SYDNEY, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Shareholders launched a class action lawsuit on Wednesday against QBE Insurance Group QBE.AX , Australia's biggest insurer by premium income, over a 2013 profit downgrade that wiped $2.82 billion off its market value in a single day.
Law firm Maurice Blackburn said it had filed a case on behalf of almost 700 clients in the federal court in Melbourne seeking to recover more than A$200 million ($141.06 million) in compensation from QBE for "shares purchased at inflated prices."
QBE stunned the market in December 2013 when it announced it was expecting to post a loss of $250 million for fiscal year 2013 due to writedowns and unexpectedly large claims. Analysts had expected a profit in excess of $1 billion.
The downgrade sent QBE shares plunging over 20 percent that day.
"We have been approached by shareholders concerned that QBE was less than frank and timely in informing the market," Maurice Blackburn class actions principal Jacob Varghese said in a statement.
QBE declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The lead plaintiff is Richard Bungey, a 69-year-old semi-retired small-business owner who bought 1,300 QBE shares months before the price collapse.
Last month, QBE posted a 24 percent rise in first-half net profit and lifted its 2015 interim dividend by 33 percent to 20 Australian cents a share. ID:nL3N10S5G6
Shares in QBE, valued by the market at A$17.5 billion, have risen about 19 percent year-to-date, and are on track for their best performance since 2007. The broader S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO is down nearly 4 percent this year. ($1 = 1.4178 Australian dollars)