Sunenergy misleading Australian investors: ASIC

A solar energy company, which had been stopped by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) from selling its shares, has carried out two similar fund-raising attempts to raise 150 million rand ($22 million) in South Africa over the past 12 months.

Following an application from ASIC, the accounts of Sunenergy Asia Pacific, associated companies and its sole director John Price, in Melbourne, have been frozen until a hearing in the Federal Court in February.

The company's website yesterday listed a number of directors who seem to be no longer on the board, including Graham Spurling, former boss at Mitsubishi. Most of the directors named, along with Price, had been involved with the listed Advanced Energy Systems around 2005 when the company was under administration. The directors left the board when it was restructured.

According to a former director Richard Dewhurst, he had resigned from all the Sunenergy boards several years ago, but the company had not updated its records. Dewhurst had agreed to function on an advisory board, and ASIC had approached him for information about Price.

However, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, the company's site yesterday suggested it was US-based, with an office in New York and one in Melbourne (the Melbourne office address carried a picture of the Sydney Opera House). The newspaper says both addresses appear to belong to serviced office providers.

According to ASIC, Price and Sunenergy have been engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct in an attempt to raise an unstated amount of money from Australian investors with an information memorandum suggesting the company would list on the ASX.