Un portret al lui Frank Timis, cel care a fondat Gabriel Resources in 1995 cu scopul de a exploata pe baza de cianuri zacamantul de aur din Rosia Montana. ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." Aboneaza-te la <mailto:[email protected]> ngo_list: o alternativa moderata (un pic) la [ngolist] Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email? http://www.smh.com.au/business/a-magnet-for-money-and-controversy-20100304-p ltk.html A magnet for money and controversy March 5, 2010 An entrepreneur with a chequered past has had no trouble attracting investment, writes Clancy Yeates. Romanian-Australian Frank Timis. <http://images.smh.com.au/2010/03/04/1194901/200timis-200x0.jpg> Romanian-Australian Frank Timis.
Fancy tipping in some cash to fund oil exploration on the undeveloped fringes of Kazakhstan? Risks include hyperinflation, political instability and shifting foreign ownership laws. How about drilling wells in deep water off the coast of war-torn Liberia? This is the basic pitch Australian investors will soon hear from Frank Timis, a controversial London-based businessman who is set to complete backdoor listings on the stock exchange. And the far-flung assets are only part of the risk-reward equation to weigh up as Timis sets off on an investor roadshow this month. The Romanian-Australian has attracted controversy through a string of resource investments around the globe. He is perhaps best known for British-listed Regal Petroleum, which received the Alternative Investment Market's highest fine yet last year, £600,000, for misleading investors. Timis also has business links to the founder of the collapsed company Firepower, and has been convicted twice of heroin possession. Given this combination of obscure assets and a management notoriety, you might assume most investors would run a mile from the two Australian companies he plans acquire through reverse takeovers - Global Iron and International Petroleum. But, while Timis's backers concede he is controversial, they seem to have no problems raising cash. Timis was not available to be interviewed for this story but his close friend and local partner in the ventures, the West Australian mining magnate Tony Sage, is confident of raising $250 million for the projects. Sage says these ''blue chip'' investors include Timis backers in other projects, such as the wealth management giant BlackRock, the Canadian group Dundee Corporation and the hedge fund RAB Capital. ''They're not following the oil and gas story; they're following Frank Timis,'' said Sage, who chairs Global Iron and International Petroleum, and owns the A-League football club Perth Glory. This is the basic argument for investing with the self-proclaimed billionaire, who likes to promote his ''rags to riches'' story and his Third World philanthropy. But other parts of Timis's history raise questions about the risks of investing with him, and questions for market regulators. The planned backdoor listings are somewhat of a homecoming for Timis, who arrived in Australia as a 16-year-old refugee from Romania in 1980. He met Sage while working on a mine in Western Australia, and the two went on to float the small explorer Gabriel Resources in 1995. Sage, who worked in capital markets, has since made tidy profits by selling the Cape Lambert Iron Ore project to China Metallurgical Group for $400 million before the global financial crisis, and is said to be looking at buying the assets of Ric Stowe's collapsed Griffin Coal. The Canadian-listed Gabriel has grabbed headlines after becoming embroiled in a decade-long stoush with Romanian environmental groups about plans to use cyanide to extract gold from mountains of Rosia Montana. Timis has since quit Gabriel but his website points out its value swelled from $C20 million to $C1.2 billion under his leadership. However, shareholders who lost millions in the Timis vehicle Regal Petroleum may dispute that he has the Midas touch. And this is only one of several ''colourful'' events in Timis's record. Regal gained notoriety in London financial circles after it published misleading announcements about a Greek oil well in early 2004, while Timis was chief executive. The Alternative Investment Market said ''on 11 separate occasions, Regal failed to take reasonable care to ensure that its announcements were not misleading, false or deceptive, and did not omit material information''. Regal's share price had surged to 500 pence on hopes of a massive oil find, making it one of the biggest companies on the AIM, but it failed to tell investors crucial wells were uncommercial. When the truth emerged, Regal's market value tumbled by 80 per cent. Its shares fetched 74.75 pence yesterday. Last November the AIM disciplinary committee fined Regal £600,000 for the offence, and its head of UK regulation, Nick Bayley, was blunt in explaining the