THE FUND RAISER: Some Tax refunds help to boost the bank balances for the junior explorers this week.

$1.2 Million raised in Oversubscribed Placement

White Cliff Minerals (ASX: WCN) has resolved to raise up to approximately $1.2 million in a placement to professional and sophisticated investors through the issue of up to approximately 133 million new shares at 0.9 cents per share.
 
In conjunction with the Placement, the company has also resolved to undertake a shareholder purchase plan (SPP) on the same terms as the Placement.

White Cliff Minerals managing director Todd Hibberd said.

“We are very pleased with the strong response received for this Placement.

“The strength of the raising demonstrates the strong interest and high expectations investors have for both our high grade copper-gold project in Central Asia and the high quality nickel-copper projects we have in Western Australia.

“Funds raised from the Placement and SPP will fully fund White Cliff to trench and drill test the Aucu copper-gold discovery at Chanach, drill test four category one coincident EM and soil geochemical targets at Lake Johnston in WA and generate new nickel-copper drill targets at the Merolia project in WA.
 
“Trenching and drilling will commence next month on multiple targets, with assay results to soon follow.

“We’re very excited by the potential for significant discoveries at Chanach, Lake Johnston and Merolia.”

Capital Raising of $855,000

Select Exploration (ASX: SLT) has received commitments to raise $750,000 in a placement of 1.875 million shares at 0.4 cents per share to professional and sophisticated investors, many of whom are existing shareholders.

The company will also seek shareholder approval for the Directors to participate in a placement on the same terms to raise up to an additional $105,000.

The net proceeds from the capital raising will be used by the company to assess new opportunities and provide working capital toward existing operations.

Completion of $1.7M Capital raising

New Age Exploration (ASX: NAE) has entered into binding arrangements for the placement of 42.575 million new fully paid ordinary shares at 4 cents per share to raise a total of $1.703 million.

NAE’s cash reserves will stand at approximately $3.9 million at the completion of the placement, placing the company in a healthy financial position.

The proceeds of the placement, together with existing cash reserves, will be applied primarily to advancing drilling and studies on the Lochinvar coking coal project in addition to corporate costs and providing working capital.

Placement and Share Purchase Plan

Silver City Minerals (ASX: SCI) has agreed terms for a placement of new shares to its major shareholders Sentient Global Resources Fund and Fitel Nominees for a total value of $419,700.

The Placement comprises an issue of approximately 5.9 million ordinary shares at an issue price of 7.1 cents per share.

The company also announced it proposes to undertake a share purchase plan (SPP) which will provide existing eligible shareholders the opportunity to apply for up to $15,000 worth of Silver City ordinary shares at the same discount price as the placement (7.1 cents per share), without incurring brokerage or other transaction costs.

The purpose of the capital raising is to fund a drilling program to test a large intrusion-related gold-copper target generated by the company at Sellheim in Queensland and for working capital purposes.

Entitlement Offer to raise $60M

Western Desert Resources (ASX: WDR) announced a fully underwritten 6 for 25 traditional renounceable entitlement offer at an issue price of 50 cents per new share.

The Entitlement Offer will raise approximately $60 million.
 
Western Desert Resources non-executive director Bruce Mathieson controls or is associated with entities that collectively hold 17.98 per cent of the company’s existing shares. He has undertaken to procure that those entities take up their entitlement in full.

An underwriting agreement has been entered into between Western Desert and Ord Minnett, under which Ord Minnett has agreed to fully underwrite the Entitlement Offer.

Ord Minnett has entered into a sub-underwriting arrangement with BLM Superannuation Nominees, an entity controlled by Bruce Mathieson, under which BLM Nominees will act as sub-underwriter of the Entitlement Offer and acquire up to $14.211 million of any shortfall in applications for new shares under the Entitlement Offer.
 
The proceeds from the Entitlement Offer will be used to fund working capital requirements, settle derivative hedge liabilities and repay short term working capital bridge funding the company expects to draw down from Macquarie Bank prior to the end of April 2014.

$1.56 million R&D Tax rebate

Antipa Minerals (ASX: AZY) announced the receipt of a Research and Development Tax Incentive cash rebate from the Australian Tax Office of $1.56 million.

