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Australia probes Hanlong for insider trading

AUSTRALIAN authorities have made interim orders preventing several executives of the private Chinese firm Hanlong Mining from leaving the country amid a probe into suspected insider trading in shares of two takeover targets.

The Supreme Court in the state of New South Wales made the orders forbidding Steven Hui Xiao, the managing director of Hanlong, from leaving Australia until September 22, other than to visit Hong Kong between September 13 and 14 to attend to visa requirements, according to a statement on the website of Australian Securities & Investments Commission today.

The court found that ASIC had shown a solid basis for investigating whether Xiao, a Chinese national, may have contravened the Corporations Act's insider trading provisions by allegedly dabbling in shares of Sundance Resources and Bannerman Resources, two Perth-headquartered firms that are in takeover talks with Hanlong that involve up to US$1.5 billion, according to the statement.

The ex parte orders also restrain the travel of Calvin Zhu, a Hanlong vice president and Fan Zhang, an employee of Hanlong, while the assets of Xiao, Zhu and Zhang also have been frozen, the statement said.

Zhu and Zhang are Australian citizens, according to ASIC.

Freezing orders were also obtained for Xiao's wife, and two other women and Wingatta Pty Ltd, an entity associated with Zhang, the statement said.

ASIC said its investigation is at an early state and declined to comment.

Hanlong, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sichuan Hanlong Group, bought 18.6 percent stake in Sundance in March and proposed a A$0.5 (US$0.53) per share offer in July for the company.



 

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