Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Aton & Celtic Resources
Foo-ey! Eureka's the sort of problem to tax Archimedes
Here's an unusual tale. Aton, a Russian investor, is very upset with Aim-listed leprechaun, Celtic Resources. The spat has broken out after Celtic, an Irish gold miner with operations in Kazakhstan, announced plans to bid for base metals company Eureka.
Nothing extraordinary in that, you might think, except that it's only three years since Eureka was spun out of Celtic at 120p a share. Now Celtic wants to buy it back at 50p a share. Celtic's managing director is one Kevin Foo, who also happens to be chairman of Eureka. The two companies share office space.
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Aton is worried about the proposed transaction and says it has sent a letter to Celtic's board demanding an egm to vote on the bid. Meanwhile, Aton has its eye on $70m Celtic has in cash, which it wants returned as a dividend.
Celtic says it hasn't received the letter, spends an hour on the phone to Moscow and then comes back saying Aton has dropped its demand for an egm. Aton denies this. It wants all shareholders to hear the business case for rescuing Eureka and reassurance that Foo-ey isn't acting on both sides of the deal. If there is a solution, it'll be awhile before it's found.
Perhaps they should all take a bath… it worked for Archimedes.
Here's an unusual tale. Aton, a Russian investor, is very upset with Aim-listed leprechaun, Celtic Resources. The spat has broken out after Celtic, an Irish gold miner with operations in Kazakhstan, announced plans to bid for base metals company Eureka.
Nothing extraordinary in that, you might think, except that it's only three years since Eureka was spun out of Celtic at 120p a share. Now Celtic wants to buy it back at 50p a share. Celtic's managing director is one Kevin Foo, who also happens to be chairman of Eureka. The two companies share office space.
advertisement
Aton is worried about the proposed transaction and says it has sent a letter to Celtic's board demanding an egm to vote on the bid. Meanwhile, Aton has its eye on $70m Celtic has in cash, which it wants returned as a dividend.
Celtic says it hasn't received the letter, spends an hour on the phone to Moscow and then comes back saying Aton has dropped its demand for an egm. Aton denies this. It wants all shareholders to hear the business case for rescuing Eureka and reassurance that Foo-ey isn't acting on both sides of the deal. If there is a solution, it'll be awhile before it's found.
Perhaps they should all take a bath… it worked for Archimedes.
