BCS - BrisConnections Unit Trusts

[freddy2]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

Standard operating procedure for big companies, bankrupt the small guy with court/lawyer fees even if the lawsuits have zero chance of succeeding.

Mr Bolton could arguably ask the courts to wind up Brisconnections under the same act, in particular Sect461(1e,1f).

CORPORATIONS ACT 2001 - SECT 461

(1) The Court may order the winding up of a company if:

(e) directors have acted in affairs of the company in their own interests rather than in the interests of the members as a whole, or in any other manner whatsoever that appears to be unfair or unjust to other members; or

(f) affairs of the company are being conducted in a manner that is oppressive or unfairly prejudicial to, or unfairly discriminatory against, a member or members or in a manner that is contrary to the interests of the members as a whole; or

 

[banco]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

Hi Thermal, it is good to hear from you again. I think like most people here I am cheering for you and the other unitholders and hope it all works out for the best.

Sadly, I do now believe BCS can undo the transfers. It has taken a lot to convince me, but I have been pointed to a section of the Corporate Law Act (2001). this link happens to be from the legal database on the Australian Taxation Office site, but googling for "1072F(3)" in Australia shows many other sources of the same information:



I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I also searched the PDS and couldn't see any reference to off-market transfer of shares. I know their website says you can, but I don't think it is in the PDS.

:-(

"fully paid" sounds like it's referring to circumstances where you agree to buy 500 shares of X and you'll pay half now and half in 3 months and the buyer is either tardy with second payment or doesn't pay at all. I'm not sure it's applicable to the off market transfer of the brisconnections units. Unless you are suggesting that none of the brisconnections units are "fully paid" as there are still the two installments due?

 

[thermalmonster]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

There was a consideration of0.001 paid for shares.
That bit of corpperate law enzyme applies to Bolton.
That he can reject them if they are not full paid. nothing to do with BCSCA

 

[Julia]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

Further article from SMH today:

http://business.smh.com.au/business...d-rebel-20090303-8nhs.html?sssdmh=dm16.364155

 

[Judd]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

There was a consideration of0.001 paid for shares.
That bit of corpperate law enzyme applies to Bolton.
That he can reject them if they are not full paid. nothing to do with BCSCA

Incorrect thermalmonster. The directors under this piece legislation refers to BCSCA not Mr Bolton.

 

[Prospector]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

There was a consideration of0.001 paid for shares.
That bit of corpperate law enzyme applies to Bolton.
That he can reject them if they are not full paid. nothing to do with BCSCA

Incorrect thermalmonster. The directors under this piece legislation refers to BCSCA not Mr Bolton.

No wonder the lawyers will be licking their lips over this!

 

[thermalmonster]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

Yep the only real winners will be the lawyers

 

[Enzyme]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

I hope you're right re the transfer Thermal. I'm a bit out of my depth here trying to debate corporate law.

Mr Bolton could arguably ask the courts to wind up Brisconnections under the same act, in particular Sect461(1e,1f).

CORPORATIONS ACT 2001 - SECT 461

(1) The Court may order the winding up of a company if:

(e) directors have acted in affairs of the company in their own interests rather than in the interests of the members as a whole, or in any other manner whatsoever that appears to be unfair or unjust to other members; or

(f) affairs of the company are being conducted in a manner that is oppressive or unfairly prejudicial to, or unfairly discriminatory against, a member or members or in a manner that is contrary to the interests of the members as a whole; or

It looks hard to argue with that: "The Court may order the winding up of a company if...affairs of the company are being conducted in a manner that is...contrary to the interests of the members as a whole;"

Bankrupting at least 70% of unitholders (using the figure given in the article Julia quoted) has got to be contrary to the interests of the members as a whole. The other 30% might not be bankrupted but are virtually guaranteed to lose all or most of the money they have to contribute.

On the face of it this would appear to be a viable plan B for unitholders if Bolton fails at the EGM. It would still need one or more holders to cough up the cash to fund the court case, and there isn't much time.

 

[Rastan]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

I'm cheering for Mr Bolton and hope the retail investors dont have to put up squat and MQG have to underwrite the lot... They dumped all the stock in Oct/Nov knowing full well it was going to tank... They are a slick organisation however and I imagine their legal budget is quite a lot bigger than Mr Bolton's...

 

[Enzyme]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

Somebody just brought $10 worth of shares on market!!??

Invest ten dollars. Owe twenty thousand.

 

[Prospector]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

I thought there was a $500 parcel minimum? Well, maybe that's only for NAB. Someone must be fooling around, surely!

 

[Enzyme]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

I thought there was a $500 parcel minimum? Well, maybe that's only for NAB. Someone must be fooling around, surely!

In November UBS brought a single share at $0.001. From this link in early December:

AMID all the confusion over BrisConnections shares, trading on Wednesday baffled even the most astute market watchers. Just one BrisCons share, at 0.1 ¢, changed hands the entire day. Given that the market rounds all transactions to the closest cent, it means the day ended with zero value of shares changing hands.

So who bought the lone share? It was UBS, which bought it on market from an E*Trade account. At least the BrisConnections board can pencil in that $2 in payments as relatively safe. But just what does UBS want with one BrisCons share?

