The war of words between Brait SA and E-data struck a new nerve today, with E-data CEO and chairman James Stride accusing Brait of acting in bad faith. He says this has potentially caused the unravelling of a R90 million deal.
Stride says the deal between E-data, Brait Securities and US E*Trade was well on track when E-data discovered the unauthorised trading of Brait MD Brett Stacey after inspecting Brait Securities` trial balance sheet. Stacey has since resigned.
A second casualty was Mark Barnes, who resigned today as Brait CEO. He has been replaced by Anthony Ball, a major shareholder in the company.
Ball says Barnes resigned due to a Brait decision that it needed a "cohesive" management, rather than four executive directors running the business.
Commenting on why the deal soured, Ball accused E-data of "poor delivery," claiming that E-data was unable to raise the necessary $3 million required to consummate the deal.
Stride says E-data had been given the run-around by Brait, with the company demanding at short notice a bank guaranteed cheque as method of settlement. "This took us additional time, but by this time we had uncovered the unauthorised loans made to Stacey and [undertook] further investigation where necessary before we continued," says Stride.
When asked who discovered the unauthorised loans to Stacey, Stride replied: "I did".
Stride says his company has had to tread lightly in order not to rock E*Trade`s boat with continued negotiations. However, Barnes commented in an earlier ITWeb article that Brait was in negotiations with E*Trade independently of E-data. Ball said he couldn`t comment on progress with a possible Brait/E*Trade deal as there were confidentiality clauses in place between parties.
Stacey confirmed that he has left Brait Securities, saying that although he admits to the unauthorised trading, certain internal regulations had not been met for quite some time. "There is more to the movements in Brait management than meets the eye," says Stacey. This is a sentiment with which Stride agrees.
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