IAG has welcomed a move by the Federal Government to put an end to unsolicited low-ball share offers.

Superannuation and Corporate Law Minister Chris Bowen last week released draft laws intended to protect investors by restricting access to company share registers.

The move follows a number of companies making unsolicited bids to investors of listed companies with offers that are well below market value.

IAG – which has one of the largest lists of “mum and dad” shareholders as a result of the demutualisation from NRMA in August 2000 – says shareholders have lost around $17 million since 2002 from such scams. The insurer is obliged under the Corporations Act to provide the register information to anyone prepared to pay a small fee.

That is set to change under the Corporations Amendment (No 1) Bill 2010, which bans making a false or misleading application for access to a register, using information from the register for an improper purpose, or disclosing information from the register knowing it will be used for an improper purpose.

Mr Bowen says previous investor protection measures, such as mandatory share price disclosure, have failed to stop share scams from operating. “The Government is now acting to put these charlatans out of business.”