Talking about Eddie Smith, there's media attention on him: ----------------------------------------------------- Dissident shareholder blast Cooper Energy
PETER KLINGER, The West Australian August 12, 2011, 7:11 am
Eddie Smith, the dissident Cooper Energy shareholder, has lambasted the board of the Perth oil and gas company for losing "its way" and claimed "wholesale change to the board is needed otherwise nothing will change to maximise shareholder wealth".
His attack, a day after Cooper outed Mr Smith and also admitted to a series of takeover and merger approaches, coincided with the company's corporate adviser, Euroz Securities, declaring "a high likelihood exists" that Cooper's future will be decided by a corporate manoeuvre. Euroz values Cooper at 57? a share.
Investors responded by propelling Cooper's under-performing shares up 9.2 per cent to 41.5?, a two-week high. Cooper has struggled for traction with investors because of an unclear strategy and a perceived lack of leadership following a decision two months ago to part company with long-serving managing director Mike Scott.
Mr Smith, who has a history in the oil and gas sector, including selling Impress Energy to Beach Petroleum for $73.1 million late last year, is planning to requisition a meeting of Cooper shareholders at which he wants the board, except chairman Laurie Shervington, sacked and replaced by him and Bernard Crawford.
In an open letter to Cooper shareholders on his website Cooper Energy - Wasted Energy, Mr Smith asks "what's wrong with Cooper and why hasn't it lived up to its promises". "If you look at the Cooper share price record over the last month, six months, year or even longer you must inevitably come to the conclusion that the market believes Cooper has both over-promised and under-delivered," Mr Smith, who has amassed a 4 per cent stake in Cooper, said.
Mr Shervington said he had become aware of Mr Smith's stake building a month ago while the attack had come "out of the blue". He said he had not yet received Mr Smith's requisition notice.
Mr Shervington defended Cooper's disclosure, saying yesterday the company decided to reveal the takeover and merger approaches, which were incomplete, as part of a shareholder update triggered by Mr Smith's action and incorporating the latest on the search for a managing director.
