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Opes Prime Group Limited was an Australian securities lending and stockbroking firm which suffered a dramatic collapse in 2008. ==Overview== The company was founded in 2003 by Laurie Emini and Julian Smith. Emini, an Albanian emigrant to Australia, had worked for the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) until he was retrenched in 1997, and began share trading from his home. Smith, a British national, had emigrated to Australia in 1993, and ran the securities and investments division of the stock brokerage firm Ord Minnett.〔Urban, Rebecca: (Little-known Opes, spectacular failure ), ''The Australian'', 5 April 2008.〕 By 2008, the company had offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Singapore and employed about 80 people.〔(ASIC to investigate Opes Prime ), ''The Age'', 28 March 2008.〕 The company's downfall was revealed on 28 March 2008 when the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) announced it was launching an investigation into Opes Prime Stockbroking, and that the company had gone into receivership the previous day, with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu appointed as receivers by ANZ Bank immediately after the company had appointed Ferrier Hodgson as administrators.〔(08-61 ASIC launches investigation into Opes Prime ), Australian Securities and Investments Commission, 28 March 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2008.〕 Opes Prime's secured debt was believed to be over A$1 billion, with its major secured creditors including the ANZ Banking Group (owed around $650 million), and Merrill Lynch. Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto made headlines when he travelled to Singapore on behalf of an anonymous group of investors in an attempt to retrieve their money.〔Leonie Wood, Mark Hawthorne and Vanessa Burrow: (Gatto joins the money hunt ), ''The Age'', 8 April 2008.〕 Mr Gatto however returned to Melbourne saying that the Singapore Directors and staff were hardly to blame but were rather "victims". On 15 October 2008, the Opes Prime creditors voted to place the companies of the group into liquidation with the administrator Ferrier Hodgson being appointed as liquidator. Ferrier Hodgson then tenaciously pursued ANZ Bank and Merrill Lynch for restitution in relation to their dealings with the companies immediately prior to and in receivership. This effort was supported by ASIC. The actions of ASIC and Ferrier Hodgson resulted in a settlement〔(MR09-37 Opes Prime: proposed settlement and ANZ enforceable undertaking ), Australian Securities and Investments Commission, 6 March 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2011.〕 which included the payment of compensation and enforceable undertakings by ANZ Bank. These settlements allowed the liquidators to propose a Scheme of Arrangement which was approved by the court on 4 August 2009.〔(AD 09-135 Opes Prime schemes of arrangement approved ), Australian Securities and Investments Commission, 4 August 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2011.〕 The Scheme of Arrangement has allowed the liquidators to repay creditors some 37c in the dollar of the sums they were owed, but prevents the creditors from taking any further actions against ANZ Bank. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Opes Prime」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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