Retail Food Group disclosure under scrutiny

The corporate regulator and disallowed are looking at what the board of Retail Food Group knew about a $160 million make-or-break refinancing proposal when shares in the beleaguered food franchisor spiked last Friday.The Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Securities Exchange are reviewing trading in RFG shares, which have risen almost 60 per cent in less than a week, to see whether the company has complied with its continuous disclosure obligations.

When the ASX asked RFG on Monday if the company was aware of any undisclosed information that could explain a 57 per cent share price spike, RFG said no, but pointed to a media interview with chairman Peter George about the company's turnaround progress, and said it was in advanced discussions regarding potential asset sales and equity and debt refinancing.

On Tuesday, following a Street Talk report that special situations investor Soliton Capital Partners had proposed a $165 million refinancing package, RFG confirmed it had received a $160 million indicative non-binding proposal from Soliton and had granted the firm ''limited exclusivity'' while discussions continued and due diligence was being conducted.

ASIC and the ASX are now looking at when the confidential discussions with Soliton started and when confidentiality may have been lost, at which point RFG should have disclosed the negotiations or requested a trading halt.RELATED QUOTESRFGRetail Food Group$0.220.001 year1 dayJul 18Nov 18Mar 19Jul 190.100.300.50Updated: Jul 11, 2019 — 8.28am. Data is 20 mins delayed.View RFG related articles

"We'll look at what was known when .... when confidentiality might have been breached and when would it have been reasonable to disclose," one source said.

An ASX spokesman said the exchange continued to monitor the matter closely."Our action thus far is evident from the announcements the company has made. If we have further concerns, we’ll release our query and the company’s response to the market," the spokesman said."We always examine trading and disclosure in and around any major corporate event and this is certainly no exception," an ASIC spokesman said.
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