Illegal share offers stopped
A company acting as the trustee of a superannuation fund has been prevented by the corporate regulator from making unsolicited off-market offers to purchase shares deemed illegal.
The offers pertained to equities in the Stockland Corporation and Stockland Trust stapled securities and were made by Mardel Services, which was acting as a trustee for M&M Investments Superannuation Fund.
Approaches to buy the shares were made between May 1 and June 28 of this year.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) prevented the offers from being made because they did not disclose Mardel Services as the purchaser and did not state the market value of the stapled securities or the offer price per stapled security.
Furthermore, the regulator was concerned that important information was not disclosed during the offer that would alert investors to the significant ramifications for Stockland should the acquisitions be successful.
ASIC secured an interim stop order regarding these actions on June 28 as well as a final stop order on July 5.
In addition, the corporate watchdog obtained an agreement from Mardel Services that it did not intend to make any further unsolicited offers to Stockland security holders.
ASIC also encouraged Mardel Services to issue correspondence to individuals who had taken up the offer to let them know about the regulator’s concerns and give them an opportunity to redeem their shares.
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