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The Australian Government Takeovers Panel has declined to conduct proceedings off the back of a review application filed by Magnolia Equities against The Agency Group.
That review application was dated 2 February 2021 and sought a review of the decision in respect of Magnolia’s application to the initial panel from 16 December 2020.
In its initial submission, Magnolia had argued that the reports prepared by Nexia (both the IER and the supplementary IER) regarding the Peters Proposal were deficient, among other issues raised.
According to a media release from the Takeovers Panel’s director, Allan Bulman, the review application sought a review of the initial decision by the Takeovers Panel that had considered Magnolia’s share buy-out proposal as “unacceptable”, and ultimately restrained Magnolia from dispatching its Bidder’s Statement.
While the president of the Takeovers Panel had consented to the review application from Magnolia, it was reported that the review panel “agreed with the initial panel that the threshold set for a panel to question the correctness of an expert’s report is high”.
It was considered to be similarly as high for any further opinion expressed by an expert in response to concerns of any information deficit.
Mr Bulman reported: “The review panel considered that the matters raised in the review did not get over the threshold.
“The review panel concluded for this, and other reasons, that there was no reasonable prospect that it would make a declaration of unacceptable circumstances. Accordingly, the review panel declined to conduct proceedings.”
With the review proceedings now finalised, an undertaking that was given by Peters Investments will now also conclude — meaning the company can now convert further convertible notes and exercise any further options that it received in The Agency Group Australia Limited without seeking permission.
The Agency has previously released a statement celebrating its “dual wins” against Magnolia.
For background information regarding The Agency versus Magnolia, check out REB’s recap here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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