Austock makes its move on Stockford

AustockBrokers has taken a strategic stake in Stockford and is seeking seats on the board less than two weeks after the departure of St George from the troubled consolidator’s share register.

Austock chairman Bill Bessemer says the company has an interest of between 12-15 per cent of Stockford. It has power of attorney on some shares as well as a direct shareholding.

“We talked to some people (Stockford shareholders) and they have granted us power of attorney over their shares in an event of a special meeting,” he says.

Many dealer groups and accountancy firms that joined Stockford took considerable parts of their sales in shares and these have been underwater for some time. Many planners would be looking for some move to lift the share price and return some value to their deals.

St George held 7.78 per cent stake in Stockford and Bessemer confirmed they had brought some of this stake through a small fund manager.

According to a substantial shareholding notice lodged with the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), Austock bought eight million shares, but has a controlling interest in 27 million shares which gives it 12 per cent of the consolidator.

Bessemer says the reason behind the acquisition was because Stockford showed “some real promise” in the future.

Stockford share price has been hovering in the teens and last week closed as low as 17 cents.

Bessemer says there are no plans to link Stockford with the other distribution group it has an interest in — Austchoice.

“We are continuing our talks with Stockford on a number of issues, including board seats. These talks are on cordial terms,” he says.