The National Rugby League will consider handing over its multi-million dollar Gold Coast Titans franchise to a fund manager "whose listed company has been suspended for nearly five months" and has been "repeatedly challenged" by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission in recent months about its valuations, according to Tabakoff & Read of THE AUSTRALIAN. Gold Coast-based fund manager Stuart McAuliffe's Australian Stock Exchange-listed vehicle, Henry Morgan Ltd., "has been pulled up several times this year by both ASIC and the ASX." The corporate regulators "have been concerned with a number of issues" surrounding Henry Morgan, of which McAuliffe is managing director, "including valuations and transactions made by the company." McAuliffe on Wednesday "went public to strongly defend his record, even invoking the name" of Apple Founder Steve Jobs. McAuliffe: "I have three public companies that are as regulated as you can be -- it is the highest standard of regulation in the world." He added, "I am not a conventional guy. That could be good or bad but I would say Steve Jobs wasn't conventional either and that worked out OK." McAuliffe will face his "moment of truth" on Thursday when he fronts the Australian Rugby League Commission to "outline why he should be granted" the Titans license. He is "up against another consortium headed by Gold Coast identities Darryl Kelly and Rebecca Frizelle." McAuliffe admitted he is "more of an unknown quantity than his rivals." He said, "They know Darryl Kelly, they know Rebecca (Frizelle). Now we have this other guy who seems pretty edgy. I would agree with that. I am. I am not a normal run-of-the-mill guy" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 11/9).
