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A case of someone still sat in dark cupboard with lightbulb out staying put and still keeping the faith that they will be back for them shortly, lol.
I was a bit dismayed to find out thanks to others on this board that Tenners was seemingly presenting his thoughts as information from the Liquidators. That was not on and was very misleading. At the time I was pleased that Tenners had seemingly dug up a lot of info from Deloitte but that was not it seems the case. On the upside the real situation seems to likely be a better place than the scenario that would have likely been the case if Tenners thoughts were what Deloitte had said.
I still don't think there is any harm in asking Deloitte questions but it seems less likely now that we will get anything of worth if as seems to be the case there is nothing left in FRC and it is now in FRUS. I don't believe we should help the Liquidators track anything down, that's their job and not likely to be in our interest.
I personally think that the Share Register covers the whole of FRR hence why my shares are listed as 'Frontera Resources' so concern that we have been left behind is I hope unlikely.
My hope is that in the near future SN will be able to come forward and be transparent once (as we may suspect) got FRUS sorted out and moving forward with suspected new investment (and of course us).
My recent thoughts are, is this MOU enough for a major investor to get involved? The MOU if actioned will apparently cost FRR $5-6 million. We found out in the ZM case that SN stated they had an investor onboard (was it $50 million investment?). We don't know for sure if that stayed or fell through and we assume that as it's a statement told to the court that it is the truth. Such a sum of money would easily cover the MOU. I can only assume any investor doesn't immediately want to be paying off past Creditors if it can be helped but rather getting the field up and running again or at least the ball rolling first. Every one of any millions put into the company is another oil well pumping potentially millions of £/$ of oil back out. That's before we get to the gas. So the more that can be invested upfront, the quicker money can be gotten back to repay Creditors and increase the company net worth.
We've been dragged along a fair number of years now hoping. We've avoided total disaster many times but the company has never really looked like anything was happening in it. We can only hope that we are now often on the edge of it being a goer for the first time in many years.
My shares with the Halifax are at present still there. They just say they are in 'Frontera Resources'. Perhaps that is FRR as a whole group and until the last part of FRR remains. So maybe the shareholder register doesn't so much needs to be moved maybe it automatically applies to whatever part of Frontera Resources exist as a whole. Just my guesswork on that one.
I don't know if FRUS has become the new parent company or will do following the liquidation of FRC. I guess the company would have to be rebased somewhere with whatever part as a parent company. I assume wherever that part is based as the parent company then the rules of that domain would apply in terms of shareholder rights, whether we can have an AGM, etc.
The MOU with the GOGC & FRUS suggests to me that there must be finance coming forth as why make an agreement that cannot be honoured otherwise as it is pointless effort. So is SN digging into his pocket? Has another investor been found?
Still many questions and much to know. However I am not so sure that Deloitte are going to prove as helpful with answers as earlier thought if there is not anything of any value left in FRC. No harm in asking questions but we will probably just get perfunctory replies of little use as there won't be much to tell or reason for them to bother doing so.
If it is a case that everything has been transferred to FRUS and it's still a part of the FRR group then maybe it's just a matter of time to hear from them once they've got the ball rolling. I am still skeptical that it can be anything other than a buying time situation as the debt is no doubt still owed to the Creditors and I assume that Deloitte, etc would then be pursuing the matter in the US courts to recover that debt. But by then would FRR have the money to pay it???
Ok, I took that, 'FRUS is a separate entity from FRC' from Tenners post as being information from Deloitte seeing as that was what he was talking about and seemingly presenting it as. That I assumed was part of the new information he had gleaned. If that was not so and is just his thinking or thinking based on Looed's previous post then I agree Tenners should have made it clear in that post that was the case. If Deloitte have not specifically said to Tenners that FRUS is a separate entity/company entirely separate from FRC and no relation to FRC then Tenners needs to make that clear.
The specific situation of whether FRUS is a part of FRC connected in any way is of course very important and makes a lot of difference. To my mind it sounds strange to have an entirely separate company and then transfer stuff over from FRC as that would cause a chasing up of those transfers by the Liquidators, etc. It would make more sense in such an instance to set up new agreements, etc to try to avoid the transfer issue but even then issues would remain over whether SN acted in the interests of FRC/had a conflict of interest, etc.
If FRUS is still an entity of FRC it will be interesting to see where SN is going with this. I would find it surprising that the Liquidators can't at some point follow through to the US and the courts there to try to claim if FRUS. Otherwise companies everywhere would be doing the same, transfering their assets to another part of the company in another country and leaving their liabilities in the original part of the company to be liquidated. Wilko's, Woolies, etc needn't have gone under.
