Interesting that no announcement of the Court outcome was released yesterday, unlike previous occasions when they were announced immediately on the day each decision was made.
For the market to be informed a confirmatory announcement should be released prior to open today, if appropriate. The alternative I think would need to be a trading halt for a completely different reason.
The Court’s function is to be convinced that the best interest of Australian shareholders has been achieved, and not simply to confirm that voting numbers fit the requirements. I can think of a few reasons why it might conclude that Australian shareholders have been steamrolled.
One is that rumours appearing in social media that a director has approached some shareholders in order to influence their voting choices or behaviour have been substantiated to the Court.
Another is the recognition that the takeover is unlikely to have been successful if undertaken by normal means that require the bidder to obtain more than 90% of available shares before transfer becomes compulsory.
Of the 82% of shares supporting the Scheme Resolution many, probably a majority, will have been arbitrage traders uninterested in the Company’s future and on the register for only a few weeks. A large block of them is known to not be Australian. By contrast the other 18% primarily will be Australian shareholders who have been on the resister for years before Pfizer involvement and concerned about the future of the business.
The latter are represented by the 37.5% of the headcount that voted against the Scheme. A significant proportion.
The Court will have been sensitive to these factors, and I doubt that the Company’s representatives will have had an easy time yesterday convincing it that the best interests of Australian shareholders have been served.
Justice may yet be done. We will know within hours.
RAP Price at posting:
20.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
