EMBATTLED Hedley Lesiure and Gaming Property Fund appears to have been inadvertently caught in the collapse of another company, forcing it to again call a halt to trading on the Australian Securities Exchange yesterday.

Almost 10.8 million HLG shares were traded off market at just below 48c yesterday morning in a deal that has shocked and mystified HLG executives and stock watchers alike.

The shares were traded for more than $5 million in what is known as a special crossing where an agreement is reached between a broker and a client to trade shares at an agreed price, irrespective of the market price.

At the time of the deal HLG shares were trading at near 80c.

The deal is believed to be linked to Opes Prime Stockbroking which called in receivers and an administrator yesterday morning.

However, no details of who made the special share crossing have been released to the market, forcing HLG to request a share trading halt until Tuesday morning.

In its request for a trading halt, HLG said it was not aware of the reasons for or circumstances surrounding the special crossing.

As a result of the lack of information, it believed the market would not be fully informed and this could adversely impact on normal trade in HLG shares.

HLG chairman Colin Henson told The Weekend Post yesterday he was mystified about the dumping of the shares which is believed to amount around seven per cent of HLG issued shares.

Mr Henson said there was a lot of speculation about who and dumped the shares and why but no one could give HLG and the ASX an answer yesterday.

Mr Henson said he could not understand why HLG was continuing to be the target of rumour and speculation.

"The activity in the market is ridiculous and is simply the result of greedy people," Mr Henson said.

Whoever traded the shares in the special crossing has to inform the ASX on Monday because of the $5 million level of the trade.

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