Tying Up A Pre-Bid Stake

Key Point

• Takeovers Panel changes rules to limit further use of pre-bid agreement successfully used in Brookfield's takeover of Multiplex.

In an unheralded move in mid-April, the Takeovers Panel made a substantive change to its Guidance Note on Unacceptable Circumstances. The change would limit the use of one of the mechanisms that Brookfield used to secure a pre-bid stake in Multiplex.

Specifically attracting the Panel's attention was a provision, in an agreement between Brookfield and the Roberts family, preventing disposal of the family's stake in Multiplex (other than to Brookfield) for three months. This was one of the more interesting aspects of the arrangements between Brookfield and the Roberts family.