NZ accountant embroiled in UK company takeover drama

A second major audit firm has quit troubled British shell company Easier, where New Zealand-qualified chartered accountant Brian Copsey is battling for control of a £5.4 million ($14 million) pile of cash, Britain's Accountancy Age magazine reports.

The firm, Brebner, Allen and Trapp, resigned on July 12 from the audit of Easier, the second auditor lost in a year, following the withdrawal of Big Four firm Deloitte as auditor in October 2004.

Easier was once an online estate agency whose shares soared in the dotcom boom. It fizzled out and became a shell company with all its assets believed to be in cash, but it has still to file its accounts for 2003 and 2004.

Mr Copsey is also a director of Cayman Islands investment company Fulton Partners, which owns 26 per cent of Easier's shares, and he has said he will offer 22p/share to the other shareholders to buy them out -- equivalent to £5.4 million.

The Independent newspaper reported that Mr Copsey -- who is a member of New Zealand's Institute of Chartered Accountants -- had declined to say who was advising Fulton on the deal, when it would be publishing Easier's accounts, and where Easier's sole asset, the £5.4 million cash, could be found.

Deloitte said it resigned after failing to receive adequate information concerning the company's investments.

Mr Copsey has told shareholders only that some of the capital was held on deposit and that some had been invested in pre-float companies in the US.

He told the Telegraph newspaper: "Hey, I'm not concerned. It's not Einstein stuff. Christ, we're only talking about £5 million".

Mr Copsey insisted "very, very, good progress" was being made at Easier and at another cash-up shell company Boustead, whose sole asset is £2.6 million in cash.

Neville Buch, a major shareholder who owns 10 per cent of the Easier company, lodged papers at the UK High Court on August 5 applying for an emergency general meeting at which he will attempt to oust the current directors, John Strachan and Mr Copsey, who is managing director of Easier.

A spokesman for Easier said that its directors were finalising details of the cash offer to shareholders, and would make them known "imminently".

- NZPA