$1.32 Million Research and Development Tax refund

Gascoyne Recourses (ASX: GCY) has received a research and development (R&D) tax rebate for a total of $1.32 million as a result of the company’s activities at the Glenburgh and Dalgaranga projects over the 2012-2013 financial year.

 

TONY LOCANTRO: “At the start of the bull market we have all the paper and they have all the money. At the end of the bull market we have all the money and they have all the paper.”

In August 1979, BusinessWeek on its cover declared “The Death of Equities”.

As you can see from the Dow Jones chart below it was perhaps with the benefit of hindsight one of the truly great contrarian indicators of stock market history.

The Australian Small Resources Index (XSR) from January 2011 to June 25 2013 lost 72.5 per cent of its value and many other juniors without underlying resources and management to support them have dropped even further with 80 to 90 per cent falls not uncommon.

In order for a recovery do we now require a high profile market commentator to declare the “End of Mining“, The Junior Resource Sector is Dead”, or “Tech is now again the new economy, get out of the old”?

The speculative end of the stock market is all about risk and reward with share prices driven by fear, greed and an infinite supply of human stupidity.

One may be mistaken for assuming the great tulip bubble of the mid 1630’s would have been a valuable lesson, but since then we have only seen more rampant bubbles and crazes that have only led to financial oblivion for the majority who are “always wrong in the end”.

“The three most expensive words to mankind are, ‘I love you’. To get the fourth word you don’t simply add ‘Honey’, ‘snookums’ or ‘cupcake’, you change it completely to ‘This time is different’.”

The Australian Junior Resource Sector is often cyclical in nature and will undergo a number of booms, busts, fads and during other times only a ballerina will be trending more sideways.

After every serious takedown it has always managed to recover and eventually overshoot to the upside, so is this time any different?

The answer is a resounding “NO”!

WHY THE JUNIOR RESOURCE SECTOR WILL RECOVER

•Despite major market crashes, calamities, panics, terrorist attacks and social unrest sentiment has always improved along with the share prices of the quality juniors.

•Punting is firmly entrenched in Australian culture. Whether it a horse, camel, cockroach, the name of the royal baby, poker machine, or a meat tray at a local RSL, Australians love to lose money. You only have to attend a major Gold Coast mining conference to gain a history lesson in long-term market speculation.

•It still takes copper, lead, zinc, nickel, tin and iron ore to build stuff. We still need coal and uranium to create the power so we can continue to build stuff. Where are all the substitutes? Sure the prices of these commodities will never rise in a straight line and will from time to time be subject to conspiracy theories but they are still essential nevertheless.

•Gold came into 2014 as popular as Bernard Tomic. Now look at it around $1512 AUD (at the time of writing). What tapering?

•There is still rampant day trading activity across the board in all sectors. The ‘hot’ money doesn’t care if it is a social media play, a biotech or a struggling junior who has just stumbled on some high-grade base metals in Africa. Volume begets volume, and greed always returns well before John
Farnham has even read the tour documents.

•The mid-cap sector is now littered with cashed up companies looking for acquisitions. There are not enough decent projects around and soon they will have to start lowering their expectations (Just like
Australian women), and lifting their prices. Seeing the heavily cashed up Chalice Gold Mines (ASX: CHN) announce a share buy-back is testament to this at least in the short-term.

•The last spectacular discovery by an Australian junior was Sirius Resources (ASX: SIR) way back in July 2012. Just like Adam Sandler is due to release a *** movie, I believe with some outstanding lead up work we are now on the cusp of another major mineral discovery. Not only do these hits drive the share price of the lucky junior, but the gains extend to anyone within the immediate area, along strike, or perhaps in another continent even (as long as it is in the same rocks). Near-ology really gets the punters excited and it is always a good opportunity for the stale bulls to ‘take out their trash’.

•The biotech and tech sector will always be there, however the process of clinical trials, FDA approval and taking something to market can be a lengthy one. With the junior resource companies it can be simply a case of raising some money and getting the approval to drill. How Sirius Resources went from 5.7c to a high of $5.00 is textbook genius and others will strive to replicate it.

•After three torrid, challenging, and painful years there are many now leaving the industry to take up much safer positions or switch their focus to the so-called blue chips. I vividly remember the same thing happening in 2001/2002 where the hallways of broking offices were temporary cricket pitches, and your commission statement was hilarious.

