Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

Opes Prime Bankruptcy

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sails said:
It almost seems that diversification might not only need to be spread across investments, but also brokers, margin lenders, etc.
Click to expand...

I'm currently doing my Dip.FP studies and their take on diversification is much different to what I read on several forums. Most people think of share diversification as picking shares from different industry groups, then maybe spread though companies in industry groups.

Their take (makes sense) is to basically diversify everything. Investment Vehicles (Property, Shares, MF's, Fixed Int, Cash), then diversify within these vehicles, then diversify the brokers/banks used. This is their view on what all FP's and Financial Experts should be advising.

Would have helped some of these people if they employed some Margin Lending provider diversification. :rolleyes:
 
cuttlefish said:
So given that Opes prime is the broker to 'sophisticated' investors and company directors - should we be even more worried if we hold stocks that aren't on that list? ;) Is a stock a dud if not a single opes prime client held any? :confused: :D
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Cuttlefish, do not be thrown by the mistakes of the "sophisticated".

Our regulators have defined what it means.

http://www.treasury.gov.au/documents/403/HTML/docshell.asp?URL=Ch9.asp

From my reading of it a good definition would be someone who is capable of throwing $500,000 away without reading the fine print.

The more the regulation , the more the chance for people to behave greedily in a bull market and to panic in a bear.

gg
 
grace said:
A battle of the legal eagles will be going on for months. Here is some info given in court today by Lincoln Indicators and how both Opes (and ANZ listening) explained what would happen if Opes collapsed - not the same outcome that we have now......

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/ANZ-has-wonfor-now-DCDP8?OpenDocument
Click to expand...

There must also have been more than one client that would have questioned on the phone the risk clause that related to the secured creditor situation in Opes application form/FSG. With brokers keeping phone records of conversations with clients you would think there would be at least one or two conversations about this clause on record. Anecdotally it sounds like the reponse given when this clause was queried was misleading at best.

You have to question a fund making a decision to invest like this without getting some serious legal eagles involved though to ensure they are well protected. To make the decision on the basis of a verbal assurance in a meeting is pretty ridiculous.

I still think both the ASX and ASIC have a lot to answer for allowing practices like this to go on, including allowing the whole stock lending market to continue for so long with so little regulation. Although not affected directly by it the whole situation has clearly resulted in a disorderly market in a lot of stocks lately and also puts the credibility of the ASX as a secure and efficient marketplace for stocks into question.

ANZ also should be made to answer some questions as they were clearly aware of this unfair lending situation existing, and the fact that Emini was a former ANZ exec is even more questionable.

Given the types of people affected by this I can't imagine Emini getting out of this situation too lightly.
 
And the whole sad, sorry, under-regulated mess continues to escalate....

"4/4/2008

Author Matthew Drummond, Ingrid Mansell

Source The Australian Financial Review -- Page: 73

ANZ Banking is still technically in breach of the Corporations Act in Australia, after failing to lodge significant shareholder notices. It is by its own admission the new owner of $A650m worth of scrip that debtor Opes Prime had held as collateral for margin loans to the failed stockbroker's clients. Many of the latter are now also preparing to lodge class action suits against the bank, claiming to have been misled about the ownership of their shares. One of the companies affected, CMG Equities, has been unsuccessful in court in trying to stop ANZ from offloading the shares. Another group, Bioprospect, has involved the Takeovers Panel due to the large stake ANZ suddenly has in it."

Where is Wayne Swannie? Take control man!! Show us yer muscle!!!

Hmmm. He's about as much use as Superman after eating a bucket of green Kryptonite..

*sigh*

AJ
 
Aussiejeff said:
Where is Wayne Swannie? Take control man!! Show us yer muscle!!!

Hmmm. He's about as much use as Superman after eating a bucket of green Kryptonite..

*sigh*

AJ
Click to expand...


Visibility of this to the 'general public' would be pretty minor I would say - it was a boutique brokerage and the impact on blue chips stocks is pretty small. Thus care factor for public and politicians alike = zero. No headlines here except in the business pages for a few days.
 
cuttlefish said:
Visibility of this to the 'general public' would be pretty minor I would say - it was a boutique brokerage and the impact on blue chips stocks is pretty small. Thus care factor for public and politicians alike = zero. No headlines here except in the business pages for a few days.
Click to expand...

Ahhh.. of course. But then I thought the Swannie, the New Boy On The Block - was going to be more in tune with the common man. More pro-active. More touchy-feely. More prone to calm the worrying battler and "sophisticated investor" alike?

