HY,
Off to work and will make this short. Your response is the first logical response to my concern. Might I add, that after the posting yesterday, there are at least 10 others who have emailed me privately and stated this is a serious flaw in the way Sino Agro operates.
Just to clarify, my issue is with the process of selecting a CEO. That needs to be through an open search process to generate ideas on how other candidates would advance Sino Agro's Swedish presence and create market buzz around Sino Agro. To me, the Swedish perception of Sino Agro is critical to attracting institutional investors and getting listed on the OMX. If Sino Agro wants to get a fair valuation on the OMX, then act like a professional firm.
After an open search, I am not opposed to Erik being chosen as the CEO. The point is, after an open search, you know how your inside candidates stacks up against open competition. The idea that only your inside contact is the only one that can perform an important function is flawed and how a two-bit firm thinks.
Currently, funding is the most important function from Sweden to be accomplished. I would not hand the CEO title to anybody, who cannot deliver that as part of the contract. All the other stuff about IR, I disagree with you. Knowledge of the firm is a secondary criteria for me. If I want an IR person, I would go get an IR person who has been doing that for at least 10 years, and someone who has been doing it for an Asia based firm. Not hand it off to an ex-analyst at a US bank, as smart as he might be.
BTW, Erik does not even have a Linkedin page. Not a serious professional with any major accomplishments or capable of marketing himself. Needless to say, Sino Agro does not have a Linkedin presence and we still remain Facebook centric! We could do with some IR expertise and need to have a LinkedIn and Facebook presence, with help from someone who has been doing this for at least 5 years. Not a knock on Peter, as I know he is swamped and responds promptly to investor emails. Get a few university interns and fix that.
I will grant you the point on the 2013 audited financials needs to be there to take the funding exercise forward. That would be available shortly. In the next three months, if Erik does not deliver on the funding, there is little reason to keep him around. We have failed twice before and I understand how difficult it is. All the more reason to hire someone who can deliver funding for us. Note that all the groundwork for the bond offering is in place to get us over the finish line and there is not a lot Erik needs to do to get it for us. This is Erik's strength and he needs to deliver that for us.
The divvy announcement date came from Sweden. What did not materialize for us to call it off? I hold Sandy and Erik responsible for that fiasco. As investors, we seem to be caught in between lack of judgement and poor judgement.
Sandy has to take the hit on Penser. Here is why. Sandy should have made sure that Penser does not use the excuse that not signing-off based on the profile of Sino Agro (small Chinese firm with tremendous growth) is an option for Penser. Penser can demand clarification on specific line items on the financials of Sino Agro. If we cannot defend that, then we need to fix it anyway. But using Sino Agro's general profile to not sign-off as a CA should have been sorted out before we embarked on this misadventure. That is why, Penser was a strike against Sandy. There is a difference between indefensible line items on the financials and not signing-off on financials given the Chinese small cap profile.
Sino Agro is not a scam, even though it is based on feedback from others and my read of Solly. Solly seems like an honorable man and the heart and soul of Sino Agro. Be all and end all. That does not mean we should not have a CFO or a succession plan in place. Very important for a listing.
Sandy provides the credibility for Sino Agro that Solly could never buy. I feel comfortable that Sandy is heavily involved and is a prime reason for my investment. However, I disagree with the process of choosing Erik and do not believe he is the best man for the job.
Will be the first cheer to Erik should he surprise us. I hope he does and if he does deliver on funding, as an investor I will be happy as pig in shit. Right now, I am disappointed about the pps and as an investor, I reserve the right to call it like it is.
One last point, many of you have been on investor tours and have personally met most of the actors in this play. Personal relationships get in the way of an objective assessment, and I could sense that in most of the responses to my posting. Having said that, I feel comfortable investing in Sino Agro only because of investors who have shared valuable info from these tours and the fact that Solly is open to such experiences.
In the end, I am an investor as are all of us. It is not about growing prawns and organic beef. Glad, as I can be given that I am a vegetarian, about the environmentally responsible path Sino Agro has chosen to industrially farm beef and prawns. To me, it is about 'Where is the beef' meaning return on investment and not organic beef.
Hope it works out for all of us.
kavdiv
