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Destra founder caught in Opes collapse

Wednesday, 2 April 2008

Mike Preston

Destra founder and chief executive Domenic Carosa has seen his shareholding in Destra decimated after being caught up in the collapse of stockbroking firm Opes Prime.

Destra told markets this morning that Carosa has lost control of 10,591,631 shares in Destra, now in the hands of the ANZ Bank. He has retained just 1,825,224 shares. Associates of director Paul Choiselat lost control of 10,962,104 shares in Destra and retain just 248,825 shares.

Destra itself has also been hit, with a $900,000 loss on the acquisition of shares in Beyond International that had been funded through Opes.

Destra is not the only fast-growing telco to strike trouble. Website and online advertising business Ansearch and mobile phone company Comtel have also been snared in the collapse of Opes.

Directors in each of the companies or their associates have been forced to give up control of significant shareholdings in the businesses to Opes’ secured creditors, chiefly ANZ Bank and Merrill Lynch.

Ansearch director Dean Jones has lost just 35,200,000 shares in the business, 6.2% of its total register, to ANZ because of exposure to Opes.

And Comtel announced that approximately 10 million shares in the business, 7.5% of its total issued shares, held by a director have been lost to ANZ via Opes.

Each of the companies have announced trading halts pending further information on the events surrounding Opes.

Destra, Comtel and Ansearch were each strong performers in the recent SmartCompany Dun & Bradstreet Industry Growth List for the telecommunications sector all posting fast growth over the past year.