We can rest assured he is watching over the shoulder of the schoolyard bullies (banks) as they carve up the weak (us) in the continuing brawl ... and will step in when He thinks the time is right.

Oh well. Back to the dream....

*
 
cuttlefish said:
I still think both the ASX and ASIC have a lot to answer for allowing practices like this to go on, including allowing the whole stock lending market to continue for so long with so little regulation. Although not affected directly by it the whole situation has clearly resulted in a disorderly market in a lot of stocks lately and also puts the credibility of the ASX as a secure and efficient marketplace for stocks into question.
Click to expand...
Completely agree, but don't anticipate anything actually being done.
 
marklar said:
If ever there was an abject lesson about diversification, that surely is it.

I feel sorry for these people that have invested such a significant chunk of their savings into an investment vehicle that they
a) really didn't understand
or
b) got in to based on someone elses' advice

I've probably spent countless hours investigating investments that haven't panned out, but I can't possibly imagine plonking down $400k of my hard earned without understanding all the risks.
Click to expand...

marklar,
you misunderstand what has happened here. this was no "investment vehicle" offering massive returns or such. clients signed with opes to trade "their" shares using margin loans as you would with any other broker like commsec or etrade. the only difference was the fine print which basically gave ANZ "ownership" of the shares. no big deal as when you buy a house, the bank owns the house regardless of what equity you have in it.

what wasn't disclosed to investors (in the fine print) was that the shares would be borrowed against by Opes to themsleves trade with. this is why the house of cards has collapsed with the bear market. the shares were effectively leveraged twice over in some cases.

anz now see fit to sell shares across all accounts even though a majority of these accounts were never in margin calls.

this wasn't a case of people "not reading the fine print" nor going into some dodgy investment vehicle. this was a case of some dodgy directors proping up some big clients accounts using equity associated with other client accounts.

dr
 
Does anyone know if a list of companies affected by this fiasco is available, and the number (or %) of shares impacted, in a simple readable form? This is very important information for the market (those who are not directly part of this mess), so that we can make an assessment of how ANZ's actions might impact the valuation of these companies. After all, isnt the market supposed to be tranparent? It is about time ASX and ASIC got off their fat arses, and released this information to the market. After all, we are all potentially impacted by this, and WE need to know what is going on. In fact WE should be demanding that this information be released by ASX, and ASIC should make sure it happens. PRONTO!

Seems to me that there might be a couple of crooks in Opes who would be well advised to watch their backs. And if they have families, they should be very careful. I suggest there may be some very angry people out there (note, I am not one of their clients...... er suckers) who have been sucked in by the questionable (to say the least) behaviour of Opes.
 
Solagran are caught up :banghead: I mean solamind :banghead: Doh
If we all contribute one stock we could probably make a list quicker than ATSIC
 
Buddy - see earlier post by Grace with link to herald sun article:


http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...19-664,00.html


I don't know the source or accuracy of this list (reproduced below from the article linked above).

The following is a shopping list of almost 700 stocks held by distressed finance house Opes Prime. The ANZ bank has instructed its adviser Goldman Sachs JBWere to sell the stocks. The list includes some of the big names on the ASX such as Toll Holdings and QBE but most of the companies listed inhabit the small end of the market.

AAE, AAH, AAQ, AAR, AAS, AAU, ABJ, ABQ, ABQO, ACB, ACG, ACK, ACR, ADA, ADEO, ADN, ADX, ADY, AEX, AFA, AFGHA, AFT, AGI, AGO, AGX, AGXO, AIE, AIM, AJL, ALB, ALE, ALK, ALL, ALT, ALU, ALY, AMA, AMB, AMM, AMMO, AMU, AND, ANH, ANQ, ANZIMJ, AOEGA, AOK, AOS, AOSOA, API, APM, APP, AQD, AQDOA, AQE, AQR, ARH, ARM, ARO, AROOB, ARR, ARV, ARXO, ASB, ASC, ASX, ATG, ATP, AUJ, AUN, AUT, AVA, AVB, AVX, AWG, AXA, AXC, AXCO, AXM, AXT, AZA, AZM,

