TP03/085
The Takeovers Panel advises that it has received an application from BreakFree Limited (BreakFree) pursuant to section 657A of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act) for a declaration of unacceptable circumstances in relation to an amended bidder's statement (the Bidder's Statement) by S8 concerning its takeover bid for BreakFree.
BreakFree alleges that unacceptable circumstances exist because it believes that the Bidder's Statement:
(a) contains misleading or deceptive statements; or
(b) omits material required by section 636 of the Act,
(the Alleged Deficiencies) in contravention of section 670Aof the Act. On the basis of these allegations, the Application seeks:
(a) interim and final orders restraining the dispatch of the Bidder's Statement prior to the resolution of the BreakFree 03 proceedings; and
(b) final orders requiring amendments to the Bidder's Statement to correct the Alleged Deficiencies.
The President of the Panel has appointed the Panel from the previous BreakFree proceedings (being Kathleen Farrell (Sitting President), Peter Cameron (Sitting Deputy President) and Meredith Hellicar) as the Sitting Panel to consider the BreakFree 03 application.
The Panel has not yet decided whether to conduct proceedings in relation to the Application, or sought the views of the parties affected by it. Consequently the Panel has not yet formed any views in relation to the Application.
The Panel is aware that the parties are in discussions concerning the potential for an agreed resolution of the issues raised by BreakFree. The Panel is keen that the parties resolve as many of these issues as possible themselves and will await the parties' advice as to the results of their discussions before conducting proceedings.
George Durbridge,
Director, Takeovers Panel
Level 47 Nauru House, 80 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: +61 3 9655 3553
