The President of the Australian Takeovers Panel, Mr Simon McKeon, today said he was delighted that Mr John King had been appointed as a New Zealand member of the Australian Takeovers Panel.
He agreed with Senator Campbell, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, that Mr King's appointment is a significant step in promoting greater cooperation across Australian and New Zealand regulatory regimes.
The Panel advises that on Friday evening, 25 January, it received an application from Focus Technologies Ltd under section 657C of the Corporations Act requesting a declaration of unacceptable circumstances in relation to a parcel of 10 million options to subscribe for shares in Focus.
The Panel advises that it is currently continuing discussions with parties in relation to the application from Magic Millions under section 657EA of the Corporations Act requesting a review of the decisions in the Brisbane Broncos Nos 1 and 2 proceedings.
The Review Panel currently believes it will be able to make an announcement on the result of those discussions to the market after the close of trading tomorrow.
The sitting Panel in this review application is Simon McKeon (sitting President), Ian Ramsay and Carol Buys.
An application (Normandy 03) under section 657C of the Corporations Act by AngloGold Limited for a declaration of unacceptable circumstances and an order canceling a deed (or parts thereof) entered into on 14 November 2001 between Normandy Mining Limited and Newmont Mining Corporation. The Deed related to various "lock-up" arrangements which Normandy agreed to in order to induce Newmont to announce its proposed takeover offer for all of the shares in Normandy. On Friday 7 December 2001, the Panel declined to make a declaration or orders.
The Panel advises that today it has accepted undertakings from Magic Millions and BB Sports in relation to the application from Magic Millions under section 657EA of the Corporations Act requesting a review of the decisions in the Brisbane Broncos Nos 1 and 2 proceedings.
The Panel today released for public comment a draft Guidance Note on its powers to make Costs orders in matters before the Panel.
The Panel said that it will not generally make costs orders because its proceedings are intended to be quick informal and commercial. Therefore, the costs to parties appearing before it are likely to be low.
These are our reasons for refusing applications made by BB Sports Pty Ltd (“News”) and by ASIC for declarations of unacceptable circumstances and orders in relation to the affairs of Brisbane Broncos Ltd (“Broncos”), because Magic Millions League Pty Ltd (“Magic Millions”) had announced but not made a takeover bid for Broncos and because of the terms of an announcement by News that it would bid for Broncos.
The Panel is pleased to advise the resolution of the application by Newmont in relation AngloGold's notice of extension of its bid for Normandy which the Panel announced yesterday. The notice was sent to Normandy shareholders last Friday.
Newmont had raised concerns about the statement in the notice:
"Although we have not declared the offer final, we have said that this offer is full and fair and that we have no basis upon which we could justify a further increase in the offer."
The Panel advises that it has today published the reasons for its decision in relation to the application concerning the announcement by Magic Millions League that its proposed takeover offer for the Brisbane Broncos will not proceed (Brisbane Broncos No.1) and the cross-application concerning a condition of BB Sports takeover offer for the Brisbane Broncos (Brisbane Broncos No.2). The Panel's decision was made on 3 January 2002.
(Normandy 07)
The Panel advises that it has today received an application by Newmont in relation to the current bid by AngloGold for Normandy. The application relates to AngloGold's notice of extension of its bid for Normandy. The notice was sent to Normandy shareholders last Friday. The application is for interim and final orders and for a declaration of unacceptable circumstances under section 657A of the Corporations Act.
In the notice, AngloGold stated: