Christchurch man Bernard Whimp is facing fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars if he fails to comply with a Securities Commission order to correct misleading offers to investors.
Using a number of companies as fronts, Mr Whimp has made 'low ball' offers to investors in listed companies which undervalue the shares.
His latest is is to offer investors a premium for the shares, but pay for them in instalments over the next 10 years, meaning the offer is worth less than the shares are currently valued.
The targeted firms are Trustpower, Vector, Guinness Peat Group, Contact Energy, DNZ Property Fund and Fletcher Building.
Vector chairman Micheal Stiassney has labelled Mr Whimp's tactics as appalling.
While the offers themselves are not illegal, the Securities Commission's taking Mr Whimp to task for making a misleading offer, as the details are buried in the fine print.
The regulator is making Mr Whimp correct the offer to all investors by fastpost by 5pm Tuesday.
If he fails to do so he faces fines of $30,000 for each offence - or $180,000.
The Commission has also told Mr Whimp that if he wants to make another offer he should be upfront about what investors will receive compared with the market price.
