AUSTRALIAN Securities and Investments Commission has turned the heat up on the embattled Westpoint Group with new litigation action as part of ongoing efforts to get to the bottom of its mezzanine finance structures. ASIC lodged legal action in the Federal Court prior to Christmas to force Westpoint to produce documents to clarify the issue of shifting investors between Westpoint investment schemes. They also seek to uncover the identity of financial advisers involved in placing clients into the mezzanine finance schemes. In other developments, Perpetual Trustees, Westpoint’s main financier, has appointed receivers to Westpoint’s Melbourne Market Street development. ASIC also has an application before the court to place Westpoint into liquidation on the back of suspected major asset shortfalls.
