Heatley talked into change

By DITA DE BONI

Craig Heatley, the man poised to buy 64 per cent of eVentures from its departing overseas founders, has agreed to mollify the concerns of the company's non-executive directors and 1150 small shareholders.

After lengthy talks between eVentures' non-executive directors and ex-chairman Mr Heatley, who is in the US, a deal has been struck which would effectively double eVentures' share price - a boon to small shareholders locked into their stakes.

On Monday, a company associated with Craig Heatley, Classics Communications, announced its intention to buy a 64 per cent stake in eVentures, owned jointly by Softbank and News Corporation subsidiary epartners. The purchase price would be between 14c and 16.8c a share, giving Mr Heatley control of around 80 per cent of the company.

When eVentures floated last year, shares were issued to the public - as well as corporate shareholders The Warehouse, Telecom and Todd Capital - at 60c each.

Under the new proposal, Mr Heatley's purchase of 160 million shares would be offered back to eVentures at cost. It would then cancel those shares.

The result would be a reduction in the total number of shares to 90 million, effectively increasing eVentures' net asset backing by approximately 45 per cent.

The Softbank and epartners joint venture has not yet agreed to Mr Heatley's proposal.

But the negotiated solution has heartened eVentures chairman Roderick Deane, who worked hard alongside other key figures in the company to secure a deal more favourable to minority shareholders, who bought into the company at 60c a share and have seen their investment plummet in value.

Both Mr Heatley and the founding partnership bought their stakes at 15c a share. The company's shares closed down 1c at 27c yesterday.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, Dr Deane said the New Zealand-based non-executive directors of eVentures, including Robert Bryden and Stephen Tindall, were "very pleased" that Mr Heatley had agreed to "facilitate an improved position for minority shareholders."

"The discussions were numerous because we had to find a solution acceptable to so many different parties," he said.

Dr Deane would not elaborate on his future with the company.

But it is understood he had been adamant on a deal which would have seen all shareholders "suffer equally" from the withdrawal of support from the local eVentures by the Softbank/epartners joint venture.

It is also understood that there had been a severe souring of relations between Softbank and epartners, although the New Zealand operation was not privy to the extent of the partnership breakdown until recently.

Analysts have pointed to the strange combination of eVentures' large cash box but relatively few investments - e-mail architects MessageMedia and E-Loan being the only two made in the company's year-long history. It is thought the eVentures partnership refused to pay for further investments by the New Zealand operation, its only listed incarnation outside the US.