BLA

[JSB]

BLA with the preliminary rebuttal:

 

From its initial review of the report, Blue Sky notes that there are a large number of factual inaccuracies throughout, including the assertions raised in relation to how Blue Sky calculates and reports its fee-earning assets under management, its investment performance and its fees.

Blue Sky also notes that the report includes the following statement: ÃÆâ€â„¢ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒÆ’â€Â¹Ãƒƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å“You are reading a short-biased opinion piece. Obviously, we will make money if the price of Blue Sky stock declines. The report and all statements contained herein are the opinion of Glaucus Research Group California, LLC, and are not statements of fact.ÃÆâ€â„¢ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¾Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢

 

Perhaps the excerpt quoted by BLA should be taken in context with the full, one page disclaimer?

 

We are short sellers. We are biased. So are long investors. So is Blue Sky. So are the banks that raised money for the Company. If you are invested (either long or short) in Blue Sky, so are you. Just because we are biased does not mean that we are wrong. We, like everyone else, are entitled to our opinions and to the right to express such opinions in a public forum. We believe that the publication of our opinions about the public companies we research is in the public interest.

 

You are reading a short-biased opinion piece. Obviously, we will make money if the price of Blue Sky stock declines. This report and all statements contained herein are the opinion of Glaucus Research Group California, LLC, and are not statements of fact. Our opinions are held in good faith, and we have based them upon publicly available evidence, which we set out in our research report to support our opinions. We conducted research and analysis based on public information in a manner that any person could have done if they had been interested in doing so. You can publicly access any piece of evidence cited in this report or that we relied on to write this report. Think critically about our report and do your own homework before making any investment decisions. We are prepared to support everything we say, if necessary, in a court of law.

[JSB]

And, for context, this was QIN's initial response to a similar report from Glaucus 12 months ago.

 

Further to your letter of 22 March 2017, we provide responses to each of your questions as follows:

1. Yes, the Company is aware of a note by Glaucus Research Group and provides the following comments:-

(i) The note is a self-serving and biased note by a shorter of the stock in an attempt to drive TFSÃÆâ€â„¢ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¾Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢s share price down for their own financial gain;

(ii) There are substantial and egregious inaccuracies littered throughout the note which could have been avoided had the noteÃÆâ€â„¢ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¾Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢s author contacted the Company;

(iii) TFSÃÆâ€â„¢ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¾Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢s plantations and shares are owned by some of the largest and most respected institutional investors in the world, investments they made after undertaking considerable due

diligence;

(iv) TFS also has a strong track record of meeting its financial guidance; and

(v) The Company reaffirms its guidance that FY17 Cash EBITDA will increase by at least 25% on FY16

 

https://wcsecure.weblink.com.au/pdf/QIN/01841373.pdf

[JSB]

Some not insignificant director sell downs three weeks ago:

 

Kim Morison sells 50,000 at $11.50 per share

 

https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20180312/pdf/...cdqr02pyw6t.pdf

 

Tim Wilson sells 150,000 at $11.50 per share

 

Bizarrely, each 3Y claims on market trades for the combined 200,000 shares, however my course of sales data for the day (Chi-X inclusive) has a low of $11.69 on March 7.

 

Peculiar that directors thought it prudent to trim their holdings at the same price they went to market to raise $100m..?

[blacksheep]

Yes - same here

 

Date Open High Low Close* Adj. close** Volume

28 Mar. 2018 11.45 11.47 9.61 10.40 10.40 593,530

27 Mar. 2018 11.60 11.67 11.42 11.43 11.43 311,646

26 Mar. 2018 11.40 11.65 11.33 11.52 11.52 163,235

23 Mar. 2018 11.61 11.72 11.33 11.42 11.42 191,409

22 Mar. 2018 11.60 11.77 11.60 11.64 11.64 157,441

21 Mar. 2018 11.70 11.78 11.55 11.56 11.56 152,166

20 Mar. 2018 11.79 11.79 11.52 11.67 11.67 191,026

19 Mar. 2018 11.76 11.94 11.51 11.82 11.82 238,496

16 Mar. 2018 11.65 11.97 11.65 11.75 11.75 254,648

15 Mar. 2018 11.80 11.87 11.50 11.50 11.50 247,956

14 Mar. 2018 11.88 12.00 11.70 11.80 11.80 181,961

13 Mar. 2018 12.14 12.15 11.90 11.90 11.90 210,619

12 Mar. 2018 12.01 12.39 12.01 12.30 12.30 107,413

09 Mar. 2018 12.07 12.41 11.90 12.30 12.30 264,931

08 Mar. 2018 11.90 12.00 11.83 11.95 11.95 108,732

07 Mar. 2018 11.98 12.01 11.69 11.85 11.85 261,237

 

 

 

[blacksheep]

BLA with the preliminary rebuttal:

 

Hastily prepared, and badly IMHO. Tthey would have been better off saying nothing at this stage - they have a TH granted until until Tuesday, 3 April 2018 - take the time to go through the report with lawyers, risk/crisis management experts (if they don't have in house) then put your absolute best rebuttal forward. QIN/TFS made the same mistake, so have many others . They immediately try to shoot down the messenger/discredit them, when they should focus on their message.

