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Well, its snowing pretty hard out in Utah, so I had some free time to dig some stuff up on this group of OTCBB stocks, 5 of which (CPZR, SEBT, GDMN, RWIG, and MTMH) are halted, 2 of which still trade (barely).
Chris Byron of MSNBC, TheStreet.Com and The New York Observer, wrote a piece recently about the connections between the first 5. I highly recommend reading it. msnbc.com
Bear Down found another one (ICSI) and I stubled upon the last (ETFC).
The companies have the same IR outfit. vengua.co.uk
Vengua appears to be involved in Solv-Ex, see asensio.com (A@P, can you confirm this?)
These companies share the same Irving, Texas address...4835 North O'Connor Irving Texas.
Bloomberg broke the story that the companies were all shells owned by a Las Vegas accountant, and then sold to an offshore group, with offices in the Dallas area (Irving fits that bill).
What is really interesting here is that all of these companies made announcements about acquiring foreign companies in various businesses.
From ETFC and ICSI's scant information, it was determined that these companies were acquired from entities affiliated with Texmaco (if you have a Bloomberg TEJA IJ is the ticker) an Indonesian company mired in scandal. Texmaco is a large Indonesian company with several listed subsidiaries around the world, however, the man who controls Texmaco is in some hot water. CS First Boston is looking for over $200 million that he owes them, and Texmaco has been implicated in bribery and corruption scandals in Indonesia.
ICSI, for example, disclosed that it acquired Prospero, a HK based firm that in 1997 bought a UK company called SR Gent, However, until today (3/1/99) no mention was made by SR Gent, Prospero or Texmaco, that these assets were swapped for OTCBB stock.
What is going on here? Well, Texmaco claims that these assets are being put into US shares to protect them from being bought, due to the low market values in Indonesia. quote.bloomberg.com
Another theory.....These guys need money to pay back their creditors, instead of losing their assets, which the creditors would seize, why not merge their units into OTCBB shells, which they control. They can manipulate the market price, and give their creditors inflated stock, instead of giving up their businesses. Or, pump up these OTCBB shells, then dump stock for cash, and use that pay off the creditors. This could also be a way to move assets out of Indonesia, in case the individuals involved get into hot water. Their Indonesian currency might be worthless, but here is a great way to create marketable securities and hard currency.
Anyone with any other thoughts, insights, strategies? |
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