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These current events harken back to the fiasco in the spring with the AGM and its re-scheduling to satisfy Southeastern and the other hedgies with its improper and untimely notice to shareholders.
With O'Brien, the former CFO of Rosneft, gone from the Board, is there any concern that the Rosneft purchase is in doubt?
With the statement last week about all information being available to shareholders, when we read about the details of the 6% Rosneft is buying, if they still are?
HRT's value is due to incompetent management (prior and current); lack of transparency on Amazon deal; negative business environment in Brazil, especially as it relates to natural resources; prolonged Polvo approval, and management's intent on lining their own pockets at the expense of shareholders.
As each of these are removed as a detriment, HRT SP might increase in value by 20-25 cents. Otherwise, it will remain in the dumpster.
No surprise that IR has not replied to my email sent a week ago. Rosneft's release was void of details, too.
This lack of transparency worked so well that Petrobras followed the same "no details" strategy in its Friday's release on price adjustments and sank ~10%.
I think that any money Rosneft is paying HRT will be funneled into a restricted account to be used for Amazon only cap ex projects. Thus, no cash to help HRT with its liquidity issues.
As to disposition of HRT's 49% interest, Rosneft probably has a right of first refusal on any sale, which naturally reduces the interest of any third party, i.e., not worth the time, money or energy to investigate if Rosneft can pull the rug out from underneath that company's proposal with a matching bid.
I emailed IR today, asking why no disclosure was made in Friday's PR and requesting that they release details immediately.
Should an excuse or reason citing "gag order," is full of it.
Did anyone notice if Rosneft released any details?
While there have been changes at the top, one thing has not changed within HRT: total disregard for transparency and, eventually, for the shareholders.
This "Material Fact" is in name only as there are very few facts that are known and the rationale behind that fact even less.
This release occurred on Friday night with no details of the transaction given: no sales price, no terms, no conditions or contingencies (if there are any) and no explanation as to why 6% was sold, and not the agreement stated 10%.
When this lack of transparency has happened before with HRT and other companies, it leaves shareholders twisting in the wind with the expectation that they won't get a fair deal when all is said and done.
Is there a reason HRT didn't sell the 10% to Rosneft? Obviously, there is more to this transaction, such as, does the cash go into an escrow account for the pipeline costs.
http://ir.hrt.com.br/hrt/web/conteudo_en.asp?idioma=1&tipo=32124&conta=44&id=184822
They must have telepathy. Here is the earnings release link, issued about the same time as my earlier note.
http://ir.hrt.com.br/hrt/web/conteudo_en.asp?idioma=1&tipo=32124&conta=44&id=184487
Hear, Hear, Gary Adams!
Rzbern, what is your take on all this skullduggery?
Was the earnings release, scheduled for post-São Paulo hours today per website, issued in invisible ink and we need a decoder glasses to see it?
Maybe, the conference call tomorrow will be conducted in sign language so we won't hear anything either unless we have decoder hearing aids that picks up the wave action of the finger and hand movements.
I am having knee replacement surgery tomorrow early AM CST and will miss all of the interesting commentary from those who are able to "hear" the call. If the doc has time, a brain replacement might be in order for thinking this ship can ever be righted.
Roskamp Institute web page has no announcement of Dr. Mullan's move? Has anyone heard what Mr. Roskamp's view is of these recent events?
Thank you, North and Drill, for your thoughts and information.
The purpose of my question to IR is that they do clarify the Rosneft situation and leave no facts out as to the status. I know they can't comment before the announcement and CC, but am asking them to be forthright about it then.
The information on the L/C's is good to know and maybe HRT booked the L/C value since it hasn't received the cash from Rosneft and are in the process of executing the L/C, which can take some time if there are questions with its completeness.
GLTAL
Rzbern:
How does one make adjusts to number of shares on the listing of shares? I've added, but don't readily understand how to edit my quantity.
Thanks for your help.
GLTAL
Good morning, rzbern:
I will follow through on your suggestion.
Keep up the great work you have undertaken and obragado for your efforts.