hefty penalty: ''It is unprecedented in terms of the seriousness of the rule breaches involved and the resultant market impact.'' The AIM did not mention or fine Timis, who kept a substantial stake in Regal throughout. But the scandal dragged his name through the mud, and he later resigned as chairman. Another matter to catch the public's eye is his link to Tim Johnston, the founder of Firepower, which collapsed owing investors $100 million. After Firepower's implosion Johnston and Timis started a company called Green Power Corporation in London, with unfulfilled plans to list on the AIM. In the latest burst of controversy, Timis was reported last year to have come to blows with British regulators about his suitability as a director. According to British media, the AIM regulator quietly discouraged Timis from listing another company, African Petroleum, because of concerns about his past. Sage dismisses the report as ''bullshit'', pointing out Timis remains executive chairman of AIM-listed African Minerals. The London Stock Exchange would not comment on the report. In any case, instead of the rumoured AIM listing, Timis is now bringing African Petroleum and Eastern Petroleum to Australia. Under the listing plans, African Petroleum will lodge an all-scrip reverse takeover of the ASX-listed Global Iron worth up to $500 million, including a placement of $130 million to $230 million. Eastern Petroleum will mount a $152 million reverse takeover of International Petroleum, coupled with a $30 million institutional placement. As part of the raising, managed by the British companies Mirabaud Securities and Renaissance Capital, Eastern Petroleum will also be issued with 135 million options. The deals give Timis's companies more than 70 per cent control of International Petroleum and Global Iron. He is expected to play key roles: International Petroleum takeover documents say the deal can only go ahead if authorities allow Timis to be a director. However, Global Iron and International Petroleum have not been entirely forthcoming with details of Timis's record. His name was absent from announcements by International Petroleum trumpeting the deal, and the first prospectus for the International Petroleum $30 million raising. After inquiries from BusinessDay to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, an updated prospectus was issued last week. ''The company recognises the need to balance the benefits of Mr Timis's knowledge of the Kazakhstan project with the interests of investors in light of the recent Regal decision,'' it said. Global Iron's press release announcing the deal described Timis as a "successful resources entrepreneur" but also failed to mention the Regal incident. The market, however, appears to have shrugged aside any risks the controversial entrepreneur might bring. International Petroleum shareholders approved the takeover last year, and its share price has jumped 35 per cent since the deal was announced. Global Iron investors are yet to vote on the takeover but the company's share price has more than doubled since it was revealed. Asked if investors should be concerned about Timis's past, Sage brushes aside any doubts arising from the Regal Petroleum ''incident''. He concedes the three convictions for heroin possession made him wary about his mate at first but the business ventures since then have earned the Perth millionaire's respect. ''It took me a while to get to trust him way back then but everything he's done for shareholders since has just created so much value,'' he says. It seems some of the institutions are also happy to look through Timis's chequered past. In addition to the $250 million raised for his Australian listings, he raised £80 million for African Minerals, which says it has found the world's biggest resource of magnetite, a form of iron ore, in Sierra Leone. ''Five of the major institutions in the world trust Frank. We're not taking one cent of retail money; it's all institutional clients, and they're the biggest ones in the world," Sage says. ''If Frank had a bad reputation why do these institutions back him, especially in Kazakhstan and Liberia?'' As Timis visits investors around Australia this month for a roadshow, fund managers can make up their own minds. Regulators appear content with the backdoor listings and the pivotal role Timis will play in the companies. Neither ASIC nor ASX's spokesman Matthew Gibbs would comment directly on Timis's listing plans. However, Gibbs said the ASX could to prevent listings by people who might bring the market into disrepute. ''We have discretion to admit to the official list or not, or to impose conditions on companies that wish to list on the ASX,'' he said. ''That does allow us to make determinations about companies and individuals associated with them.'' Copyright © 2010. Fairfax Digital
<<200timis-200x0.jpg>>
