snap it up as a bargain. Simply sitting around waiting for Sound to drop apart for a distress sale would be pretty daft strategy if you actually wanted to buy and exploit the resource.
I can't see this going on for more than a few months. £3 million quid is only half a million a month up till the end of the year and I'm sure the BOD don't want to go for another money raise before the end of the year. So actually I read this as an indicator of a pretty early sale. I'm sure they want this all over and done with asap as does the Moroccan government.
Also as has been pointed out it takes quite a time to conclude a deal so presumably an agreement in principle has to be agreed well before they run out of money to keep the company going during the final stages of the process.
Just a thought on a quiet day, entirely unsubstantiated but perhaps a straw in the wind. I think SOU would be a very enticing target for a Russian gas company - Gazprom for e.g. Why? Well not because of our prospects (although who knows!) but because it fits in well with Putin's desire to extend Russia's influence in Africa reported in the press recently (jealous of the Chinese I expect!).
It would establish a base in the country. They have deep pockets and a few roubles spent on this would give them a presence in Morocco right on Europe's doorstep. It would fit with Putin's geopolitical strategy quite well I think.
I'm pretty sure the Moroccan govt will be super keen to get a major player involved in exploiting their gas resources and consequently I expect the GSA will be a tempting offer because it will make SOU look an attractive buy. A poor price would put a buyer off but a good one would make a deal very tempting and improve our return as shareholders. Just a thought.
Yes an absolute pain in the derriere. I've had these for months and sometimes its just a recorded message so I can't even send an expletive down the phone! Worry not your wi fi or whatever is fine, just put the phone down. I've tried blocking the calls but it doesn't work.
If we get one offer on the table then anyone else who sees this as a good (cheap) prospect would presumably have to move relatively quickly hopefully. I presume in the early days derisory offers will be rejected but at least would indicate some interest, hopefully there is some!
Although JP said he didn't watch the share price on a day to day basis that was before the debacle of TE 10 hit the fan. I expect the current share price is higher up his agenda now although any buyers real concern will be with the value of the assets not the SP.
I don't see how a rock bottom share price helps in negotiations and attempts to underpin the share price are a positive step. I hope he's got more than this up his sleeve though or I foresee months of aimless drift!
What I don't quite get is how we get for example from an sp of 10p ish - where we are now - to the final offer.
Do we just wait for an RNS one day suddenly saying a firm offer is on the table at £X and then a sudden jump (or slump!) in the SP??
Or should we expect notification of a show of interest?
Are there any significant RNS's that would affect the share price in the meantime?
What are the options, likely scenarios here, I hope the board have some answers tomorrow.
* Sell the company as is - what is the valuation of the assets we have?
* Go for TE11 - I can't see why but maybe the board have a view.
It all looks a bit grim but we can only look forward and hope there is a glimmer of hope for a better return than 10p.
By now we should at least have a good idea what the company is likely to be worth to any potential buyer.