Advertisement

Astra investors leave on a promise

Jul 01, 2014

Investors in Adelaide-based self-proclaimed global resources company Astra Resources had mixed views of their prospects after yesterday’s annual general meeting of the company.

It was the first chance investors had to raise their concerns after corporate regulator ASIC announced legal action against the company in May.

The Federal Court action alleges the company 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.

Several shareholders spoken to by InDaily after yesterday’s meeting alleged the company was resisting any approaches by investors wanting to sell back their shares.

We spoke with investors after they left the meeting, having been refused entry ourselves by company officials despite holding a written proxy from a Queensland-based investor.

A security guard who pressed me into the registration desk and attempted to remove me from the Hilton Hotel produced no identification.

A woman who claimed to be a company official refused to give her name.

After about two hours shareholders started to drift out and the AGM concluded at around 2.15pm.

No-one wanted their name to be used – all were wearing the green wrist band given to shareholders amid the tight security.

One couple had flown in from interstate to seek assurances about their investment.

“They had plenty to say about future plans, but not much about what’s happened in the last three years,” the shareholder said.

“They claim they are about to list on the Canadian and German stock exchanges, so we’ll just have to wait again.”

Three men, all tradies who had invested varying amounts, said they were sceptical about the company’s claims.

“They said they had plenty of people wanting to invest in Astra, so I said they can sell them my shares; but they said that can’t be done.

“It was just promises, promises.”

The three approached company officials after the AGM seeking a refund of their investment, but later said the request was denied.

“Mate, I’m an electrician who’s worked hard to earn every cent of my money.

“This is hurting me and I’m not getting any answers.”

Several other investors left the meeting telling InDaily they would continue to wait.

“It’s just wait and see…nothing we can do.”

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, yet Astra announced on May 13 that it had applied to list on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

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.

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.

Yesterday’s AGM proposed 11 resolutions which were designed to “simplify the corporate structure”.

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

At the members meeting on 30 June 2014 an overwhelming majority of members and legitimate proxy holders attending passed all the resolutions.

One of those resolutions proposed a “significant transaction” with Sovereign Green Global Pty Ltd, for funding and asset transfers that would “make SGGA a significant shareholder.

The simplification also proposed the roll-up of many of the Astra subsidiary companies.

The meeting re-elected directors Norman Hilton, Maxwell Venning, Adele Bikarovski, Niren Raj and Dyson Hore-Lacy.

Astra had been listed on an unregulated segment of Europe’s GXG Market; that first quotation board was later abolished.

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.

One still-positive shareholder yesterday was Colin Oxlade, the Adelaide businessman associated with a string of corporate failures including Greenlink Energy, Palamedia, AustraliaLiveTv, Essence Recruiting, Stiffdick.com, Brainytoys and Vanilla Management and Investment Group.

“The trouble with you bastards is that you don’t get it, you don’t know what a start up is,” he told InDaily.

“How many years did it take Fortescue?

“You have to have faith.

“It’s people like you that bring things down.”

Oxlade claimed Astra had just received another $8 million in invested funds.

There were plenty of investors there yesterday who would like to have some of that.

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

 

Local News Matters
Advertisement
Copyright © 2024 InDaily.
All rights reserved.