Guvera ‘limped’ towards IPO, court hears, as former finance chief defends decision to keep trading
The former finance chief of music streaming firm Guvera had concerns over its solvency when he first joined the company but put his faith in chief executive Darren Herft to raise capital ahead of a planned – but ultimately doomed – public listing, a court heard.
Ken Hostland, who became Guvera chief financial officer in January 2016, said directors looked towards Herft and trusted his ability to raise funds through his private equity firm AMMA in the early months of 2016.
But the faith came amid tough market conditions described by Herft as “one of the toughest fund raising environments I’ve known”.
There was only one way out and that was the IPO.
You must assume the board believed the IPO would get up and did it’s due diligence, with possiblly a little more hope than most IPOs.