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Nick Bolton's Molopo cash box raid will prove costly as ASIC prepares for share sale

Colin Kruger, CBD

An ASIC ban from managing corporations for three years did not stop corporate cowboy, Nick Bolton, from starting the year with an attempted raid on listed cash box Molopo Energy. 

But the final bill from his ill-fated raid – aided and abetted by the colourful Perth cowboy, Farooq Khan – might just cool his ardour a little. 

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The corporate regulator is expected to announce this week which broker has been signed up to sell off the 39.5 million shares that the Takeovers Panel has ordered Bolton's team to offload after taking a dim view of the raid. 

The problem for Bolton and his associates is that the stock has plunged since all the excitement about their attempt to sweep the board, which means his crew are significantly under water on the stock which is now to be sold under the divestment order. 

In November, one of the entities, Aurora, picked up 14.5 million shares at 15.7¢ each, and another 10 million in March at 17.5¢. 

Molopo shares closed on Friday at 12¢. The broker will have up to six months to dispose of the stock, which amounts to 16 per cent of Molopo's issued shares.

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That sort of overhang should do wonders for the share price unless the Molopo board find a brilliant investment for the company's $67 million cash pile. 

And for those who were wondering, the sale by the nominated broker includes the "requirement that none of the Associated Parties or their respective associates may acquire, directly or indirectly, any of the" shares for sale. 

We assume this includes Tony Hartnell – the former chairman of ASIC's predecessor, the Australian Securities Commission – who was nominated for a board seat by Bolton's team. 

Work Fair

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash appointed some new bodies to the Fair Work Commission on Friday and it will shock no one that ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, was not among the picks. 

On the same day that Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was touring through Gippsland – and no doubt talking to the AMWU faithful in their troubles with Esso/Exxon – Cash was appointing Exxon's Industrial Relations guru, Ian Masson (formerly Woodside) to the workplace tribunal. 

It is good to know that Masson does not necessarily believe in giving a helping hand to corporate slackers. 

CBD came across a report from an AMMA conference in 2014 where Masson said: "One thing that is as true today as it was 25 years ago, is that employers make their own luck.

"You've just got to deal with the legislation that exists at the time, and navigate your way through, and not use the legislation as an excuse as to why you can't do things," he told the audience.

But if Cash and her colleagues were wondering what would be on Masson's wish list, he told the conference, that the unions' "monopolistic rights" in the bargaining process and the lack of "effective alternative agreement-making options" was something that needed fixing. 

Also appointed to the tribunal was Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest's HR boss at Fortescue, Abbey Beaumont, who spent 11 years as a registered nurse – and presumably a union member.   

Wombat Hollow

Speaking of Andrew Forrest, he was guest speaker on Friday at the Wombat Hollow Forum hosted by former Liberal Party treasurer, Michael Yabsley. 

Among those trekking down to the NSW Southern Highlands to hear Forrest speak on our cashless welfare future were Nick "Son of Gough" Whitlam, and Luca Belgiorno-Nettis whose philanthropic efforts are no longer crippled by that controversial stake in detention centre operator, Transfield. 

Pokie legend Len Ainsworth was also among the attendees along with his wife Gretel.

And it is safe to assume Len was tearing up the turf in his Porsche Cayenne – provided courtesy of his former employer Aristocrat Leisure – given Wombat Hollow is a short drive from his property in Bowral. 

Raftery's rules 

Last week CBD brought readers the tale of university business school lecturer, Adrian Raftery, whose empty classroom went viral after he vented his feelings on LinkedIn.

CBD can sympathise. The worst crime your diligent columnist committed as a business student was showing up in dreadlocks. 

So we have a soft spot for the guy. 

Especially since Raftery is growing a beard to raise money for the Beards of Hope event, which sounds great since CBD can't see the guy in dreadlocks. 

The event is run by the Bears of Hope, a charity designed to help parents deal with the loss of their infant children.

Raftery is a long-serving member on the Bears board after the death of his daughter Sophie. He has done some extreme things things like run the Sydney marathon dressed as a leprechaun to raise money.

The beards event has raised $250,000 over the last few years and the group held a race day at Hawkesbury over the weekend. Socceroo Robbie Cornthwaite is helping give this year's campaign a push as it looks to raise $100,000 this year. Cornthwaite lost his daughter Minnie.

Go get 'em guys.

Tinkler Tailor Lawyer 

Is there no end to the pain being endured by Nathan Tinkler's creditors? A court judgment on Friday added the legal costs of Tinkler's bankruptcy trustee to the $500 million-plus bill. 

The costs relate to Tinkler's successful application to travel to New York for a job interview earlier this year, overturning the trustee's rejection of his request to travel overseas. 

Tinkler's team – we can only assume they are getting paid cash in hand given his track record – argued that the trustee should pay Tinkler's legal bills given his application was successful. 

In his judgment on costs, Justice John Nicholas noted the lack of detail in Tinkler's initial application to the trustee which he described as "inadequate". He also noted that Tinkler pressed the trustee, and then the court, to deal with his travel request in circumstances that appeared "quite contrived".

Not that he was impressed with the trustee's dogged refusal to permit Tinkler's travel when the former billionaire produced a legit itinerary. 

So Tinkler has to cover his costs and the trustee's legal bill gets extracted from the boganaire's bankrupt estate.   

Follow CBD on Twitter. Got a tip? ckruger@fairfaxmedia.com.au