Back home now. But, while I was in Sydney I went one better than that (writing to the ASX that is).
Firstly, being a member of the Australian Shareholders Association, I called in at head office in Chatswood. I spoke to someone (high up) there about the AOE saga and I was assured that, as it is a company that they follow/represent, they will look at this situation further and thorougly. They will look also as to why there was no immediate announcement about changing the 1 for 1 (AOE and DART) for the 1 for 2 issue.
I also mentioned to them about the awarding of the options that Management and Directors have allocated to themselves, and that this amount of otpions should have been halved as well, the same as for us in the case of 1 for 2. I was assured that they will look at this and report back to me, and/or even bring/raise that part of the question at the AGM.
They are definitely going to attend the AGM, and IMHO for the shareholders that do not attend that meeting, they should choose the Australian Shareholders Association as their proxy. You can still vote the way you want them to do it,and they will do so. And, by the way, You don't have to be a member to choose them as your proxy. I only become a member about three years ago, but I used them for many years before that as my proxy. At the very least, IMHO they are there to represent the everyday retail Investor, large or big. This is not meant to be a promotions for them, but the way I see things and the way it helped me in the past.
Them I went one step further.I went into the City at the ASX Headquarters. Although I couldn't see a person face to face, I spoke via an internal phone line to a man who was very helpfull. I explained the situation to him and the way AOE went along with this T/O-Scheme of Arrangement-Demerger , which wasn't very clear at all, and it took him quite a while to go through the various AOE Announcements.
He was still insisting and convinced that we were going to receive the 1 for 1 shares, but after I insisted that it wasn't the case he put me on hold again and then he finally admitted of finding it. He then told me that it was all so peculiar and that he had to speack to a senior supervisor. I waited on the line for quite sometime and then he came back telling me that, according to the supervisor, Directors can change these sort of things as long as they can prove that it is in the best interests of all shareholders. He also stressed to me that it still had to go to a vote at the AGM and that we could vote against it, and I then replied that as far as I was concerned, it was already a faith accomply affairs.
I also told him about the shorting of the shares and the way NAB was going about it, and he said that although it all seem to be so very peculiar as to why they would short a stock to a level even below the cash value that was put on the table by Shell/Petrochina, the shorting is allowed in the market and there is nothing that they could do, unless of course, we can prove that it was with the intention to entertain some form of manipulation.
I then stressed the point that if the Directors were going to tell us from the beginning that they were going to reduce the Dart allocation from 1 for 1, to 1 for 2, many of us, would have not entertained the idea of keeping our shares for the long term. In the meantime, we have given the shorters and manipulator all the time they needed to reduce the sp to a level that suits themselves immensely, while we could have sold our holdings after the Announcement, when the sp reach about $5.20 and even more. Again he was very sympathetyc about our cause.
The last thing that I made a mention of, was about the awarding of the options that the Management indeed gave to themselves and as to why these options weren't in fact reduced/halved, as per us normal retail investors. If that was the case I said, they would give themselves a huge advantage over us and they can treat us with contempt. He asked me if we have any proofs that they did this, because if I can point out where to find it that they did this, they will surely write to the Board and ask the question.
He told me that if I can find that part, to ring him back as soon as possible before the end of the week, and better still, in the next few days.
I hope that this will help. If anyone can search that information for me, I will most certainly appreciate it, and will surely pass it on.
Good louck all,
Buddy
AOE Price at posting:
$4.88 Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
