ASIC gives Jack a whack over licence CITY BEAT: Andrew Main...

ASIC gives Jack a whack over licence CITY BEAT: Andrew Main From: The Australian December 09, 2009 12:00AM

WE warned you some people were going to get whacked in the stoush surrounding who's to take over management of the Great Southern group's managed investment schemes, and that was before ASIC ticked off one of the protagonists.
Tony Jack, the founder of Integrated Tree Cropping (ITC) and who runs an outfit called Blacktree, got the yellow card from the regulator and has asked growers to destroy a letter he wrote.

The caution was not for having a spray at receiver McGrath Nicol, as you might have thought from all the stuff he has said in alleging the insolvency group had been spreading porkies. McGrath Nicol denies that allegation.

No, it was firstly for not having an Australian Financial Services licence. We won't get cute about how most of the damage in managed investment schemes has been done by promoters who did have all the right licences.

His other sin was to say things that "may not have been consistent with ASIC policy relating to publishing forecast information (see RG170)". That might just have had something to do with Blacktree's claim that the returns to all grower investors over the life of the project "have the potential to be $150 million higher under the Blacktree proposal" than under either of the other two, from Gunns and a group called Pulpwood Plantations. McGrath Nicol wants Gunns to get the gig but can't vote on it, so grower investors are going to be subjected to some serious proxy solicitation before two or more scheduled meetings.

Jack's literary effort, a lively read, was eight pages, and we know there are about 43,000 scheme members -- although there is probably some doubling up between years. That's a lot of paper he has asked growers to throw away, but he's as aware of that as anyone. His replacement salvo will instead go up on Blacktree's website, www.blacktreeltd.com.au. No doubt he'll have all his ASIC ducks in a row by then.

PPPL's white flag

THE first meeting that Great Southern growers have been asked to attend is in Perth tomorrow, called by PPPL. We got a note from PPPL last night to say that "the level of proxy support from growers for the resolutions presented by PPPL indicates that they are unlikely to be passed at the meeting" and that anyone who's thinking of flying to Perth should bear that in mind. That's a white flag, but it's quite understandable because the two other looming possibilities for the growers, Gunns and Blacktree, will have to face a vote as well at some stage. The Gunns meeting is down for December 23 and Tony Jack has already conceded that his Blacktree outfit isn't yet ready to put a scheme in front of voters. Don't forget, meanwhile, that as the law on making a change to responsible entities stands, the winning proposal will need the support of more than 50 per cent of the growers, not just the grower voters. If you think this is costing a lot of trees, it's quite possibly going to cost a bit of legal and court time too.