Wednesday 2 April 2008

Hedley needs a giddy up

More news on the Hedley front today.
It has been confirmed to ASX that Tom Hedley was the 'owner' of the controversial 10 million shares flogged off in a special crossing sale last Friday morning.
That transaction has now been reversed and Hedley's shares are back in legal limbo with the Opes collapse fiasco and he may not own them at all.
Hedley's 20% stake in heavily indebted NSW pub operator NLG is also under threat again as that company reveals big declines in expected earnings after being hit by smoking bans in NSW pubs.
According to the Townsville Bulletin, it seems Tom has also been flogging off his racehorses in recent months.
He's known for his huge investment as an owner and making champion trainer, Roy Chillemi, with a stable of 35 horses, has been a top performer in FNQ for nearly 10 years. Now there's only 15 and Tom says he would only like to retain only "seven or eight horses in future".
Some believe Hedley has become too powerful in the racing industry. However, others say that his contribution has done a lot of good.

DOWNLOAD
Hedley's Request for Reinstatement to Quotation

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tom will definitely keep 1 horse so he can ride out of town into the Sunset.

Anonymous said...

In plain English please, what happened? What does Hedley's Request for Reinstatement to Quotation mean???? Can anyone explain it for me?

Anonymous said...

Hedley's got all his "childcare" buildings for sale, at firesale prices. Now we learn he's dumping assets all over the place. Hedley's going down like Mr. ABC Learning. The reason? Greed.

It's sad that so many North Queensland families will be taken down at the same time.

Anonymous said...

It's a complex situation to try for both a simple and comprehensive explanation anonymous.

Basically the shares in Hedley's publicly listed company on the ASX were put in a trading halt, so they stopped trading on the stock exchange, last friday after a very unusual special trade of 10 million shares at half price. Events around this trade have been highly controversial and complex involving several parties with different stories emerging.

They were to start trading again yesterday but then were suspended after new information about what was going on came in. They released a statement today saying what they understood the situation to be and requested reinstatement to start trading again on the stock exchange which has now happened.

Basically the news is that Tom Hedley has been caught in the Opes Prime collapse and the shares are now held by the bankers and administrators of that company. Effectively it seems that Tom may no longer own the shares and may just be an unsecured creditor of that company for whatever value he can get back. Although this is somewhat obscure from their announcement. Although its more complex than that as Toms margin loan was with one stockbroker, who then passed them along to another which has now collapsed.

Amazingly all sorts of 'sophisticated' investors and company directors have been caught out and signed over title to their shares when they thought they were just lodging them as collateral similar to a mortgage. Sadly many small players are also victims.

Legal mayhem and confusion reigns and will attempt to post more info later with appropriate links. If you ar econfused you are in good company!!

P.S. Anyone with a margin loan should check and understand the status and if its an AMSLA agreement (Australian Master Securities Lending Agreement) rather than a standard margin loan get out.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but is now a good time to get into HLG?

Arthur Festerbestertester said...

Nice rant, Thersites. and the same goes for you too, Beaches Prof. Great to be able to read some deep and meaningfuls on current events in Cairns. Far better than the lightweight police rounds drivel and t-t pix we get from the Cairns Post and the Great Pretender. Where is the regional economy going, with emphasis on employment levels? In the context of the big falls in tourism numbers recently, if the robber barons do collapse we could well be in serious trouble.

Anonymous said...

The sky is not about to fall. Every decade needs a correction such as this. The regional economy may slow for a while, employment levels may drop and some not committed to Cairns may leave for greener pastures. No loss, enjoy the breathing space.

Anonymous said...

The sky is indeed not falling ... but we do need to question more what is going on around us which will never happen at the Cairns Post.

Just posted from Michael West at the Sydney Morning Herald and more info on the Hedley fiasco expected to emerge ......

http://business.smh.com.au/opes-demise-exposes-regulators/20080402-237a.html

Anonymous said...

"Hedley Group, which is being forced to unload $200 million of property to reduce gearing because its owner, Tom Hedley, received a margin call on his private business after the Tricom trades"

In The Australian today.

Anonymous said...

To all of those people that bag Tom Hedley, open your eyes! Look at what he has done for Cairns. He employs so many people, and I for one, would be devasted if he doesn't pull himself out of this. I have been a loyal employee for many years. Don't worry Tom, you've got heaps of support out there mate!

Anonymous said...

Anyone with their eyes open can SEE what Tom Hedley has done TO Cairns.

Numerous apartment blocks that look like prison towers.

A new office building that is an unimaginative box, sitting on a piece of land devoid of any greenspace.

Completely ruined the elegant entrance to Paradise Palms with walls, a new shit pumping station, and potholed private roads.

Is well on his way to ruining a world-class golf course by shortening it and dumping prison-like apartment buildings on the fringes.

Built cheap and unimaginative child care facilities instead of quality projects for our children.

"Rescued" our racetrack for developers with the understanding that HE'LL get to develop it on HIS timetable.

Makes the bulk of his money selling misery to the public - increased access to alcohol as well as massive increases in gambling access and pokie machines.

Is known to have had employees "strong arm" other employees to get his stalled share float over the line, with the employees now feeling like they work for Enron.

Donates virtually nothing to local charities, has failed to support other growing businesses in Cairns with investment, and struts around town like an emperor.

Hey pal, our eyes ARE open. . .did we miss anything?

Anonymous said...

fact checker and anonymous, you're points are both valid.

apartment blocks are everywhere, although they do generate jobs and income for the cairns economy.

i've heard the new office building is fully leased, so it's obviously needed in cairns. plus, there are alot of ugly buildings out there - not just hedley ones.

I think you might have your facts wrong on paradise palms. hasn't h&s vision got something to do with the construction out there as well? maybe we can't just blame that one on tom.

i'm sorry, but i completely disagree with the childcare statement. my little girl goes to one and it's the best we've come across. my wife liked the fact it has real grass! you only have to check out other centres to see how bad some of them really are! my daughter goes to a nice, fresh, clean and exciting daycare centre.

i guess everyone has a different opinion of tom, whether you love him or hate him - he's still human and everyone makes mistakes!

Cairns Resident said...

A business run on luck & greed was bound to end in tears. Bullying & strong-arm tactics were & still are used by Tom's right-hand woman.

A fish rots from the head down...