Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

Opes Prime Bankruptcy

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Spaghetti, you clearly dont understand what went on here.

Having responded to your question I noticed the moneymajix post, suggest a good read of it.
 
Hi all,

Does anyone have the link to a list of all shares that are affected by Opes? I saw one a few days ago, but can't find it any more.

Many thanks.
 
chimp said:
Hi all,

Does anyone have the link to a list of all shares that are affected by Opes? I saw one a few days ago, but can't find it any more.

Many thanks.
Click to expand...

Isn't it at post # 36 on this thread?
 
TheAbyss said:
How do you work that out? I must have misunderstood. I thought that due to Opes lending against such a mediocre lot that when the market correction eventuated and caused the small caps end of the market deteriorate to an extent that Opes realised they couldnt regain their value and that they would have to pay for the money borrowed which they could not do.

They decided to prop up their larger clients within their base by inventing trades and reassigning share ownership within their client base (without consent) to protect their top clients against margin calls which subsequently enacted an enquiry by ASIC and exacerbated the Opes losses.

Thus admninistration here we come. The issue for the margin loan customers is documented elsewhere.
Click to expand...


Chris Murphy owned Challenger Shares that dropped signficantly in value. He had a very high margin loan (higher than their advertised lvr) but when the s/p dropped they did not give him a margin call. To make it look like he was in the blue they transferred money from another a/c that was well over. Apparently this went on over 6 of their major clients accounts. One though wanted to close his account. The money was not there because it was transferred to cover an account that had not been margin called....assume Chris Murphy. This had nothing to do with the type of shares purchased but due to Opes not wanting to lose their largest client they covered for him rather than sell down his shares. But when it all came undone the people who probably owned the spec stocks, and that were not down in any way, had to finance the loss on the challenger shares as in ANZ eyes it was one margin loan to cover all Opes clients.

I imagine many spec stock holders had very low lvr's and opes probably averages lvr's across accounts to keep under ANZ terms. So because so many were well under they could afford to give their favourite client too high a loan. I believe at one stage 95% lvr.

But at the end of the day this mess has nothing to do with the type of stock purchased unless you ask why ANZ backed this venture...then a valid question. ANZ shareholders should be asking that one.

The problem is due to fraudulent accounting activities plus the fact that many opes clients did not understand their assets were security against all loans by all Opes clients, not just themselves. So ownership questions.

So Opes clients are footing the bill for the loss on Challenger shares and perhaps other big clients who never had margin calls. For all we know they had blue chips, no idea.

However NOWHERE in any statement has it been declared that it was simply to spec stocks losing value, especially given blue chips have triggered plenty of margin calls lately. The only stock published to have caused a loss is Challenger and those who pretend to know better are simply doing that, pretending. No such information has been made public.
 
Aussie2Aussie said:
Spaghetti, you clearly dont understand what went on here.

Having responded to your question I noticed the moneymajix post, suggest a good read of it.
Click to expand...


Well I can read. Some company directors took advantage as I am sure many big name clients did for game playing with stocks. But was legal apparently and did not cause the collapse.

But seeing you are self pronounced expert please provide a link to prove their action caused the downfall?

The directors may have found a way around the rules but ANZ maintains it is a good business model (I do not agree). One for the experts to sort out in the coming months.

The saga has raised a lot of questions and undermined the integrity of the credit risk management in Australia. However valid the questions are and they should be raised but they should not be confused with what actually happened.

So perhaps re-read yourself before you claim to have superior understanding.
 
Here is some speculation that many knew Murphy was close to margin call on his $200mil worth of Challenger so maybe shorted knowing it would trigger the call.

Perhaps by borrowing his shares which adds to the irony.

partial paste only, but free to sign in and view without delay

Alan Kohler described last week (Opes: the full story, April 4) that Murphy had bought in the vicinity of $250 million worth of Challenger Financial shares, at much higher prices, with $190 million of borrowed money – a loan to value ratio of 76 per cent.

After the bear raid Murphy's holding was worth just $80 million, but he still owed $190 million. Kohler says: "He was in the hole for $110 million but not had a single margin call from Opes."

The regulator's investigation will uncover exactly why the Opes CEO did not margin call Murphy – the decision that brought down the company. They may also uncover that the hedge funds knew about the Murphy loan and believed they could force the stock onto the market.
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http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Sending-the-bears-packing-DFRLU?OpenDocument
 
Bear raid? Sounds like it happened over night. Challenger has been in a downtrend since Dec. 250 million is a big egg to put in one basket, surely he wouldn't be that stupid. :eek:
 
Re: Mick Gatto

ABC Online

Former Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto is flying to Singapore today to try to recover millions of dollars for investors of the failed Melbourne stock broker Opes Prime.

Mr Gatto says his industrial mediation business Arbitrations and Mediations is working with Statewide Securities to recoup losses for a group of anonymous clients.

Administrators will brief hundreds of Opes Prime investors, who are collectively owed more than $500 million, today.

Mr Gatto says he will be visiting many offices but Opes Prime will not be one of them because they are looking for the money, "not the company".


:rippergun



Mr Gatto, who escaped jail after pleading self-defence in the killing of an underworld hitman in 2004, says he will not be using violence in his negotiations.

"We never use violence. It's always done amicably and there's no evidence that I've ever used violence ever. I would've been charged in a heartbeat," he said.

He says he just wants to recover as much as possible for investors because history shows that the only winners in these cases are lawyers and the receivers.

"So we're trying to short circuit all that and hopefully get back for the investors as much as we can," he said.

"Obviously we're doing it for a fee for ourselves too. It's what I do for a living. and we're just trying to do the best we can for everyone."


.
 
Slater and Gordon on 7.30 report tonight stated that on behalf of their clients offered to pay ANZ outstanding margins loans and requested shares back in return. ANZ rejected. Poor effort.........glad I don't bank with them.
 
Funny seeing investors complaining about a listed company looking after their share holders. Bloody ANZ don't they know this is a socialist system.:rolleyes:
 
good to see the ATM hasn't shut down... I think I'll ask them for some equity to margin loan with..

maybe they should call them foreclosure loans.. ;)

Cheers
..........Kauri
 

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Markets reflect the behaviour of parties, which in turn impacts negatively on their shareholders in the long run. Good ethical practices make good sense for business bottom lines - spend a dollar to make a dollar.
 
skyliner said:
I think you may be right captain,

i could think of nothing better than for anz to have to buy up all the stock that they sold and give it back to the people they took it off!!
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Poor ANZ Skyliner, they might find it hard to scrape the money together in our system of capital redistribution and leaving share holders poorer! LOL.
 
I wonder if any of Opes customers closed their account just before their demise,
after fattening them up with profits from shorting?

I read a book not so long ago called the "wolf of wall street"

cant remember the authors name, but was a supposedly auto-bio
of a high profile trading firm principle.

from my recollection he mainly got rubbed out by the US regulators for shorting clients stock improperly.

I believe Rene Rivkin also had similar issues at one point

regards tony
 
Anyone know much about the luxury cars they were importing from Singapore? Something about shipping a ferrari or maserati that's nearly 5 years old and only having to pay 20-30% of the depreciation value. Apparently there's a maserati sitting in a warehouse in Singapore about to be destroyed 'cause it's approaching 4 or 5 years without being registered!

ps - Chris Murphy was given a $250K maserati as a gift from Opes. Rumour from an AFR article is he posts on HC using the nick syringe....bit of goss there for ya :)
 

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