Chris Cooper, former chairman of Redflex Traffic Systems didn’t mince words when talking about the rejection of a $305 Million bid from The Carlyle Group and Macquarie Bank to buy the company, which had been raised to $2.75/share on Friday.

A reporter from The Sydney Morning Herald’sBusiness Day asked him what share price would have been reasonable, he said “not a price with a ’2′ in front of it,” meaning Macquarie-Carlyle were at least 10% short on their offer as far as Cooper is concerned. The scheme to acquire Redflex reportedly cost the banking and investment giants $1Million to architect.

This isn’t the first time Cooper has been in the news for battles with other major shareholders. He was the target of a shareholder mutiny down under in 2009. At that time, it had become crystal clear that Redflex’s crown jewel, the Arizona freeway spy camera system was a complete flop and would probably be scrapped.

Front men for the three largest holding institutions of Redflex stock,Thorney Holdings, Hunter Hall and Renaissance used this as the motivator for a shareholder vote on Cooper’s fate as chairman. He was promptly ousted but has retained an 11% holding in Redflex, which carried the power of striking a death blow to the proposed scheme to marry Macquarie/Carlylewith the camera vendor.

The death of this deal is being called humiliating by The Sydney Morning Herald, who had been covering it at every stage. It does look like a victory for Cooper, who purportedly had brought many friends and family in to the fold as Redflex shareholders and claims that his influence alone killed this deal, which needed a 75% vote in favor of the scheme to be approved.

What’s Next?

The Carlyle Group includes famous major investors such as the Bush and Bin Laden families and Macquarie is a giant in the operation of toll roads, worldwide. Carlyle currently has $110 Billion in assets and will not be making another bid. Macquarie, who made the original offer, had to bring in Carlyle to complete the deal, so they’ll be moving on as well.

Who will be the next to approach Redflex with a bid to buy up their automated ticketing spy cameras? Move that price up to $3/share and make sure you’ve got Chris Cooper on your side, or bidding on Redflex’s vast network of automated ticketing spy cameras will just be a big, expensive mistake.

by CameraFRAUD