By Ian Neubauer
Hedley Leisure and Gaming Property Fund (HLG) yesterday dismissed suggestions it misled investors by not disclosing a complete turnaround of its acquisition strategy prior to a self-declared trading halt on March 17.
HLG said it became aware of approaches from buyers interested in acquiring all or part of the company on March 14 but did not disclose this information because it was not required to do so under confidentiality rules set out by the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).
“The substance of those approaches remains at the stage of incomplete proposals or negotiations, confidential, and insufficiently definite to warrant disclosure,” HLG said.
HLG’s statement was made in response to an ASX query concerning the company’s disclosure obligations, which followed an earlier ASX query concerning a price slump that saw the company’s shares lose 44 per cent of their value over two days earlier this month. HLG said at the time it did not have any information to explain the price slump.
HLG shocked the industry last Wednesday when it announced it had appointed experts to field approaches from buyers interested in acquiring all or part of the group and confirmed the inking of a deal to sell two unidentified properties for $25 million.
HLG shares slid 4 per cent this morning, settling at 88 cents by midday.
The HLG portfolio includes 91 hotels and 16 bottle shops collectively appraised at $1.2 billion.