It is absolutely inappropriate for a retail broker to call a company CEO for information and discuss that call with one of their clients- PERIOD. Automatic dismissal generally.
If the CEO calls you to discuss their future it is a reportable call for compliance purposes; and compliance won't care how the call occured, they'd just stick the stock on the restricted list- meaning no advice and you cannot discuss it. It was discussed.
ASIC doesn't care what was discussed due to the breadth of things which potentially could alter the share price. In this case the fact that the proposals are far fetched fantasies [which I completely concur with you on by the way] means that you now know there is unlikely to be a good deal- which means no deal or a bad deal. That's is the real substance of the information. It does affect my outlook - it is material. It is unreported and therefore is inside information of a material kind.
Ironically in this case it is the far-fetchedness of the information that makes it market sensitive.
Maybe I am hyper sensitive to insider trading possibilities because I am in M&A and have a desk piled high inside info- but then again I would say this is a reasonable view because if you get done your life is pretty much over.
AQC Price at posting:
5.7¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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