Distance? The universe must have collapsed in on itself because there’s barely a cigarette paper between the two. This may be odd, given that ASIC’s investigation, we are told, remains ongoing.
Take, for instance, Creso Pharma’s $7 million placement outlined to the market on Thursday. Not only did Blumenthal (and his nominee) chip in $1.74 million to raise, EverBlu Capital Corporate Pty Ltd acted as lead manager on the equity issue.
Based on the 6 per cent cash fee, EverBlu took in a tidy $420,000 for the deal, which will see EverBlu trousing 175 million options in Croesus, barring shareholder disapproval (luckily, Blumenthal held 10.31 per cent of the shares as at July 2021).
The fees and options are apparently negotiated at “arm’s length”. Creso must deserve entry into the Guiness World Records book for shortest limbs, given it is “mandated by Everblu Capital as its corporate adviser and lead manager for capital raisings”.
Or consider Croesus’s $5 million raising in March this year, to fund an expansion into the US. There, Blumenthal committed to chip in $318,250, just slightly more than the $300,000 EverBlu earned facilitating the raising.
Creso’s 2021 annual report lists $5.4 million in related party transactions with EverBlu, and $5.7 million the year before that.
Croesus’s raising this week comes as it looks to swallow up fellow ASX-listed weed barn Health House International. Deidre Chambers, what a coincidence, EverBlu is acting as Creso’s corporate adviser for the proposed merger and will receive a 7.5 per cent transaction fee.
Health House, which counts former South Australian premier mike rann among its directors, was recently jilted by another ASX-listed dope show, Zelira Therapeutics Ltd. Any awkwardness at that situation for Tim Slatewho sits on the board of both Health House and Zelira, could have been smoothed over with a few passes of the dutchie.
But surely other employees of Health House could use something a bit stronger. Creso plans to “immediately” cut costs of the merger partner, including “the removal of all corporate overheads, reduction in headcount, sales, manufacturing, distribution costs”.
Hey, someone’s gotta foot the bill for those corporate advisory fees!