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We’ll never know what the real motivations behind the departures are but it’s very rare that an rns states that the Board pushed directors out for being useless. I have some sympathy with the view that more likely these two were ‘encouraged’ to move on.

The future of SYM is in essence Saudi Arabia And the Arabian peninsula region, India and Grupo Bimbo (accepting that many iron are in the fire). But if they really open up the full opportunity across these big 3 then annual revenues will be in the 10s of millions with a 3 to 4 x revenue multiple on that for company valuation. Strikes me that SYM need to get a couple of new mom exec directors that are much better connected to these key market opportunities and can accelerate SYMs progress. Hopefully it won’t take too long to find suitable candidates who will likely be based in Saudi and India. Just a hunch - we’ll find out soon.

Many thanks for the comments and insights Hounddog. Appreciate it.

Having re watched Laurier’s filibuster on proactive investor again I wanted to dig around a little on the growth opportunity in India that he refers to. Came across the link below.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/government-muddle-over-biodegradable-plastic-stalls-manufacture/article66414513.ece/amp/

It’s not clear to me from what SYM have said and the situation outlined in this article how soon SYM India will get to a point where they are issued a possible temporary licence for D2W and biodegradable plastics production using this additive.

Indian bureaucracy is a nightmare at the best of times and government depts have got themselves seemingly in a potential impasse on this issue.

Something that I’ll be messaging SYM to clarify as I can’t quite buy into Lauriers confidence of near term resolution when the situation is described by local media in this way.

Granted that the story in the link is from Jan this year so things may have moved on. (Will find time to do a more comprehensive search for more up to date information).

If anyone has any clarity on this they can share then it would be much appreciated. Just trying to make sure that it’s not a case of more over optimism from our CEO on timeframes and size of market opportunity.

Many thanks

Link here to short article highlighting increased investment from Essar in raniganj CBM.
Also alludes to test drilling for shale soon which will share drill rig with geec I’m sure. Positive at the
margin

https://www.projectstoday.com/News/Essar-to-invest-Rs-2000-cr-in-brownfield-CBM-project

Thanks Bismarck. I’ve taken the liberty of setting up the new topic ‘Great Eastern Energy Corporation’ to get us started. Look forward to further discussion in the months ahead.
Have a great weekend

I think they have 4 months to provide the results update from the year end date. If correct , That gives them 13 more days.
Many times before I would have allowed myself to think that the delay is due to the SYM team working feverishly to get a large new order over the line so they can include in the results statement. Sadly though every time it’s actually been due to them figuring out how to dress up a downgrade to expectations. Time will tell but I’m feeling increasingly uneasy

Thanks for sharing Fieldwolf. I hadn’t seen anything on IB and ability to trade over the counter. Worth checking on that as good to know what OTC options investors have.
5 trading days left before geec delists and volumes have been very subdued. The deeply discounted share price encouraging investors to take their chances with the move to private market?

Interesting to read the rns this morning. Couple of things stood out. 1) mention of dividend distributions. (Won’t be on the cards for a little while and probably just standard wording for this kind of announcement - nice to see though). 2) company will continue to publish interim and finals accounts on its website. (So no real change to info that we were receiving while listed). 3) at this point at least no restructure of class of shareholdings.

I’ll get around to emailing the company for info on pinksheets and trading of unlisted stock and will share here whatever comes back.

Sharing what i received from more broker.
"Thank you for your enquiry and please accept my apologies for the delayed response.
As a result of the delisting from the LSE, which is due to be effective from April 2023, Great Eastern Energy Corp will move to the pink sheet segment of the over the counter (OTC) Market in the US. This market has very few listing standards and little regulation – unfortunately you are unable to trade on this market via Hargreaves Lansdown.
You will still be able to hold your shares in your SIPP.
I can confirm you will receive communication regarding the delisting shortly."

I'm still not clear whether this will mean GEEC share trade Pinksheets OTC only or whether this will be OTCBB. OTCBB appears to be more liquid and requires companies listing here to post annual report and accounts with the regulator. Reading around on OTCBB it might be that liquidity doesn't completely dry up for GEEC and companies do also raise equity via OTCBB - so i guess this angle is still open to GEEC (albeit unlikely i suspect to be how GEEC raises finance for expansion). The list of broker dealers active on OTCBB is quite extensive and can be found here https://www.otcmarkets.com/market-activity/broker-dealer-data
Hoping that GEEC will clear up some of the uncertainty in the coming days. Given it was very hard to trade in any size with an LSE listing it looks as though there could still be some price discovery and traded volumes via the OTC route!

