Bowleven (LON:BLVN) Bowleven provisional response to Crown Ocean Capital resolutions
out today
AN INTERESTING READ.
What to make of this?
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Too little too late from the board. Only thing they could do now is announce a return of capital to shareholders, sell off remaining assets and vow to become a cash shell. This could have been so much more
The Board have only themselves to blame. Their own incompetence has got them into this mess.
You think the board care? They have been taking so much money, for so long, from BLVN shareholders....
I attended an AGM many years ago (and wrote it up on TMF). Was totally unimpressed then, and have remained that way ever since.
OMH
Does anyone have an opinion about the new management at Bowleven? It's hard to know if their only strategy is going to be to cut costs.
Since ousting the original board at the EGM earlier this year, Crown Ocean Capital (c.27% shareholder) have effectively taken control of the company through bringing about the appointment of Chris Ashworth (Chairman) and Eli Chahin (CEO). So far they've reduced the overheads by cutting away the previous gold plated executive board although it is not clear what kind of sweetheart deals might be taking place between the company and its "advisers" in the guise of restructuring activities and associated fees. They still seem to be going ahead with the farm out of the Bomono field to Victoria Oil & Gas (LON:VOG) initiated by the old board so the rump of the company assets seem to be cash and the Etinde field in Cameroon. Whether Crown go through to make a full offer to take it private or simply liquidate the assets and distribute the proceeds is anybody's guess. If they have a longer term strategy it doesn't seem to have been broadcast so far as I am aware.
I sold my small holding in Bowleven (LON:BLVN) just after the EGM - lack of visibility over Crown's intentions and the suspicion that it's only a matter of time before the PI gets legged-over.
Gus.
I don't really have a view on the valuation of Bowleven (LON:BLVN) to be honest - part of the problem is the lack of transparency from the company. Presumably Crown think it's worth substantially more than the 35p or so when they built up their stake although this may be predicated on them having some smart ideas on how to strip out value for themselves rather than for all shareholders (call me a cynic!).
Presumably you've had a look at the basic Stocko valuation models:-
https://www.stockopedia.com/valuation/Relative/?ticker=LON:BLVN
These give a pretty broad range - although the ones based on net asset values are at or around the current share price of c.32p.
Gus.
I share your concern about Crown's intentions. I don't really trust a generic valuation method for something like this. I was looking more for someone who would look at the current state of projects and make some guesses about values in a liquidation.
It's a bit dated (July 2014) but absent anything more current, the attached research report from Edison will give you some background detail to build up a picture of the company's assets etc.,
http://www.edisoninvestmentresearch.com/research/report/bowleven5#js
Gus.