I bet you we are not included in FRUS and SN is waiting for FRC to be closed down by the Liquidators with us being in the dark (in the closet, lol) with them telling us the 'progress is being made' (probably not in our favour though) that we just need to sit quiet in the dark a little longer so FRC can be wrapped up and us left with little recourse accept this time ourselves being part of a long drawn out court case trying to bring a case against SN, etc. I may be wrong but that is just what my senses are telling me at the moment.
Essentially that SN waited for the Licence Agreement to expire so then he could claim that the agreement had lapsed so he could legally sign a MOU with the GOGC with FRUS as FRC had no signed up interest since the License had expired. Of course it all gets made a bit easier for him once FRC gets wound up and if shareholders keep themselves in the dark while that happens that makes it easy for him. If Shareholders communicate with the Liquidators even if FRC end up continuing in some way that may raise problems for SN's plans with FRUS. While I would like to believe SN is not attempting to leave us high and dry I fear that may be the case. It may be that we end up with a lucky straw with Deloitte being assigned to the case and having his spoken up all hope might possibly not all be lost. Let's see what next comes out of the woodwork.
Lifeishard, there might not seem to be a lot of info on the face if it that Tenners has put but in reality if you read through it carefully there are many snippets of small but telling info that tells us a lot already. I would be interested to hear what Looed makes of the info Tenners has received?
My further thoughts on this is as Looed said the other day the Licence Agreement the GOGC signed with FRC has expired and a MOU signed between the GOGC and FRUS. Is SN/GOGC treating that as a separate agreement with a separate company (i.e FRUS) to that of the agreement with FRC? I wouldn't mind betting that may be the case, that SN is treating it as FRUS being a separate venture with the GOGC. That of course would be a conflict of interest as he has not done right by us as shareholders of FRC, unless he has given us the same shareholding in FRUS in its stead to alleviate that. However the situation would still remain that the Creditors of FRC would no doubt see this as foul play and likely Deloitte/the Courts also. I doubt that is an above board move and there would likely be follow up there, moreso if us as Shareholders have not been given our equivalent shareholding in FRUS due to conflict of interest even fraudulent activities.
Possibly SN, etc may have convinced themselves that it is an above board dealing but I doubt Deloitte/the Courts will see it that way. All still more to find out on this me thinks. Handy that we now have Deloitte to uncover a lot of answers for us. Is there any way to see who the shareholders are of FRUS are in the US?
A superb post Tenners! I agree with each and every point you make exactly. You were right in contacting Deloitte to find out and we were right that they would be far more open with us than SN, FRR, etc ever was.
There is a lot of information you have gained here and that is a big positive. We now know for sure the rights to the hydrocarbons, block 12, etc were transferred to FRUS and not only that but that FRUS is (now) a separate company from FRC.
So where are we as shareholders, it looks like Deloitte will be able to provide the answers once they find out more. That they have been appointed Liquidators by the Court in the Caymans suggests to me that it could be because a lot of wrongdoings are suspected.
As said yesterday I think potentially SN might be playing for time to get some money in and then pay off the Creditors as surely he must know that if he is trying to pull a fast one it ultimately won't work in the end and he will be caught up with.
I definitely think it is a good idea to learn all we can from Deloitte to be better informed. Once we are better informed we may get a very clear idea of what exactly is going on. If needs be we may even be able to have sway to help matters in our favour. If it turns out we may be better off with the company continuing then we might be better off with Shareholders making a further investment to raise the funds to pay off the Creditors or possibly the Creditors taking an investment share in the company in lieu of the money they are owed. If they know shareholders are interested then it may be possible to hammer out a deal to save the company for everyone's benefit. Who knows but I definitely think we have more to gain by showing interest and learning what Deloitte discover. Well done Tenners! :)
There may be the possibility that everything has been transferred to FRUS or wherever, even us Shareholders and that it is known that the Liquidators will challenge that. My guess is that such a challenge would likely be successful, but is it a move to buy time to get FRR on a position to pay off the creditors in the meantime?
If there is nothing of much worth left in FRC then the Liquidators will soon be on the case to check the transactions to see where it's all gone and follow that up. Questions posted to them may give us a better idea of where we stand. My only other thought is possibly enough money was left in FRC after the rest was transferred that will satisfy what the Creditors are after, and that will be that one sorted but I am doubtful of that as FRR has rarely had two coppers to rub together.
SN may not have done any wrongdoing by us shareholders but he may be playing along the creditors to gain time. That or it may really be the endgame. I don't know that even despite what Looed seems to think that we can assume that the assets and all are anywhere but in FRC. I personally would rather hear from the horses mouth, the Liquidators what the situation is with FRC than sit quiet and hope SN is as straight as an arrow and doing right by us but telling us little. I can understand why he/FRR tells us little but from where I am sat I just have too little to go on as a result to have any clue if all is ok.
