By James Wells

SYDNEY: Leading Edge Group (LEG) has sent a confusing cartoon featuring what appears to be two donkeys fighting against each other and then cooperating to demonstrate the potential reconciliation between the buying groups bidding for the BSL franchise business.

The document, obtained by Current.com.au, featuring the cartoon and additional information about the rival proposal, was sent to franchisees yesterday morning from the Leading Edge office in Sydney.

The cartoon depicts two four-legged animals similar to donkeys which are tied together by a rope at the neck and sniffing two separate sources of food respectively. One animal is identified as ‘Leading Edge Group’ and the other is depicted as ‘Consortium’.

In subsequent frames, the two animals run in opposite directions, strangling themselves by the rope which will not allow either party to access the food and after recovering from their strangulation decide to work together to source both sources of food – one at a time.

Current.com.au believes the cartoon is designed to represent a truce on behalf of the Leading Edge Group who appear to be scrambling for a joint venture with the BSL consortium of 95 franchisees led by $50 million member Everard Johnson.

“We have made this offer to the consortium and they will not talk to us. The problem they have is that they have some of the skills and resources and we have the rest. We need each other to really make this work. Together we can keep the whole intact and working in the best interest of all.

“If sanity and common sense prevail, we can resolve the problems in the best interest of the whole membership and suppliers, and we can all make a dollar and prosper.

“We propose a partnership, whereby the consortium and Leading Edge form a joint venture company to purchase the assets needed from the receiver and liquidator, members may invest or not. Any investment will equate to shareholding equivalent to money invested related to cost of acquisition. Leading Edge does need to own 51%."