BAR, BBP, BBW, BCF, BCI, BCL, BDG, BDL, BDR, BEC, BEI, BFG, BIT, BKG, BKGO, BKM, BKY, BLG, BLK, BLKO, BLP, BLU, BML, BMM, BMU, BNBIME, BNL, BNO, BOE, BOEO, BOW, BOWD, BPG, BPO, BPOOB, BRM, BRO, BRT, BSN, BSR, BTA, BTV, BUG, BUR, BXP, BYI, BYL, BYR, BYRO, BZI, CAP, CAV, CAVO, CAZ, CBAPB, CCI, CCO, CCP, CCU, CDR, CDT, CDU, CDUO, CEO, CGF, CGG, CGGCA, CGT, CHM, CHN, CII, CIN, CIX, CLD, CMO, CMOOA, CNB, CNBR, CNF, CNN, CQE, COI, COS, COY, COZO, CPK, CPR, CQT, CQU, CRC, CSE, CSV, CTI, CTO, CTPOA, CTS, CTSO, CUL, CUR, CUS, CUV, CUX, CUY, CVGO, CVR, CWT, CXC, CXD, CXG, CXY, CXYO, CYL, CYT, CZA, DES, DGR, DIA, DIAO, DID, DLS, DMA, DMX, DRA, DRK, DSN, DVM, DVN, DXL, DYE, DYEO.

EBB, EBI, EBR, EBT, ECM, ECMCA, ECU, EDE, EDM, EDS, EKA, EKM, ELK, ELL, ELLO, ELY, EME, EMS, EMU, EOS, EPD, EQI, EQX, EQXO, ERG, ERH, ERHO, ERJ, ERN, ERNO, ESG, ESI, ESMCA, ESS, ETC, EUG, EWC, EXM, EXMOA, EZL.

FAS, FASO, FCN, FEA, FGE, FML, FND, FRE, FRI, FRS, FSA, FTD, FUL, FUN, FUT.

GBE, GBG, GCN, GDAOB, GDAOC, GDN, GDR, GFE, GGG, GGGO, GGY, GIR, GFL, GME, GMR, GMX, GNI, GNIO, GNL, GNLOB, GOP, GPNOA, GPR, GRKOA, GRP, GRY, GSF, GUN, GWR, GYN, HAO, HDG, HFC, HGO, HIG, HII, HLG, HSK, HTA, HTW, HTX, HXL, HYO.

IAGPA, IAU, IAW, IBG, ICV, IFE, IGC, IGG, IGR, III, IIN, IMA, IMD, IMI, IMU, INES, INL, INT, IPA, IPN, IPX, IRL, IRLO, IRN, ISS, ITC, ITS, IVK.

JAK, JAL, JAT, JET, JMB, JVG, JVGO.

KAL, KAM, KAR, KGL, KIK, KIKO, KMN, KOV, KSXOA, KTE, KTL.

LAT, LEF, LEFO, LEG, LEGO, LFE, LMG, LOM, LRL, LVL.

MAB, MAE, MAKO, MAL, MAR, MAU, MBI, MBP, MDG, MDL, MEE, MEI, MEO, MEP, MES, MFC, MFI, MFS, MFSG, MFT, MGU, MHL, MIN, MKY, MLI, MLM, MLS, MLSOA, MLX, MMB, MMN, MMNO, MMS, MMX, MMZ, MNC, MNCO, MNM, MNMO, MNY, MOL, MPD, MPJ, MPJO, MPY, MRB, MRBO, MRO, MRYO, MSAS, MSB, MSTG, MSTO, MTB, MTY, MUE, MUR, MVP, MVU, MWE, MWN, MXL, MXX.

NAL, NBL, NDO, NEC, NEO, NPL, NGE, NGM, NIP, NKP, NLG, NMS, NOD, NQM, NRT, NRU, NRUO, NSP, NST, NSX, NVT, NWK, NWS, NWSLV, NXS.

ODN, ODNO, ODY, OEC, OEL, OGC, OGCO, OMH, OMI, ONC, ONQ, ORD, ORE, ORI, OZG.

PAB, PBP, PCL, PDR, PDZ, PEA, PEN, PES, PESO, PFG, PGL, PGM, PGS, PHL, PIE, PIO, PLV, PMH, PNN, PNW, POS, PPP, PPS, PRE, PRO, PRR, PRU, PRW, PRWO, PSD, PST, PTN, PTO, PVE, PWR, PXL, PXS, PXUPA, PYC, PYM, PYMO.

QBE, QBEIMC, QMG, QOL, QOLOA, QSS, QSSO, QTK, QKQ.

RAUO, RBM, RBX, RBY, RBYO, RCO, RDR, RED, REO, REOOA, REX, REY, REYOA, RFE, RFEO, RFG, RFL, RMA, RMLOA, RNG, RNGO, ROY, ROYOA, RRL, RRS, RRSDA, RRTO, RSN, RSNCH, RSNGB, RUM, RVM, RWD.

