The Full Federal Court has today dismissed an appeal by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) against a judgment that it breached continuous disclosure laws when undertaking a $2.5 billion institutional share placement in 2015.
In dismissing ANZ’s appeal, the Court upheld the original decision in a case brought by ASIC, which imposed a penalty of $900,000 on ANZ for contravening continuous disclosure laws.
The Court found that by failing to notify the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that between approximately $754 million and $791 million of the shares offered in the placement was to be acquired by its underwriters rather than placed with investors, ANZ had contravened its continuous disclosure obligations.
ASIC Chair Joe Longo said, ‘ASIC will always defend the integrity of Australia’s markets.’
‘This is an important case that confirms how critical continuous disclosure is to maintain market integrity.’
ANZ was also ordered to pay ASIC’s costs.
