IMF said the claims alleged misleading and deceptive conduct as well as breaches by Forge of its continuous disclosure obligations.

The development follows the contractor’s dramatic collapse earlier this month when its financier ANZ Bank withdrew support for the company.

The financial crumbling of the company in recent months has been largely attributed to its underperforming power assets, namely the West Angelas (Western Australia) and Diamantina (Queensland) stations.

About 1300 workers have since been sacked on power stations and mining projects in WA and Queensland.

IMF confirmed that the alleged breaches of disclosure were in connection with West Angelas and Diamantina.

Shareholders potentially eligible to participate in the IMF funded claim include those who purchased Forge shares after January 1 last year and who held some or all of those securities at any time between November 4, 2013 and February 11, 2014.

In November last year, Forge confirmed a profit downgrade of $A127 million for the 2014 financial year due to the power stations, resulting in investors dumping shares in the company.

As recently as late last month, the company maintained that it still had full backing from ANZ despite an additional $23-28 million profit write-down and the lowering of its FY2014 earnings guidance from $45-50 million to $20-25 million.

Last week, Forge appointed Ferrier Hodgson as voluntary administrator and ANZ appointed KordaMentha as receiver and manager.

IMF said it would make further announcement to the market on the start of legal proceedings, or should a decision be made not to proceed.

Shares in Forge remained suspended at 91.5c.