GTP - Great Southern Plantations

[pist'n broke]

http://www.borderwatch.com.au/archives/tag/great-southern

For a bit more info. Looks like bad news!

Not enough MIS sales = no working capital

 

[SDE]

http://www.borderwatch.com.au/archives/tag/great-southern

For a bit more info. Looks like bad news!

Not enough MIS sales = no working capital

This Ponzi scheme is finally going to bite the dust.

Shareholders, Note holders and MIS investors are going down with it. The banks might even take a bit of a hit.

The winners, GS management and financial advisers, will get to walk away scot free, but only if we let them.


Oh, the assets. They're likely to offloaded in a fire sale. Wouldn't it be galling if MacBank ended up with the lot, with current GS management retained on their lucrative salaries to run the show just to rub the salt in!

 

[Forenth]

If its bad news then that's not surprising. Blind Freddy would know not to invest with a company that just finished seizing the investments it was supposed to be managing, and any financial advisor who is still recommending them to clients as a good investment should be charged with fraud.

My understanding from my 2000 prospectus is that the money required to manage the plantation until harvest was to be put into a fund and held for that purpose. After all investors paid the money for that to happen.

Does anyone know if GTP did that and the funds are still there?

 

[bv2726]

If its bad news then that's not surprising.

I will put my cynical hat on. The trading halt lasts for two days, until "normal trading on Monday".

It is now 2pm on Friday. No news yet. Something tells me that there will be this release later this afternoon - friday afternoon/evening. GTP are hoping that whatever they say will be lost over the weekend.

If it was good news, they would have shouted it from the rooftops.

I dont know, but it just smells worse and worse as the minutes tick away.

 

[Taltan]

It's been a long long time. I'm afraid it does look like someone is waiting for Australia's business news writers to head to the pub.

 

[wooduk]

II dont know, but it just smells worse and worse as the minutes tick away.

Time to serve the injuctions on the company first thing and freeze the asset sales ,plus serve caveats on the directors

 

[dudmis]

Does anybody know if there are moves afoot for class actions for 2004, 2005 & 2006 years?? Apparently the prospectus was still quoting 250 m/ha. in those years too. Can somebody fill in the blanks?

 

[dudmis]

In a few of the previous posts on this crowd a Ponzi scheme is mentioned. I have never invested in one. What is a Ponzi scheme?

 

[Julia]

In a few of the previous posts on this crowd a Ponzi scheme is mentioned. I have never invested in one. What is a Ponzi scheme?

Glad to know you have never invested in one, dudmis. The problem is that they don't actually advertise themselves as such. You will never see an advt suggesting "Come and Invest in this fantastic Ponzi Scheme".

The recent Madoff affair was a good example of a ponzi scheme. Google it if you're not familiar with what happened.

 

[So_Cynical]

In a few of the previous posts on this crowd a Ponzi scheme is mentioned. I have never invested in one. What is a Ponzi scheme?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

quote wiki
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their
own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned.

Its funny cos when u think about it there's a little bit of Ponzi in everything....i was reading
about these schemes (forestry, farming etc) accountants and financial advisers were payed
a 10% commission, so were happy to flog these crap investments to there clients wanting
tax breaks.

 

[wooduk]

Glad to know you have never invested in one, dudmis. The problem is that they don't actually advertise themselves as such. You will never see an advt suggesting "Come and Invest in this fantastic Ponzi Scheme".

The recent Madoff affair was a good example of a ponzi scheme. Google it if you're not familiar with what happened.

Dudmis you can flip back to the previous threads AAALLLLL the way back to a David Mond --google David Mond on Aussie stock forum,if he can get dudded by GTP the rest of us are like sitting ducks on the pond and the last sound you hear is the click on the trigger,LOL

 

[dudmis]

On my 2005 prospectus it clearly states that the yield on the trees will be 250 m/ha, yet I've just found an interesting article http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2007/s1889993.htm
Whereby the CEO of Great Southern stated "I think I’ve seen some statistics that sort of suggest that the industry overall are averaging around 160 to180 cubic metres per hectare over 10 years".
My question is "How could that be correct?" How can statistics sort of suggest?
It seems very clear to me that the industry average IS about 170 cubic metres per hectare. That seems to be the clear concensus of fact and opinion.
If he knows and admits this, howcome a prospectus is still stating 250 Cubic metres/hectare? Is there a Gov't Dept that vets these schemes to protect investors?

