The following has been reported on this blog previously but re-published this week given the revelations of sexual harassment within the legal system.
Sharon Austem Ltd was a dot com era IPO promoted by among others Legal Profession Admission Board member Dr Gordon Elkingtoon.The company collapsed a year or so after its ASX debut in 2000 but information about its IPO is still available in the public domain.The German listed Beate Uhse AG 's 1999 Annual Report (cover above ) is one example.Kate Askew's Dot.bomb is another.
The LPAB and the AG Mark Speakman SC, have also failed to disclose, at all times, Elkington's corporate history.which includes the spectacular failure of Sharon Austen Ltd (ASX:SEX), a company in which he was company secretary,and which failed just two years after its IPO and listing. There is much about Dr Elkington that is in the public domain. A search of the Factiva database shows the following:
a)But minority shareholders, former law lecturer cum erotic company (SharonAusten.com) director Dr Gordon Elkington and Adelaide-based Trevin Love, are sick of waiting.
(CBD,Edited By Kate Askew,10 May 2000,Sydney Morning Herald)
b)The shareholder who opposed Futuris' 4-for-1 scrip offer was Dr Gordon Elkington, whom readers of this column would remember as being part of Rob Catto's happy troupe of small-time greenmailers.
(BOURSE SAUCE,Robert Weatherdon,,30 June 1993,The Australian Financial Review,)
c)Another minority shareholder, Dr Gordon Elkington, who has been involved in a number of "greenmail" plays with Mr Catto, said: "There's a group of people out there - and most of them know each other - and they don't like to be ripped off. However, I get the impression that people interested in these things think it's fair."
One of Mr Catto's companies, Super John, owns 333,000 shares, meaning he will make a profit of about $216,000 if the deal is approved. Dr Elkington said he was only a small shareholder.
Dr Elkington said: "One of the important things to learn from this case is that it isn't hard for majority shareholders to get rid of minorities as long as they are reasonable. People that are tarred with the brush of being trouble-makers are really only just standing up for their rights."
One of the most recent greenmail plays involving Mr Catto and Dr Elkington was Southcorp's 1996 takeover of Coldstream Wines. Their status as minority shareholders has been fought over in the courts with a full bench of the Federal Court last month forcing Southcorp to reinstate them to Coldstream's register.
((BOURSE SAUCE,Robert Weatherdon,,30 June 1993,The Australian Financial Review,))
d) Other recent greenmail situations involving Mr Catto include the Texas Utilities takeover of Allgas and Mayne Nickless's bid to take out minorities in Hospital of Australia Investment Fund in 1993.
During the late '80s and early '90s, he was a fly in the ointment in numerous deals, including Pioneer International's attempt to take Ampol private, Mr Kerry Packer's bid for Muswellbrook Energy, Industrial Equity's bid for Top Australia and Westpac's bid for AGC.
(Win For Small Shareholders,By Morgan Mellish,26 April 1999,Sydney Morning Herald)
The LPAB and its officers seem to have determined that the above would remain hidden from public view.Questions put concerning Dr Elkington to the Chairman of the LPAB, the Chief Justice NSW Thomas Bathurst ,have been met with the customary non-response( the CJ was has had a long and illustrious career as one of this country's leading commercial QCs,and hence the questions).
END
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