SHARES CLASS ACTIONS
In 1999, more than 23,000 former shareholders of GIO Insurance launched a lawsuit against the company for losses they made because of allegedly bad advice from the directors.
The shareholders said they had suffered investment losses after GIO forecast a $250 million profit and told them not to sell their stock into an AMP takeover offer because it was too low. As it happened, GIO reported a $743 million loss, its share price dropped and shareholders missed out on the opportunity to sell for a higher price to AMP.
GIO settled for $112 million in damages – and so began shareholder class actions in Australia.
Since that initial lawsuit, lawyers acting on behalf of investors have typically filed between 10 and 20 class actions a year
