Registry Rivals Sue For Peace
The Age
Wednesday July 18, 2001
ASX Perpetual Registrars Ltd is primed to transfer its growing client base to its own share-registry technology after a 17-month courtroom stoush between it and Computershare ended yesterday with a confidential agreement.
Computershare stock sank nearly 5 per cent on the news as the market prepared for increased competition in the Australian registry business.
APRL, a joint venture between the Australian Stock Exchange and Perpetual Trustees, will now be able to focus on increasing its share of Australian registry business and challenge Computershare's market dominance.
Yesterday's deal marked the end of a bitter legal battle over the joint venture's alleged access to top-secret Computershare technology.
Shares in Computershare ended 27.3 cents down yesterday at $6.10, while ASX rose 15.6 cents to $13.98. Perpetual added 54 cents to $42.04.
Computershare became alarmed in March last year when the ASX took a 50 per cent stake in Perpetual Trustees' share-registry business, fearful that confidential information - provided to Perpetual under Computershare's arrangement for the supply of registry software - had been shared with its arch rival, the stock exchange.
During the lengthy court tussle that followed, APRL accused Computershare of anticompetitive conduct, and alleged that Computershare founder and managing director Chris Morris had knowingly participated in breaches of the Trade Practices Act. Yesterday both sides were clamming up.
The only detail of the agreement made public was that bureau services now provided to APRL by Computershare would end on December 31.
The transfer of clients from the Computershare-backed technology to that recently built by the ASX will begin in September, enabling APRL to be the sole technology provider to its own clients.
With the court action behind it, APRL chief executive Richard Atkinson said the market would benefit from competition between the two companies.
``This means that we will be able to offer to the market an independent (registry) system to Computershare for the first time in about 14 years in Australia," he said.
Industry figures suggest Computershare holds around 55 per cent of the Australian share-registry market, while Perpetual and its 50per cent-owned APRL have a third of the market.
Mr Atkinson said APRL would also seek to expand its international offerings, signing alliances similar to its agreement with United Kingdom company and Computershare competitor Lloyds TSB.
A Computershare spokeswoman said the company had nothing to add, other than that legal proceedings had been settled.
© 2001 The Age