John Bridgeman bids hit stormy watersBEN BUTLERBUSINESS REPORTER12:00AM MARCH 8, 2019Takeover bids mounted by pirate-themed investment management company John Bridgeman against two ASX-listed investment vehicles that also have buccaneering monikers have hit stormy seas, with one sunk and the other foundering.The first investment company, Benjamin Hornigold, yesterday told the exchange that because John Bridgeman intended to allow its takeover option to lapse “there is no longer an offer in place which is capable of acceptance … and all previous acceptances have been cancelled”.The other investment company, Henry Morgan, told shareholders to do nothing to accept John Bridgeman’s offer before it produced a fresh target’s statement and independent expert’s report, both of which it promised to deliver before the end of the month.READ NEXTBoy’s plea over killing rejectedTESSA AKERMANAll three companies are part of a corporate web connected to Queensland fund manager Stuart McAuliffe.Acting on an application from investors in the two investment companies, the Takeovers Panel in January declared the two bids unacceptable, and followed up last month with a set of orders including that John Bridgeman repay $4.5 million it had borrowed from Benjamin Hornigold.Benjamin Hornigold had originally given the money to John Bridgeman as a performance fee for a deal that did not go ahead, but in September it was turned into a loan, due in 18 months.Yesterday, Mr McAuliffe told the market John Bridgeman “has now paid $4.5m” to repay the loan.Over the past few years, the web of privateer-dubbed companies connected to Mr McAuliffe, a former Bond University academic, had reaped more than $100m from investors.BEN BUTLERBUSINESS REPORTER
HML Price at posting:
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