Coote not involved in new Commander

The mystery consortium which plans to buy out Commander's telco business today denied that the failed company's former chief executive Adrian Coote was behind the bid.

"I can confirm Adrian is not involved in the project," a spokesperson told ZDNet.com.au. CTG would make further announcements on 5 December once the deal has been settled on 5 December, they added.

The denial comes after industry speculation had associated Coote with the announcement last Friday by Commander's receivers, McGrathNicol, that a shadowy consortium of investors called Commander Telecom Group (CTG) had agreed to buy Commander's telco arm.

Earlier in October, Australian Reseller News had reported that Coote — Commander's former CEO who was replaced by Amanda Lacaze in December last year — was behind an unnamed private equity group that had placed a bid for the business.

It is not known if the two groups are the same.

The only description of CTG given last week was that it was composed of "local and internationally experienced telco investors".

An Australian Securities and Investments Commission document search revealed that the directors of a company called NGA Software Corporation had registered the CTG name two days earlier, however the directors of the business appeared to have no other interests in the Australian telecommunications industry.

The consortium plans to take over Commander's telco contracts as well as 400 staff that were employed in the business by early December. However the iBurst wireless broadband business was not part of the package.