Business Spectator – A group of three former Equigold executives have successfully staged a boardroom coup, replacing the board of Regis Resources in a requisitioned meeting held in Melbourne earlier today.

Mark Clark, Equigold’s former managing director, Nick Giorgetta, the former chairman of Equigold, and Morgan Hart were each elected to the board by an overwhelming 89 per cent of shareholders, including Newmont Corporation. Former Newmont Australia chief executive Paul Dowd, was on the Regis board, but stepped down before the vote went ahead.

Former ASIC chairman Jeff Lucy was another Regis director who stepped down before the vote was held, leaving the company’s founder David Walker as the only man standing to defend the outgoing management’s efforts to take the company from gold explorer to developer to producer.

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Business Spectator – European shares jumped for a fifth straight session on Monday, led higher by financials, as investor sentiment improved following further assurances over the health of the US banking sector.

At 0948 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 2.3 per cent at 718.41 points, extending the previous session’s gain of 0.8 per cent. But it is still down 14 per cent this year after plunging 45 per cent in 2008.

The broader STOXX 600 was up 2.1 per cent at 172.15 points, with banks and insurers topping the gainers list.

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Tags: assurances, banking-sector, banks, european shares, gainers, health, investor-sentiment, spectator

Independant- Hedge funds may have made more than £1bn from shorting shares in HBOS, whose £4bn rights issue faced intense pressure from investors betting on the share price falling.

Almost 15 per cent, or about 550 million, of the bank’s shares are out on loan, according to Data Explorers. That stock will mainly be lent to funds who have sold the shares expecting to buy them back cheaper.

HBOS’s last closing share price before the cash call was announced was 495.24p, but the shares plunged during the rights issue process. At the closing price of 264.5p yesterday, short funds who bought at the closing price before the cash call was announced on 29 April would have made 230.74p a share, or a total of £1.27bn.

Six funds have announced positions since the Financial Services Authority changed its rules to require the declaration of short holdings over 0.25 per cent for companies undertaking rights issues.

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