Treasury Wine Estates class action

If you received a Notice of Registration and Opt Out by email or post, this is because you have been identified as a potential group member in the Treasury Wines Estates (TWE) class action. We encourage you to register to be eligible to receive potential compensation.

Criteria for being a group member

You are a group member if you:

(a) acquired shares in TWE in the period from 30 June 2018 to the close of trade on 28 January 2020 (inclusive); and
(b) have suffered loss or damage by or resulting from the conduct alleged against TWE in the class action.

You are not eligible to participate if you are or were a director or officer, a close associate, a related party, a related body corporate, or an associated entity of TWE as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) or a Chief Justice, Justice or Registrar of the High Court of Australia or the Supreme Court of Victoria. 

During the online registration process, you will need to provide the following details:

• your address and an email address, which you check regularly;
• the name of the registered owner of the shares (the claimant), along with relevant Holder Identifier Number (HIN) or relevant Security Holder Reference Number (SRN), if you know it;
• information on your shareholdings:
  
  - if the claimant’s shares are held on his, her or its behalf by another person or entity (such as a broker or custodian), details of both those persons or entities and the capacities in which they held those shares;
  - if the claimant holds the shares jointly with another person, that other person’s name;
  - if the claimant has multiple holdings of shares, separate transaction details for each holding;
  - the number of TWE securities that the claimant held at the open of trading on 30 June 2018 (10AM AEDT);
  - the date, quantity and price of the claimant’s TWE securities purchases and sales from the commencement of trading on 30 June 2018 to 25 February 2020 (inclusive). 

Tip: When you are completing the online registration form, please be aware that certain fields have a pop-up help box which explains the information you will need to enter.

Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*), an error notification will appear for invalid data entered or required fields left blank.

You can sign up on your own behalf or on behalf of someone who has given you authority to do so.

Group members (including both Registered Group Members and unregistered group members) are not, and will not be, liable for any legal costs out of their own pocket by remaining in the TWE shareholder class action.

If the class action is unsuccessful, group members will not be liable to pay any costs.

If the class action is successful (that is, if any compensation is recovered from TWE by settlement or judgment), any legal costs that are payable to the lawyers for the joint plaintiffs will be deducted from, and will not exceed, the amount of compensation that is recovered for group members.

This position will not change, even if there are changes in the way that the TWE shareholder class action is being funded.

No. Eligibility is not determined by whether or not you still hold shares in TWE. As long as you acquired an interest in TWE shares during the claim period you are eligible to register to participate in the Treasury Wine Estates Class Action.

It is difficult at this stage to predict how much you will ultimately recover as a result of losses that may have been suffered in relation to TWE shareholdings.

Assuming the defendant is found to have breached the Corporations Act 2001 (CTH) and/or other laws which caused the loss claimed, the size of your claim will depend on how the Court assesses your loss.

The methodology that a Court may ultimately adopt when assessing your loss is not fully settled in Australian law, and may depend on the evidence you are able to give. It may, for example, be the difference between the amount you paid for the TWE shares and the amount you received when you sold them (or the value of the TWE shares you still hold).

Alternatively, loss might be assessed on the basis of the difference between the price you paid for the shares and their true or real value at the time of purchase (that is, the price you paid for the shares was inflated). There are also other methodologies that a Court might adopt. 

If you are an institutional investor and wish to register, please contact Maurice Blackburn by email at treasuryclassaction@mauriceblackburn.com.au to provide your contact details and receive an Institutional Investor Claim Package.