Rivkin Financial Services (RFS) may have a saviour in sight with IWL shelling out more than $2.5million to take a 10 per cent stake in the embattled group founded by disgraced stockbroker Rene Rivkin.
IWL owned subsidiary Pinnacle Asset Management has picked up 10.14 per cent of issued capital in RFS in a move IWL chief executive Otto Buttula said will allow his group to boost its exposure to the non-advice and broking markets.
“It could bring, not only a resolution to the current wrestle for the RFS board, but also a better future for all RFS stakeholders – be they employees, shareholders or stockbroking clients,” Buttula said.
“Post the resolution of the structure of the RFS Board, which is to be voted upon at the RFS annual general meeting [AGM] on November 29 2004, IWL will aim to work with the board to add value to all RFS shareholders,” he said.
The RFS AGM is likely to be a heated affair given the firm’s ongoing litigation against West Australian corporate raider Farooq Khan, who is jostling for control of the group with RFS chief executive Andrew Davis.
RFS posted a 193 per cent net profit for the year ending June 30, 2004, despite a 69 per cent slump in revenue from share trading activities, with the group stating at the time a new focus on “core” acquisitions with a longer term view.
This was followed by the group’s notification to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) of the disposal of its funds management licence for Rivkin Funds Management for the sum of $60,000.
