The Panel has made a declaration of unacceptable circumstances (Annexure A) and final orders (Annexure B) on an application dated 21 March 2016 in relation to the affairs of Investa Office Fund (IOF).¹

The application, by the responsible entity for DEXUS Property Group, arose out of the DEXUS proposal by trust scheme to acquire all the units in IOF.

The Panel made a declaration of unacceptable circumstances and final orders on 11 March 2016 regarding an application dated 15 February 2016 from Metro Mining Limited in relation to the affairs of Gulf Alumina Limited (see TP16/08 and TP16/15). The Panel's orders were varied on 21 March 2016 (see TP16/16).

On 23 March 2016, Metro announced a variation to the offer consideration. On 24 March 2016, Gulf applied to vary the Panel's orders.

The Panel has received an application from Dexus Funds Management Limited¹ in relation to the affairs of Investa Office Fund.

Details of the application, as submitted by the applicant, are below.

A sitting Panel has not been appointed at this stage and no decision has been made whether to conduct proceedings. The Panel makes no comment on the merits of the application.

The Panel made a declaration of unacceptable circumstances and final orders on 11 March 2016 in relation to an application dated 15 February 2016 from Metro Mining Limited in relation to the affairs of Gulf Alumina Limited (see TP16/08 and TP16/15). Order 3 of the final orders required Gulf to provide corrective disclosure within 6 business days of the date of the final orders.

The Panel has made a declaration of unacceptable circumstances (Annexure A) and final orders (Annexure B) in relation to an application dated 15 February 2016 by Metro Mining Limited in relation to the affairs of Gulf Alumina Limited (see TP16/08).

Gulf Alumina Limited (Gulf) is an unlisted company with more than 50 members. Gulf is currently the subject of an off-market takeover bid from Metro Mining Limited (Metro, ASX code: MMI) for all the shares in Gulf at 3.3 Metro shares for every Gulf share.

The Panel has received an application from APAC Resources Capital Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong listed company APAC Resources Limited, in relation to the affairs of ABM Resources NL. The application concerns a rights issue by ABM Resources.

Details of the application, as submitted by the applicant, are below.

A sitting Panel has not been appointed at this stage and no decision has been made whether to conduct proceedings. The Panel makes no comment on the merits of the application.

The Panel today published the reasons for its decision on an application dated 6 January 2016 from Brisbane Markets Limited in relation to its affairs.

Details of the Panel's decision can be found at TP16/07.

The Panel's reasons for its decisions are on the Panel's website.

The sitting Panel was Rod Halstead, Peter Hay (sitting President) and Sarah Rennie.

The Takeovers Panel today amended Guidance Note 13 on broker handling fees, to note that such fees appear to fall under the definition of ‘conflicted remuneration’ in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (the Act) and are therefore prohibited unless an exception applies. This follows the conclusion to the Australian Government’s Future of Financial Advice reforms with the passage of the Corporations Amendment (Streamlining of Future of Financial Advice) Bill 2014 on 24 November 2015.

The Takeovers Panel notes the announcement by the Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer of the reappointment of 8 members and the appointment of 6 new members to the Panel, for terms of 3 years commencing on 8 March 2016.

The President of the Panel, Ms Vickki McFadden, herself reappointed as a member and as President, welcomed the new members. Ms McFadden said: