Continuous disclosure - Fortescue appeal to Australian High Court successful

In Forrest v ASIC; Fortescue Metals Group Ltd v ASIC [2012] HCA 39, a majority of the High Court allowed an appeal against a decision of the Full Federal Court that the Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (Fortescue) had breached its continuous disclosure obligations under the Corporations Act 2001.

The judgment held that Fortescues announcements to the market in 2004 about agreements it had entered with Chinese companies did not purport to be statements about the legal effect of the agreements, but statements about what the parties to the agreements understood that they had done, and intended to do in the future. The court decided that Fortescue and Andrew Forrest, its former Chief Executive Officer, did not mislead shareholders by representing these agreements as binding ... READ MORE