AWB Says Class Action Dismissed in U.S. Court

By Madelene Pearson

Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- AWB Ltd., Australia's largest wheat exporter, said a class action brought against it by two Iraqi widows, was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The plaintiffs have 30 days to lodge an appeal, the Melbourne-based company said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

``AWB has previously stated that it was of the opinion that the case was ill-conceived and that it would vigorously defend the action,'' it said in the statement.

AWB was among 2,200 companies named in a report for making illegal payments to the former regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The exporter, which won the dismissal of a lawsuit on behalf of U.S. wheat growers in March, still faces one class action in Australia and two in the U.S., the company said.

AWB rose 0.7 percent to A$2.97 at 10:18 a.m. in Sydney.

To contact the reporter on this story: Madelene Pearson in Melbourne on mpearson1@bloomberg.net