ANZ, Merrill face fresh legal action over Opes PrimeEmail Print...

ANZ, Merrill face fresh legal action over Opes Prime
Email Print Normal font Large font Related Coverage
Michael West: ANZ makes Opes offer
AdvertisementMay 30, 2008 - 6:07PM

Law firm Slater & Gordon has begun legal action against ANZ Banking Group and Merrill Lynch on behalf of former clients of failed stockbroker Opes Prime.

''A class action against Opes Prime, the ANZ Bank and global banking giant Merrill Lynch was filed today in the Melbourne registry of the Federal Court,'' Slater & Gordon said in a statement.

The firm said it was representing more than 50 investors in the class action and seeking damages of more than $100 million.
Slater & Gordon said the writ alleged negligence and breaches of corporations law.

''The legal claimant is Imobilari Pty Ltd, the investment company of a Sydney businessman who has lost several hundred thousand dollars as a result of the Opes Prime collapse,'' the firm said.

''The funding go-ahead from the Commonwealth Legal Funding LLC (CLF) for the class action was earlier announced on May 16.''

Slater & Gordon principal lawyer James Higgins said former Opes Prime clients were unimpressed with media reports of offers by ANZ to the administrator of Opes Prime.

A spokesperson for ANZ said today the talks with the administrator were ``exploratory and preliminary'' and no specific solutions have been discussed.

Slater & Gordon is also acting for a number of individuals and companies seeking to self fund their action through individual proceedings, or funded by CLF to investigate, and if necessary pursue proceedings.

''A significant number of significant pieces of litigation have been and will be issued in this matter,'' Mr Higgins said.

About 1,200 Opes clients lost shares that they had placed with Opes in return for margin loans, when the major secured creditors of Opes - ANZ, Merrill Lynch and Dresdner Kleinwort - began selling a pool of nearly $1.6 billion in shares in a bid to recover money owed to them by Opes.

BusinessDay yesterday reported that ANZ had approached administrators of failed brokerage Opes Prime with an offer of about 62-cents-in-the-dollar for Opes' unsecured creditors.

More to come

AAP with BusinessDay