The claim relates to the 2009 collapse of Ashington property group, which was 'retired' as the manager of two property development funds in which the four superannuation funds and Ashington were invested.
The plaintiff in the case, Mapeline Pty Limited, is arguing that the conditions of Ashington's retirement agreement were breached.
In a statement released yesterday, Mapeline director and Ashington founder Craig Anderson said Mapelin has been “assigned the right to pursue these claims by the Ashington liquidator” after Ashington went into liquidation in 2011 following the loss of management of the development funds.
“Proceedings in the case begun in November 2013 have now been amended by Mapeline to include among the defendants an adviser to the super funds, Mr Ray King, and his company, Sovereign Investment Research Pty Limited,” said the statement.
The four super funds were investors in Ashington Development Fund and Ashington Development Fund No 2, it said.
“Total damages claimed amount to $14 million and include the value of Ashington’s units in the funds at the time, of $3.75 million, an unpaid wind up fee of $2.5 million, ongoing operating costs of Ashington of $3.5 million, unpaid consultancy fees of $1.3 million and accumulated interest on amounts outstanding of $2.95 million,” said the statement.
The super fund defendants have questioned whether Mr King had authority to act on their behalf.
“The amended claim states that Mr King and/or Sovereign represented to have authority to act on behalf of the super funds and make binding decisions,” it said.
“If it is found Mr King and/or Sovereign did not have this authority, it would represent a breach of the warranty of authority and misleading and deceptive conduct, the amended claim states.”
“If there were a breach of warranty of authority and relief against the four super funds were denied, the amended claim states that Mapeline would seek loss and damage against Mr King and or Sovereign,” said the statement.
