PRESS RELEASE
(Embargoed until 0800)
Attn: Business / Personal Finance Editors
(Contact details for interviews and further information at end of release)
SYDNEY: In exciting news for The Motley Fool, the company is today announcing that it will be lead advisor for the IPO of JetFlyHigh (ASX: IFLY) as the Fool's first foray into a brave new investing world.
JetFlyHigh is the culmination of a long-held dream — combining recreational cannabis use and personal flying machines — and comes hot on the heels of two recent IPOs — Australia's first listing of a medical marijuana company and the ASX debut of a personal jetpack business.
Speaking to the media just before the the IPO's launch, JetFlyHigh's CEO, Mary Jane Sinsemilla, said the market seemed ready for this float and that she had high hopes for the listing.
"Our company is set to smoke its competition, and we see the launch as a wonderful opportunity for new investors to get in before take-off, given the strong pipeline of new opportunities. To be blunt, sales will soar and our management team is too good to make a hash of it"
For The Motley Fool, this announcement is truly ground-breaking. It's the first foray for the usually cautious and investor-friendly company into the 'big end of town', but in the end it was an easy decision.
The company has over two decades of investment and public markets experience, and has recruited skillfully, giving it a strong foothold as it enters this brave new era. The investment banking team will initially be staffed by over a dozen industry veterans from some of the highest profile investment banks in the country, meaning customers can be assured of getting the sort of focus that they would from any of the big names.
While the name 'The Motley Fool' was originally considered a little too whimsical to attract institutional clients, a name change at this late stage was rejected, though the new division will largely be known by its acronym, MFIB.
"We were prepared to change our name, but most investors don't know that HSBC originally (and almost unbelievably) stood for High School Bowling Champions, so MFIB, in time, should hold its own"
The new business is something of a departure from The Motley Fool's usual operations. "For far too long, The Motley Fool tried to look after the individual investor," said Minter. "And frankly, while the old team was good, they were just missing out. It's time to get our noses into the trough."
The Motley Fool will not only be paid $10 million for dotting some Is and crossing some Ts, but also gets to allocate shares to its favourite customers and gets first dibs at future capital raisings.
"Stock markets were designed to help match those with capital and those who needed it. But this is the 21st century. These days, the stock market is a place where I get to match people who don't need or deserve capital with those whose greed I can take advantage of." Minter said. There was no hint of a smile.
Along with this company-transforming IPO, Minter's new team will roll out a full suite of investment banking, wealth services and trading solutions.
Capital Markets
The Capital Markets team's job will be to convince private companies to go public, public companies to go private, conglomerates to spin off operations for focus and single-industry companies to merge, for the benefits of diversification.
Additionally, the division will seek to convince companies to raise capital, preferably using a selective placement so that Motley Fool Investment Bank can charge high fees, allocate shares to favoured clients and ensure that pesky individual investors have their interests diluted.
"We're confident we have the team of people who can convince clients that there are real benefits to any or all of the above", said Minter "preferably at the same time".
Wealth Services
"If there's anything more profitable than convincing companies to pay you handsomely for doing a little work, it's convincing individuals to pay you handsomely for no work at all" commented Dr. Alto Tasse, the company's new head of Wealth Services.
MFIB's new services will include a 'financial product manufacturing' arm, to create high fee products for its planners to sell.
Of course, the customer won't see all the fees — there'll be wrap fees, manager fees, activity fees, spread fees and performance fees embedded within the products. In addition, the new Wealth Services business won't pay commissions to planners, but will make sure they know that their planner groups are remunerated based on how much business they write. "The planners aren't silly — they'll put two and two together" said Tasse.
The Wealth Services unit will also include a superannuation arm, making sure that employers and employees can choose a well known name (backed by impressive advertising, serious men — only men, of course — in suits, and imagery of strength and security) for their retirement savings needs. MFIB plans to charge between 2 and 4 times as much as an industry fund, but someone has to pay for the huge salaries, company jaunts on Sydney Harbour, and the glossy paper that the reports are printed on. And Cuban cigars are expensive.
Stockbroking
No self-respecting investment bank would be without its own stockbroking arm, to take advantage of people who think that their broker has some special ability to enter their trades on a computer, or to give them impartial, unconflicted advice.
"There's no money in just letting investors buy and sell when they think there's value present (or not). We make money when they trade. Buy and hold investors are no use to us. Why do you think you keep seeing 'Buy and Hold is Dead' articles? I'll give you a clue — because there's money to be made when people fall for such a line" commented Minter.
"Besides", he added "Having too many Sell recommendations is bad for business, anyway… who's going to raise capital with a company that doesn't like their stock? There's far more value to be gained by keeping our clients happy to worry about accountable stock picking!"
Lord Minter and Dr. Tasse will be available for interviews this morning. Please email us to arrange a time for them to speak to you.
— ENDS —
Important Announcement for our readers
We wanted you to be the first to hear the above news.
Motley Fool Investment Bank is only too aware that it's a crowded market — there are no shortage of self-interested 'helpers' that are lining up to take your money.
So here's your chance to get in on the ground floor of an IPO we think will grow like a weed Simply click here to let us know you want to ride this until the share price gets too high! Oh, and we'll also give you a chance to save 10% off our 3% management fee, 20% performance fee and $100-per-trade brokerage. It couldn't be simpler… or easier.
You don't need to pay anything upfront, of course… we'll make a fortune from you later.
Says Minter, "Sure, the services we offer will still help us much, much more than you, but we have to do something to drum up sales"
So don't miss out. click here to get in on the ground floor, before someone else raids the pot!
P.S. Just in case you think investment banking services are only for the rich and powerful, there are no minimum balances. At Motley Fool Investment Bank, we'll rip anybody off!)
Yours in (our) Wealth,
Lord George Minter, MBE, AFD, LOL
