Australia-based IOOF Holdings has reached an agreement for the class action alleging it breached disclosure obligations to be discontinued with no order of costs.
This comes after international law firm Quinn Emanuel Urqhart & Sullivan filed the class action lawsuit proceedings against the wealth manager in the Australian Supreme Court in April 2019.
IOOF said in a statement on 25 May that the settlement requires court approval and the plaintiff has agreed to seek this approval at the earliest opportunity.
It is making no payment to the plaintiff, its lawyers Quinn Emanuel, its funder Regency or any other class member as part of this settlement.
The wealth firm said that it “is very pleased with the outcome”.
Lawsuit
The conclusions from the Australian Royal Commission into the banking and finance sector sparked the lawsuit, where Quinn Emanuel alleged that IOOF breached its duties.
The lawsuit alleged that IOOF’s conduct breached its continuous disclosure obligations under the Corporations Act, and engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct, which resulted in shareholder paying an inflated price for shares in the financial services business.
In December 2018, following the uncovering of evidence against IOOF during the royal commission, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) launched legal proceedings against company directors to disqualify those directors from acting as superannuation trustees.
International Adviser contacted Quinn Emanuel and Damian Scattini, partner at the firm said that the proceeding “was conducted in a surprising manner and it resulted in an unexpected outcome”.
He added that the firm’s client is “determined that it was no longer in the interests of group members to continue”.
“The settlement specifically allows any shareholder or former shareholder who wishes to do so to file a claim, whether individually or as a class,” Scattini said.
