Takeover Panel

Takeover Guidance

Lord Lee of Trafford and Patron of ShareSoc has been invited to meet the new chief of the Takeover Panel, Ian Hart. This follows Lord Lee's actions earlier this year including a Parliamentary Question and a major article in the Times. Backed by ShareSoc, he lobbied for companies to let their owners (their shareholders) know as soon as possible about potential bids, even if they have to say “there can be no certainty that an offer will ultimately be made”. He ...

Investors Chronicle, 22 July 2021, Takeover Guidance

ShareSoc Patron Lord Lee is quoted in  the Investors Chronicle opinion piece by Paul Jackson about takeovers. Anyone selling Morrisons shares after Monday 14 June, when the unsolicited approach was made, must have been kicking themselves. So should shareholders have been told more promptly? Lord John Lee thinks so.  Since directors have a duty to “lead, steward and serve shareholders”, are they at fault for failing to inform them better? Well, no. That’s because they have to be guided by the Takeover Panel, which says ...

Bacanora “offer” by Ganfeng

By Cliff Weight. Please note these are my personal views and do not necessarily represent ShareSoc's views. I have never owned BCN shares, but am considering buying. Bacanora is subject to a possible offer from Chinese firm Ganfeng at 67.5p. The Takeover panel have issued a put up or shut up notice. A shareholder action group has been formed, with 400 investors who collectively own 7% of the shares. To join click here https://savebacanora.com/blog/ They also have an active WhatsApp group. The background ...

Daily Mail, 2 June 2021, Bacanora takeover “offer” by Chinese company Ganfeng

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-9641119/Backlash-sale-lithium-Chinese-predator.html  reports that: Cliff Weight, director of shareholders champion ShareSoc, said: 'When foreign joint ventures are listed on the London Stock Exchange, it is very difficult for the rights of minority shareholders to be protected. 'Companies such as Bacanora need to be much more transparent, so it is easier for investors to understand the options and warrants that JV (joint venture) partners have. It looks like the Chinese are buying lithium assets on the cheap.' .

FT, 4 March 2021
Private investors lose out in corporate bids

A ShareSoc news item by Cliff Weight, Director Private investors lose out in corporate bids- Takeover Panel must change rules to compel companies to disclose acquisition approaches sooner ShareSoc Patron Lord Lee is campaigning for better disclosure in relation to takeover bids and has written this excellent detailed article in the Financial Times. There have been a number of occasions when individual investors have lost money by buying or selling shares when they were not privy to information which arguably should have been disclosed to ...

The Times, 15 Feb 2021, Investors left to fly blind on bid approaches

Lord Lee, Patron of ShareSoc was quoted extensively in this article in The Times about his concerns regarding disclosures surrounding takeovers. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/investors-left-to-fly-blind-on-bid-approaches-n6xlc2vv5 This was the second article in The Times about Lord Lee's concerns. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/takeover-panel-left-signature-aviation-shareholders-in-the-dark-m2752pd3w ShareSoc is fully aligned with Lord Lee and have issued a press release about this. https://www.sharesoc.org/sharesoc-news/press-release-116-requirements-of-public-companies-directors-regarding-takeover-approaches/

Stockopedia, 25 Jan 2021, SmallCap Value Report

In this SCVR Paul Scott highlights our press release relating to Takeover Panel Rules.

Shenanigans in Siberia: the Petropavlovsk Saga and Why Retail Investors Matter

One of ShareSoc’s key beliefs is that private investors are important and their voice needs to be heard. The current, for want of a better word, shenanigans, at Petropavlovsk (POG) gives private investors a key role in determining the future of a company. Background Books could be written about POG, and probably deserve to be. It is a gold miner in Siberia, whose shares rose to above £5 in 2011, before collapsing under the weight of debt and being rescued by an emergency ...