I had the pleasure of talking to Richard this morning. He was tired from a huge weekend of negotiations but seemed content with the end results. Apparently the vote was extremely tight and no one could be sure of how it would end if it went to the AGM. Richard wanted to do what was best for retail and in his opinion, the risk of losing outright to Rosseau was a very real possibility and he could not risk this. He said that personally, he would of gone to the wall, but he has a board of directors and shareholders to think of and that was his main motivation for doing this deal.
The three directors from Noront were his personal picks. Paul Parisotto was already on the board and is very respected. The two new directors were in final discussions already to join the board. These three directors are very strong directors who will do what is right for every shareholder in Richard's words.
We talked at length about the retail vote and how strong it was. He said he loved us all and I told him the feeling was mutual. He did not seem sad to go. He said he already has 5 offers on the table and he will be taking some time to make decisions but we have not seen the last of him.
He did tell me to hold onto my shares. He said that the geology up there is exceptional, like Sudbury 150 years ago, we are no where near done finding barn burning deposits! So with that we said goodbye. After I hung up the phone, a little nostalgia kicked in that I may never hear that great terminology again.
So times, they are a changing...
Glorieux
