Investment needs two aspect, both scientific and philosophical.

Learning is not complete without putting to practice. Lets remind each other.

In Chapter 15 of Dao De Jing, 出自道德经第十五章： it was mentioned:-
敦兮其若朴，旷兮其若谷
意思是淳朴得好像未经雕琢，旷达得好像高山空谷
Meaning “pure as a unrefined jade, open and broad-minded like a valley”

This is a first step for any one who wants to delve deeper into Daoism.

Because this proverb is derived from Dao De Jing (道德经) which is the first and only scripture left behind by Laozi, the founder of Daoism.

The Chinese proverb
虚怀若谷，describes and attaches great virtue to a person who is humble and can accept other people’s criticism with open heart.

I like to see that John Dough and TTB have keen interest in Chinese culture and especially in Daoist thinking.
However, I have not felt the Chinese humility demeanour in their writing or talk. Instead the western aloofness and arrogance seem to prevail. That is what has piqued quite a few forum participants here, from what I see.

If you have followed TTB's newsletter, he has been "researching" on Capital A for the past umpteen years. At first his comment is sell or no buy at least. Then when AirAsia (former name of Capital A) looked like in the doldrums, he went in to scoop up a relatively large chunk of shares, at average price not near quite the bottom. To me, that was a high risk venture, and the timing was not perfect. How the investment turns out will decide whether he is a shrewd or erratic investor.

dumpMoney is the main participant in this forum that attracts my full attention. His comment might annoy a lot of loyal fans of iCap. But to me, a long time "shareowner" of iCap, I find he is well versed in investment and offer rational argument. Shareholders of iCap should spend some time to read his comment objectively.

dumbMoney

Your argument for a discount in the issue price of the shares allotted in place of cash dividend is based on the common practice of a “normal” company. For “normal” companies, indeed a discount to the market price is given to shareholders who opt for shares in lieu of cash dividend, the reason for which you have very clearly stated.

However, ICAP is not a “”normal” company. The management is engaged in long drawn bitter litigation with its “substantial concerted party shareholder” which is City of London who “controversially” owns more than 20% shares.

If the shares alloted under the DRIP enjoys a discount, who will benefit the most? Isn’t it the City of London group? It will be the block that will increase its base the most since it surely has the capacity to opt for the DRIP in full whereas there will be some individual shareholders who will need the dividend as cash.

I would think that the proviso that
“The issue price of new shares under the DRIP shall be applied a discount ONLY when the market price of ICAP is above its NAV”
is not a typo error.

FastMoney666
Your illustration that if one opts for ICAP’s DRIP, he can expect a 10% price discount in the issue share that he will receive from the DRIP.

This is not true because if you read carefully the terms of the DRIP, it provides that:

“The issue price of new shares under the DRIP shall be applied a discount ONLY when the market price of ICAP is above its NAV.”


It is unlikely that the issue price will get a discount in the foreseeable future since ICAP’s market price is persistently way below its NAV.