Australian regulator halts offers of TruePillars Investment Trust
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has made interim stop orders on the product disclosure statements (PDSs) for two classes of units of the TruePillars Investment (Fund), a registered managed fund promoted by T.P.R.E. Ltd.
The interim orders stop TPRE from offering, issuing, selling or transferring interests in the Pooled Unit and Loan Units of the Fund. ASIC made the interim orders to protect retail investors from acquiring products under PDSs that may be defective and not worded and presented in a clear, concise, and effective manner.
ASIC is concerned that the PDSs for the Fund may:
- omit information about the investments and terms of the investments of the Fund
- not adequately disclose the types of conflicts of interest that may be expected to occur and how these are managed
- fail to adequately disclose significant risks associated with an investment in the Fund including liquidity, withdrawals and valuation
- fail to adequately disclose the fees and costs of the Fund, and
- contain misleading statements about income distributions, loss reserves, liquidity, risk and withdrawals.
The regulator said it will consider making final orders if the concerns are not addressed in a timely manner. TPRE will have an opportunity to make submissions before a decision is made about any final stop orders.
The stop orders arose from ASIC’s retail private credit surveillance which focused on fund transparency, governance, valuation practices, management of conflicts of interest and fair treatment of investors, conducted as part of its response to Australia’s evolving capital markets.