Investors angered by Regent Pacific tactics
HONG KONG investors in troubled Regent Pacific investment are complaining of being given inadequate notice about a new round of problems to hit the company.
They are also claiming Regent failed to keep them abreast of measures being taken to protect their interests in the Barbados-based company that produces medicinal products from shark cartilage.
Regent's US$5 million stake in Cartilage Technologies (CT) was to be exited through a public offering.
But it has become bogged down in legal and business problems affecting both CT and the value of Regent's holding.
In the latest move, the company - renamed BioTherapies - was seeking shareholder support to sell a dietary supplement business.
Investors claim Regent, which recently became a listed company, did not contact them about a Friday meeting in New York until last Wednesday.
One investor said: 'Now that Regent has gone public I am sure the directors do not care less about this investment.' They are still awaiting the results of the meeting.
Regent Pacific took a stake in the company in April 1993 and has a 10 per cent to 11 per cent holding involving its own and private investor's funds.
Regent rejected CT's original offer to buy back the original $21-a-share stake for between $3 and $5 per share.
The deal has been hit by a range of problems including a falling-out between Regent and CT management which led to an injunction to prevent CT making a backdoor listing.
Investors said they had not been given details about Regent's claim that it was appointing a mediator to resolve the dispute. Regent declined to comment.
