Shine Lawyers and Slater & Gordon on Tuesday denied media reports that the two law firms were in merger talks or that there were any imminent plans for a union.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is pushing back against an application by ANZ Bank to stay the regulator’s civil penalties case over disclosures related to a $2.5 billion equity capital raising while it defends against criminal charges related to the controversial share placement.
Allowing Vodafone’s proposed $15 billion merger with TPG to go ahead if there were a real chance that TPG could seriously compete in the market for mobile services would have “profound social consequences,” the competition watchdog told the Federal Court Friday as it unsuccessfully sought to push back a hearing over the deal.
The High Court has granted ASIC special leave to appeal a judgment that let a former director of Gold Coast finance company MFS Group partially off the hook for $147.5 million in misappropriated funds, after ASIC argued the High Court should intervene to clarify the scope of the word “officer” under the Corporations Act.
Potential new entrants to a major freight terminal in Queensland will be “better protected” by a last-minute promise by the terminal’s hopeful owner, Pacific National, than if the ACCC had succeeded in blocking the rail operator’s proposed $205 million acquisition, according to the judge who dismissed the competition watchdog’s case.
A court has dismissed a long-running case against defunct Babcock & Brown executives by a private investment fund over a botched $1.4B acquisition of the biggest laundry equipment provider in the US, saying the executives did not breach their duties by failing to disclose that the bank underwriting the deal allegedly wanted out.
A judge has dismissed HWL Ebsworth’s claims of a “fishing expedition” and granted discovery of a slew of internal documents relevant to allegations a partner at the law firm encouraged a company’s directors to unlawfully divert insurance proceeds to pay almost $150,000 in legal bills.
Vodafone and TPG will file a Federal Court challenge to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s opposition to their proposed $15 billion merger, teeing up the biggest merger challenge ever heard by the court.
Kraft Foods has come up short in its high-stakes legal battle against Bega over the right to use its distinctive peanut butter trade dress in Australia, allowing Bega to maintain its hold on the $60 million per year stake in the peanut butter market which it acquired by purchasing Kraft unit Mondelez’s Australian and New Zealand business in 2017.
Judgment is expected Wednesday in a high-stakes dispute between consumer giants Kraft and Bega over who owns the rights to the signature Kraft peanut butter trade dress in Australia.