Thanks for your input Looed, your knowledge on this subject is very much appreciated.
Tenners, I agree I don't like the continued, 'stay silent while SN deals with it' in peace and quiet with us voluntarily remaining in the dark. Now that the Liquidators have been appointed I see it as we may now finally get an insight through them as to what is going on. Nothing we say or do can adversely affect the situation since we are literally the ones who knows nothing. Asking questions to a company (the Liquidators) who actually are likely/could be likely to respond with decent information is only likely to be a positive to us. Even if it's a 'we're screwed' moment at least we know why. After all FRR apparently give us no real insight into what is going on and haven't done so apparently we can tell the wrong people so in this case we might as well ask questions since FRR have given us no information that may adversely affect their situation anyway.
My concern and I think perhaps yours also Tenners as well as some other shareholders is how do we really know SN is acting in our best interests (as he should do as CEO on the BoD or face litigation from shareholders) and not in his own interest. I would hope that he is a decent enough guy to do the right thing and I don't believe in seeing someone in a bad light until discovered so. However I also don't believe in being kept in the dark and relying on belief that others will do right by me. That just gives others too much freedom to pull a fast one and satisfy themselves leaving us as said in the dark closet staying put relying on the 'someone will come for us' at some stage that we just have to keep the faith and stay there while wondering if those telling us such are running off laughing at our expense and nieviety.
So hopefully come Monday or so we will start getting some real answers and the fog of not knowing anything will start to clear.
(Sorry for the triple postings before all, first one I ran out of word count, the second one my screen jumped and my finger landed on the post button while tapping away lol)
Cont'd...
license extension being needed.
Cont'd...
I just don't trust SN. However, there is value in that oil & gas field so might the Creditors want to take that on if they are able? How is the company valued in such an instance? Are we onboard as a result or written off? I just think that we might get a lot clearer idea from the Creditors what is going on and one way or another find that more reassuring to know even if bad news than doing the equivalent of being told to sit in a dark closet room with the light switched off and quietly await an indefinite time till someone comes for us to tell us it is safe to come out now lol.
I think even if FRR is sold off the hope is that the value of the oil and gas field would gain us some return on our investment even if it is much less than it could have been due to a licence e
Contra, I'm not sure a new company can be started and take on the existing shareholder register. For sure that would answer any issue of foul play by trying to start another company and carrying on where FRR/FRC finished. However I would have thought that any new company would have to be started as part of FRR first and everything shifted over. Starting it as a separate company and shifting all over I would guess would raise too many legal issues and just not be legit as otherwise all companies would be doing that to avoid creditors.
Even shifting it over within FRR is likely suspect. In the past it wasn't the parent company that was liquidated so less of an issue. However now it is and I assume the parent company may not easily be changed, i.e it's fixed as otherwise it would be too easy to avoid paying creditors by all companies and then all creditors would be very reluctant to do much business and be creditors.
Possibly if there was a takeover and hence a new parent company might do it, but we have heard of nothing to date. I am just very skeptical that anything much can be done in this instance in terms of a dodge by it all being shifted to another company, I'm just not sure it's a possibility in this case where FRC is the parent company.
That brings me to the Liquidators and the Creditors. Now the Creditors will want back as much as possible of what they were owed, otherwise there would be no point in seeking Liquidation, it would be a pointless affair. The Creditors must think for some reason that they can extract good money by pursuing Liquidation. They will doubtless get feedback from the Liquidators what is there and what is worth what. The Creditors probably already have an idea that there is something worth a fair old amount there to bother to seek liquidation. So where are they going with this? We know that the development of the field was not extensive so is not worth much, but oil revenue could be had from what was developed which wasn't bad, so will they be after that? There was talk that the GOGC were managing the field on FRR's behalf to get some revenue in and avoid leaking oil, so possibly some oil revenue from that if true? Is there already money tucked away from that in FRC? The last impression we got was that FRC was skint but perhaps they aren't hence why the creditors sought liquidation? The license agreement we know hasn't much time to run so is pretty much worthless and I assume that Liquidators aren't interested in following up for an extension as they generally deal with what is there. Lastly is the thought that can the Liquidators just pass ownership of the company over to the Creditors? If so how is it valued? Are we included or written off? Etc.
