Forum Archive Index - February 2000

[frank <frank.fernandez@xtra.co.nz>]

Mike,
I enjoyed your irreverent sense of humour and while the AQL shell could
well be a "home" for Eric Watson's financial interests, it is my view
that CommSoft could perhaps be a more logical "future direction" for the
AQL shell.

Here are the reasons why:

· CommSoft, a telephony software company, is considered to have the
potential to be a high-flyer(It has been compared to Australian
Telemedia in the past). CommSoft's revenue and market share has been
growing more rapidly than predicted which has necessitated the need for
urgent additional working capital.

· CommSoft announced a couple of weeks ago that it intends to list on
the ASX within six months and in preparation for listing, it has been
advertising heavily recently for key staff . However, the process of
stock exchange listing, especially on the ASX, would probably require
much more time than six months unless entry was, of course, obtained
through a 'back door'.

· Strathmore currently owns 21.6% of CommSoft but has an option to
increase its stakeholding to 31%. This leaves a possible 69% (or 78.4%
if SMR does not take up its option) for a company such as the AQL shell
to buy over CommSoft.

· CommSoft has been valued at $20 million. Purchase of the remaining
portion (not owned by Strathmore) is well within the AQL shell's budget.

· The principal shareholders in Strathmore are also the principal
shareholders in AQL. 

· The CommSoft acquisition would effectively increase the said
shareholders' equity in CommSoft because of their stakes in SMR and AQL.

Time will reveal all.

Cheers,

Frank Fernandez

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/          New Zealand's home for market investors
To remove yourself from this list, please us the form at
http://www.sharechat.co.nz/forum.html.