Administrator takes over Condor Blanco Mines Gil Derby, a relative of Glen, leaves a meeting of Condor Blanco Mines. Picture: Renee Nowytarger. Glen Darby, the controversial founder and director of ASX-listed minerals exploration company Condor Blanco Mines, placed the company in the hands of administrators ahead of a shareholder meeting yesterday where he was set to be ousted. The move came amid claims Mr Darby, 35, last Friday threatened an activist investor that he would call in receivers to the company if a series of his vague demands was not met. Mr Darby, who had been convicted of a string of criminal offences including assault and high-range drink driving, appointed administrator Domenic Calabretta to Condor on Monday, crystallising $22 million-plus of investor losses for the company. Three Condor Blanco investors, including Joshua Farquhar, had sought to have themselves installed as directors replacing the current board, which by yesterday consisted of only Mr Darby. However, at 11am yesterday as investors gathered in a York St, Sydney CBD office building to vote on the proposal they were told the company had been placed in the hands of Mr ANTHONY KLAN THE AUSTRALIAN 12:00AM JULY 6, 2016 Administrator takes over Condor Blanco Mines 06/Jul/16, 06:22 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...s/news-story/4a4897df27d274baa5bb6eae18127599 Page 2 of 4 Calabretta and his firm Mackay Goodwin the day before. Mr Darby did not attend the meeting and there were no company representatives or former directors present to discuss that decision. Condor Blanco was suspended from trading on May 5 following the launch of a Takeovers Panel investigation amid failures by the group to meet its disclosure requirements, among other allegations of improper practices. The company has consistently lost money since it was founded by Mr Darby in 2010 and is now virtually worthless, with shares at 0.9c when it was suspended. Despite the appointment of administrators, yesterday’s vote went ahead with investors voting for the removal of Mr Darby and for the appointment of Mr Farquhar and fellow Condor Blanco investors Sarah Miles and Jay Stephenson. After the meeting yesterday Mr Farquhar said he had met Mr Darby in Sydney on Friday at Mr Darby’s request, where the windup threat was allegedly made. “He approached me offering to resign from the company ahead of the general meeting,” Mr Farquhar said. “I said I would happily accept any offer in writing but he refused and insisted on meeting face-to-face.” Mr Farquhar said what followed was an “erratic discussion” where Mr Darby made a “vague and rambling proposal”, which he declined. Mr Darby could not be contacted yesterday and has repeatedly declined to comment. Condor Blanco investor Maria Prpic, who said she had been encouraged to invest in the company by her stockbroker, was among those voting for the removal of Mr Darby. “It’s pretty straightforward. Let’s get rid of him and put someone in who might do a better job,” Ms Prpic told the meeting. Darby family member and business associate Gil Darby was also present at the meeting, but declined to comment to The Australian. He did not vote either for or against the removal of Glen Darby from the company. Gil Darby, 68, and Glen Darby both list the same house in Clovelly in Sydney’s east as their home address and both men have previously been co-directors of a string of companies. It had been intended that shareholders would yesterday also vote on replacing Condor Blanco chairwoman Michelle Feruglio and director Lia Darby — Mr Darby’s sister — however both women resigned from the company last week. Administrator takes over Condor Blanco Mines 06/Jul/16, 06:22 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...s/news-story/4a4897df27d274baa5bb6eae18127599 Page 3 of 4 Ms Darby was separately the founder and former joint managing director of fellow minerals explorations company Proto Resources & Investments, which was listed in 2006 but was placed in administration in 2014 having lost tens of millions of investor funds.
