Share Price Blowback from Loggers SLAPP Suit

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John Gay, the Managing Director of the Australian logging company Gunns, told shareholders that the A$6.3 million SLAPP suit it launched against 20 environmentalists "was taken following careful consideration." At the meeting, Leonie Pullinger, the wife of one of the defendants, told of the stress on her family as a result of the lawsuit. "I'm very sorry that she is in there, but they should have thought about what they did before they did it," Gay said. Since last November, Gunns' share price has slumped from A$4.80 to A$2.71. Stephen Mayne, an activist shareholder and journalist with Crikey.com.au, said the publicity from the SLAPP suit and doubts about the company's ability to build a pulp mill proposed for northern Tasmania have hit the share price. "He [Gay] said that adverse publicity is driving down the share price and a lot of that has come from the frivolous and unnecessary lawsuit," Mayne said.