Nicholas Bolton, the 27-year-old IT entrepreneur who attempted to wind up toll road company BrisConnections, only to do a secret deal and vote against his own wind-up resolution, has hit back at claims he sold out his fellow investors.
Bolton has been accused of greenmail, a process by which an investor takes a minority stake in a company, and agitates for change in order to force the company to buy them out.
Bolton, who owns domain name sales company Domain Central, is the largest shareholder in BrisConnections, which is building Brisbane’s $4.9 billion toll road project linking the city and airport.
Bolton was able to amass his 19.7% stake for less than $100,000 after the company’s stock plunged to just 1c last year, but he then claimed he was unaware that each unit holder is required to pay a $2-per-share instalment to BrisConnections over the next 12 months. That means Bolton faced a debt of $154 million on his shares.
Bolton called an extraordinary general meeting of the company in the hope of winding up the company and getting out of paying the instalments.
But it was revelaed yesterday that prior to the meting, Bolton sold the voting rights to his shares to Leighton Holdings, the major contractor working on the road, for $4.5 million. Leighton then voted Bolton’s shares against the wind-up resolution.
But Bolton has hit back at claims he is a greenmailer.
“I am realistic and commercial but the intention from day one has been to recapitalise the trusts and find a solution for all unit holders,” the told The Australian Financial Review.
What is not clear is whether Bolton has managed to find a way out of paying the $154 million in instalments, $77 million of which is due at the end of this month.
Bolton claims he has not done a deal to relieve him of his obligation and says he will continue to fight to resolve this matter.
“We are certainly not a passive investor. While I can, I will be doing everything I can to resolve the situation for unit holders. The matter’s not over. There’s still a big pending issue with the instalments and that needs to be resolved.”
Commentators including Alan Kohler suggest a deal will need to be done between the Queensland Government and the underwriters of the project, Macquarie Bank and Deutsche Bank, in order to relieve unit holders of their obligations and keep the project on track.
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James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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