reply from nordnet ( its not good )23 Mar 2015 10:53
'Dear Shaun,
I got your email from my colleague Johanna Snickars. I understand that you lack information on the situation regarding Talvivaara Plc. The short and sour of the matter is the following.
As you know, the trading in the group parent company Talvivaara Plc (that is listed for trading on OMX Nasdaq), has been suspended for months. This was the result of the bankruptcy of its subsidiary, Talvivaara Sotkamo Ltd, that ran the actual mining operations within the Talvivaara Group (i.e. the actual mining operations, including mining and refining). Due to the major environmental considerations, the Estate has been under State management ever since the bankruptcy.
On the 12th of March, the UK based Audley Capital Advisors LLP entered into a conditional asset purchase to acquire the assets of Talvivaara Sotkamo Ltd from its Bankruptcy Estate (you can find the press release from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy in English, here). If this deal goes through, it means that there is no business left for the parent (Talvivaara Plc) to continue.
As a result, the parent company tries now to get in on the deal with Audley, the chances of which are generally considered slim to non-existent. The CEO of the parent, Pekka Perä still claims however, that the parent company owns crucial production equipment for production to continue.
The value of the Audley deal hasn’t been published, but it is generally considered that the Estate of Talvivaara Sotkamo will not be able to honor all its previous commitments and pay its debts. Therefore, the chances that the parent company Talvivaara Plc (as a shareholder in the Talvivaara Sotkamo Estate) will get anything out of the Estate is also considered to be next to non-existent.
In my personal view, the most honorable thing would be to accept fact and declare the parent company officially bankrupt as well, instead of prolonging the inevitable. This way investors could at least utilize the tax effect of this loss in their investment portfolio.
I hope this sheds some light to this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly, should you have further questions.
Best regards,
Martin Paasi
I will be calling him later today.