Rinehart says disclosing finances will hurt company

SYDNEY: Gina Rinehart, Asia’s richest woman, is fighting an Australian regulator demanding financial records of her closely held company, widening efforts to maintain her privacy after losing a separate battle with her children.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) ordered Hancock Prospecting Pty to submit 2010 financial statements on Aug 9, more than a month after they were due under the Corporations Act, according to correspondence obtained by Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act.

The move by Rinehart came in the midst of a family dispute over control of a trust that holds almost a quarter of the voting shares of Hancock, an early developer of Australia’s iron-ore mines.

While Rinehart fought three of her children to the country’s highest court in an unsuccessful bid to keep details of the spat secret, the children are still pressing for the trust’s financial details.

“There are some sensitivities with respect to lodging the accounts in the context of the current matter involving Hope Downs in the courts,” David Clarke, a partner at HWL Ebsworth Lawyers representing Hancock, wrote to ASIC in a Sept 11 email.

Hope Downs is Hancock’s mining venture with Rio Tinto Group.

Hancock appealed ASIC’s order to submit the financial statements and a preliminary hearing before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal is scheduled in the West Australian city on June 13.

“Compliance with the financial reporting requirements would be an unreasonable burden,” Tadeusz Watroba, a director at Hancock. wrote to ASIC in an Oct 11 letter. “It will allow customers, competitors and suppliers to use the information disclosed to HPPL’s competitive disadvantage.”— Bloomberg