 

[So_Cynical]

howcome a prospectus is still stating 250 Cubic metres/hectare? Is there a Gov't Dept that vets these schemes to protect investors?

Read the small print...all numbers, projections, expectations etc are non binding and subject
to all sorts of factors...even the expert opinions are subject to disclaimers.

The people promoting theses type of schemes can pretty much say anything they like...and
there is no dept of any sort to pull them up on any of there claims....when u buy into schemes
like these your on your own...and if u don't have a full understanding of what there doing, then
why are u giving them your money?

A prospectus is a license to print money.

 

[pist'n broke]

Well, they know how to keep up interest!

http://www.asx.com.au/asx/research/companyInfo.do?by=asxCode&allinfo=&asxCode=GTP#price


Suspension from Official Quotation

 

[Taltan]

mmm...bad news but not the end

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/11/2566619.htm?section=business

 

[brty]

This story is pulling no punches....

http://business.theage.com.au/busin...t-scam-comes-crashing-down-20090512-b14t.html

It includes.....

"scam"

it's the biggest single scam in Australian financial history

rip-off commissions and promoters' profits

after overpricing their questionable products and ripping off customers

Great Southern's first rotation infamously proved to be such a poor deal that the company kicked in cash to dress up what the wood was actually worth. Hey, there were other investors out there to be harvested

Corporations with highly questionable business models have this habit of eventually failing. At some point the greed gets to them.

Michael Pascoe and The Age are obviously not worried about being sued by either GTP or TIM, though he was a bit gentler on KPMG, they can still afford lawyers.

brty

 

[basilio]

Isn't it really interesting.....

Michael Pascoe in The Age comes out with all guns blazing on the "scam" that was being run by Great Southern and others. In fact he could go through all the prior prospectuses and point out the huge commissions, BS projections and so on.

So why wasn't this done earlier? Why didn't Michael Pascoe make his blunt assessments when it may have counted for more? Why didn't ASIC have a look at the projects over the years? Why does it take the inevitable crash to allow journalists to state the bleeding obvious?

It is a rhetorical question but perhaps now is a good time to ask what role should the media and regulatory agencies play in jumping on questionable and often totally dishonest businesses. The current theory seems to be that you can throw up practically any money making story and if it is successful in conning enough peope, it's success saves it from robust scrutiny.

In effect the marketplace is rewarding the the best and greediest sociopaths.

The consequence is that many, many of the "investments' the community has sunk its life savings into are now seen as either totally scams or really close to it. Examples ? Obviously Madoff, Storm International, B&B, Alco, practically all the rural investment companies that are dominated by tax breaks. And I have probably missed a few.

Not to mention the daddy of them all. The mad push in real estate to get people to pay more and more for housing as either trophy homes or negatively geared investments. Somewhere along the line we forget that essentially a house is just a place we need to live in.

The final consequence seems to be what we are currently facing - a collapse in our economies as the full extent of this charade becomes apparent.

 

[So_Cynical]

Why didn't ASIC have a look at the projects over the years?

ASIC has nothin to do with it...there a rule enforcement agency, and these rural
schemes, with legal prospectuses that cost millions of dollars to produce are all
quite legal, and a vital part of the Australian financial industry.

A legal entity can claim pretty much anything they like in a prospectus...get a
couple of experts and a pricey accounting firm to sign off on it and away u go.

 

[Johnathon123]

I have just stumbled over this forum - very interesting

It would seem the vultures are circling. I invested in the IMS Scheme really difficult to understand what is going on

It would seem that Great Southern Financial has sold its loan book to Adelaide and Bendigo Bank. They want me to refinance giving me a reduced interest rate - great but - You have to give them your house as security - They are kidding arent they

Anyone else in the same boat.!!!!

 

[dudmis]

Jonathon 123...

It's about time to get a good lawyer on the case! Have a look in the forums and see if there's somebody already acting against GTP... No point re-inventing the wheel.