A managing associate at Allens who specialises in regulatory investigations and financial crime is joining the Corrs Chambers Westgarth partnership as a member of its investigations and inquiries practice group.
The government has revealed the thresholds for mergers that will need to be reviewed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission under reforms that will take effect in 2026, promising to spare small acquisitions.
ASIC has won its bid to appoint receivers to a managed investment scheme run by Keystone Asset Management after expressing “grave concerns” that investor funds were used to pay sports stars and buy a $4.3 million home for its former director.
The corporate regulator has taken market operator ASX to court for allegedly making misleading statements about the replacement project for its CHESS share register, including that the project was on track to go live in April 2023.
Relative newcomer Hamilton Locke has lured two lawyers from Corrs Chambers Westgarth and one from Gilbert + Tobin to grow its corporate team.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has approved France-based Louis Dreyfus’ proposed acquisition of ASX-traded cotton gin operator Namoi Cotton, after accepting an undertaking that allayed its competition concerns.
ANZ has confirmed that senior executives could face consequences in an investigation led by Herbert Smith Freehills and Allens regarding concerns that it manipulated government bond sales last year.
ASIC has brought civil penalty proceedings against Chinese government-owned agri-business COFCO, alleging it manipulated the market for Eastern Australian wheat futures market contracts in 2022.
The Treasurer has released draft legislation for an overhaul to Australia’s merger review regime, but has not yet revealed the threshold for mergers that will need to be signed off on by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
A judge has rejected arguments that Virgin Australia waived legal professional privilege over advice from Herbert Smith Freehills by claiming in a class action defence that it had a reasonable belief that statements in a prospectus for a $324 million capital raising were not misleading.