We like one idea floated ”” to use as an invite to a pre-Christmas bash this month.

BrisCons was underwritten by UBS' arch-rival Macquarie, after all. And more than the odd Macquarie staffer poked fun at UBS' float of Rams last year, which was the biggest single wealth-destroyer on the local market in 2007. Karma?

 

[Prospector]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

In November UBS brought a single share at $0.001. From this link in early December:

Maybe they plan to raise mayhem at the Special meeting. Might be worth a $2 outlay myself to be a fly on the wall, except I can only do a minimum trade of $500 which gives me a $2million liability!

 

[drsmith]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

In November UBS brought a single share at $0.001. From this link in early December:

Looking at the last 10 trades there's been a number of trades over the past few days including another for one share.

Could the underwriters be purchasing a few to try and slow Bolton's aquisition by off market transfer ?

Some person or persons at the top of the sellers heap may at least be resting a little easier.

 

[Enzyme]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

How can you see the last 10 trades? As far as I can tell E*Trade only shows the last 10 trades for the day, so I can't see previous days trade. Is there some other way to see that info?

 

[drsmith]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

Westpac online broking displays the last 10 trades irrispective of the time they were made.

Brisconnections Unit Trusts (BCSCA)
Date Time Price ($) Quantity Value ($) Conditions
04-03-2009 10:05 AM $0.001 10000 $10.000 Crossed
03-03-2009 03:58 PM $0.001 1 $0.001
02-02-2009 12:39 PM $0.001 81334 $81.334
02-02-2009 12:39 PM $0.001 10000 $10.000
02-02-2009 12:39 PM $0.001 100000 $100.000
02-02-2009 12:39 PM $0.001 6666 $6.666
02-02-2009 12:39 PM $0.001 50000 $50.000
02-02-2009 12:39 PM $0.001 500000 $500.000 Crossed
02-02-2009 12:39 PM $0.001 252000 $252.000
22-12-2008 02:43 PM $0.001 348000 $348.000

What I would really like to see is the pecking order for the sellers at $0.001 from the top down. If it's smaller holders (say, $500 worth holders) then the underwriters would could at minimal cost partially limit Bolton's aquisitions and in particular reduce the overall amount he gets from his transaction fee in association with his off-market transfers.

 

[mikeyfinn111]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

Maybe they plan to raise mayhem at the Special meeting. Might be worth a $2 outlay myself to be a fly on the wall, except I can only do a minimum trade of $500 which gives me a $2million liability!

There is a way to get around it . Just put in 1 share and purchase price as $500.00. The system automatically purchases the share at market value (.001) and will still let you purchase that 1 share. Commsec does it anyway. Came across it by putting in the wrong purchase price for FMG, went way over and only brought like $200.00 worth.

 

[Prospector]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

There is a way to get around it . Just put in 1 share and purchase price as $500.00. The system automatically purchases the share at market value (.001) and will still let you purchase that 1 share.

Cant risk I would get my zero's mixed up!

This is what I get on NAB: 10,000 sold/bought today:

BRISCONNCT CTG
Code Last +/- % Bid Ask Open High Trades Volume
BCSCA 0.1 0.0 0.0% 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 1 10,000 Normal


Trades of BCSCA occurring on Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Time SSN Price Quantity
10:05 9,831 0.1 10,000 XT XT

And the depth - boy, some are optimistic:
Price Quantity Number
0.1 74,691,066 192
0.2 124,934 2
0.3 545,413 2
0.4 1,742,126 2
0.6 720,000 1
1 132,500 3
5 121,000 2

No buyers.

 

[Big_Daz]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

Cant risk I would get my zero's mixed up!

This is what I get on NAB: 10,000 sold/bought today:

BRISCONNCT CTG
Code Last +/- % Bid Ask Open High Trades Volume
BCSCA 0.1 0.0 0.0% 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 1 10,000 Normal


Trades of BCSCA occurring on Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Time SSN Price Quantity
10:05 9,831 0.1 10,000 XT XT

And the depth - boy, some are optimistic:
Price Quantity Number
0.1 74,691,066 192
0.2 124,934 2
0.3 545,413 2
0.4 1,742,126 2
0.6 720,000 1
1 132,500 3
5 121,000 2

No buyers.

So that would make it a $10 trade (plus brokerage)...interesting

 

[Macquack]

Re: Brisconnections shareholders - financial ruin

From the " Explanatory Memorandum and Notice of Meeting" in relation to a members resolution to be considered at a meeting of members of Brisconnections Investment Trust and bisconnections Holding Trust on 9 April, 2009.

"Who pays for this meeting?
The cost of calling and convening this Meeting as requested by Australia Style Investments is to be met by the "Responsible Entity" and ultimately unitholders as, in accordance with the Corporations Act, the "Responsible Entity" will recover these costs from the assets of BCS.

The cost of calling and convening this Meeting, taking into consideration all imposts (including but not limited to fees for professional advice, printing, mailing, security registy and venue hire) are expected to be approximately $400,000."

Another four hundred grand down the drain.
That would have paid for at least half a metre of the Brisconnections Golden Carriageway.