The man making under-market offers for Tauranga residents' TrustPower shares has been ordered to give them back.
Bernard Whimp made a number of offers for shares in TrustPower, Vector, Guinness Peat Group, Contact Energy, DNZ Property Fund and Fletcher Building in the region earlier this year.
TrustPower share offers made by Bernard Whimp are among those the Financial Markets Authority has declared misleading.
Targeting mainly elderly shareholders, Whimp made offers that were either below the market – or if they were above market price they would be paid for over 10 years.
The newly established Financial Markets Authority took Whimp to court.
The high court has ordered cancellation of any arrangements made to sell shares to Whimp – any shares transferred are to be returned.
The judgment does not include sales of shares made as a result of offers he made in December 2010.
'We are very pleased the court has confirmed our view that the ‘deferred payment' offers made by Mr Bernard Whimp and associated entities were misleading,” says FMZ CEO Sean Hughes.
'This decision means that investors should no longer be deceived by these kinds of offers.
'This will not only help to restore investor confidence in our financial markets, but also send a clear message about inappropriate conduct which otherwise damage the market's reputation – companies and shareholders should be happy with this outcome.”
The orders relate to the various offers, all dated on or around 15-18 March 2011 made by the following entities associated with Mr Whimp:
Carrington Securities LP - offer to buy shares in TrustPower Limited
NZ Investment Securities LP - offer to buy shares in Vector Limited
Chase Securities LP - offer to buy shares in Guinness Peat Group plc
Carlyle Securities LP - offer to buy shares in Contact Energy Limited
Energy Securities LP - offer to buy shares in DNZ Property Fund Limited
Fairfield Securities LP - offer to buy shares in Fletcher Building Limited
The court has also made orders preventing Bernard Whimp from repeating the style of offer.
Excluded from the orders are a small number of shareholders who responded to a communication from Mr Whimp confirming they wished to continue with the sale of their shares, says Sean. With respect to those shareholders, FMA is to be given the opportunity to verify the genuineness of their confirmation.
4 comments
Not the only shortchanging
Posted on 13-05-2011 13:51 | By al pillocksworth
I see the government plans to cut Kiwisaver subsidy, but not MP's superannuation. For every dollar they put in from their $130k salary, MPs get $2.50 subsidy for us sucker taxpayers. Let's see how the Bay of Plenty MPs vote on this one???
“The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.”
Posted on 13-05-2011 14:58 | By The author of this comment has been removed.
I dont understand? So now as I understand it, it is ILLEGAL for 2 consenting parties to come to an agreement on the value of something? - It must now be OK'd by the high court! This is a dangerous precedent that has been set here. What I chose to sell something for is nobodys business but mine. What the high court is saying is that "elderly shareholders" are STUPID and cannot be trusted to conduct their own affairs, and from now on, any transactions must be overseen by the high court. 'The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools.”
Please the Financial Authority has acted
Posted on 13-05-2011 16:57 | By al pillocksworth
I think the court is saying that the letter offering to buy the share may not be very clear. One of them offers what seems to be a big price, but in the rest of the print gets around to saying the payments are spread over 10 years. In my opinion that's not fair and I am please the Financial Authority has acted to check the interests of those who signed up to make sure they understood what's commonly called the fine print.
@ pillocksworth
Posted on 13-05-2011 23:18 | By Mr bay
WTF has this got to do with kiwiwsaver
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