by Ganesh Sahathevan
Top Group's IPO was a classic pump and dump
Linton Besser and Echo Hui of ABC Investigation reported this morning:
PricewaterhouseCoopers began work on a top-level consulting contract with the federal government's regulator of tertiary colleges 24 hours before agreeing to acquire a $5.5 million stake in one such college, the controversial Top Education Group.
In addition, eight senior partners of PwC — including two who oversaw the firm while it misused confidential Treasury data, prompting a global crisis — personally invested another $2.5 million in the company a year later.
The investments in 2016 and 2017, totalling $8 million, were made in the run-up to the May 2018 float of the company on the Hong Kong securities exchange. PwC's former chief executive Tom Seymour sat on Top Education Group's board until last year.
Despite this significant shareholding in the college, PwC continued to take on consulting work for the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), even though Top Education Group was directly impacted by TEQSA's regulatory decisions.
The ABC Investigations revelation add to the evidence that the Top Group IPO was a case of license trading that involved a classic pump and dump (see story below), enabled by the NSW LPAB and TEQSA. Top Group's IPO relied on the TEQSA and NSW LPAB approvals, dislcosed prominently in the IPO prospectus.
Top's share price has never recivered, and keeps testing new lows.
To Be Read With
Monday, March 20, 2023
HK listed Top Group's IPO was a classic case of license trading, and questions remain about any contributions to the NSW Liberals political fund - NSW AG Mark Speakman who issued the license remains silent
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Mark Speakman
The Top Group IPO was a classic pump and dump, and it was based on the license to award law degrees granted by NSW Attorney General Meak Speakman and his NSW Legal Profession Admission Board. Much has transpired to complicate matters since the IPO and the collapse in share price and market capitalisation, but the Speakman remains silent.
In Hong Kong and other Asian markets there will be questions raised and an investigation intot he pump and dump and political funding, but in Australia there has been nothing of that sort. Of course, Speakman is also the minister in charge of the state corruption agency, and is part of the panel that determines who heads it.
TO BE READ WITH
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Top Group IPO a classic case of license trading: Post IPO spike & collapse in market cap raises obvious questions about any political party beneficiaries ,but Peter Hall & ICAC not interested
The graph above shows the movements in Zhu Minshen's Top Group's share price since its IPO and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
It is easy to see that there was an initial spike after which share price and market capitalisation collapsed.
Anyone familiar with Asian markets will see that the Top Group listing and movement in share price follows the well trodden path of companies that list as soon as hard to get approvals are obtained and then sold via an IPO. In the case of Top Group the relevant approval was the "first and only" license to grant Australian law degrees granted a private company, granted by the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board,after consultation with the Law Council Australia.
It has already been shown on this blog that the granting of that license coincided with donations from Top and Zhu to the NSW Liberal Party. Consequently a inquiry into who the beneficiaries of the IPO were seems a logical step for an inquiry into political donations in NSW, but not it seems for Peter Hall QC and ICAC.
See
Peter Hall QC and ICAC have been provided information about Top Group by Dr Amen Lee, but ICAC will still not call Zhu Minshen
AND
TOP Education Institute's Bachelor of Laws : Political donations,HK Stock Exchange IPO seem to have left regulators confounded, speechless
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