Defendants to pay out $7m in Tranz Rail case

Two of the key defendants in the Tranz Rail insider trading case have settled with the Securities Commission.

That now leaves David Richwhite and Midavia (an investment vehicle owned by Richwhite and Sir Michael Fay) as the last of six original defendants still fighting a case in which it is alleged that they traded shares using privileged information.

The commission said yesterday that Former Tranz Rail director Carl Ferenbach and former shareholder Berkshire Fund III had agreed to pay $7.03 million in compensation and $350,000 in costs, the full compensatory amount sought by the commission.

The payments are made without any admission of liability by the defendants.

The case relates to allegations that in 2002 six former Tranz Rail shareholders - including former Tranz Rail chief Michael Beard and chief financial officer Michael Bloomer - sold shares while in possession of information that, if publicly available, would have caused to the share price to fall.

Beard and Bloomer have already settled with the commission without accepting liability.

Richwhite and Midavia are still defending the charges.

Their lawyer, Roger Partridge of Bell Gully, told the Herald in September that his clients had no plans to seek a settlement.

The commission filed proceedings against the six defendants in October 2004. It was the first time that it had used its powers to take action for insider trading.

The commission's inquiry focuses on the sale of shares in the first half of 2002, before the share price of the company began to deteriorate from about the middle of 2002.

At the beginning of 2002, Tranz Rail shares were worth $4. By April 16, 2003, they had fallen to an all-time low of 30c.

Tranz Rail has since been sold to Toll Holdings of Australia and has been renamed Toll NZ.

The commission is seeking compensation for the losses avoided by the traders. It is also seeking to have pecuniary penalties imposed.

The case is ongoing in the High Court at Auckland.

Ferenbach and Berkshire have agreed, if requested, to provide the commission with information relevant to the proceedings.