Indranet Technology's latest capital raising has run into trouble after two men named in the prospectus said they had nothing to do with the company.
The troubled and loss-making company's prospectus names Richard Punter in such a way as to suggest he is one of its executives and also names
Paul Smart as an adviser.
Punter, who is a former chief executive of New Zealand Dairy Foods and a former general manager of Zespri, said his and Smart's only involvement with IndraNet was that they met company executives several times last year acting on behalf of a concerned investor. Smart is the former chief financial officer of Sky Network Television.
IndraNet was keen to formalise a relationship, but no agreement was reached, they said.
"Punter also wrote to IndraNet on November 24, 2004, declining their position, there has been no further communication on this matter since November," the two men said in a statement last night.
The prospectus lists Punter immediately below chief executive John King.
"Commercial Development: Richard Punter," the prospectus says, following with his qualification and a brief history of his career but without naming the companies he has previously worked for.
The listing about Smart comes under the heading: Finance and funding and that he will be "assisting Russell (Fitts, chairman), Louis (Arnoux, founder and managing director), John King and Mick (Kain, a director)".
Punter said he and Smart took informal legal advice and were told that IndraNet's wording was sufficiently vague and that legal action would be so expensive that it probably was not worth taking the matter further. IndraNet did not respond to requests for comment by presstime yesterday.
Indranet's prospectus shows that at June 30 last year, the company had already gone though almost $15.5 million of shareholders' funds.
