Member Info for Fevertreeman

Yes absolutely, but HAA has been promising funding package for moths and years and nothing has arrived, and in the meantime the lights are being kept on how? IOUs? They must be desperately short of readies and are going to have to raise some bridging finance but I see the only way that happens is by coming back to s/holders or having a punitive deal with s/o like RAB.

because HAA credibility is shot to pieces with Mr Market. In a world awash with cash HAA is completely unable to close a financing deal for what is a pitifully small amount compared with the supposed riches on offer from TK. What does that say about his credibility?

Talk about desperation - the Edison note presumably dictated by HAA is either aimed at the Ethipian government, so HAA can take a copy along and say "Look here chaps, hold on just a mo before taking away our licence, because I have something worth it here (or rather you do). I just need more time to find some funding (hahaha) OR its aimed at shareholders to soften them up when HAA is forced to raise working capital funding on incredibly poor terms...this charage has gone on long enough, and one suspects that the Ethiopians are going to pull out their red card before long

when HAA has to go back to shareholders (or RAB) for more cash whilst the funding mirage continues

If I were CA I would be calling for an independent investigation of the Board's actions over the last 18 months, because the actions of McT et al merit further investigation, not least because they spent $17m of our our money.

backed by the Court judgement that the Board of Directors (1) should have consulted with shareholders, but wilfully ignored their responsibilities to them (2) that decisions made by the board were skewed for the benefit of as yet unnamed bondholders and (3) that spending $17m of their own s/holders money in order to destroy the value of those very shareholders and pursue a scheme that effectively handed over the company to bondholders was was potentially ultra vires.....Watch this space, but I would be feeling very very uncomfortable if I were McTiernan

One of the most extraordinary aspects to this episode is that as the POO shot up as it became clear first that Saudi and Russia were intent on wresting back control from the shale guys (who have huge ESG problems now in the US) and establishing a floor under the price, and second that the reopening trade would create significant demand in a period when supply was going to be tight, that the former Board continued to pedal the " We're doomed " scenario and consistnetly dance to the tune of the 'ad hoc' (i.e not formal) group of bondholders, egged on by their financial advisers whose fees were astoundingly high in the context of (a) market cap and (b) the Board's comments regarding drilling campaigns.

Once the new team is firmly under the table, McTiernan and the rest of them are going to face some serious questions about their role, and I think face the potential prospect of being barred as directors

Always worked a treat for me over the years, and HAA is just proving by his actions rather than words to be another third rate CEO adept at lining his own pockets.

Neither HAA or his CFO were keen to get paid in KEFI shares for the attempted bonus smash and grab. What on earth does that tell you boys and girls? Quite clearly HAA has no more faith in the value of his own company shares than Mr Market. And that should be a mega red flag:

1) To those shareholders who think this is a slamdunk 3,4,5 bagger. If that is the case, why would you take £500k in cash rather than in shares in your own company that would triple in value? HAA chose the cash option
2) He also chose the cash option because he knows that there is massive dilution on its way because he has no cards to play re funding!

A warning that HAA vehemently denied at the time, until he didn't. The plain fact is that HAA has been happy to string this along for years as every year that goes by adds to his Cypriot bank balance. Where is the money? The only question that needs to be asked for which he has lied and obfuscated for years.....if it comes it will be chockful of conditions that will mean that once again the good folk here would have been shafted. Please remember that the mines have not yet been built, that the infrastructure relies on others, that we have no evidence of any real on the ground progress , and that not an ounze of gold or copper has been extracted.

I don't disagree with your reasoning re. Chaffe but I am slightly more simpatico to Maris who I think was not given teh fuill story when he joined. Agree tho if he had had any balls he would have resigned but ironically that may have had dire effects for us as s/holders as folk would have concluded that there really wasnt a viable future etc... Either way Alistair Osborne's piece in The Times (who is a decent and very experienced hack btw from my days of dealing with the financial media) is going to haunt McTiernan, who should resign from any other board he sits on as this sort of toxic publicity doesnt go down well with s/holders

With regard to the $17m spent - the auditors and regulators should take a very close look at whether the Board was fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities appropriately. Serious misuse of funds in my view. Having dealt with similar advisers is that McT and the others were utterly terrified and just caved into whatever Evercore chose to charge them (and the corporate lawyers on the clock every 6 mins).

Finally, it is important to recognise and respect loyal shareholders of President

1. This is another spin-out and enrich the Levine family deal
2.Strand Hanson have always been and remain a mickey mouse corporate finance house -another one added to the roster for PL to pump and dump
3. Pres shareholders invested in a bloody O&G company - if PL is investing all his energy in Atome wtf is going on with the main business
4. This company increasingly resembles some sort of VC outfit to enrich PL

and the muted sp reaction says it all. When is PL going to start running the business for shareholders not just his own interests

1. This is another spin-out and enrich the Levine family deal
2.Strand Hanson have always been and remain a mickey mouse corporate finance house -another one added to the roster for PL to pump and dump
3. Pres shareholders invested in a bloody O&G company - if PL is investing all his energy in Atome wtf is going on with the main business
4. This company increasingly resembles some sort of VC outfit to enrich PL

Not his fault - he didnt realise the toxic mess he was walking into, and was effectively gagged by the Chairman in my view. That said, he's in a tricky position

Ivery much suspect that when the new team take the keys to the offices in GOdalming , and trundle round to lunch at the rather delightful pub next door that this will be one of the workstreams that they task their lawyers/advisers to look into.

Absolutely fair assessment - McT and Chaffe were completely out of their depth and terrified by the US rottweilers -not just the lawyers but the predatory financial advisers. Revealing a remarkable lack of backbone, they literally turned turtle and became for all intents and purposes the operating arm of the bondholders. Maris knew little of this when he joined but was clearly sandbagged by McT....the wheels started to come offf when the POO began to climb sharply, completely changing the calculus, but McT had by that time dug himself into a corner and kept up the fiction that all was lost, in the hope that s/holders would capitulate.....it didnt work, but serious serious questions need to be asked about the Board's role over the last 18 months...

I wonder where this leaves the FCA investigation. What is crystal clear is that the reputations of the McTiernan and the rest of them is tarnished forever. I still feel that this has further to run in terms of uncovering the truth behind the board's decisions and why they refused point blank to address the concerns of shareholders. The threat of censure or being barred as directors is likely to hang over this crew for quite a while.

Intangibles sums up HAA, except his Cypriot bank balance which is full of tangible cash received via a consultancy arrangement...the man is an expert carpetbagger

The business has no funding and is surviving on IOUs as the auditors have pointed out:

"The Group's ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on the Company's ability to raise adequate financing from lenders, shareholders or other investors before the end of June 2021, in order to meet operational commitments and overheads......"

So HAA is about to accept another deal on dreadful terms like the RAB raise at 0.6 which will shaft shareholders or face oblivion when the Ethiopians take away the licence