On Tuesday morning, the ASX issued a temporary pause in trading in securities of Sequoia Financial Group.
Shortly after, it issued another notice halting trading at the request of Sequoia, which it said would release an announcement.
“Unless ASX decides otherwise, the securities will remain in trading halt until the earlier of the commencement of normal trading on Thursday, 31 July 2025; or the release of the announcement to the market,” the trading halt said.
In its request for a halt in trading, company secretary Natalie Climo said it was “pending the response from Sequoia regarding a price query” and that it was to “avoid trading taking place on an uninformed basis”.
The request added that it expected to make the announcement today, after which the trading halt would end.
Sequoia’s share price tumbled around 30 per cent on Monday, dropping from its closing price of $0.34 on Friday to $0.24 – its lowest price since 2020.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, Sequoia announced that non-executive director Charles Sweeney had stepped down from the board after six years.
In an ASX statement, the firm said it had “become increasingly difficult for him to balance his other commitments” with the Sequoia role.
Sweeney is currently a managing partner at law firm Cooper Grace Ward in Brisbane.
Alongside the non-executive director position at Sequoia, which he has held since March 2019, Sweeney was previously the chair of the risk and compliance committee and a member of the audit committee. He also stepped into the chairman role on an interim basis after the exit of John Larsen in April 2024 until Mike Ryan was appointed in August 2024.
Sequoia said the board is in the process of confirming his replacement and may opt to appoint two individuals in light of the increased responsibilities associated with the role. Sweeney will remain on hand to ensure a successful transition to the new individual.
The board currently consists of chief executive Garry Crole, chairman Mike Ryan, and Kevin Pattison as non-executive director.
“Charles has always been an engaged and supportive member of the board, and he is fondly remembered for stepping into the chair’s role on an interim basis during a difficult period for our business prior to the appointment of Mike Ryan in late 2024,” Crole said.
“On behalf of the entire Sequoia team, we extend our sincere thanks for his commitment and wish him continued success in his future pursuits.”
The board has seen a number of shake-ups in recent months after a shareholder rout sought to remove Crole and Pattison from the board and replace them with Peter Brook and Brent Jones as they sought to improve corporate governance and create a more focused and profitable business.
While the move was unsuccessful at an extraordinary general meeting in June 2024, Crole agreed to step down in FY2026–27 and work with the firm to find a successor.
The firm has also been caught up in the Shield and First Guardian collapses, with its subsidiary InterPrac authorising Ferras Merhi and his firm Venture Egg, which are responsible for more than 6,000 clients investing in the funds.
In May, InterPrac cut ties with both Merhi and Venture Egg, with the licensee ceasing its authorisation of both parties.
It has also seen a pair of substantial holders reducing their stake in the firm.
Acorn Capital was the first to significantly reduce its holding, disclosing on 13 June that it was no longer a substantial holder following a series of trades since April.
The second was the Australian Wealth Advisors Group (AWAG), which had only bought a significant chunk of Sequoia in February this year.
On 15 July, AWAG disclosed that it had reduced its ownership stake in Sequoia from 18 per cent to slightly above 15 per cent.
While AWAG did not wish to comment on its individual trading decisions, a spokesperson for the firm told ifa that there are “challenges ahead” for Sequoia.
What a wicked web they weave, the platforms, the dealerships, the advisers, all in it for a buck.
What compliance area would have missed these massive upfront charges, all clients being high risk, investments into semi conductor etfs to blend with shield master untrust .
Any compliance professional would have had alarm bells ringing with this type of advice. The dealership would have seen these massive upfront charges ( $5,500 for a simple one fund rollover for example) coming through the brokerage reports, where were they?
Heads need to roll and the gate keepers ( the platforms) need punishment too, how could they allow such a unresearched fund to be on platform? They clip the ticket they are also responsible.
These poor clients were promised the world and given nothing.
Now its time the ones that did them wrong pay for it.
What a horrible bunch of crooks they are, I hope they choke on their ill gotten gains!
2027 can’t come quick enough. Imagine being so hopelessly detached from the realities of running Advice in 2025 that you can’t even see the issues. Sorry Garry, Sequoia’s share price can’t wait till 2027. Libertas and now Interprac a year later
Why, what differences do you envisage as a result of 2027??
Time for the Phoenix to happen again. I love paying for other people’s fraudulent activity.
ASIC – where are you? Is it not time to provide something to the interprac advisers who are still being told that everything is fine and all the things going on have no impact on them and being reported in the media on have no impact on the future of this business. Perhaps I am missing something but interprac and the executives here have failed in their role to provide any supervision to these advisers which is what they get paid to do.
In this case past performance is indeed an indicator of future performance
Now we get to watch the train crash in slow motion