GLTAL
Drill, here is another question and possible answer re: liquidation value.
Why isn't the SP closer to a value some here have calculated upon an orderly liquidation versus the zero is moving towards?
I think it has to do with Rosneft and its financial relationship with HRT, post-TNK acquisition.
In reviewing the December 2012 and June 2013 financials, there seems to be some inconsistencies and/or omissions. (If these facts were raised and answered before, my apologies as I don't recall the discussion.)
In the 2012 annual financials, there is neither balance sheet acknowledgement of the receivable due from TNK (now, Rosneft) nor payable to Petra. Both agreements were structured, I believe, requiring 5 semi-annual payments.
From the 2011 financials, we know Petra was owed R$515K in 2012 and 2013. The 2012 financials notes TNK’s buy-in of the 45% Solimões stake, but does not stated that TNK assumed HRT's position with respect to Petra, i.e., that the liability was transferred to TNK. Therefore, this asset and payable are two distinct and separate transactions, requiring disclosure, and should not be paired against each other without disclosure.
As to the amount due HRT from TNK, that is denominated in US$, which is another reason there should be no offset.
In the June 2013 financials, there is a draw-down of Marketable Securities totaling R$546 million, but only R$272 million is included in the cash flow statement as a separate line item. What happened to the difference of R$274 million?
Also, in the June numbers, the asset, Guarantees and commitments, increased R$306 million. The reference to Note 20 does not give any significant details as to why the “asset” increased by that amount. Usually, this category is a liability on the balance sheet, not an asset.
June's Note 14 has narrative that states the loan with Credit Suisse is R$75 million, whereas the rest of the financials discusses or shows ~R$150 million. [Not germane here, but pointed out to note carelessness and lack of review by staff and outside auditors.]
These points lead me to believe that Rosneft, now in place of TNK, is not making its required payments for either operating costs or the 45% acquisition payments in 2013, which might amount to ~R$600+ million in 2013. Those with knowledge of this situation understand its severity and have elected to be sellers. Additionally, they probably anticipate that ANP will not approve the Polvo deal and that nothing will happen positively with the Amazon pipeline project and the respective, likely stranded, assets. Thus, they conclude HRT is doomed since any court action will take time which HRT does not have if it is not being reimbursed on a timely basis by Rosneft.
Management needs to provide a full and complete answer to the Rosneft situation during HRT's conference call and what is its course of action. I don't believe they were that forthcoming in August.
Thank you, Dino, SP, abe and Mine, for your replies. I'll send the Rock Creek line for doctors and hope that will do the trick.
I appreciate the help.
GLTAL
I want to ask for some help from the Anatabloc community.
Next month, I am having a knee replacement. The Dr. has told me to stop taking all drugs and supplements 14 days before the surgery.
I have taken Anatabloc since it was first offered by Star. It has allowed me to forego taking Naproxen and Ultram (both taken for 15+ years) for arthritis pain in foot, hand, back and collarbone. I told his PA that I will be in significant pain if I stop taking Anatabloc. She said call us if it gets unbearable.
My request is: has any one else been able to convince her/his Dr. to allow continued use of Anatabloc during a similar period before surgery? If so, what information did you provide to the Dr.?
I appreciate any thoughts/comments and thank you in advance.
GLTAL
Thanks, rzbern. I thought might have been a one-to-one deal.
Does anyone know who bought and who sold ~ 6 million shares at the open of NYSE?
Any ideas, rzbern?
FYI - Earnings release scheduled for November 7th during the market, per thinkorswim.
Thanks to you, Adi2, and leifsmith for your follow through and thoughts.
Go to Post #14391.
AS Teedlum asked, what did Cox say on Wednesday? So far, no one answered.
Given Cox's stated reasons for leaving Agora, so he could invest in his "researched" companies, if he isn't talking up Star, then that in itself is a downer.
Did anyone listen to him?
Rosneft to issue new bonds.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rosneft-board-approves-9-billion-082941997.html
Will any be used for HRT activities?
