The Federal Government has conditionally approved a $1.5 billion acquisition of all shares in baby food and milk formula manufacturer Bellamy’s Australia by a Hong Kong-based dairy firm after finding the transaction was “not contrary to the national interest”.
The Takeovers Panel has found that while a $2.5 million break fee included in a $470 million takeover offer lobbed during a bidding war for Western Australia power supplier Pacific Energy was not a “common market approach”, it was not anti-competitive or coercive.
An investment fund named after a 17th-century pirate has hit the National Stock Exchange with a $6.3 million lawsuit over a suspension decision it calls “capricious” and a violation of the NSX’s terms.
Former health minister and Prime Trust director Michael Wooldridge wants court approval to manage four corporations, despite a recent ruling from the Full Federal Court that reimposed a ban on him and three other former directors of the collapsed retirement village for violations of the Corporations Act.
The competition watchdog has given the greenlight to US cold storage giant Emergent Cold’s proposed takeover of rival Australian compay AB Oxford after raising preliminary concerns the deal would hike up prices.
Slater & Gordon UK has agreed to a $20.7 million settlement of its claims against Watchstone Group, after seeking more than $1 billion from the insurance company over a botched 2015 acquisition that has spawned multiple class actions against the Australian firm.
A partner at Big Six firm Ashurst has challenged a NSW Supreme Court decision appointing liquidators to his Point Piper home in a protracted dispute with an ex-judge neighbour, saying the judge was confused and made an order which was an “affront to our system of adversarial justice”.
Activist US short seller Bonitas Research is refusing to participate in legal action brought in Australia by Rural Funds Group, as it continues to press allegations of fraud, which sent the agricultural fund manager’s share price plummeting.
The Full Federal Court has reimposed bans against four former directors of collapsed retirement village owner Prime Trust, including former federal health minister Michael Wooldridge, following a successful High Court challenge by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Perth-based Farooq Khan has lost a key case in the battle for control over investment firm Keybridge Capital, after a judge invalidated a board decision to suspend activist investor Nicholas Bolton as CEO and terminate chair John Patton on the basis of Khan’s breach of his directors’ duties.