ASIC charges Perth adviser Cameron Waugh over inside trading of Genesis Minerals shares
Perth-based former corporate adviser Cameron Waugh has been charged with six counts of insider trading over Genesis Minerals shares.
The corporate watchdog has charged a former Perth adviser with six counts of insider trading over alleged dealings in Genesis Minerals shares ahead of the company’s 2021 recapitalisation by high-profile mining identities.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said on Monday Cameron Waugh had appeared at the Bunbury Magistrates Court on December 16 after his arrest by the Australian Federal Police, charged with trading in Genesis shares while in possession of inside information about the company’s affairs.
While ASIC did not give details of its allegations on Monday, it said the alleged insider trading occurred between September 14 and September 20, 2021.
Two days after that period, Genesis disclosed a $20.8m investment led by former Saracen Mineral Holdings boss Raleigh Finlayson and former Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power. Northern Star Resources tipped in $3m to the placement.
The capital raising was the prelude to a board and management overhaul of Genesis, with Mr Finlayson to take the company’s top job in March 2022 and Mr Power – along with corporate lawyer Michael Bowen – to join the company’s board. The placement was made at 6c a share, then a 17.8 per cent discount to the price of the company’s shares.
Genesis shares spiked on the announcement, jumping as much as 140 per cent to an intraday high of 17.5c on the return to trading. In early 2022, Genesis conducted a 10-for-one share consolidation.
Ahead of the announcement Genesis had a market capitalisation of about $155m. In the immediate aftermath the company was worth about $383m.In total, about 1.3 million Genesis shares were traded in the week before the announcement.
ASIC did not detail the insider information that Mr Waugh allegedly possessed in the week ahead of the Genesis capital raising and board changeout, and the rehulator did not disclose the size of the alleged positions taken.
Mr Waugh returns to court on January 13, it said, with bail conditions including orders preventing the former corporate adviser from leaving the country.
Since Mr Finlayson’s ascension to the top job, Genesis has emerged as a potentially significant player in Western Australia’s northern goldfields, with Mr Finlayson positioning the company as the vehicle to consolidate the rich gold district around Leonora.
The company is still completing the takeover of Dacian Gold, and this month landed a merger deal with St Barbara that will bring together the Genesis exploration properties with St Barbara’s operating Gwalia mine.
ASIC made no suggestion that Genesis incoming shareholders and directors had any knowledge of Mr Waugh’s alleged conduct.
The charges are not the first time the board and management overhaul has put Genesis at the centre of controversy. Only a month after being unveiled as a Genesis director Mr Power – previously the head of the federal government’s Covid-19 economic task force – was charged with breaching WA’s tough border restrictions, after flying a private helicopter into the state without the required travel pass and without entering the mandatory 14-day quarantine isolation. Mr Power pleaded guilty to the charges in March, and was given an eight-month suspended sentence. He left the Genesis board in July.
ASIC records show that Mr Waugh and Mr Power’s son Nicholas, who also pleaded guilty to border breach charges in March, are both shareholders and directors of Perth-based KPR Capital, which was founded in 2021.
Genesis shares were worth $1.275 on Monday.
