Mystery stock set to de-list
It's been a short-lived public journey for shareholders of Fifth Element Resources, the mysterious explorer which boasted a $329 million market capitalisation on, well, nothing.
In line with expectations, Fifth Element said today it had agreed with the Australian Securities Exchange to de-list from the board.
Fifth Element shares have been in suspension since July, after last trading at $7.96.
The NSW-focused explorer, run by Chinese interests with no serious history in mining, had listed in May at 20� before a series of small trades sent its stock soaring, attracting numerous price queries from the ASX in the process.
The sharemarket operator then broadened its review of Fifth Element and discovered the explorer did not have the necessary spread of shareholders. Under listing rules, public companies have to have at least 300 shareholders, though it appeared Fifth Element had as few as 13.
Fifth Element's stunning share price performance, company officials' refusal to discuss the explorer's strategy or clarify its corporate set-up and the ASX probe turned it into one of the more interesting stock market stories of the past year.
Today, Fifth Element director Mark Zhou said in the ASX statement it appeared unlikely the company would be able to satisfy the shareholder spread requirement.
"After ongoing discussions with ASX and following due and careful consideration buy the company and its professional advisers, the company has determined that it is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders to seek voluntary removal from the official list of the ASX as soon as practicable," Mr Zhou said.
Fifth Element has set April 24 as the late date its stock will be quoted on the ASX.
Fifth Element had warned investors in January that it had until March 7 to demonstrate to the ASX that it had as leats 300 shareholders, each owning stock worth at least $2000.
