Australia’s Future Fund to Be Probed, Senator Says

Australia’s sovereign wealth fund will be investigated by the nation’s regulator over the sale of Telstra Corp. shares less than a month before a government threat to split the company, said Senator Steve Fielding. The Future Fund said it didn’t have access to private information.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission will investigate whether the Future Fund was “tipped off” on the proposed separation of the country’s former phone monopoly, Fielding said in an e-mailed statement today.

The Future Fund, whose assets were worth A$64 billion ($59 billion) at Sept. 30, sold A$2.37 billion of Telstra shares on Aug. 20 under what it called a previously stated strategy of reducing its stake. On Sept. 15, the government said Telstra must separate its fixed-line assets from its consumer business or face curbs on mobile-services expansion.

read more: Bloomberg

sponsored link