Off Topic - D22029 Sep 2018 21:49
.........yes, I do indeed remember you, Franconia. I hope you're well. I am glad to learn you escaped the XEL debacle unscathed.
The level of dishonesty by the hedge funds owed the money (and, I suspect at least some of XEL's senior personnel) was jaw-dropping. The OGA (Samuel in particular) should be ashamed of the way they behaved. When questioned later about their role, they used: "this information wouldn't be in the public interest to disclose etc", in response to requests made under 'freedom of information act' provisions. Don't know if you saw this recently: http://whalsayenergy.com/
Looks to me like the bondholders (hedge funds) might have made a killing. The way it went was that shareholders paid the half a billion to prove the 267MMboe of oil and they were ditched when people more likely to get the oil to the surface decided they'd like it. I would only describe Rupert as a greedy, unprincipled, incompetent fantasist, whereas many others would have him lynched. He disappeared with the £4m from sale of options (Smith and Kew helped themselves to the same Xmas present around the time you talk of, after they'd talked up the price for their own gain instead of raising money to secure the company's future). Note the 4 years the new owners (who have presumably bought Bentley from the bondholders) have been granted by the OGA to bring their plans to fruition. XEL, when owned by its former shareholders, was backed up against the wall on timing, which can't have helped when Cole eventually realised XEL needed a white knight. It still rankles.
I've been workingfor the past three and a half years (on my own - you wouldn't believe how long it's taken ) to bring directors of another "crown dependency company" (another name for an offshore co with a UK listing) to justice for the theft of more than $100m. The complexity of the accounts was mind-boggling but I got to the bottom of it in the end. I'm hopeful, after being blocked every step of the way by the Company itself (which put up the 'closed for business' sign when they knew I was onto them), the SFO, the FRC and others, that a respected Sunday paper is going to publish soon, but there are some big names involved so we'll see. Begins with "J".
Re XEL, Bentley was worth enough in a liquidation to get shareholders out but, by not making demand for repayment on the UK regd sub it was held in and going in the back door of the BVI regd XEL, the bondholders were able to put XEL into liquidation and grab XER as a going concern (quoi??) with the licence and tax losses intact, in exchange for forgiveness of the debt. It was all done in the BVI, outside the reach of silly things like UK company law and the need for honest and orderly conduct by a liquidator (appointed by the debtor - "how much did we say"??). Shareholders didn't know about the parent company guarantee because XEL didn't publish its accounts in the UK.
I'm off to be sick.
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