NZX to cancel Insured Group listing over rule breaking

NZX to cancel Insured Group listing over repeated rule breaking

By Suze Metherell

Feb. 28 (BusinessDesk) – NZX, New Zealand’s stock exchange operator, will de-list Insured Group, which last traded in April, after repeatedly failing to comply with listing rules.

Insured Group will officially be de-listed at the close of trading on March 7, after using the shell of Lombard Group, the parent of failed lender Lombard Finance & Investments, for a backdoor listing on the exchange in 2010.

Trading in the shares has been suspended since October after the group failed to file an annual report. The shares last traded on April 26 at 1.5 cents, valuing the company at $325,000.

NZX said it will exercise “its discretion” and cancel Insured Group’s listing after “recurring failure to comply with the NZX Main Board Listing Rules”.

Insured Group has been tardy in filing its annual report every year since listing, excluding 2010 when the accounts reflected the Lombard business prior to the takeover.

In 2012 the company said it would de-list from the NZX in a failed attempt to join the Australian Stock Exchange with the expectation of lower ASX compliance fees and to raise A$2.25 million in capital. The company withdrew its ASX prospectus and returned trading on NZX.

Insured Group wasn’t immediately available for comment.

(BusinessDesk)

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