“During bear markets, stockbrokers wish they were school teachers. After seeing the Wolf of Wall Street the majority of viewers wish they were stockbrokers.”

MY TACTICS HAVEN’T CHANGED

I started my affair with serious stock market speculation in 1994. I have made all the mistakes of falling in love with stocks covered on forums, watching the Dow live at night with two cigarettes burning, purchasing stocks mentioned in the newspaper that had already run, and thinking drawing a line on graph paper would tell me what a resource stock would do tomorrow based on what it did yesterday.

Luckily for me the financial lessons were relatively small, yet after becoming a stockbroker in 1998 and having my clientele explode five-fold it was apparent that despite a high failure rate, you could not dampen the enthusiasm for excessive trading and anything exotic (warrants and options).

“They put historical information at the roulette table because unlike rats, humans are by nature stupid and look for patterns that simply don’t exist.”

From my twenty years of on-going education on markets and psychology, the only method that works over the longer-term is finding quality juniors with the right people, projects and price and backing them.

This involves steadily building sizeable positions where down days on the Dow or gold are welcomed rather than feared.

It is the contrarian way where you are buying when market depths are terrible, or selling when you are receiving invites to $1, $5 or even $10 parties and more trains are leaving the station than Spencer Street during peak hour.

Remember, “The majority are always wrong in the end”.
 
THE ‘TWITTER’ BUBBLE

Based on the Twitter explosion, the next speculative bubble is going to be a major test case for investors/speculators and regulatory authorities struggling to police it.

If a misread Tweet about an airstrike that occurred over 40 years ago can add $1 to the oil price, imagine what some utter BS could do to the stock price of a junior?

I believe that the spread of too much information far too quickly is going to lead to an increase in anxiety and depression of those trying to catch every major fluctuation.

I admit to being part of the information problem and contributing to social media, however we must remember that share prices still rose and fell when we only had newspapers, butchers, hairdressers and taxi drivers to rely on for our hot tips.

As with any major bubble there is only ever a royal commission or changes made once the majority are wiped out in the frenzy.

The growth in the Twitter take up from ASX-listed companies is growing exponentially, however as the number of ‘Meetoo’s’ increases the impact will slowly dissipate.

It is the ‘unofficial’ Tweets that are likely to do the most damage.

After Dotcom and Uranium we are certainly overdue for some rampant stupidity to the upside.

“Dettol can wipe out 99.9 per cent of germs, market bubbles will do the same thing to speculators.”

THE JUNIOR RESOURCE SECTOR IS STUPID CHEAP

During my career at has been a struggle to even get to the bus stop when the Dow has dropped 300 to 500 points and/or the gold price is down anything over $30 US an ounce.

You know your phone is going to ring and the questions and attack from clients are as predictable as a Twenty-first birthday party, CUB wedding, or the next line from a Wiggles Song.

Unfortunately if you want to be exposed to a ten or fifty-bagger this is the price you pay for your exposure.

There will be days and weeks where you are ashamed to tell your wife or family about how your portfolio has been poleaxed, yet when the market is booming and the new car arrives they will complain about the colour.

If you have purchased a grab bag of overhyped low quality stocks then you have a problem, however the slow and steady speculators should stick to their niche and if possible use the market weakness to strengthen their positions.

It takes years to be able to successfully deal with the emotional pull to buy at the top and sell at the bottom, yet once you can control it the market actually becomes enjoyable and almost second nature.

Whilst some company Directors I have met with claim that 1991/1992 was the toughest junior resource market they have endured, it is extremely rare to have had consecutive shockers in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Looking at the 5 and 10 year XSR charts it is apparent that the next upleg (I.e. recovery) is going to be a spectacular event driven again by fear, greed, stupidity and on this occasion with the help of a little blue bird.

Tony J Locantro

Email: tony@locantro.com

For a free trial without obligation to Locantro’s Life please visit www.locantro.com

 

This article appeared on

 

Disclosure of Interest:

Tony Locantro, his companies, employees and associates may have personal interests in the majority of the companies or sectors covered in this article.

Disclaimer:

This article is prepared for general information only, and as such, the specific needs, investment objectives or financial situation of any particular reader have not been taken into consideration. Individuals should therefore discuss, with their financial planner or adviser, the merits of each recommendation for their own specific circumstances and realise that not all investments will be appropriate for readers.

