The Shorts Have Irked ONP
July 07, 2010
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RELATED TICKERS: ONP
Disappointing news out of Beijing today. Orient Paper has informed us a scant 12 hours before we were supposed to meet them at their plant in Baoding that they will not be able to host us for a tour and meeting. Apparently their "management team will be traveling to Henan Qinyang with an outside due diligence team to hold meetings with the manufacturer of our new 360k t/a paper machine and get an understanding of the progress of the assembly of the machine" and would like to reschedule...for a time when we will not be in the area. Further, "our Board is formulating a policy to vet all visitor requests to tour the factory...Now for me to communicate with our Board, I have to report to them (1) the main purposes of Global Gains' visit, (2) any special request during your visit, and (3) the means of publishing report after you finish your visit."
ONP had peaked our interest following the stocks' sharp decline after Muddy Waters Research issued an opinion calling the company a fraud. Frankly, we'd think they'd want more investors to come take a look at the facility and offer their opinions if MWR's allegations are so misguided. Unfortunately, we won't be the people offering that opinion. Also, if I can publicly offer some unsolicitied advice to ONP, controlling access to your facility really isn't the best way to foster a culture of transparency.
If you don't know what I'm talking about and haven't been following this saga, it's recommending reading. Although you have to register to get get MWR's original report, you can find most their work here, ONP's rebuttal here, and ONP's rebuttal to the rebuttal rebuttal here. Given that our visit has been canceled, I suspect more of these rebuttals. Good times.