IQ3 - IQ3CORP Limited

[System]

IQ3CORP Limited provides advice to life science companies on mergers and acquisitions, strategic matters, restructuring and capital structure, capital raising and corporate finance, as well as asset management services to corporations, partnerships, institutions, governments, and individuals.

http://www.iq3corp.com

 

[Dona Ferentes]

From the AFR: ..

https://www.afr.com/companies/healthcare-an...20210407-p57h73

'It was intimidating': when companies sue analysts

At 9pm one Friday late last year, sharemarket analyst Anthony Di Pizio recalls, he took a call from a lawyer working for a biotechnology outfit he had just slammed in a report.

The lawyer was "threatening me with proceedings", Mr Di Pizio told AFR Weekend. "It was absolutely horrible." "It was intimidating."

Now, after almost five months of legal entanglement with the iQ Group Global, which is working on inventions from a saliva biosensor to a cancer platform, proceedings against Mr Di Pizio have been dismissed.

Filings released by NSW's Supreme Court show iQ Group, represented by Minter Ellison, had sued Mr Di Pizio on grounds including that he had disclosed "confidential information" contained in documents such as a brochure for its Ethical Bioscience Investments Fund and a capital raising services agreement.

But Mr Di Pizio's lawyers, W Advisers, had in a filing disputed that any information was actually confidential and even if so, "any such disclosure was in the public interest".

The 29-year-old analyst this week declined to discuss the details of the lawsuit nor how it was dismissed. But he maintained his criticisms of Sydney-based iQ Group triggered the action and "this dismissal within such a short period vindicates my consistent position that any concerns could and should have been resolved without proceedings being initiated".

iQ Group ... declined to comment. It told investors that orders from Justice David Hammerschlag restrained the defendants from disclosing "certain confidential information" unless available publicly otherwise.

.....
This .... legal action was against Mr Di Pizio and ADS Capital, his one-person outfit. He said he was licensed to provide sharemarket research on listed Australian and US entities.

Mr Di Pizio said his prior reports had highlighted a "dire financial situation, as drawn from its annual reports and financial statements" and he was still of the view that NSX-listed iQ Group, ASX-listed iQ3 Corp and their products, such as the Ethical Bioscience fund, carried "very significant risks and investors are cautioned against investing in them".

But Mr Di Pizio said the subsequent legal action against him had incurred gross legal costs of $90,000. That was "highly significant" to a single person operation and he had had sleepless nights.

"That was a solid five months ... that (was) highly stressful," he said. "It took up several hours per day just going through the process.

"That's time I can't serve my clients. That's time that I can't focus on extending my business."

Mr Di Pizio said he did not think it was "right that companies can sue analysts for pointing out" problems in financial statements.

"When we were reading through filings on the ASX and NSX, it was obvious that money was being shuffled around between the entities," he said. "The fact that I could call them out, and then get sued for it – it's ridiculous and it's wrong. "They shouldn't be able to shut someone up using the court system."

iQ Group has previously maintained its companies are "in compliance with applicable corporate law and regulations and relevant listing rules", and its audited financial statements adhere to relevant accounting standards.

Mr Di Pizio said such legal actions in general would have a chilling effect on analysis.

"If anybody went through the process that we went through it would deter them from speaking out against … public companies. "It matters because the less we're able to say, the longer they get away with it, the bigger these companies get, and the more people that get hurt ultimately."

Mr Di Pizio maintained that he stood by his research and "there was nothing I would take back in terms of being factual".

He said he would write such a piece again – albeit seeking legal advice prior to publishing.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

and bye-bye

iQ3Corp Ltd (Administrators appointed) (ASX: IQ3) has entered voluntary administration, with the Company’s Board of Directors today appointing Mark Robinson, Antony Resnick, and Riad Tayeh of de Vries Tayeh as joint and several voluntary administrators (Administrators) pursuant to section 436A of the Corporations Act 2001.

iQ Group’s four listed companies in Australia are under administration: ASX-listed iQ3 Corp and Farmaforce, and NSX-listed iQ Group Global Ltd and iQx.

and from the above story

From the AFR: ..
'It was intimidating': when companies sue analysts

Mr Di Pizio had defended the matter and it was dismissed.