re: Ann: Resignation of Chairman and Non-Exec...
OTTO Buttula, until Wednesday night chairman of listed stockbroker and financial services house Investorfirst, has punctuated his abrupt departure by selling his shareholding - through another broker. Insider hears Macquarie Equities got the business yesterday afternoon when Buttula's non-critical 2.3 per cent holding of 31.9 million shares was offered around. The sale was well after the market closed, at 1.5¢ a share: the same pricing as Investorfirst's $10 million non-renounceable, 1-for-1 rights offering.
Rumours abound of why Buttula went, most centred around suggestions he was unhappy with pressure from fellow directors to spend less time in Queensland and more on the business.
Insider is not sure how that fits with his surrendering his executive role in early June before this week's bombshell, but his going does mean he can spend more time in FNQ now he has left INQ (Investorfirst's ASX code). Expect to see canny investor Alex Waislitz's Thorney group take more of a hold on the Investorfirst register.
