Ex-Vocus Chair Acquitted of Insider Trading: Vaughan Bowen Case

Former Vocus Chairman Vaughan Bowen has been found not guilty of insider trading charges by a jury. This comes more than three years after he was first charged. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleged that Bowen sold over 5.5 million Vocus shares on 4 June 2019, with knowledge of inside information about the withdrawal of a $3.3 billion takeover bid by EQT Infrastructure IV Fund. The accusation was that Bowen intended to avoid a loss when the share price dropped after the bid was canceled.

During a five-week trial in Melbourne County Court, ASIC claimed that Bowen sold the shares one day before EQT Infrastructure IV Fund decided to abandon its bid for Vocus. The company was later acquired by Macquarie in 2021 for $3.5 billion. These trades were valued at around $26 million, making this case one of the highest-value insider trading prosecutions in Australian corporate history. To have been found guilty, all 12 jurors would have needed to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of Bowen’s guilt.

Vaughan Bowen is the founder of M2 Telecommunications, which merged with Vocus in February 2016. After the merger, Bowen served as chairman of Vocus for two years. Currently, he is a principal at the Bowen Family Office and the non-executive chairman at Sydney-based Voyager Tennis. The case was prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions after being referred by ASIC.