SAE, SAR, SBL, SBR, SBS, SBSO, SDM, SEA, SEN, SEY, SFR, SGBPC, SGH, SHE, SHEO, SHX, SLA, SLACF, SML, SMLOC, SMZ, SNV, SPH, SPI, SPL, SRAO, SRK, SRKO, SRR, SRV, SRZ, SSI, STX, SWG, SWK, SXE, SYB, SYN, SYP, SYPO, SYR.

TAN, TAS, TAW, TAWO, TAWR, TBR, TDO, TEY, TEYO, TGS, TGX, THS, THRO, THX, TLM, TMX, TMXO, TNC, TNCOA, TNG, TOL, TOX, TRF, TRH, TRHO, TSH, TTR, TZL.

UBI, UEQ, UKL, ULT, UMC, UMS, UNI, UNIO, UNX, UOS.

VCN, VHL, VIL, VILO, VIP, VLA, VML, VMLO, VMS, VMT, VRE.

WBA, WCN, WCP, WCU, WDC, WDR, WEB, WEC, WEZ, WEZO, WHC, WIG, WLF, WME, WMT, WPG, WRK, WRR, WVL, WWH, WWI, WWM, WWW.

XCD, XRF, XST, XTE.

YRR, YRRO, YTC.

ZAUWBA, ZGL, ZMG, ZNC.
 
cuttlefish said:
Buddy - see earlier post by Grace with link to herald sun article:


http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...19-664,00.html


I don't know the source or accuracy of this list (reproduced below from the article linked above).

The following is a shopping list of almost 700 stocks held by distressed finance house Opes Prime. The ANZ bank has instructed its adviser Goldman Sachs JBWere to sell the stocks. The list includes some of the big names on the ASX such as Toll Holdings and QBE but most of the companies listed inhabit the small end of the market.

AAE, AAH, AAQ, AAR, AAS, AAU, ABJ, ABQ, ABQO, ACB, ACG, ACK, ACR, ADA, ADEO, ADN, ADX, ADY, AEX, AFA, AFGHA, AFT, AGI, AGO, AGX, AGXO, AIE, AIM, AJL, ALB, ALE, ALK, ALL, ALT, ALU, ALY, AMA, AMB, AMM, AMMO, AMU, AND, ANH, ANQ, ANZIMJ, AOEGA, AOK, AOS, AOSOA, API, APM, APP, AQD, AQDOA, AQE, AQR, ARH, ARM, ARO, AROOB, ARR, ARV, ARXO, ASB, ASC, ASX, ATG, ATP, AUJ, AUN, AUT, AVA, AVB, AVX, AWG, AXA, AXC, AXCO, AXM, AXT, AZA, AZM,

BAR, BBP, BBW, BCF, BCI, BCL, BDG, BDL, BDR, BEC, BEI, BFG, BIT, BKG, BKGO, BKM, BKY, BLG, BLK, BLKO, BLP, BLU, BML, BMM, BMU, BNBIME, BNL, BNO, BOE, BOEO, BOW, BOWD, BPG, BPO, BPOOB, BRM, BRO, BRT, BSN, BSR, BTA, BTV, BUG, BUR, BXP, BYI, BYL, BYR, BYRO, BZI, CAP, CAV, CAVO, CAZ, CBAPB, CCI, CCO, CCP, CCU, CDR, CDT, CDU, CDUO, CEO, CGF, CGG, CGGCA, CGT, CHM, CHN, CII, CIN, CIX, CLD, CMO, CMOOA, CNB, CNBR, CNF, CNN, CQE, COI, COS, COY, COZO, CPK, CPR, CQT, CQU, CRC, CSE, CSV, CTI, CTO, CTPOA, CTS, CTSO, CUL, CUR, CUS, CUV, CUX, CUY, CVGO, CVR, CWT, CXC, CXD, CXG, CXY, CXYO, CYL, CYT, CZA, DES, DGR, DIA, DIAO, DID, DLS, DMA, DMX, DRA, DRK, DSN, DVM, DVN, DXL, DYE, DYEO.

EBB, EBI, EBR, EBT, ECM, ECMCA, ECU, EDE, EDM, EDS, EKA, EKM, ELK, ELL, ELLO, ELY, EME, EMS, EMU, EOS, EPD, EQI, EQX, EQXO, ERG, ERH, ERHO, ERJ, ERN, ERNO, ESG, ESI, ESMCA, ESS, ETC, EUG, EWC, EXM, EXMOA, EZL.

FAS, FASO, FCN, FEA, FGE, FML, FND, FRE, FRI, FRS, FSA, FTD, FUL, FUN, FUT.

