The board of Robe Australia (Robe) is in discussions with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and interested parties over the potential sale of its shell company.
The embattled financial services group announced it is in talks with the ASX and other parties in its half year report.
“The board is now actively pursuing opportunities in respect to utilisation of the shell of Robe and is in discussions with both the ASX and potential parties who may wish to transact with the company and in so doing maximise the value to shareholders of such a transaction,” the report said.
In October last year, the company board announced it had sold its wholly-owned subsidiaries and as a result had “crystallised the removal” of Robe from any further claims, contingent arising out of the ownership of entities associated with Australian financial services licenses.
“The transaction included Robe providing to the purchaser, cash or cash equivalent of $131,153 being the agreed settlement sum based on net liabilities transferred,” the report said.
As well as finalising the sale of its subsidiaries, the Robe board said it has entered into a number of arrangements in respect to finalising outstanding debtors and continues to minimise the cost of operations.
“The company continues to take legal action in respect to the recovery of certain contingent assets,” the report said.
Robe revenue increased to $39,452 and profit before tax increased by 137.37 per cent to a profit of $250,207, due to recognition of a gain of $317,331 on discontinued operations.
In late 2009, Robe announced it had sold all of its operating businesses following a tumultuous year for the group.
The firm sold its stockbroking arm Tolhurst Limited, its wealth management business Community and Corporate Financial Services and completed the management buyout of corporate advisory activities undertaken by Tolhurst InterFinancial Limited.
For the year ended 30 June 2009, the Robe board wrote off all intangible assets totalling about $43.3 million and reported a loss of about $41.1 million.
