cwericb

Happy holidays everyone and may 2012 find you all healthy and wealthy!

“where are the charges?” Just because it is difficult to obtain enough evidence to take a case to court certainly does not indicate there was no wrongdoing. Would you believe that everyone that exceeds the speed limit gets a ticket?

I am somewhat surprised and disappointed at Fairfax's roll in this opportunistic and incestuous deal. It's great for Fairfax, and a perfect fit for Resolute, but a pretty raw deal for us small shareholders who have stuck in there for several years. I bought in at $1.72 several years ago, a lot more at $0.53 and then took "advantage" of the rights offering at $1.01. After watching this drop from nearly two bucks to 70 cents I dumped a bunch at $0.75 just before the deal was announced. I'll do okay because most was purchased at the 53 cent level, but my timing has been pretty lousy. At $1.20-$1.40 it would still seem pretty cheap for Resolute and a lot more fair to shareholders, but I can't see that happening.

From a press release this morning: MONTREAL, Nov. 30, 2011 /CNW Telbec/ - Fibrek announced today that its Board of Directors, with the support of its financial and legal advisors, initiated a diligent assessment of the current situation and of the intention of Resolute Forest Products ("Resolute") to make an offer to acquire Fibrek, as previously announced. The Board of Directors will also fully consider any other strategic alternatives available to Fibrek and communicate Fibrek's views to its shareholders in due course. The Board of Directors fears that Resolute's unsolicited offer undervalues Fibrek and its future prospects. "The consideration offered under the Resolute proposal does not capture Fibrek's true value for its shareholders", said Pierre Gabriel Côté, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fibrek. Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/506703#ixzz1fCkhsQD4

FBK was in the $1.60-1.70 this Spring. At $1.00 I feel like a victim of incest.

libor.plus1 Agree. I would want to see a report cleared by PWC before we really know the end result.

The actual interim report is here. http://www.sinoforest.com/schedules/SF-Release-Independent_Committee_Interim_Report.pdf

This is simply a political power play. Papandreou is a politician trying to cover his own political ass at the expense of everyone else. He holds a referendum and if he can convince the Greek people that they have no choice, then everyone probably benefits. If he can’t, than the consequences are their own fault. Either way, he can say that it was the people’s decision, not his, and he can attempt to hold on to power. What else would you expect of today’s politicians? Surely one would think that the other EU leaders would have anticipated this?

Between RBC and RBC Bank (US), I have a US checking account, a US savings account and several CDN bank accounts, a US Visa card, TFSA, an RBC Direct Investing account and an RSP through RBC Dominion Securities. With a click I can transfer between my accounts (instantly with most) and can see all the balances on one screen. Trading fees are now just $9.95 with $50K in assets which is not too bad if you don’t do many trades. I also find that I can ask just about any investing question through their e-mail center and get a reasonably quick response. I have recommended RBC to friends South of the Border who have summer residences in the area and they find having all their accounts in one bank on both sides of the border works very well. I just wonder if it will all work so seamlessly now that RBC has sold off their US branches. RBC seems to think so. DI fees are covered here http://www.rbcdirectinvesting.com/commissions-fees-schedule.html

Good post libor

"Last time I checked, it did not appear that either current management (i.e. those who have not been suspended) or the auditors really knew what was going on in the company. Do you think they know whether the company is solvent?" You may well be right in that, but one would think that after four and a half months into the audit that PWC would have some idea as to the solvency of the company. But that is not the point I was making. What I said was that your assertion that the payment was part of a Ponzi scheme simply could not be correct by definition. The stock is not trading. Therefore, there is no gain to be made. In turn, the payment could not be part of a Ponzie scheme. The payment may or may not be an indication of good news to come on TRE but it is certainly not bad news.

