Luke Livingston

A top in-house lawyer at Dexus has told a court the real estate asset manager was using an altered form of a non-disclosure agreement with bidders of a portion of its APAC bloc of shares without the approval of the airport operator's co-owners.

The court battle between APAC and major shareholder Dexus over the sale of an investor's stake in the airport operator went to a hearing this week, but it's the solicitors representing the warring parties that found themselves on trial.

A judge has threatened to vacate the trial in Dexus’ case against Melbourne Airport operator APAC after all the defendants tried to file documents late, suggesting the lawyers may be hit with personal costs orders.

Questioning of the first witness in Dexus' case against Melbourne Airport's operator was an hour in when trial was halted by the judge, who complained of flying by the seat of his pants, documentary evidence-wise.

A court has ordered Macquarie Securities to pay an agreed $35 million penalty after finding that “serious deficiencies" in its reporting systems resulted in repeated failures to accurately report short sales.

A judge has dismissed objections to ASIC’s evidence ahead of a penalty hearing in its case against BSF Solutions, Cigno and two directors, saying they were “not entitled to save up any such complaint” until after the liability hearing.

Dexus has halved the number of documents it claims are shielded by legal privilege from production to fellow owners of airport operator APAC ahead of trial over an alleged breach of a shareholder deed, a court heard Monday.

A judge has ordered ANZ to pay $250 million in penalties in four cases by ASIC – $10 million more than the bank had agreed to pay – saying ANZ had "substantially deceived” the government by overstating bond trading volumes.

A judge has questioned whether an agreed penalty against ANZ for overstating bond trading volumes is sufficient, noting the misrepresentations were "very significant".

Real estate asset manager Dexus has won access to advice given by the lawyers of two shareholders of airport operator APAC over an alleged breach of a shareholder deed.