WHAT THE BROKERS SAY: Interesting news and views from across the Resource Analyst universe.

www.breakawayresearch.com

Altlantic Gold NL (ASX: ATV)

Atlantic Gold is an ASX-listed gold developer operating in the Meguma Terrane of Nova Scotia, with a +1 million ounce gold resource.

A key positive is the mineralisation style – unlike most occurrences in the Meguma Terrane which are nuggetty ‘Bendigo’ style mineralisation, Atlantic’s projects, while still containing relatively coarse gold, are disseminated in nature, allowing for more efficient (and low strip ratio) open cut mining whilst still achieving high gravity recoveries.

The key Touquoy project is close to being fully permitted, with funding now being negotiated.

Atlantic Gold continues to work towards development on its Nova Scotian gold projects.

The company has established a resource base of 1.2 million ounces over two deposits – Touquoy and Cochrane Hill.

Atlantic’s strategy is to initially develop Touquoy, which is close to being fully permitted, and then move 80 kilometres to Cochrane Hill once Touquoy is exhausted.

Both proposed operations have a five year mine life, with a combined planned production of 900,000 ounces and should be viable at current gold prices.

Near mine and regional exploration is also planned to expand the resource base, and results to date indicate excellent exploration potential.

Atlantic is currently suffering due to the need to raise capital to fund development of Touquoy in a time of depressed market conditions and a relatively low gold price.

However, given Atlantic’s personnel and the potential of the project, we believe this is a good opportunity at bottom of market valuations for a speculative medium term investment, with the added possibility of short term value increases with the completion of permitting and putting development funding in place.

To date the company has defined mineral resources of 1.21 million ounces at 1.6 grams per tonne of gold at the Touquoy and Cochrane Hill properties, with these including 454,000 ounces at 1.48g/t of reserves at Touquoy.

Atlantic plans a two stage operation – an initial 5 year, 84,000ozpa operation at Touquoy, after which the plant will be relocated 80km to Cochrane Hill, where another five years of operation will extract a further 480,000 ounces of gold.

Nova Scotia is a mining friendly jurisdiction, with a history of gold mining, however with current activities largely confined to quarrying and industrial minerals.

The provincial government has been strongly supportive of Atlantic’s activities, and well developed permitting procedures are in place.

Tax rates are reasonable, with corporate taxes (federal and state) totalling 31 per cent and a one per cent NSR royalty on gold.

Following completion of a positive Definitive Feasibility Study, Atlantic is now close to completing permitting for the Touquoy gold project, with the following milestones being achieved to date:

Environmental Assessment Approval granted;

Mining Licence Granted;

Industrial Approval application lodged 2012, approval expected in March 2014;

Private surface rights obtained, Crown land leases on offer; and

Sourcing funding, based on a standalone Touquoy project.

Once permitting is finalised and funding in place, the Company will be able to commence the 21 month development period, with the possibility of production commencing in late 2015/early 2016.

Website: www.rfcambrian.com

Peninsula Energy (ASX: PEN)

Peninsula Energy is an ASX-listed uranium developer focused on its flagship Lance ISR project in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming.

The company also has an earlier-stage conventional mining project in South Africa.

Peninsula’s flagship Lance project is well advanced.

Construction has commenced and only one permit remains outstanding (and this is expected later this quarter).

The project looks likely to be largely funded by a number of debt instruments, with production anticipated to begin in 4Q14, ramping up to 1.2 million pound per annum by 2017 and 2.3Mlb pa thereafter.

Peninsula’s second development asset is Karoo in South Africa, which hosts a high-grade 50Mlb JORC resource at an average grade of 1,040ppm uranium.

The project also hosts a similar amount of uranium in historical (non-JORC) resources that management is aiming to bring swiftly into JORC resources.

Exploration upside is apparent at both projects.

At Lance, a combined 312 kilometres of prospective strike along roll-fronts needs exploration testing.

At Karoo, the company has 7,800 square kilometres of tenure across prospective Permian sandstones and a 250 to 350Mlb exploration target.

Uranium sales will be managed through a marketing subsidiary.

PEN already has a small quantity of production off-take secured at an average price of US$75.60 per pound.

It plans to sell 45 per cent of sales to strategic off-takers, 35 per cent to US utilities and the remainder on the spot market.