“A libel suit? Are you kidding me? For calling a company a fraud after the regulators halt shares and force management out? Jeezus do you really want to double down on another round of this Sino Forest bs? Cwericb, whoever you are, I have news for you. You got fooled. Duped. It's over. Such fierce loyalty to those who just defrauded you is amusing, but threatening me with a lawsuit is enraging. You should be suing the top management who defrauded you. My advice, try to learn something from the experience and move on, but don't threaten people with libel suits because they call a spade a spade.” Hester, Hester, Hester, calm down man. You seem to have trouble understanding the fact that libelling a company or their directors on a message board can have serious repercussions. I'm not threatening to sue you or anyone else, no one is libelling me, I was simply suggesting that TRE might take a dim view of you calling them a bunch of crooks in a public forum before anything is proven. Would you like me to cite some examples of posters being sued? Also, there is a big difference between a stock being halted and a stock being de-listed. As I said, you are being premature in saying the company is done, but I would hate to see your faith in Carson Block being shaken. You have been very vocal in your opinions that TRE is dead and gone and you agree with Carson Block’s accusations of the company being “a complete Ponzie scheme”. Just how surprised would you be to see this stock trading again in the new year? Once again, for the record. I fully expect that certain directors may have been involved in practices they should not have been. However, I think that this stock will be trading again once the dust settles. “If you understand how ponzi schemes work, you will not think this curious at all. Ponzi schemes work BECAUSE the operators do pay interest - at very attractive rates usually!” Oec2000. I am quite aware of how a Ponzi scheme works. But this stock is NOT trading. Therefore there is no advantage for TRE to pretend all is normal to gain new investors. Think about it. Sino has been accused of being a Ponzi scheme and are presently being investigated for that. If they were a Ponzi scheme and the company was shortly going to be exposed as such, why would they pay anything at this point? In fact if they were going bankrupt, payments made at this point could be seen as preference payments and overturned under the Bankruptcy Act. PWC would be well aware of this and would likely prevent such payments from being made if they thought there was any risk of bankruptcy.

"And as always those who defended the Sino Forest criminals and personally attacked (verbally obviously) Carson Block, and were dead wrong on the fate of the company, were just a few honest guys seeking the truth, no harm no foul right? " Wow that's pretty strong language and a bit premature for something that has yet to be proven. Would you like to name names - just questioning your tolerance for a potential libel suit when you paint the company with such a broad brush? TRE just made their latest interest payment the other day. Does that not strike you curious for a company that is in your friend Block's words, a "complete Ponzi scheme"?

Last month I posted this link under Investment Ideas and had no reaction. http://seekingalpha.com/article/296152-the-brick-offers-a-unique-deep-value-opportunity Two weeks ago The Brick held a managers meeting in Toronto and I am told they are some major positive changes coming soon to the way they operate.

With apologies to those trying to have a serious conversation, I just have one more comment to make. When the world has some really serious debt problems and you think of the concept of building a fence along portions of a five thousand five hundred mile border, it makes you wonder what these guys are smoking. Wikipedia says that 1,000 miles of that border is along the BC border where the Rockies might make pretty rough going. And unlike the Mexican border we get something called snow, especially along that 1,500 mile portion with Alaska which would make about 90% that fence rather difficult to even find during the winter. But you have to hand it to them 'cause everyone knows that no Canadian terrorist could ever think of a way of gettin over a fence so it's probably money well spent.

“Let's all head for the Canada Border...” Too late guys, this mornings Canadian Press headlines... “The United States is looking at building fences along the border with Canada to help keep out terrorists and other criminals. “ The real reason is that they want to spend all that money is to keep you guys in...

This dosen't sound good. Fibrek Inc. (FBK) : The pulp maker extended the scheduled shutdown of a mill in Fairmont, West Virginia, citing high waste-paper prices, according to a press release distributed by CNW Group Ltd.

“Independent BOD's won't do it, the auditors won't do it, regulators won't do it.” How true and how sad. Personally I agree that shorting can serve a legitimate function. If you can go long you should be able to go short. Both are assumptions of where the stock price will go in future. Longs provide capital, whereas shorts can uncover wrongdoing. The problem comes in when you have a short attack on a legitimate company and artificial measures are taken to drive a stock down. Am I correct that naked shorting is legal in Canada and not in the US?

