Member Info for extrader

Thanks Renegade

Chris goes into some detail about convolutions in the case - $ 140m is indeed how much BUR has financed - no info re quantum involved, but (if you have the time) an educational 20 mins about the various complex procedural (and policy) issues at stake....and an insight into BUR's key determinant when assessing whether to take on a case or not :

"Your motivations are insufficiently economical."

ATB

Hi Mitch984,

Well , you called it right when you saw the s/p stalling at the 15-17p range !

Still looking for your - and others' - thoughts re price of an eventual deal...

ATB

And no problems re coordinated release : the Gulf markets are open Sat/Sun....so the buyers get to frame how the story breaks.

Hmm.

It's Eid al Adha right now , ending tomorrow night.

And then, of course, it's Friday, the Muslim week-end.

If ZIOC posts results after close of business Friday, it would have met the UK regs reporting deadline, yet be effectively 'suspended' until Monday...when everywhere's open for business.

If a deal HAS been done, that would be the time to announce it.

Just a thought.

$ 140m advance?

Wow! Any idea what the headline amount of the claim is?

All I've dug up is this

.."Details of Sysco's proposed deals in the antitrust litigation, which has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements for other plaintiffs as part of class action proceedings, were not revealed in court filings..."

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/litigation-funder-burford-sues-sysco-182500350.html

Hat tip to donald pond

.."Just as a reminder, that was a case about food price fixing initially bought by one of the largest food companies in the US against its suppliers. We’ve advanced 140m. Sysco wanted to settle but we said “not for that amount” and they tried to force us to agree and lost. Now we’ve had the settlement assigned to us and I assume: 1) the defendants will not want any settlement to become public knowledge; 2) will be concerned that they have no commercial relationship with the litigants; 3) the litigation is for a very big sum..."

I hope he doesn't mind, The DealBreaker posted this, after hours on the 26th :

.."I purchased 200k of shares this morning through 2 deals and a single trade of 200k at 1626 today and I did not see any of them appear so I would love to see how my broker, HL is filling the order.

Any thoughts welcome"

HTH

.." i am surprised we have not had an holding RNS.."

on 600m @ 3%, that would be 18m. With total vol of 2-3 m a day, I think the buyer would have to have been in the market for the last month (20 trading days) at least, surely?

Hi guys and gals,

Tomorrow may be your last chance (or-this being ZIOC- maybe not) !

Either way, it's now time to get off the fence and show your true colours : after all the banter and bullsh*t , let's cut to the chase and give us a number - your CONSIDERED VIEW on the price at which ZIOC will be taken from us, in the event that management actually get this over the line.

The runners and the riders so far :

100p Tommo1985 Cats Protection 1%

138p cheets2 Christie Hospital 10%

141p Driving Christian Aid/Congo 5%

185p ShrewdDude67 Macmillan 2%

199p Veteran10 ?Charity ? %

200p extrader Alzheimer Research 2%

225p Iceman MND Research 2%

230p AberdeenMan Macmillan 2%

250p TheDealBreaker Hinckley Homeless 1%

285p HappySwinner Alzheimer Research ?%

342p nibj ?Congo humanitarian 5%

Thanks for the input...and for a choice of good causes.

Everyone's welcome to join in : just cut and paste, then (1) insert your price and (2) name in the list where appropriate, adding (3) your chosen charity and (4) %age of 'windfall' that you would donate to the charity closest to the final takeout price.

ATB and GLA

PS: If AT is here in disguise, pls make yourself known AFTER the event.......

If GLEN has done the same as old ZIOC, even the carrying value of Xstrata's $350m has probably been written down significantly.

OTOH, 30 years of future royalties or marketing agreement on a 30mtpa project may be more 'material' , albeit less visible.....

Too busy atm to attempt the calc - and we have no idea of royalty level - but I'm sure it'll be a big factor in GLEN's thinking.

.."GLEN acquired their 50%+1 share when they “merged” with Xstrata. All clear now - thanks..."

Merge is certainly one way of describing it !

AIUI, the idea was a merger of equals, with Ivan Glasenberg ('the dealer') at GLEN and Mick Davis ('the digger') at Xstrata.

In mid-deal, Ivan went behind Mick's back and secretly convinced the board (and a few shareholders) that a takeover (with him as top dog) was better...

The corporate world is -or can be- pretty dog-eat-dog.

My post seems to have been pulled....weird!

.."the II's were bought on board on the premise that at the end of Phase 1 they could get bought out around £5. .."

I merely posted that Elphick was quite a big figure in S African society and that he won't only have to take any II's feeling into account, but more importantly, those of his co-investors (and - even more so - their wives ;->).

This is his personal polo club :

https://www.polobarn.com/events/events2006/010405_kurland.html

and this is part of the estate http://www.kurland.co.za/our-story/

Let's see if this gets pulled...and, if so, why?

Que ?

.."Seems both loan companies have bought back at .05 and we may not get a RNS to confirm simply as related to TAG ..

Why would that material development (if your assumption is correct), not be RNSable, when in the very next sentence you note that both original loans and extensions WERE?

