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Astra Resources punted from exchange

Jul 30, 2014
Astra's North Adelaide shop front

Astra's North Adelaide shop front

Adelaide-based Astra Resources has been booted from the European Share Trading Exchange GXG Markets.

GXG is the Danish legal entity authorised by Finanstilsynet, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority.

The Disciplinary Committee of GXG Markets issued a statement advising that it had decided to terminate Astra Resources Plc from the GXG Main Quote, effective from Friday, June 6, 2014.

The statement is now being circulated among disaffected shareholders.

“The company is currently under suspension for supplying inaccurate information that was required as a condition to move up from the GXG First Quote to the GXG Main Quote market, and has previously been suspended for corporate governance failings in relation to filing accurate information to Companies House (UK) in a timely fashion,” the Danish clearing house statement said.

“As part of the admission process to be listed on the GXG Main Quote market, the company was, on the 3rd of March 2014, asked to provide confirmation that share certificates had been delivered to each shareholder in the company for the number of shares listed in the share register, and where shares have been dematerialised, that the shares had been delivered to the shareholders in electronic format to a specified nominee account,” it said.

“On the 3rd of March 2014 the company responded and confirmed that each shareholder had been provided their individual share certificate.

“On the 20th of March 2014 GXG Markets were informed by the company’s registrar that the company had not dispatched share certificates to shareholders and that since the beginning of 2013 any share certificates issued by the company’s registrar were held by the company, and that the shareholder in relation thereto only had been sent a copy of the original share certificate.

“As a consequence, the company was suspended on 10th of April 2014.

“On the 14th of April 2014, having received further information from the company, its advisory and its  registrar, the company was notified that the matter was being passed to GXG’s Disciplinary Committee.”

The Disciplinary Committee concluded that “Astra Resources Plc have failed to be transparent in its communications with the market, as to the circumstances surrounding the issuance of shares to their shareholders”.

“In addition thereto, and as a consequence of the procedures adopted by the company, the trading in the Issuing Company’s securities is not conducted in an orderly manner.

“The Disciplinary Committee finds that the foregoing, together with the failure to act in accordance with the corporate compliance rules pertaining to the submission of necessary reporting to the Companies House, has led to that the actions of the company ultimately jeopardises the integrity and reputation of the market.”

The Disciplinary Committee statement said Astra’s repeated breaches against reporting requirements were a severe breach of the rules set by GXG Markets.

Astra claimed in public announcements earlier this year that it had decided to apply for a listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange (“CSE”).

“Once trading on the CSE, Astra will file for immediate secondary listings on Frankfurt and Berlin,” it said in a May 2014 announcement.

“Astra intends to keep its existing GXG listing where the company was upgraded from First Quote to Main Quote.”

That option has now disappeared.

It’s the latest setback for the self-proclaimed global resources company, with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission announcing Federal Court action in May alleging it illegally raised more than $7.6 million from almost 300 Australian investors between September 2011 and September 2012.

Many of the investors are South Australian.

ASIC sought orders to have Astra Resources and Astra Nominees inform affected shareholders that they may elect to have the share purchase contracts set aside and claim a refund or damages.

Last year the company’s auditor in Britain, GSK Accountancy, questioned the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, citing $28.2 million in accumulated losses.

Company documents showed it had around $300,000 in the bank at the end of the 2013 financial year.

Despite the delisting from GXG in June, the company voted at its June 30 annual general meeting in Adelaide to continue with its plans to list on other stock exchanges.

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In 2011, InDaily revealed that Astra Resources’ bold claims to control billions of dollars worth of resource, technology and property assets worldwide were based on letters of intent and memoranda of understanding.

Its promise to list on various top-tier international stock exchanges has not materialised.

It has never released a prospectus, promising on its own website to release one “in mid-2014″.

The company’s directors from that period have resigned and been replaced.

Daniel Justyn Peters, David Shearwood and Maxwell Venning joined the board of directors late last year, and Norman Hilton and Adele Bikarovski joined the board in May this year.

Astra also has a new chief executive – Peter Turnbull.

At the June 30 AGM it proposed 11 resolutions which were designed to “simplify the corporate structure”.

All resolutions were passed by proxies received by the company before June 27, 2014.

In a recent development, a former private client adviser at investment firm UBS was banned by ASIC for wrongly pushing clients into the company.

Sebastian Konjevic of Wodonga, Victoria, was banned by the corporate regulator in mid-June from providing financial services for five years after engaging in “misleading and deceptive” conduct.

In a statement, ASIC said its investigation found Konjevic had an arrangement with Astra whereby between March and August 2012 he was to receive 900,000 Astra shares and referrals for adviser services “if he caused current UBS clients to acquire Astra shares” and assisted the miner in obtaining UBS custody services.

ASIC claimed several UBS ­clients invested a total of $1 million on Konjevic’s recommendation and the 900,000 Astra shares were received by a nominee of his.

UBS Wealth, which reported Konjevic’s conduct to ASIC, co-operated with the investigation and terminated his employment in April last year.

InDaily’s repeated requests to talk with Astra management over the years have been refused.

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