Okay, I'll agree to that, any chance of us getting elected to the board of directors? :) On the other hand, if I dump this I can pretty well guarantee that NBSK will jump, the US plants will be sold at a huge profit, the power generation plant will come on early, and a special dividend will be declared.

Given that the Sino board is mostly composed of (Canadian) senior accountants they should be held to account and contrary to what has been previously posted here, this is a Canadian company operating in China and certain senior officers of the company, including the vice chairman and the CFO are Canadian and I believe are Canadian residents, so the question of extradition should become moot in their case if they have violated any laws. I think the real question here still remains, is the company rotten to the core or do we have a few bad apples? However, it probably no longer matters as Sino is thoroughly corrupt in the eyes of many. We may have a better idea tomorrow after the OSC hearing but they may simply postpone everything until the PWC report is released. But on the other hand, they could announce that they are laying charges based on the results of their own investigation. Question: If such a thing as trading in TRE was halted permanently and the company de-listed, what happens to the shorts and naked shorts? An also what happens to someone like Chandler who now owns nearly 20% of the company - assuming the company has any value left?

Tyska, you’re probably being optimistic. Guess it depends on the definitions of fraud and theft, versus bonuses and severance packages. But $83 million split 3 ways over 5 years averages out to about 5.5 million each which seems pretty small potatoes compared to what some execs have paid themselves over 5 years in bonuses and severance packages - but of course that’s not fraud because they said “we’re taking it and there ain’t nothing you can do about it” ;)

Does anyone see this going anywhere in the near future? Trading volume has dwindled to a trickle, NBSK price is slipping and I'm thinking of joining Uccmal and dumping a good portion of this because it just seems that there are a lot of better values out there. I think that there is potential here but it is beginning to look like that is a long way off.

Just to clarify a couple of points. At no time did I ever defend TRE or advise anyone to buy it unless they wanted to take a ‘flyer’. Some years ago I invested in another company that was down and out (Gentra) and that investment has paid off far beyond any expectations so salvages/turnarounds are not unheard of. From day one I agreed that it was quite likely that fraud would be discovered. The question was, to what degree? I invested no more money in TRE than I was willing to lose so the downside was simply the amount invested, but the upside could have been considerably more. All investments involve risk and I felt the risk/reward was worth the gamble. I was well prepared for a drop in share price if and when fraud was discovered, but felt that the share price would more than come back over time. I assumed that some of these smart, experienced guys with deep pockets like Chandler in particular, would be in a position to step in and clean up this company and I am not sure that is out of the question. However, I never contemplated the possibility that the company could be de-listed or suspended indefinitely. To be honest, that possibility never crossed my mind and, while it has not happened at this point, it is certainly something I will keep in mind in future. (I assume this is a possibility?) S2s, my problems with block’s credibility had nothing to do with what parties he went to in college. It was the fact that some of his background was questionable and he was far from an unbiased source. He had a vested interest in trying to force the price of the stock down. As far as comparing Block’s actions to Davis, Chandler, Wellington, etc, my thoughts were that they had, or should have had, access to a lot more information about TRE than would one individual with a comparatively limited budget. There are two sides to every situation. I was taking the contrarian view. That is one of the things that I respect and value about this board is that it is an avenue to see both sides of any investment, especially a controversial one. It will be interesting to watch where this goes from here.

Just caught up to this a minute ago - away for the weekend. Well, you win some, you lose some. As I said at the first this as a gamble. I don't have time to get into this right now but given2invest... " I just thought the arrogance was absurd." If for one minute you believe that you obviously misread something. From day one I was surprised that some would give more credibility to Carson Block than to some other major investors like Wellington, Davis, Richard Chandler et al., especially when Block freely admitted shorting the stock. It will be very interseting watching where this goes from here. For instance, I don't think I would want to be in Ernst & Young shoes.

Looks like these guys are grasping at straws. They are probably the kind of lawyers that give the profession a bad name. Re the trial, I have been trying to follow it from the start but it is not easy to find coverage. I had a bookmark for one of the law firms where you could get some info but that was a couple of years ago. Does anyone know if they have had a discovery hearing or whatever it is called in the States?