The Commerce Commission has dealt a blow to investors in two frozen ING funds, telling them they are on their own when it comes to deciding on whether to accept the settlement offer.
About 13,000 investors have until July 13 to decide on the settlement offer relating to the ING diversified yield fund and the ING regular income fund.
ING has offered to purchase all units from its investors in those funds at set prices and subject to conditions.
In particular, investors who accept the offer must agree to release ING, related entities and investment advisers from all legal claims in connection with the funds.
The $1 units have been valued at about 20c.
ING is offering 60c and 62c a unit depending on which fund they are in.
Many of the investors were hoping the Commerce Commission's investigation into the funds would be completed before the acceptance deadline.
However, their hopes were dashed yesterday.
The commission said the investigation under the Fair Trading Act was not expected to be completed for at least six months.
The commission was investigating the promotion, marketing and sale of the funds by ING (NZ), ANZ and other parties.
"If, at the end of the investigation, the commission believes that litigation is appropriate, the litigation could realistically take anywhere between a further six months and three years to complete," commission fair trading manager Graham Gill said.
It was uncertain whether compensation would be pursued for investors who had not accepted the offer or whether that would be awarded by the courts if a conviction resulted.
The commission was advising investors to take their own legal and financial advice on the merits of the offer before making a decision as to whether to accept the offer, he said.
