Defending insider charge, Joe Lewis lifts AACo holding
afr.comBritish billionaire Joe Lewis has increased his holding in Australian beef giant AACo, a company he isaccused of illegally passing on secret information about in an insider-trading charge.
The lift in the AACo holding from 51.09 per cent to 52.09 per cent came via a series of acquisitions made both before and after Mr Lewis was indicted in the US in July.
Joe Lewis, in sunglasses, is defending the insider trading action. Bloomberg
He is defending the charge, as are two of his personal jet pilots accused of trying to deal in AACo shares based on information he allegedly passed to them. The Australian Financial Review does not suggest the accusations are true, only that charges have been brought.
Mr Lewis, via his investment vehicle Tavistock, has gradually increased his holding in Brisbane-based AACo since 2010, never launching a formal takeover. Instead he has relied on creeping provisions that allow major investors to acquire up to 3 per cent more of a company in a six-month period.
That holding is so large it would have secured approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board. Sources with knowledge of FIRB processes said such approvals could not retrospectively be withdrawn unless on national security grounds.
FIRB guidelines include a character assessment, but the actual test is whether any acquisition is contrary to the national interest.
FIRB and federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers have been contacted for comment.
Mr Lewis made a fortune trading currency but his Tavistock empire also has interests in 200 businesses, ranging from pub chains in the UK to a Florida golf club and the AACo holding.
AACo is a 199-year-old company with about 430,000 head of cattle and has focused on a controversial strategy of
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