.." My concern is that Elphick may hold out for too aggressive/high a price,."

Here's a 'puff piece' from a while back, The Elphick Factor http://www.idexonline.com/Memo?id=27155

His flagship company GEMD was valued at USD 1Billion at peak 2007, it's valued at £ 20m today.

He won't be on the breadline, but he's also lost over a decade 'opportunity cost' on ZIOC. He's in his early 60's.

He's got 80m shares in ZIOC. Look at the sweep s/ps - join in, while you're at it ! - and do the math....

He finally has an opportunity to make out big time.

There are lots of things that could go wrong, but I don't think Elphick holding out on price is high on the list.

AFAICS

Hi Veteran10,,

Reminds us that there's no issue over energy in-country.

ENI has a bit of a murky past in C-B, meanwhile here's the scoop on the company - Perenco- that ENI is offloading unwanted assets to :

https://www.investigate-europe.eu/en/2023/congo-brazzaville-european-oil-companies-petronor-perenco-secret-interests-with-ruling-family/

I don't think 'big Den' is going to be brought on-side with a few freebies on a super-jet, more's the pity.

ZIOC's backseat observer status in any deal-making will probably suit Elphick.

AIUI

Good spot Vet 10

AT on panel discussing resources and funding.

Section given over for the US to (re) emphasize the contribution of the CHIP and IRA acts to re-shoring strategic resources ( microchips, rare earth metals, etc) to reduce dependency on China.

I wonder whether there was any discussion of nonaligned nations and Gulf SWFs similarly looking to reduce their dependency on the US and a US$- based/ dominated world order…?

And, if so, whether AT had any insights to offer?

:->

NPV is a bit of a blunt instrument, normally used by the buyer/acquirer to see the 'present day value' of an investment they might make, compared with other competing uses for their capital.

It gives the seller a reasoned argument for selling the project at a specific price, but if the seller asks or expects at or near NAV, by definition he's left nothing over for the next man.....who has all the financing costs, political and execution risks still to factor in.

The 'known unknown' is how much THIS project is 'worth' to a buyer(s) for its non-NAV-related value from a domestic/international/strategic perspective ie a non-financial (because non-quantifiable) premium

MM has done great detective work on this side of things - the Gulfies seem hot to trot - and may well be right , selfishly, I hope so !, but for the wrong reasons.

If he's right, we can all be very generous to one (or more) of the nominated charities - and afford to spread a little more of our good fortune around.

As I see it.

ATB

Incidentally, Cutifani's bio includes .."Cutifani is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Vale Columbia Centre on Sustainable International Investment and an independent Director of The Power of Nutrition; a UK-based charitable foundation He is also an Independent Director of Total S.A ."

Here's the mission statement

https://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2163

The fact that he combines this with a position on the board of an oilco suggests that his ESG is pragmatic and is driven by realism rather than emotion.

Aside : Anglo completed the purchase of the mine a year or so after a certain Tony Trahar finished his time as Chair and Ceo of Anglo.

As the Spanish saying goes' The world is [the size of] a handkerchief'

;->

Hi Veteran10,

I know the feeling!

My keywords search for 'big slurry pipes' (on the KISS principle) led me here :

https://www.mining-technology.com/projects/minas-rio-iron-ore-brazil/

Owned by Anglo-American .

VALE will have heard of it , Australian Cutifani, exCEO of Anglo is heading up its about-to-be spun-off division,

https://www.miningweekly.com/article/vale-taps-former-anglo-ceo-cutifani-to-chair-battery-metals-board-2023-05-19.

The mine produces just shy of 30mtpa and slurries it about 530Km.

Doesn't say anything much about nature of terrain, but

.."The pellet feed is transported through a 529km long slurry pipeline that passes through 32 municipal districts to connect to the Port of Açu. The ore slurry is pushed through the pipe line by gravity with two pump stations and one valve station. The pipeline is 24in to 26in in diameter.

The ore is dewatered in the filter plant located near [ a dedicated terminal at]the port for shipment..."

Project cost given as $ 8.8 Bn, scale of resource : The measured, indicated and inferred mineral resources of Minas-Rio are estimated at six billion tonnes, with a strong potential for further exploration..

A pretty fair match for 'our' project, I'd say.

The slurry bit was handled by these guys

https://ausenco.com/insights/minas-rio-worlds-longest-largest-slurry-pipeline-designed-by-ausenco/,

originally Aussie, taken private by a US VC fund, AFAICS.

Maybe gives some useful comparatives.

ATB and GLA

Sorry, Icetone, already taken !

Here's the updated list, E&OE

141p Driving Christian Aid/Congo 5%

185p ShrewdDude 67 Macmillan 2%

199p Veteran10 ?Charity ? %

200p extrader Alzheimer Research 2%

230p AberdeenMan Macmillan 2%

250p TheDealBreaker Hinckley Homeless 1%

285p HappySwinner Alzheimer Research ?%

342p nibj ?Congo humanitarian 5%

Care to pick another ticket?

ATB