March 24, 2011 – The major shareholder Entrust Wealth Management still continued with its comments despite having made an agreement during their boardroom battle with property developer Aspen group. This made Aspen group disappointed with Entrust.
In a statement issued by Entrust, they said that they already finalized decisions with quite a number of Aspen Group’s important institutional key shareholders and they have decided to replace four out of five directors which included the Managing Director Gavin Hawkins. This move was not well supported.
Perth-based Entrust and Aspen co-founder Angelo Del Borrello led the move to eradicate from its present positions namely Mr. Hawkins, Chairman Reg Gillard, and Director Terry Budge after suggesting that Aspen has lost its way since the removal of Mr. Del Borello in June.
Entrust admitted though that without the support of the shareholders, their proposed move would not have been realized and change would not have been experienced.
Despite the disappointment, they still accepted the decision of the many.
Aspen declared that Entrust admitted its defeat but it still added that they will not comment on the current votes received despite the deadline of proxy submissions having closed and ended.
And the Aspen group is grateful for the overwhelming support they have received from its investors.
But then Entrust made comments talking about the incumbent board’s responsibility to end the NTA gap and revive the shareholder value. They also emphasized that the current level of investors is not close enough to establish an endorsement to the board which made Aspen group unhappy.
Aspen group strongly admitted that they are disappointed with Entrust for still having not ended giving its side comments.
Even if Entrust fully accepted that they don’t have the support of Aspen’s investors regarding the resolutions that will be voted at the EGM, Aspen still will continue to proceed with the planned meeting and will release the outcome of the proceedings. Thus, a shareholders meeting is expected to be held. They are hoping that both parties will come to a compromise. And they will still have good rapport despite this slight indifference.