GBE, GBG, GCN, GDAOB, GDAOC, GDN, GDR, GFE, GGG, GGGO, GGY, GIR, GFL, GME, GMR, GMX, GNI, GNIO, GNL, GNLOB, GOP, GPNOA, GPR, GRKOA, GRP, GRY, GSF, GUN, GWR, GYN, HAO, HDG, HFC, HGO, HIG, HII, HLG, HSK, HTA, HTW, HTX, HXL, HYO.

IAGPA, IAU, IAW, IBG, ICV, IFE, IGC, IGG, IGR, III, IIN, IMA, IMD, IMI, IMU, INES, INL, INT, IPA, IPN, IPX, IRL, IRLO, IRN, ISS, ITC, ITS, IVK.

JAK, JAL, JAT, JET, JMB, JVG, JVGO.

KAL, KAM, KAR, KGL, KIK, KIKO, KMN, KOV, KSXOA, KTE, KTL.

LAT, LEF, LEFO, LEG, LEGO, LFE, LMG, LOM, LRL, LVL.

MAB, MAE, MAKO, MAL, MAR, MAU, MBI, MBP, MDG, MDL, MEE, MEI, MEO, MEP, MES, MFC, MFI, MFS, MFSG, MFT, MGU, MHL, MIN, MKY, MLI, MLM, MLS, MLSOA, MLX, MMB, MMN, MMNO, MMS, MMX, MMZ, MNC, MNCO, MNM, MNMO, MNY, MOL, MPD, MPJ, MPJO, MPY, MRB, MRBO, MRO, MRYO, MSAS, MSB, MSTG, MSTO, MTB, MTY, MUE, MUR, MVP, MVU, MWE, MWN, MXL, MXX.

NAL, NBL, NDO, NEC, NEO, NPL, NGE, NGM, NIP, NKP, NLG, NMS, NOD, NQM, NRT, NRU, NRUO, NSP, NST, NSX, NVT, NWK, NWS, NWSLV, NXS.

ODN, ODNO, ODY, OEC, OEL, OGC, OGCO, OMH, OMI, ONC, ONQ, ORD, ORE, ORI, OZG.

PAB, PBP, PCL, PDR, PDZ, PEA, PEN, PES, PESO, PFG, PGL, PGM, PGS, PHL, PIE, PIO, PLV, PMH, PNN, PNW, POS, PPP, PPS, PRE, PRO, PRR, PRU, PRW, PRWO, PSD, PST, PTN, PTO, PVE, PWR, PXL, PXS, PXUPA, PYC, PYM, PYMO.

QBE, QBEIMC, QMG, QOL, QOLOA, QSS, QSSO, QTK, QKQ.

RAUO, RBM, RBX, RBY, RBYO, RCO, RDR, RED, REO, REOOA, REX, REY, REYOA, RFE, RFEO, RFG, RFL, RMA, RMLOA, RNG, RNGO, ROY, ROYOA, RRL, RRS, RRSDA, RRTO, RSN, RSNCH, RSNGB, RUM, RVM, RWD.

SAE, SAR, SBL, SBR, SBS, SBSO, SDM, SEA, SEN, SEY, SFR, SGBPC, SGH, SHE, SHEO, SHX, SLA, SLACF, SML, SMLOC, SMZ, SNV, SPH, SPI, SPL, SRAO, SRK, SRKO, SRR, SRV, SRZ, SSI, STX, SWG, SWK, SXE, SYB, SYN, SYP, SYPO, SYR.

TAN, TAS, TAW, TAWO, TAWR, TBR, TDO, TEY, TEYO, TGS, TGX, THS, THRO, THX, TLM, TMX, TMXO, TNC, TNCOA, TNG, TOL, TOX, TRF, TRH, TRHO, TSH, TTR, TZL.

UBI, UEQ, UKL, ULT, UMC, UMS, UNI, UNIO, UNX, UOS.

VCN, VHL, VIL, VILO, VIP, VLA, VML, VMLO, VMS, VMT, VRE.

WBA, WCN, WCP, WCU, WDC, WDR, WEB, WEC, WEZ, WEZO, WHC, WIG, WLF, WME, WMT, WPG, WRK, WRR, WVL, WWH, WWI, WWM, WWW.

XCD, XRF, XST, XTE.

YRR, YRRO, YTC.

ZAUWBA, ZGL, ZMG, ZNC.
Click to expand...

I don't think this is the full list as TTY have an announcement out today that they are not one of the 980 companies affected by Opes Prime, and they refer to a list....
 

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