Member Info for jun_man

Very happy to hold for the long term. Wouldn't be the end of the world if Majid resigned and we got some fresh talent at the top table. I'd be confident that the Chairman knows what he's doing in this regard.

This was exactly my reaction - this is desperation and they must be seriously concerned. The points in the RNS are also very weak, and tell us nothing we didn't already know. I've drafted these kinds of things before, and I can tell they've had to strain every sinew to find some vaguely positive spin to put on this.

For my part, I don't see what has changed in the period since the offer was announced. Rather, it seems to have gone from bad to worse as we have both seen and learned what an absolute pile of dog mess GTE is.

If the offer fails, will the share price fall back? Of course, this is self-evident - the current price is inflated by the presence of the offer.

The question I asked myself, is what would I rather own in six months? My existing holding in I3E, which whilst not perfect has good financial flexibility, is exposed to commodities which I expect to increase in value, has relatively low execution risk; or some cash which I would invest elsewhere and a small (and therefore expensive to transact on), illiquid bunch of shares in a company with low quality assets, higher execution risk, too much leverage, and higher risk.

The value of the offer is now well below where the i3e share price has been in the last 12 months. It is opportunistic and low quality.

The offer price was launched at 13.92p. Do I think the i3e share price could rise above this in six months to a year? 100%. Do I think the alternative would be worth more than that in six months? 0%.

So for me it's a no-brainer. This is a terrible deal, and should be soundly rejected.

I have no doubt that they do, but I am not sure it would be that effective. Certainly, there appears to be no evidence to support your allegations and it would seem to me you'd be wasting the Court's time. If you are a shareholder and don't like the deal, I'd recommend you attend the Court Meeting and general meeting on the 7th October. 1:15pm at APCO's offices on The Strand. If you think any aspects of that process are being conducted illegally, then you may wish to take legal advice. I'd be surprised if that were the case though.

Can posters who don't know what they are talking about stop writing nonsense about Court processes? And indeed how public takeovers work in the UK? It would save misleading a bunch of people

No. The total amount paid in cash and shares issued is fixed. A mix and match election will only be allowed if another shareholder makes the reverse election.

GTE know exactly how much cash they need to complete the takeover and it will never change. Indeed the Code requires them to have the money ready to go and a bank will have checked this before the offer was launched.

Normally you get a large institutional shareholder to agree to take more shares so you can create the cash capacity for the retail shareholders to go the other way. But there are no guarantees at all.

That's pretty standard - unlikely that the specific legal entity issuing the notes can provide security or guarantees of any value. See Thames Water for another example...

Feels like we're starting to get into the territory where I'd be asking Zeus if their advice to the Board that the offer should be recommended still stands, and indeed an update from the Board to re-confirm their recommendation.

That sounds like you are being denied the option to make an election under the Mix and Match alternative under the Scheme, rather than being denied a vote on the transaction itself. But I'd certainly reply and query how you can vote on the Scheme and in the General Meeting, as there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to do this.

Incidentally, ref the discussion below about when it is determined who gets to vote, this is (currently) at 6:30pm on 3rd October, driven by (quoting from the Scheme Doc) "The Voting Record Time has been set in accordance with the Companies Act and the i3 Energy Articles".

Yes all of this information is in the Scheme Document:

https://www.grantierra.com/content/uploads/2024/08/Scheme-Document.pdf

Page 21, to save you searching.

As I'm free on the 7th I'll likely exercise the option under HL to attend the meeting in person and vote against, given the importance of number of voters under the Scheme.

I've also asked HL about elections under Mix and Match which were not included in the original decision. I'm assuming they aren't doing that until after the Court result is known, but it seems easier to have asked all the questions in one go.

Do people think the mix and match election will only come through once the Scheme vote has finished and only if approved? I suppose it's in the Scheme document, will take a look when it gets published (it's not out yet right?)

Libear - you'll get a secure message in the next several days with all the instructions on how to vote. Sit tight, as mentioned the deadline is not for a few weeks so there's plenty of time for you to register your displeasure...

Exactly what Contra said - never accept the first offer. I'll be voting no as well - this offer is unattractive on a number of levels and significantly undervalues the company. I've sat in enough fairness committees to know exactly what Zeus have been doing, and they would never NOT provide the advice to recommend the offer when there's that kind of premium on the table. But the premium is only high because the share price was in the doldrums for a brief period. The market thinks this deal is failing also, otherwise the share price wouldn't be in the low 12s.

Offmessage - thanks. I've now found the share quote on HL, but despite having completed a W8-BEN previously, I can't trade them. It may be an ISA vs SIPP vs Fund & Share account issue but I'll ask HL direct so it's clear. As an aside, I recently discovered (accidentally) that trading overseas shares on HL is potentially significantly cheaper if you do it over the phone rather than online as the fee is capped at £50, rather than the unlimited FX costs from online dealing.

Rylidan - LOL, as if the W8BEN is the only thing you need. You also need your broker to offer trading in the shares. I'm sure many of the posters on this board have completed a W8BEN, but that's no guarantee that they will be available. Quoting from HL:

"You can buy and sell shares in many of the largest companies on the following stock exchanges:

US markets

NASDAQ

NYSE

NYSE ARCA"

NB it says "larger companies". GTE's market cap is US$238m, which is chump change in the US context. I'd be interested if anyone has found any UK brokers with online trading and retail clients that offer GTE, I haven't found one yet.

It's partly what the mix and match is for though, for retail holders to get out completely.

I wouldn't rule out that some are selling because they want cash and not the GTE shares, particularly smaller holders. I'm awaiting comms from HL, but at the moment they don't appear to offer trading in GTE (it doesn't return a quote that I've been able to find). That might expose me to some very expensive dealing charges. In a previous situation I was left with shares worth about £350 and was looking at a £200 total fee to sell them (via a brokerage firm in Australia).

Consumer Duty will put HL in a bit of a tight spot on costs, potentially, and they may then find an efficient way of facilitating trading in GTE, but there are many unanswered questions at this early stage.

BillNN - no, at US$8 1/207th of the share is worth about 3p (8 / 207 / 1.29 xrate). So it's 10.43 +0.2565 + 3 = 13.7p

Hallsworthy - no. The offer is 10.43p + the dividend + 1/207th of a GTE share, whatever that happens to be worth at any given point in time.

The reference price at the time of publishing the offer was US$8.66; it has declined since then and the offer is worth less in GBP terms.