CODEWORD

Although the Takeovers Panel is a Crown Entity with its offices in Wellington, it likes to keep in touch with the market and to hear market participants’ views on how it is doing its job.

To this end, the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, some Panel members, and members of the executive met recently with market participants at two meetings in Wellington and one in Christchurch. These followed similar lines to two successful meetings in Auckland last year.

Some 17 financial advisers and interested persons from Auckland and Wellington came to the first Wellington meeting. The Panel’s policies for approving independent adviser appointments, its approach to appointing independent experts, and the Panel executive’s role in reviewing draft independent adviser reports were discussed along with other current issues.

The second Wellington meeting was attended by 18 lawyers from Auckland and Wellington who are active in the takeover market. Discussion was wide-ranging, covering the Panel’s policies relating to the approval of independent advisers and appointment of experts, the granting of exemptions from the Code, and the approach to enforcement issues. Nine market participants attended the Christchurch meeting where discussion covered a similar range of issues.

These meetings are a significant commitment by Panel members and the executive, but the Panel believes it is important to hear directly from key market participants in an open forum where everyone has the opportunity to make their views known to the Panel.