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Cynotech takeover a done deal

Allan Hawkins has sewn up the takeover of his listed finance company Cynotech Holdings.A final notice to the NZX this morning advised the takeover was unconditional after enough shareholders had swapped their stock for securities in his private investment

Georgina Bond
Mon, 29 Mar 2010

Allan Hawkins has sewn up the takeover of his listed finance company Cynotech Holdings.

A final notice to the NZX this morning advised the takeover was unconditional after enough shareholders had swapped their stock for securities in his private investment company Cynotech Securities.

The offer, which valued Cynotech shares at 13.5 cents, had been accepted by holders of 78.4% of ordinary shares, 51.4% of convertible preference shares and 71.9% of warrants.

Mr Hawkins, 68, launched an official takeover notice for Cynotech Holdings, of which he is the chairman, in December, with his retirement in mind.

The offer courted criticism when the Independent Advisers Report recommended shareholders reject the offer as preference shares would be worth far less than 13.5c and it would be better to stay with the listed company under the regulatory protection of the NZX.

Mr Hawkins said a lot of the acceptances had come from shareholders who supported the company when it first went public in 2004.

Delisting the company was not automatic next-step but was part of the process that lay ahead with the remaining shareholders.

Cynotech Holdings has a small finance arm with consumer finance company Budget Loans in its stable, alongside ice cream cone maker Snowdon and mobile satellite communications company Cynotech Satellite.


Two years ago it bought the loan book of failed finance company Western Bay Finance and, in 2006, the loan book of National Finance 2000 when it was in
receivership.


Cynotech is the third listed company that Hawkins has controlled and is likely to be his last.

The 1980s highflier owned 38% of Equiticorp, which saw its demise in the 1987 crash and Ararimu Holdings.

After Equiticorp¹s fall, Mr Hawkins was sentenced to six years' jail in 1993 on seven fraud and conspiracy convictions on transactions worth $520 million after one of the longest and most expensive trials in New Zealand history.

Georgina Bond
Mon, 29 Mar 2010
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Cynotech takeover a done deal
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