Just a thought on the 2 recent downer articles ... It is options' expiration week. With STSI over $2,50 earlier this week, some investors (sic!) got nervous that it might be there at week's end and rushed to push out negative news. This is not the first time, nor will it probably be the last, that Star has been pummeled during options' expiration week.
Dr. Faessel's piece was not posted to SA, which is surprising since he has posted prominently there before. Thus, his article's impact became a non-positive to negative due to its publishing location, i.e., lack of exposure. [BTW - Has anyone heard why it wasn't published on SA?]
This is a wonderful analysis and rebuttal to the hit piece.
What needs to be done to have this Faessel article placed on the wires, Seeking Alpha et al, so investors are able to review a more objective view of Star?
If that happens, SP might reverse like it did yesterday when the hit piece was published on the wires.
Another Crohn's Disease failure as reported in Fierce Biotech today (10/14/13):
3. Coronado Bio shares crater after Crohn's drug flops in PhII
By John Carroll Comment | Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Coronado Biosciences' ($CNDO) mid-stage trial of its experimental drug for Crohn's disease flopped in a mid-stage study. And while the biotech pointed to an unexpected placebo response and the possibility of finding something positive after some further analysis of the data, its stock cratered on the news, plunging 70%.
The Burlington, MA-based biotech recruited 250 patients for its study of CNDO- 201 (TSO), but investigators say that it failed both its primary and secondary endpoints on disease activity and remission. "In the corresponding pre-defined subset analysis, TSO showed a non-significant improved response in patients with CDAI>290 (the disease activity index)," reported the company. "The lack of overall response was driven by higher-than-expected placebo response rate in patients with CDAI."
TSO is made up of the microscopic eggs of pig whipworms, which some researchers believe can recalibrate the immune system in order to damp down the kind of inflammatory response that causes a disease like Crohn's.
"While we are disappointed with the topline results, we are encouraged to see TSO's effect in patients with CDAI > 290. These results support the potential of TSO to regulate the immune system in patients with Crohn's disease, particularly those with higher level of disease severity," said Coronado CEO Harlan Weisman. "We look forward to further analyzing the data from TRUST-I, along with the anticipated data from Dr. Falk Pharma's TRUST-II study in Crohn's disease, to identify the most appropriate development path for TSO."
Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH, the biotech's development partner, is managing TRUST-II, a mid-stage study of three different doses. The results are expected later in this quarter.
- here's the release
Related Articles:
GlaxoSmithKline terminates Crohn's drug program following a pivotal failure
AbbVie, Galapagos extend JAK1 pact into Crohn's disease with $50M carrot
Won't HRT release info in the next week or so as to who sold and who bought (if greater than 5%)? With that, it might provide some clarity as to how its future is evolving.
GLTAL
Should we consider this the waving of the white flag?
Where is HRT and its shareholders?
From prior remarks on the gas monetization, there is little chance of any significant progress until the 10% call/put deadline is reached at which time a buyer of HRT's on the market 25% will know if it is part of the majority coalition (with HRT's 30%) or the minority if Rosneft buys, willingly or not, the 10% called for in the contract. Not many companies want to be in that limbo with control and hundreds of million$ on the line until it knows the project's structure.
No one in Brazil or elsewhere is impressed with Polvo, given the fact that its financial impact does not seem to register any SP upward movement with those investors, other than some of the folks on this board. Any cash from Polvo probably needs to be returned there, thus little help for deep-water drilling in Namibia.
Those leases do not seem to be attracting anyone's interest (except early on from its mother-based country cousin, Galp, wooed by MM's hot air) with the company somewhat on the brink, especially after this distress call interview.
Unfortunately, HRT has the opposite touch compared to Midas ... what it touches turns to dust!
C'est le vie ... and E&P investments!
Great find, Gold. Do you do as well when searching for the ore? ;)
Regis, Ashley has posted again with updated picture!
Thanks, rzbern, for the summary of the IR comments and your insights.
