The Panel members (who make the decisions on applications) are specialists in mergers and acquisitions; either as investment bankers, lawyers, company directors or other professionals. They are government appointments under the ASIC Act. For further information regarding the Panel membership, see the Panel members page.
The Panel has a full-time executive based in Melbourne to assist members of the Panel and the takeovers community, and to draft policy (Panel Executive). The Panel Executive is generally responsible for communicating with parties on behalf of the Panel and otherwise facilitating Panel proceedings.
The Panel Executive consists of up to 7 employees of the Australian Public Service within the Department of Treasury (including Chief Executive, General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel and 2 support staff) and up to 2 legal secondees with usually three to five years’ experience in regulated mergers and acquisitions who are usually drawn from major law firms. Legal secondees are generally seconded to the Panel for a period of eight months.
Members of the Panel Executive are not delegates of the Panel and, therefore, do not perform any of its discretionary or adjudicative roles. In other words, the Panel Executive does not make decisions in Panel proceedings regarding the merits of an application or circumstances; those decisions are made by the members of the Panel appointed to “sit” and consider those proceedings (the “sitting Panel”). Advice which the Panel Executive may give as to its assessment of any real or hypothetical circumstances discussed with market participants, or parties, is not binding on the Panel or on any sitting Panel.
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Structure chart showing the hierarchy of the Takeovers Panel. The Panel members are represented in the middle of the chart with the General Counsel to the left and Chief Executive to the right. The General Counsel and Chief Executive each report to the Panel members. The General Counsel and Chief Executive (and their reports) are also each shown to be part of the Treasury which appears at the top of the chart. Under the General Counsel sit the Deputy General Counsel, Senior Legal Counsel and Legal Counsel (Secondee), each shown to report to the General Counsel. A Paralegal reports to the Deputy General Counsel. Under the Chief Executive sit the Executive Officer and Executive Assistant, each shown to report to the Chief Executive.