Peninsula has plans to produce 8 to 10 million pounds per annum by 2022.

Management intends to combine organic growth with accretive acquisitions.

Disclaimer: The above is intended as a guide only. The Roadhouse accepts no responsibility for investments made from this advice, successful or otherwise.

THE FUND RAISER: Plenty of action this week on the junior exploration fund raising scene.

Oversubscribed Placement Raises $4.5 million

Rampart Energy (ASX: RTD) has raised approximately $4.5million (gross) through the placement of 90 million new shares to domestic and international institutions and sophisticated/professional investors.

The Placement is priced at 5 cents per share, a 7 per cent discount to the last close before the Placement.

The funds will be used towards the remaining payment for Rampart’s share of the Big Bend 3D seismic program (currently in progress) as well as for working capital purposes, including potential North Slope acreage acquisitions.

“We are delighted with the strong support shown for the Placement, particularly as it includes a significant number of new retail and Australian based institutional investors,” Rampart Energy managing director Torey Marshall said.

“I believe that the oversubscription is a very positive market signal on our ability to deliver, given the recent confirmation of our ACES funding facility.

“We will now seek with these additional funds to further our ongoing efforts to deliver success and value from Rampart’s North Slope acreage.”

$10 million Share Placement

Orbis Gold (ASX: OBS) has raised $10.02 million (before costs) via a placement of shares to Australian and North‐American‐based institutions and sophisticated investors.

The funds raised, together with existing cash reserves, will primarily be used to advance the company’s portfolio of gold projects in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

The Placement funds will facilitate:

Completion of resource drilling at Natougou with the aim of updating the current Inferred Mineral Resources to Indicated Mineral Resources, allowing for update of pit shells and re‐optimisation of mining schedules;

Exploration for extensions to the high-grade Natougou deposit;

Acceleration of development studies at Natougou focussed on a large‐scale open pit gold mine; and

Exploration drilling on advanced‐stage exploration targets at the Bantou project, western Burkina Faso, where there is potential for multiple large‐scale gold discoveries.

Agreement for US$4 million working capital facility

Emerging ferrotungsten producer Hazelwood Resources (ASX: HAZ) has signed a term sheet for a US$4 million working capital loan facility with investment vehicle, Siderian Resource Capital Limited, which is backed by specialty minerals and metals trading house Wogen.

The Working Capital Facility is premised on the shared view of Hazelwood and Siderian that an additional $US4 million will help to provide the necessary working capital to allow Hazelwood to continue the ramp up of production and distribution of ferrotungsten to a targeted level of 1,500 tonnes in CY2014.

Since commissioning the Vietnam-based ATC ferrotungsten project in April 2013, Hazelwood has completed three successful production campaigns.

More than 500 tonnes of the tungsten master alloy has been shipped during this initial ramp-up phase, representing approximately $20 million of sales revenue.

The premium quality end product has been sold to steelmakers and foundries globally via specialty metals trader Wogen.

Raising $28 million

Troy Resources (ASX: TRY) has announced a capital raising of up to approximately
$28 million via an ordinary share Placement to institutional and sophisticated investors, and following that a share purchase plan to eligible shareholders to raise up to an additional $10 million.

The Placement comprises an issue of up to approximately 22.29 million ordinary shares at a fixed price of $1.25 per share.

The proceeds of the Placement together with the SPP will be used to advance development of Troy’s West Omai project in Guyana.

The Capital Raising proceeds will also enable Troy to commence brownfields exploration at both its West Omai and Casposo projects and provide additional working capital.

Raises $1.5 million for Fraser Range drilling

Ram Resources (ASX: RMR) has reached agreement to raise $1.5 million to fund exploration at its two key projects in Wetsren Australia’s Fraser Range belt.

The raising will be via the issue of up to approximately 187.5 million shares at 0.8 cents per share, together with a free one-for-two attaching option exercisable at 2.5 cents.

The proceeds of the Placement and SPP will be used to undertake the next phase of exploration across Ram’s Fraser Range project, which is located 20 kilometres west of Sirius’ Nova deposit, and to progress exploration on Ram’s recently-secured Fraser Range North project.

“The capital raising means we can immediately pursue the high-priority anomalies we have already identified and continue to systematically identify and qualify further prospects, giving investors exposure to an aggressive exploration program in a belt already known to host major deposits,” Ram Resources managing director Bill Guy said.

