Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
@Looed -- gotcha, thanks. You wouldn't think it would be this difficult, but perhaps the original counsel botched it.
Without digging through and reading all the pleadings and filings, it just seems odd to me that a Texas court would rule it would have to re-try a suit on the merits rather than giving recognition to a duly obtained foreign judgement. Yes, a hearing or trial to determine whether to give it recognition because maybe there are procedural irregularities in enforcement or otherwise, but if they try it anew, that's totally disrespecting the parties' choice of forum in the underlying agreement and the decision of the foreign court. It would render choice of law / choice of forum clauses in contracts completely irrelevant if that's the result.
Well summarized. YA got a default judgment in the first UK case, which the company got set aside by challenging the service of process. YA brought suit again and took another default judgment, which they are now again attempting to enforce. So the company has never fought the case on the merits, just the technicalities of servie and enforcing a foreign judgment. I'm sure the can is simply being kicked down the road and if/when the PSC and license are reinstated/extended there will need to be a settlement to get this behind them.
The fact that the company has worked hard to salvage a bad situation of its own creation (yes I know ZM was a crook, but there was plenty of inattention and in my view negligence by the board) and appears to be making progress is heartening. Resolving the litigation is merely the first step towards getting a return, there still has to be a deal with the Georgians regarding the license, financing and/or a suitor, etc.
But there is no excuse for there not being an official communication to all holders basically saying "the company is engaged in litigation in numerous venues and will have no comment on these cases pending the resolution of all. The company is continuing its discussions with the Georgian authorities regarding the license and intends to report on the outcome only upon conclusion of all pending matters. The company is in possession of the last register of shareholders as of x date should the need arise to communicate directly with holders. There can be no assurance of any favorable outcome."
The foregoing would provide reassurance to holders without spilling the beans to bad actors or exposing them to liability.
Sorry was referring to RR original post repeating the global warming mantra. No aspersions meant to be cast on any subsequent replies.
Rubbish.
Looks like the global settlement is underway, which is what one would expect with the Cali case being settled.
"Since its inception, the company ... discovered and certified oil and gas reserves in excess of 14 billion barrels of oil and over 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.“
If this were true, funding would never have been an issue, and this board wouldn't exist. We'd all be persons of leisure.
And the Rainbow Warrior is nowhere to be found. No comments on the latest developments? Please, share your wisdom and insights with this board.
Otherwise there's 6-7 posts per day about random developments in Eastern Europe and the FSU, along with childish nicknames.
Most of what Looed reports is gleaned from Harris county and federal court record sites that anyone can sign up for. The fact that he's motivated and continues to spend the time to do so is much appreciated.
Don't recall if he's also the poster that someone from the company occasionally responds to via email, or if that's someone else.
The case that is "personal" to Hope and SN/ZM is the personal guarantee of their own shares they had to give Hope for one of the extensions on interest payments under the loan notes. When the interest payment defaulted, they could have given up their shares to satisfy the claim but chose not to do so. In any event, one would think these cases would also be settled in connection with the fiduciary claim since they are all interrelated.
I don't believe ZM knowingly engineered the current outcome, but in a perverse way, if he hadn't made the secret deal with Green where the PSC and FEGL were mortgaged for the loan (forward oil sale for oil that was never delivered), then Hope would have gotten everything in liquidation. Instead, the liquidators awarded the assets to Green, and then the whole process ground to a halt when it was discovered ZM was involved, pretending to be on both sides, etc. This was the motivation for Hope to do a deal with SN and FRC, settle the case and cooperate, otherwise neither would get anything.
Nothing has happened in the bankruptcy case being pursued by the JOLs since 4/2022. At that time the JOL's counsel (Holland Knight) informed the court that the Texas case by FIC v SN and ZM referred to in this thread had been filed and was proceeding.
"On August 20, 2021, the FIC and FRGC commenced an action in the District Court of
Harris County, Texas, captioned Frontera Int’l Corp., et ano. v. Nicandros, et ano, Case No. 2021-
5529 (the “Texas Proceeding”). In the Texas Proceeding, FIC and FRGC broadly allege that their
former officers and directors Stephen Nicandros and Zaza Mamulaishvili breached their fiduciary
duties by approving transactions that violated lending agreements and failing to supervise and
conserve the assets of FIC and FRGC. The Texas Proceeding is in its nascent stage and the parties
are awaiting an initial case management order. The JOLs are monitoring the Texas Proceeding in
the event that the interests of FRCC become implicated."
One would hope (pun intended) that the settlement of the Hope case in Cali would lead to the unwind of these bankruptcy proceedings as well as the Harris county case. Is there any way to take these companies out of liquidation, or would a whole new structure for ownership of the Georgian assets be needed if the Georgians invite Frontera back?
Worth noting the YA case is still ongoing as well, with YA trying to collect on a $3.4 million judgment obtained in the UK. This is their second attempt. The first default judgment was set aside in 2021, and they obtained another judgment. Most recent filings in 2023 are for appearances of various out of state attorneys on behalf of YA.
I think Hope was unfairly painted as a villain and called silly names by some on here. He may be a vulture, having bought the bonds for pennies on the dollar, but he certainly wanted to turn a profit and had engineered a sale of the company at one point. Management (SN and ZM) painted him as an adversary and harmful to the company's interests, but in hindsight Hope's sale would have netted everyone a return years ago and spared us the thievery of ZM and the years of silence. And from the court records of the original Cayman case against Hope, the emails where he was demanding certain information and reasonable board practices and transparency were spot on in light of the crook ZM turned out to be.
"Very annoyingly, there are no details at all on what the settlement consists of !!!!!"
I'm thinking there's no requirement to file the settlement agreement so we will probably never know the details unless the company lists again at some point and is required to disclose or if shareholder approval is required in order to issue Hope a large number of shares.
Frontera International not appearing is due to the fact it got taken over by Hope/Liquidators in Caymans.
Vakhtang was a long time Frontera employee. Perhaps he's back on the payroll. The 1% was the area that encompassed the old Soviet discoveries that Frontera worked continuously, including Taribani, etc. The 99% included such prospects as Basin Edge that came up dry. Not sure where the claimed massive gas deposits were.
We would all be better off with a deal that gives us either cash or listed shares in a major E&P. Listings of jr E&P companies on London markets are not getting fair valuations these days.
Possibly a serious dilution giving Hope a significant equity stake in exchange for the debt and then to pay $ 6 million to Georgian govt arising from the arbitration as mentioned in the article below. Then also to fund continued development once the Georgians give Frontera back the keys. Likely not a relist as equity markets in the UK are not great for small cap E&P right now. Sale to a deep pocketed buyer would be best and give everyone an earlier return.