Thanks for the L2 info Bismarck. I’ve been surprised that not only is there little selling but also some decent buying. I guess the view is that at current levels the risk reward is still attractive to some investors even with the delisting.
Regarding management buying I would how that there are rules in place to prevent company directors creating a false market by announcing a delisting and then buying up the distressed stock at knock down prices. There are definitely ways they can shaft minority holders once the company is private but I don’t think they can buy shares now before delisting. I might be wrong though.
If I was on boards of Essar or ONGC, as operators of neighbouring licences on the raniganj block, I think I would be buying GEEC shares here before delisting. Taking away public market finance means that geec has to be looking at the farm in option to fund expansion and Essar and ONGC are prime candidates for this given synergies . Why not try and hoover up some cheap stock now to get the average down. They could even collect enough of a holding to be an influential investor. Even if they don’t I suspect one of them stills buys GEEC once the shale reserves are proved up and pipeline to Kolkata is operational. I too have some shares in a SIPP so receiving take over cash for geec shares in the SIPP would solve some issues.

I haven’t tried Jonhas. My experience to date in contacting the company through their investor relations email link was almost zero response over many years. Definitely worth perseverance though. Good to hear if you get a response and what the company are advising shareholders to do right now.

Was thinking the same thing. Good idea to use the general commodities chat board so I’d be happy with that.

Lots to figure here, but i suspect that you are right Bismarck that to sell OTC, shares will need to be transferred out of a SIPP to a non SIPP broker account that can execute OTC. Once the trade is complete then there should be no problems returning cash proceeds to a SIPP with existing SIPP providers.

I couldnt find an ISA account that would accept GEEC shares so i have some in a fund and share account and some in a SIPP.

For the share certificate issuance, i think that if you pay £25 or whatever the fee is to have the shares registered in hard copy you will receive your own share certificate with your own holding and not a certificate representing the whole holding of the broker. My understanding is that the shares will no longer then be shown as a zero priced asset in your account and the only record that you will have of ownership is the certificate. I suspect that the broker will also update the company with owners details and total share holding so that the new registration is updated on the company records as well.

Interesting to see what looks like quite a large purchase of stock in GEEC today. I guess there are some investors who are comfortable with private markets and OTC trading and see GEEC at this price as a favourable risk/reward.

Thanks both for the helpful information. Halifax have responded to me and also confirm that after delisting my holding in GEEC will stay in the account with a zero value. They will forward any information from GEEC. Halifax will not be able to trade GEEC stock OTC on my behalf and so the holding would need to be transferred to an entity that can trade OTC for that to happen. Halifax stated that a share certificate can be requested for the GEEC holding but only while the shares are listed. After delisting they will not be able to issue a share certificate. They also indicate that GEEC may not issue a share certificate. cost of issuing the certificate is £25 and takes 2 to 3 weeks.

Also confirmed that it is possible to move the holding after delisting is completed (im not sure what the charge for this would be). Dividends and any return of capital would be received by Halifax after delisting and would sit within the account and be available for reinvestment (but not in GEEC obviously). They also confirmed that GEECs record of share ownership would be automatically updated with any move of holding to another stock broker after delisting.

Question fin my mind is whether to get share certificate issued now so that i have a tangible record of ownership as i doubt GEEC will issue these. Management own over 70% of the company and have demonstrated that they barely even acknowledge other shareholders - so best to assume that GEECs efforts to communicate and support minority holders through the delisting will be non-existant.

No word from my SIPP and fund and share account providers either. Will post anything here if I receive it. Thanks for the info Bismarck.

Some final thoughts more generally on the situation here.
I see the delisting as a sign of progress towards expanding production and significant uplift in company profitability. The very low share price was acting as an unhelpful reference point for raising further equity. A farm in from industry and possibly investment from a private equity specialist in this sector along with debt will finance initial expansion until free cashflow can finance the rest.

