Como Aden bid draws query

Press, 28 September 1988, Page 37

Como Aden bid draws query

The New Zealand Stock Exchange has queried Como Holdings about the status of its take-over offer for Aden Corporation.

The executive director of the Stock Exchange, Mr Roger Gill, said yesterday that Como had been queried about the take-over after it and Aden Corporation were put into receivership on Monday. In February, Como made an offer for all the shares in Aden Corporation that it did not own. Aden was suspended from the Stock Exchange list in August and the offer closed on September 5. The issue has not yet been delisted. Mr Gill said it followed that queries would have been made about Prodigal Gold (51 per cent owned by Como), and Premier

Mining Securities (45 per cent owned by Como). The receivers of Como yesterday went on tour of the group’s operations on the West Coast to get an idea of the activities involved. One of the receivers, Mr Bruce Irvine, a Christchurch partner for Deloitte Haskins and Sells, said that no decisions had been made on any of the operations of the group. The receivers were still trying to work out profitability in relation to each of the operations, and it would be some time before decisions were made. The receivers had made no moves to stop publication of the “West

Coast Times.” The receivership notices would be put in that publication tomorrow as well as for other publications, Mr Irvine said. The Bank of New Zealand appointed receivers for Como Holdings, the listed Hokitika-based investment company, and a number of subsidiaries, Como Investments, Blackwater Holdings, Starline Minerals, Medialink Group, Aden Corporation, Aden Holdings, and Keep It Dark Enterprises on Monday. The bank holds floating debentures over the companies, but the receivers have not said what amount is involved.

Como’s 1987 annual report listed $4.66M in a floating debenture. In a half-yearly profit announcement in July, Como said term liabilities had increased from $2.9M at March 31 to S6.BM at June 30. The editor of the “West Coast Times,” Mr Brian Towers, said last evening that the newspaper would continue publication and that no staff had been laid off. The newspaper was run by the Guardian and Times Company, which formerly published the “Hokitika Guardian,” which in turn was 95 per cent-owned by Medialink Group, he said.