The Financial Markets Authority has contacted sharemarket operator NZX over a blunder on Friday that resulted in some investors selling shares in Lyttelton Port when they were unaware of a higher takeover price.
Details of council-owned Christchurch City Holdings' $3.95 a share takeover offer for the Canterbury port were buried in a substantial security holder (SSH) notice published by Lyttelton Port shareholder Port Otago at 2.24pm.
More than 42,000 shares, worth $147,592, were sold in 13 trades at $3.30 a share to $3.59 a share in the period between the SSH notice's publication and a trading halt being placed on the stock at 2.57pm. Lyttelton Port shares closed up 24 per cent on Friday at $4.10.
Trading is usually halted in a target stock before details of a takeover are announced.
The NZX has received a number of requests to cancel the trades made between 2.24pm and 2.57pm, but the exchange operator has said they could not be reversed because an error, as defined by the participant rules, had not occurred.
An FMA spokesman said the regulator had been "actively engaged in ongoing discussions with NZX about trading in LPC [Lyttelton Port]".