Watson v AWB: The Australian AWB Shareholder Class...

Watson v AWB: The Australian AWB Shareholder Class Action

Shareholders who purchased shares between 11 March 2002 and 13 January 2006 and held those shares at the close of business on 13 January 2006 were eligible to participate and invited to register for the class action.

Notices were sent by AWB to those shareholders whose details were obtained by AWB from a historical snapshot of the company's share register and information was published in the Australian and Australian Financial Review newspapers on 24 April 2009.


Pursuant to court orders of 26 March 2009 shareholders were required to register with us by 5 June 2009 or their right to participate in the class action would be lost. Justice Foster, the judge in this matter, has considered some late applications for registration.


We advised the Court on 15 February 2010 that we have an in principle agreement with AWB to settle the claims of all participating group members for $39.5m including interest and costs. The court will hear the application for settlement approval on 23 April 2010.

The judge's associate has recently told us that he will consider applications for registration if he receives them very soon

The associate advises that late registrants can submit their data to the Federal Court registry in Sydney.