It won't surprise anyone that real estate super agent John McGrath wants to pull his biggest listing, McGrath Ltd, from the market.
McGrath chairwoman Cass O'Connor -Malcolm Turnbull's former business partner - offered a rather coy affirmation to the questions on everyone's lips at its shareholder meeting on Thursday.
"We have reviewed a number of options for shareholders, but have nothing to disclose at this time," she said.
In plain language, they haven't figured out how to sell this dog to long-suffering shareholders just yet.
If McGrath opts for privatisation, it will mean our real estate guru will have come full circle in just two years.
Or, in the words of CBD's colleagues at the Australian Financial Review, he will have closed the loop on the only successful short trade made against the Australian property market.
When McGrath floated his real estate group in 2015, he and his merry men and women walked away with $96 million cash from the $130 million raised from new investors.
It says it all really, despite McGrath, who received $37 million cash in the float, retaining a 37 per cent stake in the group.
"When avowed property market people decide to sell their businesses to sharemarket people, it's the sharemarket people who should worry," said one prescient analyst before the public offering.
The housing market continued to bubble away after the float, but the glory days were over for the real estate agency.
The warnings that were flashed to potential investors in its prospectus came home to roost.
McGrath noted in the prospectus that it is "adversely affected" by factors that reduce sales transaction volumes, which is what happened when sellers got vertigo from the rocketing prices and sales volumes dropped.
It helped trigger the earnings misses, aided by another crucial factor.
"The loss of key personnel could have a material adverse effect on McGrath's financial performance and financial position," said the prospectus.
Sales from company-owned agencies were expected to make up 71 per cent of underlying earnings for the previous financial year.
It meant the company's business was highly reliant on prized agents who could walk at any time.
And a whole group of stars - disaffected with the straitjacket of a listed group and its falling stock price - did just that, starting up their own rival group, The Agency.
An overview for the year just ended showed that earnings from company-owned agencies made up just more than half of its earnings.
Skinny shorts
While it had been billed as a potentially fiery meeting, McGrath's chairwoman Cass O'Connor whizzed through the AGM in just more than 30 minutes.
Only three questions were asked. Two were by the Australian Shareholder's Association representative, who did declare that "I only have three shareholders' proxies".
One question was on McGrath's problems with short selling.
"This is not Harvey Norman," O'Connor replied. "Any short seller of McGrath stock would be playing with razor blades ... given how thinly the stock is traded."
It is the first time CBD has heard a chairman or chairwoman describe their stocks' lack of market appeal as a positive, but that's real estate for you.
All resolutions were passed: former Fairfax digital boss Nigel Dews was voted back on with 99.88 per cent, Cath Rogers at 99.88 per cent and the remuneration report passed with 99.16 per cent of the vote.
Unlike the inaugural meeting, where he made an impassioned speech, founder John McGrath sat silently at the end of the main table and made a swift departure after a quick chat with his fellow shareholders.
Ten Out
With US media group CBS formally receiving ownership of Aussie battler the Ten Network last week, CBD was wondering what would happen to Ten's directors who received such a battering from Bruce Gordon and Lachlan Murdoch before the network was plunged into administration.
A quick check of documents lodged with ASIC revealed they all did manage to jump ship as CBS took control last Thursday.
Chairman David Gordon, his colleagues Debra Goodin, Foxtel boss Peter Tonagh, WIN boss Andrew Lancaster and former pollie Andrew Robb vacated the boardroom table.
In came CBS Studios' international boss Armando Nunez, local CBS chief Stephen White, Ten boss Paul Anderson and his chief financial officer David Boorman.
Gordon's departure ends a very long association with Ten.
It was Gordon and David Gonski who advised Frank Lowy on his purchase of Ten in 1987 from Rupert Murdoch for $842 million.
The Murdoch family made money from Ten this time, and it was Lowy who lost a small fortune and has shown absolutely no interest in the media since.
Copper that
Queensland copper miner, Cudeco, has severed its last tie with company founder Wayne McCrae, after reaching a settlement with its former executive chairman over his ejection from the company two years ago.
A deed of settlement will result in McCrae pocketing $500,000 for "alleged unpaid termination entitlements" plus $150,000 for his legal costs.
As McCrae might put it: better than a "a dog with two dicks".
We assume Cudeco's interim chairman Peter Hutchison - who initially replaced McCrae as chief executive officer - led the negotiations on behalf of the board.
It brings McCrae's interest in Cudeco to an end. A quick check of the copper miner's annual report reveals that McCrae sold his 2.26 million shares sometime during the current financial year, possibly prior to him suing Cudeco in the Queensland Supreme Court over his entitlements.
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