There is certainly dilution for existing equity holders to come but we pretty much knew this anyway. By getting rid of a public market share price that is completely disconnected from the underlying value of the asset, the dilution should be less. Rationale being that any new equity is priced on the economics of the underlying asset, which an industry investor will be well placed to assess.

So as I see it geec will drill a couple of shale gas test wells soon after delisting and if found to be economic will begin to negotiate funding for expansion of drilling across the field.

I think that we have to assume significant dilution for existing shareholders. However if we assume £300m of new equity and £200m of new debt then that should be enough new money to get to self funded growth capex. £300m of new equity issued after successfully proving commercial shale gas could be priced at 50p a share meaning 600m new shares. If we assume that the company is worth at least what is invested then £500m to £600m is a conservative value once wells are largely drilled and operational. But this gets us to £1 per share. Factor in a 50% discount for otc trade to sell and that’s 50p a share. Right now I’d take that and count myself lucky.

Of course there are lots of variables here and these assumptions are not worst case by any means - but they’re on the more conservative side.

Good to remember that this is a voluntary delisting. The company is profitable and its end markets are a structural growth situation. We’ll get diluted and we’ll have little visibility on what’s happening and it’s still going to take years to come through.

Just thoughts from me. Everyone here will have different constraints and requirements but I plan to hang on and see if some better value comes back to shareholders than what you can get in the market at the moment.

Good luck to all. It’s a very disappointing development but some reasons still for a bit of optimism.

Clearly a very unfriendly development for privat e shareholders in geec. I’m personally taking a moment reflect on what’s happening here and what my (very limited) options are.

This was already a very illiquid stock to trade, as highlighted by management, but OTC trading looms and so will be even more liquid.

I think there is a small chance there is a relisting on another exchange. Reason for this is that geec have big investment plans and access to public markets will be an important route to getting finance for their growth.

The delisting here in this instance is not due to company failing! In fact as mentioned in previous posts the company is well positioned in growing gas markets with rising gas prices and demand.

Outlook for company as they deliver on growth plans in the next years should mean that investors can negotiate in OTC markets a higher value than you can get for your shares now.

Worth considering that in time significant dividend could come through for shareholders as free cashflow builds from increasing sales and falling capex. Granted this will be several years away.

Geec may even be bought out in time by Essar or ONGC, which would equate to an industry determined fair market value and result in a potentially good return for investors here. Again though- long term outcome with very little liquidity in the meantime and far from certain that this will happen.

Shareholders will retain the holdings in the company though but will likely see dilution as geec seeks funding for growth. However, again without public market listing they are limited to farm in and debt. Debt alone won’t raise enough and so it’s a farm in or no funding. Remember that the company need $2bn of capex to maximise value of opportunity.

Early conclusion from me is that is a cynical move by management to grab the lions share of remaining shares at ultra knock down prices just ahead of what management can see is a period of significant value creation. For that reason I’m going to hang on with my investment and take my chances in private markets, potential for dividends and take out and a possible relisting in time. I’ve been invested for many years and will now have to stick this out for a good number more years. Believe though that I will get much more back in the long run by holding out rather than selling into this highly distorted market.

Those selling ahead of this rns in size almost certainly knew this was likely coming and so will be bringing to attention of FCA.

Feeling sick though like other investors here and have no remaining respect for management and their greed! Determined to get value from my investment though.

Nice purchase Bismarck! Struggling to find spare cash and have a big position already but I’m keen to get a few more in at these levels.
Hadn’t seen the sells given LSE hadn’t disclosed them and too lazy to check the official stock exchange.
Geec haven’t drilled any more wells for years so the number is still 156 with 144 more to drill in the original 300 drill plan. However , these 144 will incorporate the shale drilling also if proven up as economic to extract.
Company have also now indicated that there are more opportunities to expand the field and drill more wells beyond the original 300.

Also just wondering if it is a coincidence that at around the time we know that the company will be thinking about funding expansion of drilling activities and ramping production, the shares suffer from some persistent selling.

Another large block of stock about to be booked out and reported later today/after close? Could do with an update from the company to confirm no change in outlook but suspect we don’t get anything maybe even until July FY results. Whoever is selling will no doubt keep selling regardless.
Investment thesis still intact in my view so will have to check down the back of the sofa for any spare cash to put to work in geec.