Centro shareholders to be funded for litigation
Litigation funding firm IMF today announced to the Australian Securities Exchange that it will fund shareholder class actions against four Australian financial services companies that ran into trouble in last year’s credit crisis.
IMF will fund claims shareholders may bring against Allco Finance Group, MFS, Centro Properties and Centro Retail.
Commenting on the announcement, IMF managing director John Walker told Money Management that claims would likely lead into “tens of millions of dollars” and said the firm’s immediate focus was to determine class members.
All shareholders who purchased stapled securities in that period are eligible to participate in the claim, which IMF will fund if it receives acceptable participation levels.
The claims against each of the companies relate to alleged breaches of their continuous disclosure obligations between August 2007 and February this year.
IMF said it would announce claim values in its quarterly case investment reports as they are published, which may be as soon as April for Centro reports.
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