I was asking because with yesterday's activity of 7.5 million shares with +7¢ that there might be an announcement more imminent.
Today's Action!
5¼ million shares with an uptick of 5¢ at the moment.
So, is there news around the corner? Is ANP approval of Polvo near?
rzbern, do you hear any local scuttlebutt?
Thanks for anyone's insight.
P.S. Now 8¢.
Thanks, Drill, for sharing your insight and investigative efforts.
Is the 10% of the HRT's Solimões ownership a hard fact that Rosneft has to purchase? Or is it an option that Rosneft can elect not to exercise? If they don't buy the 10%, what does that state about its commitment to developing the Solimões?
BTW - Based on the presentation, HRT's percentage could dropped to 20% in the Solimões if it farms out the stated 25% plus 10% to Rosneft. This will reduce its outlays if a gas monetization plan gets off the ground, allowing more $$ for drilling at Polvo and in Namibia.
So, Pipi, how was your outing with Ray Knight? Was there any discussion of Anatabloc?
Pipi, try this icebreaker.
Take a bottle of Anatabloc with you; pull it out when you are on the tee, take a few and ask Ray if he wants to try some.
.
While the information received might be 9/13, it is still the data from June. Hard to believe these numbers haven't changed since then, given the events since June.
Per HRT website:
Shareholders Common Shares Participation
Southeastern Asset Management 38,358,950 12.90%
Discovery Capital Management LLC 28,615,697 9.62%
Putnam Investments, LLC 16,104,653 5.42%
Other Shareholders 214,383,279 72.06%
Total 297,462,579 100.00%
Top
Last Update on June 14, 2013
I'll leave that to the more analytical minds to answer.
Regardless, what GSK has isn't working!
GlaxoSmithKline terminates Crohn's drug program following a pivotal failure
[Posted on FierceBiotech today]
By John Carroll
When ChemoCentryx ($CCXI) reported last month that its Crohn's disease drug vercirnon (GSK1605786) failed the first of four Phase III trials mounted by GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), the biotech said it was awaiting word from the pharma giant on its future development plans.
That decision has come down now. Referring to a slate of updates on Sept. 12, Clinicaltrials.gov now lists the other three Phase III trials--SHIELD-2, 3 and 4--as terminated. And a spokesperson for GlaxoSmithKline confirmed to FierceBiotech that the studies were axed.
"Those studies have been terminated," says Glaxo spokesperson Melinda Stubbee in an email to FierceBiotech. "No efficacy was observed with either dose of vercirnon over 12 weeks in SHIELD-1. In addition, dose-dependent increases in rates of adverse events (AEs), gastrointestinal AEs, and cardiac AEs, including two cardiac serious AEs in the 500mg twice daily group, were observed. Those findings have reduced the benefit to risk profile of vercirnon and don't support the continued treatment of the study patients."
Three weeks ago the biotech reported that "new recruitment and dosing in the ongoing clinical program has been suspended pending further review of the SHIELD-1 results," sending its shares down by almost half that day.
Glaxo inked a $1.5 billion deal--$63.5 million upfront--with ChemoCentryx back in 2006 to explore new drugs for inflammatory bowel disease. At that time, vercirnon, or Traficet-EN, was in Phase II/III studies.
GSK had a big program underway. The pharma giant's first trial recruited 608 patients and tested two 500 mg doses--once and twice daily--for moderate to severe Crohn's. The primary endpoint focused on a score of at least 100 points at 12 weeks on the Crohn's Disease Activity Index. Clinical remission (CDAI score less than 150 points) at 12 weeks was evaluated as a key secondary endpoint.
Shares of ChemoCentryx tanked again a few days ago after the biotech released weak interim results for its mid-stage study on a new drug for diabetic nephropathy. The company says the chemokine receptor CCX140 spurred a significant reduction in proteinuria after 12 weeks of therapy, spurring some confident remarks from executives. But some analysts said the drug was not clearly better than a placebo, prompting a 23% plunge in the stock price.
ChemoCentryx did not immediately respond to a query from FierceBiotech.