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ARTICLE · 12 NOVEMBER 1998

Bid Defence Planning: from Blue Book to Black Book

Hammonds
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United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Sunday 7p.m., a listed plc Chairman receives a telephone call from an unknown Chairman of a large competitor announcing their intention to launch a bid for his Company the next morning. He reacts scornfully, warning the caller that the bid price comes nowhere near to recognising the profits of the Company soon to be announced. Unable to find the home telephone number of the Company Secretary he sleeps on it and, when telephoned by a FT journalist about the bid the next morning, immediately repeats the prediction and rubbishes the idea that the bidder would improve its market position through the bid. Subsequent inability to justify his profit forecast and the harm to the desired claims that the merger would be anti-competitive prove fatal to the defence. This plc nightmare can so easily be avoided by a few hours invested in defence planning by the Board and its advisors.

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