Forum Archive Index - February 2001

["Ben Dutton" <bendutton@sharechat.co.nz>]

Chris - that was a succinct summary of the situation - well done.

With regards to the other members of the MSP who did not participate in the
decision because of their conflicts of interest, here's what a Herald
article reported:

"Panel chairman Keith Familton said one of the reasons he was not involved
was his conflict of interest as a consultant to law firm Bell Gully, which
acts for Montana.

Another panel member, Bell Gully partner David Flacks, said he had the same
conflict of interest and was not prepared to comment on the decision."

Best Regards

Ben Dutton

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Tse" <christse@internet.co.nz>
To: <sharechat@sharechat.co.nz>
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 12:33 PM
Subject: Re: [sharechat] Montana - the saga continues


> Ben
>
> Fully agree with your comments.
>
> For Mr Bevin to deny conflict of interest "because Montana was not a key
> position in Tower portfolios" is, quite frankly, laughable. Assuming the
> details of the sale are true, the decision to grant a waiver to LNN
allowed
> his company to negotiate a sale of 900,000 MON shares at $4.65, which
based
> on MON's closing price yesterday of $3.62, amounts to a difference of
> $927,000. No conflict of interest? Pull the other one!
>
> I read somewhere that at least two other members of the panel declined to
> participate in the waiver decision due to their having potential conflict
> of interest issues. It would be interesting to know what their "interests"
> were and compare them to those of Mr Bevin.
>
> This fiasco is going from bad to worse. Not only does the market
> surveillance panel have to deal with accusations of naivety and
> incompetence, but Mr Bevin's "supposed non conflict of interest" in
> granting the waiver throws an even more unsavoury element into the pot.
> What price Mr Masfen or Allied Domecq instigating legal action?
>
> In terms of the panel's explanation that they granted the waiver to create
> a level playing field, that is an absolute joke. What MON shareholder
would
> sell their holding into the Allied $4.40 offer when it was conditional
upon
> Allied gaining 50.01% and knowing that LNN had only to acquire just over
> 22% more with their $4.65 offer to reach their 50.1% target?
>
> If the waiver had not been granted we would have had an interesting day's
> trading on Friday with small investors having the opportunity to sell out
> on the market to punters gambling that Allied would come through with a
> counterbid.
>
> The NZSE market surveillance panel put the kaibosh on that, and
> collectively cost Kiwi Mum and Dad shareholders millions of dollars in the
> process.
>
> Chris
>
> At 07:36 13/02/01, you wrote:
> >Numerous stories on the Montana takeover fiasco in this morning's papers.
> >One interesting tidbit of information comes from a Dominion article:
> >
> >"In other developments last night, a member of the surveillance panel,
Tower
> >Asset Management managing director Paul Bevin, said Tower had sold, or
> >undertaken to sell, about 900,000 Montana shares to Lion after the
waiver.
> >
> >Mr Bevin also said he was aware at the time that Tower held Montana
shares.
> >He said he had no influence over Tower's share trading decisions, which
were
> >made by a portfolio manager.
> >
> >He was satisfied he did not have a conflict of interest, because Montana
was
> >not a key position in Tower portfolios."
> >
> >This is a very interesting development.  I do not understand how Mr Bevin
> >could say that he did not have a conflict of interest.  If Tower has
indeed
> >sold its holding to Lion, then Tower will have financially benefited from
> >the transaction.  Mr Bevin is managing director of the group.  How is
this
> >not conflicted?
> >
> >Brian Gaynor sums up the situation perfectly in a Herald article - check
it
> >out here:
> >
>
>http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=172113&thesection=busine
s
> >s&thesubsection=
> >
> >Best Regards
> >
> >Ben Dutton
> >(Disc. do not hold MON)
> >
> >
>
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