Andrew Burrell
Senior Business Reporter
Perth PADBURY Mining breached continuous disclosure obligations when it told the market it had “secured” $US6.5 billion to revive the Oakajee port and rail project in Western Australia, says the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
ASIC also made it harder for the cash-strapped Padbury to raise capital, stopping the company issuing a short-form prospectus until May next year.
Padbury said in June it had attracted interest from potential investors in China, the Middle East and South Korea.
ASIC said yesterday: “ASIC’s decision means Padbury will not be able to rely on reduced disclosure rules if they want to raise funds from investors using a prospectus … a listed company can offer securities using a prospectus containing information relating only to the particular offer itself.
“ASIC has the power to prevent a company from relying on these rules if they breach disclosure obligations designed to ensure material information is provided to investor on a continuous basis.”
Padbury admitted in May it had never secured all the funding needed for the Oakajee project. This came after three weeks of scrutiny following its funding deal with Roland Frank Bleyer.
ASIC said yesterday that Padbury breached disclosure laws by failing to disclose that it was required to arrange for a bank to issue a demand guarantee to a company controlled by Mr Bleyer for $US94 million.
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