Guvera sell-off could be music to your ears

Cartoon: Peter Nicholson.

Psst! Wanna cut-price slice of IPO hopeful Guvera?

One “very large shareholder” in the loss-making, party-throwing music-streaming outfit apparently wants out.

A strange time to sell, if the $100 million IPO boss Darren Herft has been talking up comes soon.

But according to spam sent by Sydney property investment company Folio Invest, the investor is selling down for “personal reasons where funds are needed immediately”.

Folio Invest is offering shares at 20c to 50c off the $3.20 sticker price — “a potential 20 per cent increase ... upon purchase.”

Potential purchasers are of course told to “please act with urgency if interested” as the offer is open for just 10 days.

However, there’s been cheaper Guvera stock for sale for months, courtesy former director Michael de Vere.

In July last year de Vere, who is both suing and being sued by Guvera, advertised 5 million shares for sale at $1.90 a pop through his lawyer Chris McArdle, who told Margin Call he still had plenty left. On the other hand, the Federal Court limits de Vere to selling only “to the extent required for the payment of ordinary living expenses and reasonable legal expenses”.

In court, Guvera accuses de Vere of failing in the company’s disastrous takeover last year of British outfit Blinkbox, which went into administration, with the staff suing Guvera and Herft.

De Vere alleges Guvera has welshed on a deal to discharge his $6.5m home mortgage to fellow Guvera director Steven Porch and hasn’t issued him 3.25 million options or paid fees of $400,000.

Just gearing up

Margin Call had a long chat with Herft yesterday, who was keen to clarify some of the issues raised in our coverage.

It seems we figured out that JPMorgan wasn’t raising money for streaming music hopeful Guvera before the company did.

Herft said our item last Wednesday stating JPM was not raising $100m or working on an IPO came shortly before a letter from the investment bank saying the same thing. He said Guvera signed engagement letters with JPM to raise up to $100m in May or June last year, but the money never arrived.

And he was also keen to explain that the $17m (by his count) in equity raising fees reaped by his AMMA Private Equity over the past eight years was a good deal for Guvera because it was “purely performance-based”.

So why does AMMA use the financial services licence of obscure outfit Lotus Securities rather than one of its own?

Lotus does extra scrutiny of AMMA’s investments, he said.

Guvera’s operations burned $37.8m in cash last year, against $460,000 in customer receipts, but Herft reckons it’s only just gearing up to take on the world.

It’s been splashing out to buy music licences it needs for its brand-driven model, which he thinks will turn a profit in 12 to 24 months.

Claret flows

It seems a faceful of wine wasn’t the end of weekend pleasantries between NSW Labor organiser David Latham and Bill Shorten staffer Ian McNamara.

Latham allegedly emptied his glass of wine in a McNamara-wards direction on Saturday night after McNamara said Latham’s fiancee, Stefanie Jones, made up sexual harassment allegations against former NSW Labor general secretary Jamie Clements.

Margin Call hears fun carried over to the conference floor on Sunday, where Latham again greeted McNamara before being asked to take a break outside.

This after party president Mark Lennon on Saturday pledged standards were on the up at Sussex St after the scandal, which cost Clements his gig.

Clements’ replacement, Kaila Murnain, declined to comment and Latham and McNamara didn’t return calls.

The stoush showcases the strong traditions of the NSW Right and their sad decline.

Maintaining the rage, the dinner was of course at a Chinese restaurant — Sky Phoenix, atop Frank Lowy’s Westfield Sydney.

But some say wine in the face fails the standards of yesteryear, which call for a proper glassing.

Turnbull’s playground

Meanwhile, at the top end of town, Sydney’s Nielsen Park was the place to be on the weekend.

As Malcolm Turnbull kayaked from his Point Piper pile, others strolled in togs and jeans. Turnbull’s new innovation guru, Bill Ferris, was spotted taking a dip while another long-time resident of Turnbull’s electorate, David Gonski, was strolling along the promenade.

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