Shaking Up Insolvency I was reading with great interest, the article entitled “Investors win in insolvency shake-up” in the AFR on 3 June 2011. The article discusses the Federal Government’s proposals to change the way liquidators, administrators and insolvency firms are appointed, termi...
Readmore »I was interviewed last week regarding the stories of Sri Lankan-born Raj Rajaratnam, head of the Galleon Group in the US or young Sydney equities dealer John Hartman, both found guilty of insider trading. The journalist wanted my opinion on whether I thought these high profile convictions will affec...
Readmore »We have recently been approached to comment on the costs, benefits and risks of taking on additional debt or equity. Before going on to examine the specific questions we were asked, we need to quickly examine the difference between debt and equity....
Readmore »Investors are often infuriated with entrepreneurs that don't understand what they have and where what they have fits in. If you want to attract investment then you'd better know where you fit. Last week I met an entrepreneur who at first told me that he had an original idea for a new business co...
Readmore »I was reading an interesting article entitled “Shell shocks market with Woodside selldown” in the Australian Financial Review on 9 November 2010. This article reminded me of questions I frequently get asked by investors considering investing in small and medium private companies. They want to kn...
Readmore »There was an interesting article in the Australian Financial Review on Friday 29 October 2010 entitled - RHD backs “unfair” PeopleBank bid” (see AFR Article). The article is about the board of a recruitment company backing a takeover offer despite an independent expert finding it is not fair....
Readmore »I was reading an article in the Australian Financial Review on Friday 15 October 2010 entitled “Shareholders can’t run public companies”. It goes on to discuss what shareholders can do to control companies. This article coincided with a conversation I had with a major shareholder in a public c...
Readmore »There is a lot of confusion about Convertible Notes. The listed debt securities market in Australia is very small for a number of reasons but while reading the article and reviewing the tables of debt securities prices, it brought to mind the question of why so few potential investors in small compa...
Readmore »Many business owners are thinking of exiting their businesses in the next few years as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age. They wish to realise the value of the equity in their business. The question many of them ask is "how can I exit at a fair price?". Perhaps backdoor listing is ...
Readmore »Do you have proof of net assets of more than $2.5M? Can you prove income of at least $0.25M in last two years? Are you investing $0.5M? If yes, then you're deemed to be a sophisticated investor and you're on your own....
Readmore »