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Gold/Mining/Energy : American International Petroleum Corp -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: taxikid who wrote (5830)	12/13/1997 7:24:00 PM
From: sand wedge	Respond to of 11888

For those without access to AOL ( I know there are a few) the following maybe of some interest. As you read, keep 2 things in mind 1) Gary specifically asked Faris not to make inferences from his comments ...this is where disinformation and/or distortion comes from and 2) the questions at the end ...several sound VERY similiar to those posted here by a few of our more informed posters. (lets give credit where credit is due...) Subject: Meeting With Gary Date: Sat, Dec 13, 1997 19:07 EST From: Bouhafa Message-id: <19971214000701.TAA15818@ladder02.news.aol.com> First off, I, too, would like to extend my thanks to all those who worked on setting up Friday's meeting...especially to UNC and LMPITTS who made it possible for shareholders outside the chat room to share the proceedings. The meeting went very smoothly thanks to a protocol that was set up by DANCE and every one of the participants was civil which was quite extraordinary under the circumstances. Gary deserves credit for taking part in a meeting that could easily have gotten out of hand. While Gary's responses were limited by the fact of being in a public forum, I do think some of them deserve some comment and interpretation. 1. In response to my question about whether or not AIPC was in negotiations to retain an investment banker as per Kieth Bossey's assertion in the most recent Cohen report, Gary had this to say: MHGI WSA : Keith Bossey is a smart man MHGI WSA : I cannot coment to his conversations MHGI WSA : but i can say MHGI WSA : aipn is very far along with a potential MHGI WSA : investment banker MHGI WSA : who that banker is im not at liberty to say now MHGI WSA : i will say if they act in any way with aipn it will ve a news worthy event I interpret this to mean that AIPC is on the verge of announcing an investment banker. The only question is whether they will announce the simple act of retaining a brokerage firm or will the announcement be made in conjunction with that firm actually doing a deal for AIPC. If its the former, the news should be out very soon. If its the latter, we may have to wait for a deal to actually be consummated before learning the identity of the brokerage firm. Whichever it is, the news will have a positive effect on the share price. Once AIPC hooks up with a prestigious firm on Wall Street, it will instabtly gain the kind of credibility that will attract the attention of other institutions, money managers and mutual funds. The relationship with an investment banker will also go a long way towards rendering the anticipated roadshow more meaningful in terms of participation. 2. When I asked him about the warrants being converted, he expressed his opinion that George would extend them once again. When I asked why a brokerage firm would be engaged now if George intended to extend the warrants, he responded with the following: MHGI WSA : investment bankers have many duties as you know MHGI WSA : warrents, consulting, and capital are just a few MHGI WSA : i feel who ever the banker would be would forfil most of these duties This is furher evidence that the soon-to-be announced investment banker will be arranging financing for an unspecified deal. 3. In response to my question about getting press attention for Chew's hiring, he said: MHGI WSA : we think the appointing of gene chew is a major step for aipn to be a major player in MHGI WSA : this field MHGI WSA : this adds creditability to aipns management and team MHGI WSA : we believe mr. chew will be proactive and we also believe we should se some press in the MHGI WSA : near term Can there be any doubt in anyone's mind that the refinery business is a key componant...maybe the key...in the "big picture". Gary confirmed, without going into details, that George intends to be a major national player in the asphalt business. With 2/3 of U.S. roads in need of re-paving, I would say we are looking at a growth industry with tremendous potential. Look for acquisitions in this area fueled by a serious line of credit from a major financial institution undoubtedly arranged by our soon to be investment banker. I will be looking for the press that Gary expects near-term concerning the hiring of Chew. 4. In response to Pruthfield's question about shareholders' expectations not being met, Gary said: MHGI WSA : i feel the time lines that are not met are time lines of share holders and investors Unfortunately, I have to take issue with this comment. Most of the timelines and heightened expectations that Gary is referring to happen to come from comments made by his own staff. Sharon is still talking about major news by Christmas. Brian is talking double-digits by the end of the year. And it goes on and on as many shareholders who have called MILL know first-hand. So, it is a bit disingenuous to blame the shareholders. 5. When asked about the stock price, Gary said: MHGI WSA : i do not care about day to day trading activity The response was insensitive and difficult to believe coming from the head of a company that is basicly in the business of marketing and promoting stocks. 