 

Glaucus said at the time they released the QIN report

 

"We are short sellers. We are biased. So is TFS," it said in a detailed "disclaimer" at the end of its report. "If you are invested (either long or short) in TFS, so are you. Just because we are biased does not mean that we are wrong ... Obviously, we will make money if the price of TFS stock declines."

 

Directors must have had an inkling they were under a short attack - from Vesna's article today

 

In the weeks following its results and capital raising, short-sellers have increased their bets against the company. The increased interest is understood to have been sparked by a decline in the number of reported exits, and pending accounting changes related to the standard known as AASB 15, which covers revenue from contracts with customers.

 

Market sources said that it has become difficult to access Blue Sky stock to borrow, and that the price of borrowing has increased. Sources also said that Blue Sky went to significant lengths to identify which funds were shorting the company so that they could instruct brokers not to allocate short-sellers stock in the recent capital raising.

Read more: http://www.afr.com/business/banking-and-fi...g#ixzz5B20jOWpZ

 

[JSB]

"You have to be willing to be an iconoclast and you have to be very comfortable being the one person in a room of 99 other people who think they're right and you're wrong. I love what I do," Aandahl says.

 

"One of my favourite lines attacking short sellers, and someone says it every time, 'don't believe them because they're short so they are financially incentivised to have a negative opinion'.

 

"Wait a minute, as if the company's not incentivised to have their share price go up? As if auditors are not incentivised to get paid, which only happens if they sign off on an annual report? As if investment banks are not incentivised to promote companies through positive research, because they only get paid by companies when they raise money, go public or engage in another transaction?

 

"There are so many actors in the financial system that are equally biased in the other direction. The difference is, we freely admit it," he says. "We absolutely have a financial incentive behind our opinion, but so does everybody else. And just because we are biased does not mean we are wrong."

 

http://www.afr.com/markets/behind-the-rise...20180326-h0xzzi

[blacksheep]

"There are so many actors in the financial system that are equally biased in the other direction. The difference is, we freely admit it,"

 

Absolutely - how many brokers admit freely they are talking up a stock because they are paid - by way of commissions on CR's etc, by that company to do so. Yes, they are obliged to make a disclosure they have a possible vested interest, but would they really give stocks those obscene targets if they were not acting for them?

 

Shaw and Partners were lead managers in BLA's last CR - $100m placement and $25m SPP - shortly after..................

 

Rudi Filapek-Vandyck@Filapek

 

Blue Sky $BLA upgraded to Buy from Hold at Shaw and Partners post successful placement. Price target $14.20 #ausbiz #XJO #investing #stocks #equities

 

2:38 PM - 15 Mar 2018

 

Shaw and Partners has been appointed Joint Lead Manager to the proposed capital raising by Blue Sky Alternative Investments Limited (ASX.BLA).

 

Blue Sky Alternative Investments has announced a fully underwritten share placement to institutional, professional and sophisticated investors to raise approximately $100 million (Placement). The Placement will be followed by an offer to existing eligible Australian and New Zealand shareholders to participate in a Share Purchase Plan (SPP), capped at $25 million.

 

The offer price for both the Placement and Share Purchase Plan will be $11.50 per fully paid ordinary share in the company. The offer price represents a 5.3% discount to the last traded price ($12.15); a 14.1% discount to the previous 30 day VWAP ($13.38).

 

It takes a lot more forensic analysis, and risk of being sued if you get it wrong, to do what Glaucus and other activist shorters do than it does what brokers do - anyone ever sued brokers for dodgy research reports?

[nipper]

Blue Sky is now set to submit its response to the ASX prior to market opening on Tuesday morning. As we have previously foreshadowed, the ASX will need to work through its own internal processes before this response becomes available on their website (www.asx.com.au). This may take the ASX some time, after which the BLA shares will re-commence trading.

[blacksheep]

A couple of BLA's investments have been in the news recently

 

Blue Sky Alternative Investments: Lenard's chicken franchise posts ...

Courier Mail-30 Mar. 2018

Brisbane-based Lenard's just managed to break even following ÃÆâ€â„¢ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒÆ’â€Â¦ÃƒƒÂ¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…âہ“significant cost increasesÃÆâ€â„¢ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒÆ’â€Å¡Ãƒƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚ for the first six months of 2018, according to an investor note revealed by The Courier-Mail today. It comes with scrutiny intensifying on assets underneath Brisbane-based Blue Sky Alternative Investments, which has

 

Shoes of Prey facing uncertain future amid $3 million funding talks

The Sydney Morning Herald-18 Mar. 2018

Three weeks ago, an email landed in the inboxes of some of Australia's most respected start-up figures, including billionaire Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and representatives from some of the nation's top venture capital funds. It was from Shoes of Prey CEO Michael Fox. He was seeking resh funding from his investors

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/s...318-p4z4xs.html

 

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/blu...nvestments_list

 

http://member.afraccess.com/media?id=CMN:/...AF_01874393.pdf

[blacksheep]

Trading Suspension Request ÃÆâ€â„¢ÃƒÆ’ƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¢ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÆ’…¡Ãƒâہ¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã‚¡ÃƒÆ’‚¬Ãƒâ€Â¦ÃƒÆ’¢Ã¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å“ Blue Sky Alternative Investments Limited (ASX:BLA)

 

The suspension is requested to enable the ASX to complete its review of the proposed

response the Company has provided to an opinion (Shorter Opinion) published by a US

based short seller which the Company became aware of on 28 March 2018.