This morning our Markets Announcements Office made an error in processing an announcement from Infomedia (ASX: IFM). The Infomedia announcement stated that it had entered a scheme of arrangement under which private equity group TPG Capital Asia would acquire 100% of its shares. This error meant that TPG Telecom (ASX: TPG), was incorrectly cross referenced on that announcement.
ASX moved quickly to address the issue when it became clear there was potential for confusion in the market. Shares in TPG Telecom traded for approximately 15 minutes after the market opened before trading was paused. ASX contacted TPG Telecom to notify the issuer that it would be rectifying the situation by cancelling the trades and contacting all market participants affected by the cancellation ahead of recommencing trading in TPG Telecom shares.
TPG Telecom shares resumed trading at 12:38PM.
ASX Managing Director and CEO Helen Lofthouse has sought out TPG Telecom’s CEO and Managing Director to apologise directly.
ASX Group Executive Markets and Listings Darren Yip said: “This issue arose from an inadvertent human error and I recognise that it has caused disruption for TPG Telecom and its investors. Upon discovery of the error, it was escalated to me and I will be apologising directly to the team at TPG Telecom.
“This mistake shouldn’t have happened and we are reviewing our internal processes to understand if there are additional safeguards or procedures we could implement to reduce the risk of a similar reoccurrence.”
