Oppo Brothers to be sold - and Crowd investors will see a return this time.

Well at last. Seedrs have some good news for investors. We dont wish to damage the deal so wont be going into detail but shareholders in both rounds of Oppo will see a good if not spectacular return. Prefs not quite so much. 

Seedrs have now put out their own PR claiming this as some massive success  -so the figures are free to go - 

Investors in Round one will get just over 4X return and investors in Round 2 ~2.5X. This is without S/EIS.

The buyer is HP Wild Holdings AG. The UK loses out. 

According to the accompanying letter to SHs from the CEO of Oppo, the company was about to go under and this sales is a deal that no sensible person could refuse. Seedrs fail to mention this. 

As returns go, it's ok but it aint Carling, as Seedrs would have the Press believe. More reasons for an independent platform giving out the real information as opposed to PR. 

We will report back on the numbers once the deal is public (see above). Oppo in our opinion, have taken the sensible option and off loaded at a time when they required large new investment to maximise potential. The CEO's letter makes it clear that borrowing has rocketed just in order to stand still and that the offer for the business presents an excellent life line. I suppose it doesnt matter how SH's get their return so long as they get one. As in the Crowdcube case with Camden Brewery, where they chose to sell because they couldnt make progress alone, so this sale is the best option on offer. In fact the CEO is quite plain, in a May sort of way; it's this deal or curtains. No offence to the late Prime Minister or for that matter the CEO, who may well be very good looking. 

Shareholders can opt to stay with the company which is good to see after all the dragging along that has been going on. 

How to turn hope to despair in three weeks with Seedrs and Oppo Ice cream

Oppo Ice Cream is a success - isn't it? A shareholder update dated 9th July said it was. Now a new shareholder update, 14 days later, says things are not quite so great. And it adds, we'd like to buy back some of your shares. Which is an interesting proposition. 

We wrote about Oppo recently as they had called for shareholders to flock to Asda online and post 5 star product reviews. Lots of you thought that was fine. We didnt.

Now having told shareholders just 2 weeks ago that all was great - ''Oppo has driven more sales in the last three months than the last year combined. We're growing!'' -  in a new update they want to go for more funding - as things are not great - 'Therefore to stay afloat we will have to complete another raise'. In order to prevent more dilution to the two founders, they are willing to buy back Seedrs investors shares. They dont say how many. So are they sitting on an offer where they can buy back shares at X of Seedrs investors and then bring in cash at Xplus 50% thereby recouping value? Just an idea. Cynical of me, I know. 

Casting the buy back aside it seems truly incredible that a shareholder update can be so misleading. But then you have to remember that the company thinks it's ok to post shareholder reviews on a UK supermarket site just to up their overall rating level. 

We thought Oppo looked good. But you really cant tell your shareholders two different versions of reality within 14 days. 

What do Seedrs feel about all of this? Maybe they could let readers know as they run a system where they are supposed to be much more involved with shareholder relations than the defunct Crowdcube help yourself model. But maybe that is just for show??

How to get fake 5 star reviews for your product via Equity Crowdfunding

When Oppo Brothers are not asking their investors to post fake reviews on Asda, they make ice cream. I always thought this sort of nonsense went on but have never caught anyone red handed. Oppo Brothers raised £400k on Seedrs in 2016.

Here is the text of the Oppo Brothers latest shareholder communique. Since this was issued, many 5 star reviews have appeared on their product reviews at Asda. Dont think we need to say more -

Tell Asda shoppers that Oppo is awesome.

We're low on reviews in Asda and could do with a few more - every review will help accelerate sales! We need to have an average of over 4.5* to unlock more support.

It takes 30 seconds to add a quick star rating, you don't need to shop there, and one or two brief words and will help grow your investment. 

(Just don't say you're an Oppo investor 😉 )

Just click any of the flavours here, then click the reviews tab and you will get hero status:

Madagascan Vanilla
Colombian Chocolate and Hazelnut
Salted Caramel
Mint Choc Swirl

Following comments below its obvious not everyone agrees on this. My point is that if you allow this by just saying its ok, then where do you draw the line. Oppo are asking indirectly for 5 star reviews (they say they need 4.5 plus ie 5). So for example you might not like their apple and gosseberry as much as their melon but because you are a SH you give it 5 anyway. That is a fake review. If the product was worth 5 stars then customers would give it 5 stars - that is the whole purpose of reviews. It may well be a 5 star product but you shouldnt be making it one.

Oppo Brothers are one ECF company heading in the right direction - they really do not need to be attempting to manipulate things like this.