I personally think we could likely get more answers from the Liquidators than we ever got from SN/FRR. I don't know if SN is prepared to take the gamble and dig into his pocket to pay off the money owed or feels it safer to cut his losses and walk away. I just do
I myself am skeptical that there is any shift over to another part of FRR or new FRR company. Let's face it the whole point of FRC being the parent company based in the Caymans was so we as shareholders would have as little rights as possible. If they shifted the parent company out of the Caymans we might be able to use legal leverage of whatever country it went to, to actually have an AGM! Just imagine that now!!!
My guess and it's only my guess and could be widely wrong is that SN, etc were hoping on the whole WUP/liquidation being able to get out of a little while. If FRR are able to recoup the money ZM took them they could pay off the debts with that. That or any other money they foresaw coming in, in the near future. As it is I assume they were somewhat taken by surprise hoping/expecting to delay but it didn't happen.
So what now? Are they desperately trying to persuade the liquidators to hold on for a money generating event in the near future that would satisfy their creditors better and so be in their best interests to wait. Is SN, etc going to dig into their own pockets to save FRC/FRR on the gamble that they will make more in the long run and do right by shareholders? Who knows but I personally think something along these lines is potentially more plausible an explanation. I think a lot has been allowed to ride waiting for a new license agreement from the GG.
Personally I agree with Tenners that there is no harm in asking a basic question such as, "Is our shareholding in FRC?" To the Liquidators. The idea that asking a basic question like that would jeopardize anything is laughable. It's something the Liquidators would establish as a basic fact of their work, asking such a question affects nothing. It's like some people on here are afraid of their own shadow or something. In my view it is better to ask a company that is reputable and respected a basic question and get a better idea of the lay of the land overnight than put up with being stonewalled by a company that gives us no substantive answers on anything, not just for months but for years!
Heavans forbid we may actually get a decent response than, 'hold fast a bit longer and hope the wind blows kindly in our favour'.
Well my shares too are still showing with the Halifax so they either have not been wiped yet, it's still all on or it's been so long Halifax have forgotten about them lol.
It's been a good week or two since we heard of the liquidation and nothing more as yet. So is it still going ahead? Is it the whole company? Just part of the company? Or part of some new company restructure? Etc.
What is the likelihood that we may hear soon on this by one means or another? If even by our shares being wiped in Halifax? There must be some sign under such a process somewhere. Do we know if liquidators have been appointed to take control and sell off the company? It's assets? Or whether the whole thing has been recinded? Or it was just liquidated as part of a company restructure or similar?
I can't believe that such a process would be enacted without some sort of word somewhere or sone sort of action that would give us a better idea of what is going on, other than our fear of course of the whole thing going bust and us getting precious little. For my own mind I like to prefer to believe that there has been enough vested interest and bother on this share by the likes of SN, etc that they really are advancing the company's position and this is part of the final stage of getting that done for all involved including shareholders rather than the final stage in a sorry saga.
That's not a bad idea ODR. In theory I believe the Liquidators have to try and get the best value for the company/it's assets. So I don't know if SN or whoever could just line themselves up to buy it up real cheap as in theory it should be open to all corners to put in an offer and it go to the highest bidder. Unless there is a stitch up somehow there.
It may be worth a thought about shareholders chipping in where they can preferably in return for some concession. At this point it is difficult to know quite what is going on or if the company/the data etc, will get much. Some with a lot of money invested here may prefer the certainty of FRR continuing as opposed to risk losing much or all of their investment.
My thoughts are at the moment are that have FFR, i.e SN, etc deliberately not paid these companies that FRR owed money to so that one of them would eventually bring a WUP order to FRR. Then SN, etc can say that any liquidation was not as a result of them, i.e voluntary liquidated but forced (so-called beyond their control). Then SN, etc can come forward to buy it out with a newly formed company from liquidators without all the debt, shareholders but are able to make out that it wasn't all contrived as the WUP order was beyond their control as brought by another company and they had tried their best (hence all the dragging out of it all).
A good post Looed. So it looks like it might be the end of the road for FRR whatever that encompasses. The data to the field is likely to be the main thing of any worth.
Looks like OMF might have finally hit the end of the road too. I remember a while back over a year ago that someone found that they aren't doing too well and it may be a way to get rid of SH if OMF goes bust as it looks like they were heading and finally did.
Could the winding up order be a result of Liquidators of OMF pressing for the loan note repayment?
I am kind of hoping that there may be an upside for us still on all of this. Even the field date must be worth a fair bit.
Possibly FRR got taken unawares by this and there is some sorting out to do? It seems strange that SN would roll along with FRR for so long with all the ins & outs, court cases if there was nothing in it.
Master bates?
Looks like Frontera are playing for time at all costs in my opinion. I can only assume that they need the time to make matters more favourable to the company if that is possible?