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Currently 18 responses on Twitter
Start off by trying to get it on local papers in the Manchester / Wirral area.
Wirral Council would appear to have approx 15% shareholding in Crystal Amber and if their local press was interested in the council not getting value for money for their investment then that may well be sufficient to produce an investigation into CRS agreeing to back the Prax deal.
Daltry.
Copy of email sent.
Dear Ms Rennie,
I am not sure if Wirral Borough Council still has an investment in Crystal Amber Asset Management or indeed if you are involved in the Borough Council investment strategy.
I have written to you asking that, if you are involved are you aware that one of Crystal Amber’s (CRS) major investments in the fund is Hurricane Energy.
Hurricane Energy is currently the subject of a proposed purchase by Prax Capital Management for a price valued between £87,000,000 and £250,000,000.
The offer would appear to be based upon using the existing cash within Hurricane Energy for the purchase of the company and with the remainder of the payments being covered by DCU’s over a protracted period of time and these are also subject to conditions that may in certain circumstances allow the DCU’s to be negated.
The board of Crystal Amber has apparently approved of the conditions of the offer by Prax, which seems extremely strange as it does not seem to allow shareholders, of which I believe Wirral Borough Council has a 15.54% beneficial ownership, to fully realise a true valuation for their shareholding.
Substantial numbers of small investors in Hurricane Energy are concerned that the BoD of Hurricane and CRS, CRS having a shareholding amounting to approximately 29% of Hurricane Energy and who only a couple of months ago were in the process of calling an EGM with the intention of removing the senior executives from the board of Hurricane, now seem to be accepting a deal that could be substantially less than the valuation of the company below that placed by Crystal Amber only a few short months ago.
I mention the above as if you have not been appraised of the situation then as a substantial shareholder in Crystal Amber, Wirral Borough Council may not be receiving full value for their holding in the company.
If however you have been kept fully informed of the details of the purchase of Hurricane and its effect on the valuation of Crystal Amber and are happy with the details, then I apologise for contacting you and hope that I have not wasted your time.
Sincerely
Daltry
Thanks for the information.
I'll send her a message.
I have emailed Saba asking if they have an opinion on the Prax deal to purchase Hurricane with the support of CRS, perhaps
a further request for comment to Wirral Borough Council may also be in order. Does anyone know any significant executives in the Wirral to whom an email may be sent.
Significant shareholders in CRS.
Shareholder Information As at 09 November 2022, the total number of Ordinary Shares in issue (including 16,518,762 shares held as treasury shares) is 99,749,762 and, therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company as at 09 November 2022 is 83,231,000.
There are no restrictions on the transfer of shares.
As at 09 November 2022, the Company has been made aware of the following significant shareholders, with 63.10% of the issued share capital not being in public hands.
Shareholder Name
Number of Shares
Percentage Holdings
Significant Shareholders
Saba Capital Management, L.P
21,854,592
26.26%
Wirral Borough Council
12,938,214
15.54%
1607 Capital Partners, LLC
9,349,013
11.23%
Crystal Amber Asset Management (Guernsey
Any Hurricane shareholders who also hold shares in CRS should be asking CRS for justification of the decision to support this deal.
Significant Shareholders
Saba Capital Management, L.P
21,854,592
26.26%
Wirral Borough Council
12,938,214
15.54%
1607 Capital Partners, LLC
9,349,013
11.23%
Crystal Amber Asset Management (Guernsey)
6,899,031
8.29%
Senseman
Forget FCA
Forget EGM to out HUR BoD
FYI a copy of an email recently sent to Saba.
I thought it would be nice to try to elicit some response, probably won't get a reply but one can never tell.
Sirs,
As a very minor shareholder in Crystal Amber I would be grateful if you could confirm if Saba Capital as a major shareholder in Crystal Amber agrees fully with Crystal Amber’s approval of the apparently one sided offer for Hurricane Energy.
On the face of it, the offer by Prax would presuppose that Hurricane’s existing cash holdings would be used to purchase the company with a rather conditional promise to pay further amounts through DCU’s over an extended period of time.
I do not believe that the offer by Prax for Hurricane Energy extracts the best value for Crystal Amber and its shareholders and following Crystal Amber’s recent intention to call an EGM with the intention of removing the current senior executives of the Board of Hurricane Energy, but withdrawing this on the basis that the board was pursuing serious offers for Hurricane Energy, only now to be in agreement with the board for an offer which is so restrictive seems counter productive.
You will, I am sure, have fully investigated the offer and I would be interested if you are able to shed a little light on how you believe this offer fully values and monetises the holdings in Hurricane Energy for the value of all shareholders and if as a shareholder in Crystal Amber you are in agreement with the offer.
Mariog.
There would be no issue if we got all cash now.
But then there would be little need for the rather convoluted and condition layed offer. So many sub clauses that allow the DCU's to be waived.
Whilsy working in the Middle east and Africa I have previously seen similar deals and obviously under less regulated environments a deal such as the one that is proposed for the rather unbelievable offer by Prax for the purchase of Hurricane would be acceptable only if there had been collusion and sweeteners involved, luckily we do not invest in such unregulated environments and times and our BOD would not be involved in anything as underhand as to do so. I am sure that there can only be a very valid reason why the executives of CRS has aligned itself with this, on the face of it, a particularly bad deal. I wait for their reasoning with interest.
Whilsy working in the Middle east and Africa I have previously seen similar deals and obviously under less regulated environments a deal such as the one that is proposed for the rather unbelievable offer by Prax for the purchase of Hurricane would be acceptable only if there had been collusion and sweeteners involved, luckily we do not invest in such unregulated environments and times and our BOD would not be involved in anything as underhand as to do so. I am sure that there can only be a very valid reason why the executives of CRS has aligned itself with this, on the face of it, a particularly bad deal. I wait for their reasoning with interest.
As a shareholder in CRS as well as Hurricane I have commented on the Crystal Amber chat site pointing out that this is a deal that CRS should, not on the face of it, be acceptable to CRS shareholders as it does little to enhance the CRS share price.
Perhaps other SH's in CRS should also comment
I would point out to CRS shareholders that the headline value that Prax has set on the purchase of Hurricane (£250 million) is not a guaranteed figure, the only guaranteed amount is £87 million, the remainder is not.
Prax would appear to be unlocking Hurricanes approx £230 million cash pile for a pittance with more to come.
There is something rather unbelievable about this deal and the fact that the Hurricane BoD would even consider it.
I also find it extremely worrying that CRS should have allied itself with this deal.
It does not enhance its share value in favour of all shareholders.
Divecentre - Prax are a very shady company and not one to be trusted.
I'm not sure that your comment is totally justified, perhaps it may be more correct to say 'appear to be' - as opposed to 'is'
In any case they do seem to be an ideal fit for the current senior executives on the Hurricane BoD who obviously must have the best interests of SH's at heart.
As a shareholder inHurricane I'm certainly not happy with the deal.
It certainly does not appear to be a well negotiated deal and would appear to use Hurricane's cash to finance the purchase of the company.
There is no guarantee of fair value for Hurricane sh's and I do not see that the deal is also in the interests of CRS shareholders.
I'd like to know why CRS would appear to be in favour if the deal.
Probably more than two folks on the BB.
End game, I suggest you keep your fingers, legs and eyes crossed that Hurricane receives a sensible offer and that CA happily accepts a 10 - 12p which should help the NAV a little.
In the meantime take the dividend ( at least my holding is showing a profit albeit a smallish one) and wait for the final whistle.