How to lose $22m in 6 months

George Kerr has a reputation for being an astute dealmaker and the following is based on the assumption that it was him and Bryan Mogridge behind the dealing at PGC and Torchlight. Your board under the leadership of Bryan Mogridge is double backing and he is contradicting himself, which ultimately cost PGC shareholders and arm and a leg.

You can run, but you cannot hide

When a 150 year old company moves its Annual General Meeting for the first time EVER and to a city at the opposite end of the country then you have to ask Why?

If you cannot figure out the obvious then ask anyone that attended last year's meeting or as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words.

Bryan Mogridge disagrees according to a recent report in The Press ,

"I don't see why they would be hostile, frankly. Without PGC Heartland would not have been formed, and more specifically without George's money and underwrite [of a $272.5m capital raising in late 2009] it wouldn't have happened."

John Duncan is back as George Kerr!

I noted in the preceding post that I thought the person was mistaken when saying George Kerr abandoned the Torchlight Fund No. 1 LP . Imagine my surprise when said person contended that John Duncan is still at PGC and happily continuing in his old role as (Managing?) Director? I expected John Duncan to have surfaced by now, so now I know why he has not. He is still happily forging away at PGC; of course I’m not using “forging” in the negative sense of the word. Speaking of which….And I know you think I totally lost it. I leave it for you to decide. 

George Kerr sold his entire stake in Torchlight Fund No. 1 LP

Brother Pele's in the back, sweet Zina's in the front 
Cruisin' down the freeway in the hot, hot sun 
Suddenly red-blue lights flash us from behind 
Loud voice booming, "Please step out onto the line" 
Pele preaches words of comfort, Zina just hides her eyes 
Policeman taps his shades, "Is that a Chevy '69?" 
How bizarre How bizarre, how bizarre

I was more than a bit surprised when someone broke the news to me that Kerr sold his entire investment in Torchlight Fund No. 1 LP. If fact, at first I did not believe this person. 
Buried on page 73 of the recent 80 page annual report is the revelation that George Kerr sold his entire stake in Torchlight Fund No. 1 LP (TLP). “During the year GCD Kerr disposed of his limited partnership interests in Torchlight Fund No.1 LP as well as his beneficial interest in Heartland New Zealand Ltd.”

Greg Bright's old article on George Kerr

Link contributed by a reader...

Financial firepower – why van Eyk’s new backer can fuel lasting growth

 van Eyk, the most influential research firm in the financial planning market, has a new cornerstone investor following the departure of the company’s namesake. GREG BRIGHT reports on the new-look van Eyk and the major shareholders’ plans for sustained growth. Mark Thomas has a new partner at van Eyk and, more importantly, he has the catalyst and firepower for some big changes to how his business is run and the firm’s continue

Somewhat entertaining commentary on MD report

George Kerr released his "Managing Director's Report" on 29 Aug

I got a chuckle out of this commentary.

Final submissions

A few readers wanted to make the final reminder public, so can you please have your source material submitted no later than 15 September. A friend of the board is currently working on syndication to the New York Times and trying to get Michael Lewis interested as well. This is a good place to start for those of you that do not know Mr Lewis. I am an admirer of Mr Lewis' work and you will enjoy his articles and he has written very good books too, which you can find here. The Bloomberg and Financial Times stories looks like it will happen, but it would be rather nice to get the other two on board as well. We need that source material though.

Cheerio,
jA