I get your point about Tavistock / Joe Lewis benefiting from a...

I get your point about Tavistock / Joe Lewis benefiting from a discounted rights issue but its getting to the point that it would make more sense to make an outright takeover. The current board has overseen a disastrous fall in the share price such that Joe Lewis is in the red even on the heavily discounted dilutive rights issue that he underwrote that was used to fund the infamous Abattoir project. In the meantime the Corporate costs of head Office and branded beef schemes continue to blow out with little return. In this sense there is plenty of low hanging fruit that Joe Lewis could prune to improve profitability  if he moves to full control . Of course management can't be blamed for floods but the announcement today was very negative as it failed to mention that there was some rainfall benefit to some stations. Even with the coming write downs NTA must still be about $1.40 with the chance that cattle prices and herd valuation will actually increase, so it's a good time for Joe Lewis to make a bid with the $A at US 0.71. Many thought it would take $2 - $2.50 per share to buy the company but thanks to the incompetence and poor performance Joe Lewis would probably get plenty wanting to sell at $1.40 now. He already owns nearly 50% so it seems risky to let the current mob run down his investment any further.