Australian court upholds ruling against ANZ in $2.5 billion share issue case

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By Byron Kaye

(Reuters) -An Australian court on Wednesday upheld a ruling that found ANZ violated disclosure rules in a A$2.5 billion ($1.7 billion) share placement nearly a decade earlier, dismissing the lender’s appeal and wrapping up a long legal saga.

The three-judge appeals panel of the Federal Court also upheld a A$900,000 fine imposed on the bank and ordered the country’s No. 3 lender to pay the costs borne by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in defending the appeal.

Last year, the Federal Court found ANZ had broken rules and unfairly impacted investors’ decision-making by failing to disclose that between $754 million and $791 million worth of the shares had not been sold as planned and would be placed with underwriters.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) first filed criminal charges against the bank and its underwriters in 2018 alleging cartel behaviour before withdrawing the case four years later.

ASIC’s civil case against ANZ was put on hold until the ACCC case ended. It ended with the finding against the bank last September.

ANZ’s appeal “overcomplicates the statutory regime and does not withstand close analysis”, one of the three Federal court judges said in the ruling on Wednesday.

ASIC Chair Joe Longo said in a statement that the regulator would “always defend the integrity of Australia’s markets”.

“This is an important case that confirms how critical continuous disclosure is to maintain market integrity,” he said.

ANZ said in a statement that it would review the judgement.

($1 = 1.4480 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Byron Kaye; Additional reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)