GRAEME Samuel, head of the nation’s competition regulator, has launched a stinging attack on ”unprecedented, inappropriate and unacceptable” rumours about the commission’s talks with National Australia Bank over the bank’s proposed $13.3 billion bid for wealth manager AXA Asia Pacific.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman revealed that hedge funds had called him directly, but refused to take the calls.
Mr Samuel said AXA AP’s decision to halt trading in its shares yesterday showed how serious speculation in the media and investment markets, apparently based on ”backgroundings, innuendo and speculation”, had become.
”This is leading to an uninformed market,” he said.
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