Gday Surandy70,Fully agree, IMO they made a bit of a mess with...

Gday Surandy70,

Fully agree, IMO they made a bit of a mess with the rights issue and feel it also lacked the usual polish you would normally expect from KEY. A bit harsh I know but IMO they made a number of strategic blunders which created uncertainty in the minds of shareholders whether to take up their entitlement or not. As you rightly pointed out, why do it now. The reasons stated in the announcement just does not stack up in my opinion. Had they waited another month, shareholders would be in a much better position to make an informed decision. Like you said, the UK acquisition has not even been finalised yet and they are trying to raise capital?. The other trump card they had was the KN # 1 seismic results which is only weeks away and yet they decided not to wait for these results to be announced before doing the raising?.

Most long term holders ( myself included ) I believe bought into the company on the potential of projects in Tanzania and Italy. Yet, very little information was given to shareholders about these projects during the rights issue. I fully understand that the raising was for funds associated with the UK acquisition, however what better opportunity they had, than during a capital raising to provide a complete picture to shareholders on all projects. ...........like I said, IMO this was a strategic mistake by KEY.

I must admit i nearly fell off my chair when I read the statement from Ken saying that he was happy with the 60% uptake. IMO, this was a definite statement by existing shareholders to the KEY management team that the terms of the issue were not in their best interest.

As you know I am a strong supporter of the KEY management team. This has not changed and I still have full confidence in them delivering shareholder wealth in the future, however this rights issue has highlighted to me a lack of consideration to loyal shareholders who have held firm throughout the financial crisis. In saying that, I still expect our faith and loyalty will be eventually repaid down the track.

On a positive note, the UK deal does look very good indeed.

And for the record Surandy70, I did not take up my entitlement.

Cheers
R