An American fund manager has stepped up its fight against Australia's Antares Energy, taking complaints about share purchases by directors to the corporate regulator.
Fund manager Lone Star has complained to the Australian Securities Investments Commission about shares bought by Antares chief executive James Cruickshank, who is also the oil and gas company's chairman, and director Greg Shoemaker.
An ASIC spokesman was unable to confirm it was investigating the purchases, but the move is the latest salvo in a six-month battle between Lone Star and Antares.
One of the accusations relates to the purchase of more than 15,000 shares by Mr Shoemaker in late June.
The trade came less than two weeks before Antares announced it had received a $300 million offer for its Texas oil and gas assets, causing its share price to rise.
Another allegation relates to Mr Cruickshank's purchase of 125,000 shares in June 2013, before a near-identical offer for the Texan assets - which was later rejected - caused Antares' share price to jump 71 per cent in one day.
Mr Cruickshank rejected the allegations as "lies" and a last-ditch attempt by Lone Star to win shareholder support in its ongoing battle to take control of Antares.
He said all of the Antares' current directors had been consistently buying shares in the company since 2004 and none had sold any of their holding in that time.
And he said Antares had no idea of the latest offer for its Permian shale assets in Texas at the time Mr Shoemaker made his latest purchase.
"I can tell you without any doubt that Greg Shoemaker knew absolutely nothing about the unsolicited bid at the time that he bought that stock," he said.
"The very nature of an unsolicited bid is that you don't know what you don't know."
Lone Star bought a six per cent stake in Antares in February and has since launched a series of attacks on the company and its board of directors.
Antares will hold a shareholder meeting on July 22, where investors will vote on Lone Star's proposal to sack two directors and appoint five of its own.
Mr Cruickshank said Antares was "quietly confident" of defeating the proposals.
Antares has accused Lone Star of trying to take control of the board and the business without paying for a larger stake in the company.
Meanwhile, proxy advisor CGI Glass Lewis has recommended shareholders vote in favour of appointing most of the board nominees put forward by Lone Star, citing concerns about the company's performance compared to others in the industry.
AAP ews/bt
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