David Tweed

David Tweed, the notorious share raider has again made an approach to shareholders to purchase their shareholdings at a discounted price. David Tweed had recently approached AWB shareholders back in November 2006, hoping to convince shareholders to let go of their stock at $1.50 when the ongoing market rate was around $2.71. This time, David Tweed has sent out a letter to Commonwealth Bank (CBA) shareholders in a bid to buy their shares at $35 per share. CBA shares were trading at around $48.75 when the offer was made - some 28 percent discount to the actual market price.

David Tweed has a long history of approaching shareholders of companies offering a discounted price for stock. Tweed operates under his company, "Direct Share Purchasing Corporation." The letter has a heading of "Offer to Buy" and appears to look like an official bank communication. Commonwealth Bank has some 699,000 shareholders, 80,000 has been sent letters by CBA's CEO, Ralph Norris to warn shareholders of the offer. In the letter Norris warns that the offer is substantially under market value and that the offer has no association with the Commonwealth Bank. Norris also explains that the bank was obliged to provide shareholders' names and addresses to David Tweed's outfit as required by the Corporations Act. The extraneous mail out by CBA to shareholders cost the bank $50,000.