Law firm Slater & Gordon is investigating a shareholder class action against Australia’s largest onshore oil producer Beach Energy, following a significant decline in its projected earnings from oil reserves on the Western Flank in South Australia.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s new chair Joseph Longo has defended his team’s work in reviewing the Nuix prospectus before the embattled tech company’s $2.9 billion float late last year.
Payments processing company EML is looking at two potential shareholder class actions over its alleged failure to notify the market of concerns by Ireland’s central bank relating to compliance with anti-money laundering regulations.
A judge has awarded $43 million to National Australia Bank in its lawsuit against former directors of failed retailer Dick Smith, but threw out claims against company directors brought by HSBC and the retailer’s receivers.
Combatting “opportunistic” class actions is one of the main drivers behind proposed legislation to reform Australia’s continuous disclosure laws, but the federal treasury department has brushed off a Senate committee’s request for a list of cases apparently deserving of the derogatory tag.
Defence shipbuilder Austal has been hit with regulatory action over market disclosures linked to cost overruns with the company’s $3.5 billion US Navy warship program.
The government’s proposed changes to the country’s continuous disclosure regime substitutes a “bright line legal test” with a “very very messy law” that will weaken enforcement and could undermine the integrity of Australia’s capital markets, a Senate committee has heard.
A shareholder’s attempt to reverse a $3.15 million share acquisition by the managing director of construction giant Consolidated Builders Ltd has been dismissed by a judge, despite finding the case had “a reasonable probability of success”.
GetSwift is opposing a bid by the lead shareholder in a class action to rely at an upcoming trial on evidence given by overseas witnesses in last year’s hearing in ASIC’s case, and its resistance could force the class to bring a separate case in the US to compel fresh testimony, a court has heard.
A Federal Court judge has made his feelings known about a ruling by the NSW Supreme Court last year that found judges have no power to shut unregistered group members out of a class action, but said he was “just a single judge” and was bound by the decision.