Completion of $5 million Placement

Reward Minerals (ASX: RWD) has completed a placement to raise $5 million before costs, resulting in the company having a cash position of over $8 million to fund upcoming activities.

The placement will provide funds to accelerate Potash exploration drilling over the company’s new tenement holdings (Karly/Lake Dora) and to finalise scoping studies and permitting processes related to the Lake Disappointment project.

The company is close to completion of heritage surveys on the expanded Lake Disappointment and Lake Dora West tenements, which will allow drilling program to begin.

The drilling program will focus on conductive (EM) palaeovalley targets aimed at establishing potash brine resources amenable to the production of sulphate of potash.

THE CONFERENCE CALLER: Like many of the junior exploration companies in attendance at the RIU Explorers Conference, Patersons Securities senior resources analyst Simon Tonkin had a lot of ground to cover.

Of interest was his take on the performance of the different commodities over the past 12 months.

 

First up was gold, the commodity with what is probably the most watched and discussed price tag on the market.

Although it has had a tough run in recent times compared to the days when it soared over the $1800 mark, the most precious of metals has seen some strengthening in value of late.

“We believe the reason for this recent support has been the fact the US has suspended its debt ceiling negotiations until 2015,” Tonkin said.

“That means they can spend as many US dollars as they want, which adds risk to the US dollar.

“That’s why we are seeing the gold price going up.”

Tonkin claimed to be bullish for a long term rise in the price of gold saying all that was needed was something, or someone, somewhere to pull the trigger.

“We believe there must be a trigger for much higher gold prices,’ he said.

“Supporting events could include currency or bond prices – where investors lose confidence and are looking for another place to put their money.

“There has also been unrest around the globe…which could also be positive for higher gold prices.”

As far as base metals are concerned, Tonkin said it basically comes down to a situation of supply versus demand.

The price of copper could soften with the potential for additional supply to come on stream over the next three years.

While nickel remains in deficit, Tonkin identified the recent Indonesian ban on imports as being a positive for other nickel producing regions.

“Overall we think nickel should be better later in the decade,” he said.

He expressed confidence for zinc prices, pointing to the number of mine closures anticipated to come into effect globally, which should result in a limited new supply coming on stream.

In terms of tin, Tonkin said high prices were needed to justify new projects being developed, however a supply deficit is the most likely scenario to emerge over the next few years.

Looking at iron ore – it has performed a lot differently than gold and base metals.

“We expect iron ore prices to remain supported around the $120 per tonne level and we expect to see continued high demand from China,” Tonkin said.
Tonkin then turned his attention to the question all junior resource companies have been asking.

How can the industry attract investors back into the resources market?

“I think the key is providing confidence to shareholders,” he said.

“In the larger cap area investors want to see increased dividends, particularly sustainable dividends.

“As an analyst covering the mid-cap space I want to see positive free cash flow, and that is basically operating cash flow minus capex.”

Tonkin said that as commodity prices decreased, companies needed to demonstrate they were able to keep their costs in check.

There are a number of companies doing this, he said, however, more companies need to be able to show they are approaching this matter with some rationalisation.

“Many of the mid-caps have debt, which is used to fund the development of their projects,” he said.

“We want to see those levels as manageable and what we have seen…is a few companies beginning to raise capital.”

AS far as junior companies are concerned, from an analysts perspective, Tonkin indicated he prefers to see companies with good projects with maximised expenditure on those projects.

“It is also a very good sign if management actually have some ‘skin in the game’ – that means their goals are aligned with the shareholders,” he said.

“The other thing is that management are setting significant, achievable targets for exploration and development and achieving those targets.”

One surprising statistic Tonkin raised is that there are currently 297 companies listed on the ASX with less than $1 million in the bank

These companies, he said, should consider perhaps joint venturing some of their non-core assets to conserve cash, and where possible some Merger & Acquisition activity.

 

Since 2007 M&A has trended down in terms of the number of deals done, but more importantly the actual value and average size of the deals done have dropped from around $220 million in 2012 down to around $29 million in 2013.

“Whilst it would be nice to see M&A pick up in 2014 it really would be against the trend,” Tonkin said.

“So I think we will see another year of smaller deals, but marrying cash to good projects would certainly benefit the companies involved.”