6. In response to a question concerning possible Joint Venture partners, Gary said this: MHGI WSA : what i will say is that offers have been made MHGI WSA : with who i will not say MHGI WSA : aipn is currently in negs with many companies MHGI WSA : both big and small MHGI WSA : if gf turned down a deal it was in everybodies best interest MHGI WSA : up to now gf has handled this like a true champion This conflicts a bit with what Gary told Genelawyer. The latter was told a few weeks ago that an unnamed oil company had a right of first refusal until October 31 but that George had rejected that offer. Gary made this statement in the context of explaining what "resumed negotiations" meant in that press release. Friday's use of the word "if" may have been unintentional. If it was intentional (meaning not sure or not willing to confirm) then we have an example of Gary saying one thing on the phone and quite another in print. I'm sure he will clarify this point. Furthermore, I have to wonder whether or not AIPC has any obligation to release information to shareholders about having turned down a significant offer that caused the cessation of talks with a specific party. If they were in continuing talks, I can understand a "no comment" but if talks between party A and AIPC are no longer occurring do shareholders have a right to know what was turned down by their company? Would this be considered"material information" to which we are entitled. Not sure of the answer, however, it is not uncommon to see statements in the financial press from company's announcing that they are no longer in talks with so and so? Any lawyers out there? 7. Gary's parting words were: MHGI WSA : may you all have a Happy Holiday, this does not mean you will not here from me or a lack of MHGI WSA : news until then This was a reference to a remark he had made in the chat room after announcing that a press release was coming out. He wished everybody a Happy Holiday and left....leaving everyone with the impression that the major news before Xmas that his staff had been talking about with shareholders was about to become reality. When the GeoTech release finally came it was a letdown to many whose expectations had been raised by MILL....it just did not seem to qualify as a major announcement and was greeted as such by the market. Gary's statement in the meeting about not meaning that we will not hear from him before Xmas would suggest that news will be out by then. If we hear nothing, then Gary will have, himself contributed to unnecessarily raising shareholders' expectations. For him, there would be no percentage in doing that. The only thing that I really regret was that so few questions could be asked. Before the meeting I was asked to draw up a list of questions that would be distributed to the participants. I did so and I believe that those that were not asked still merit attention. Perhaps others can ask them in their conversations with Gary by phone. For those who did not see them, here is a re-print: 1. Gene Chew was the top lobbyist for refinery industry in Washington for 9 years and was just appointed Chairman of the prestigious Asphalt Institute. The fact that he also heads up AIPC's Refinery Division would seem worthy of notice by the press. Are any efforts underway to get press attention for his appointment? 2. Why did Lorrie Olivier return to Moscow and other countries in the region with Anatole Kunevich so soon after his last trip there? 3. Keith Bossey states that AIPC is negotiating with several brokerage firms to handle the conversion of the warrants and that negotiations should be completed no later than the end of the year. Has the company decided on an investment banker and when will that be announced? 4. Mr. Chew's former employer , Neste Trifinery in Corpus Christie, is rumored to be an acquisition target. What is the status of those talks? 5. Several individuals at MILL have repeatedly told shareholders that they expect a major announcement by XMAS or the end of the year? Are they correct in their opinion? 6. You have told shareholders that most of the story should be out by the end of the year. Do you still believe that to be true? 7. Do you know who ARGENT is selling for and do you know how much stock they have to sell? 8. Did WaveTech crews ever actually go to Kazakhstan in connection with the work they are doing for AIPC? 9. In late September, AIPC paid WaveTech an extra $20,000+ to have the company work overtime evaluating the existing Soviet data for the concession. This would suggest that that part of WaveTech's was completed in October as a priority. Why has the company not released the data as it pertains to the amount of "potential" oil in the concession? When will those #'s be released? 10. Exactly what kind of information can we expect the seismic programs announced yesterday to provide in January? 11. Why is AIPC not using 3-D seismic? 12. The company has no real solid story to tell at this time. It is a story of potential. What would have to change in this story for the roadshow to be a succesful one attracting serious attention from Wall Street? 13. When is road show expected to begin? 14. In general, what efforts is MILL making to get AIPC in the news? Why was AIPC not part of the numerous articles in the media concerning Kazakhstan as were other small companies with concessions smaller than AIPC's? 15. When will the numerous grammatical and spelling errors on the AIPC web-site be corrected? Cheers...Faris