ASICās case accusing Westpac of insider trading before the $16 billion privatisation of electricity provider Ausgrid should be heard āas quickly as the court can deal with itā, a judge has said.
A judge has approved a $50 million settlement in a shareholder class action against failed training company Vocation and auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, but questioned whether the $10.9 million commission and $12.75 million legal bill could have been “materially lower” had the case been run by one funder and firm instead of two.
The former boss of defence shipbuilder Austal, who is facing penalty proceedings by ASIC, has told a court the regulator’s case was based on information that fit within a carveout to the ASX listing rules on continuous dislosure to the market.
Four executives of the failed Arrium have named auditor KPMG as a “concurrent wrongdoer” in defending a shareholder class action over a $754 million capital raising two years prior to the mining and steel giant’s $2 billion collapse.
Two shareholder class actions against sandalwood producer Quintis that reached an in principle settlement over a year ago are moving forward following a protracted dispute over insurance, with the lead applicants getting approval to file proposed amended pleadings.
A settlement reached in a lawsuit by the liquidators of collapsed steel giant Arrium against 10 former company directors accused of insolvent trading has been approved by a judge, who noted that while the settlement amount was “substantial”, the deal involved a “substantial compromise”.
Global resources giant BHP Group is seeking special leave from the High Court to appeal a ruling that rejected its bid to exclude foreign investors from a shareholder class action over the 2015 Fundao dam disaster.
After winning a three-way contest to lead a shareholder class action against construction giant Boral, Maurice Blackburn is seeking to stay a competing class action by Phi Finney McDonald that was allowed to continue as a closed class action.
The corporate regulator has secured a travel ban against the brother of former Nuix CFO Stephen Doyle as it pursues a criminal investigation of alleged insider trading by the executive and his family.
The Australian Federal Police executed a search warrant on the Sydney office of technology company Nuix, which is now facing the threat of at least three class actions over disclosures concerning its $2.9 billion float, one of which is now well advanced.